Book Highlights
Today, I thought I would share four books I’ve added to my shelf this week. I’ve added several others, but these really stand out to me. I just finished “The Island Bakeshop” by Roseanna M. White and I realize this book is the second book. I decided to go back to NetGalley and see if the first book was still available and sure enough, it was and I downloaded it to my Kindle. Most likely, it will be a quick read because I flew through the second book.
“The Daughters of Rosebud” by Sonny Buttar sounds so good and I love reading about families, healing broken bonds, forgiveness, second chances.
Everything about “The Restoration Garden” by Sara Blaydes sounds intriguing, and the cover is beautiful!
Discovering, “The Sabbath We Need” by John Starke; Jena Starke is timely because the Sabbath has been on my mind a lot lately. I look forward to going more into that at another time. Perhaps, with my review of this book.
What are some books you’ve added to your shelf recently?
Stephanie
Fiction:
The Island Bookshop by Roseanna M. White
Book 1 of The Island Bookshop
Publish Date: May 13, 2025 by Guideposts
When Kennedy Marshall sets off for a prestigious career in the city, she leaves behind the sunlit shores of North Carolina’s Outer Banks—and runs from a love she believes she can never have. With her sister, Lara, managing their grandmother’s beloved island bookshop, Kennedy feels confident she’s escaped the past. But when Lara is suddenly injured, Kennedy is drawn back into the island’s warm embrace—and bittersweet memories she thought she’d buried forever.
For Wes Armstrong, the Outer Banks is more than home—it’s his anchor. Building a successful family business was supposed to bring stability, but life has been anything but steady since his wife’s passing. Haunted by past regrets and facing a life-changing decision, Wes is determined to make the right choice for his family’s future. Yet Kennedy’s unexpected return stirs up old emotions and mistakes he thought he’d put to rest.
As hidden family secrets surface and long-buried truths come to light, Kennedy and Wes must navigate the delicate tides of forgiveness, second chances, and the unspoken love that still lingers between them. Can they find the courage to rewrite their story and create a new future on the island’s shifting sands?
The Daughters of Rosebud by Sonny Buttar
Expected Publish Date: October 13, 2026 by Lake Union Publishing
Teacher Salma Chaudhry lives a quiet life, avoiding all attachments. But after a call from her estranged father, the protective shell she lives within starts to crack and the trauma she’s buried for eighteen years emerges.
Salma and her older sister Asma were inseparable growing up in small-town Rosebud. While Asma was bold and fearless, Salma tried to keep the peace in their fractured family. But amid their mother’s decline and their parents’ rigid expectations, Asma makes a choice that tears the family apart. The fallout changes everything—and forces Salma to choose between her sister and her parents.
Salma has spent years trying to forget. But as she recollects her past and considers reconciliation with her father, a young student opens a surprising connection to Asma’s past. In finally facing her history, Salma finds the bravery to love and hope again.
The Restoration Garden by Sara Blaydes
Published November 1, 2025 by Lake Union Publishing
A landscape architect unearths the tangled history of a once-celebrated English garden—and all its mysteries—in a captivating novel by the author of The Last Secret of Lily Adams.
Julia Esdaile is hired to restore the historic gardens at Havenworth Manor—the grounds of which are now an abandoned snarl of bramble and weeds—to their original splendor. For the enigmatic lady of the manor, ninety-two-year-old Margaret Clarke, the reason for the restoration is the deeply private story of a promise made a lifetime ago, and a vow to keep it before she dies.
It’s 1940, and Margaret’s older half sister, Irene, an aspiring artist, dreams of an exciting world beyond Havenworth. Her only escapes are James Atherton, a handsome officer in the RAF, and her sketchbook of flower drawings. Bonding over their disdain for war, Irene follows James to London, where, irrevocably in love, she is forced to make a choice she never imagined. With that, Irene vanishes from Margaret’s life forever.
Now, with the help of Margaret’s godson, Andrew, Julia is determined to uncover both the long-buried secrets of the past and the truth behind a heartbreaking mystery that only restoring the gardens of Havenworth can solve.
Nonfiction:
The Sabbath We Need by John Starke; Jena Starke
Finding True Rest in a World of Counterfeits
Expected Publish Date: October 13, 2026 by InterVarsity Press – IVP
Detach from Chaos, attach to Christ, and Break Free from the World’s Demands
Our world offers endless prescriptions for wholeness—a sense of fullness through achievement, a perfect work-life balance, the ideal Instagram feed, or the pursuit of well-being and leisure. Yet these cultural visions of fulfillment often leave us more restless than before.
There is a more satisfying path. God invites us not simply to take a day off, but to be transformed to be like him through the joy, delight, and holiness of sabbath all seven days of the week.
In “The Sabbath We Need”, John and Jena Starke guide you away from the world’s anxious systems and into participation with God in his rest. This is not another book about relaxation or self-care. The biblical emphasis on sabbath rest isn’t necessarily about recovering from the week but to be set apart like the God who rested on the seventh day.
Based on their own practices as a family of six living in Manhattan, the Starkes offer a path for detachment from the world for a deeper attachment to Christ, providing hope for a culture exhausted in its search for rest. True sabbath is formation toward divine holiness and counter formation away from worldliness.
With “The Sabbath We Need”, you will discover the difference between counterfeit fulfillment and the true divine fullness of sabbath keeping;
Practical ways to make the sabbath the center of gravity for your week, reshaping your rhythms of life;
How to practice sabbath in different stages of life and in seasons of pain, success, struggle, and loss; and how to receive the gift of sabbath as God intended and practice it in a way that leads to joy, delight, and interior rest.
Choose the way of holy rest. The Sabbath We Need leads you out of worldliness and into holiness, out of anxious systems and into the heart of rest.
Layered Pages 