Katrina at Callapidder Days has hosted another Spring Reading Thing, which, this being the last day of spring, has come to a close. It isn’t hard to believe spring is over because it has been feeling like summer for a couple of weeks now. But spring flew by way fast.

Here is my original list:

The Restorer’s Journey by Sharon Hinck, third in the Sword of Lyric series, reviewed here.

Dawn’s Light, Restoration Series #4 by Terri Blackstock, reviewed here.

The Forbidden, The Courtship of Nellie Fisher Series #2 by Beverley Lewis, reviewed here.

Mansfield Park by Jane Austen, completing my reading of Austen’s books, reviewed here.

The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas. I’m only about 1/4 of the way through this. It was very slow-going to me at first but now it is getting intriguing.

To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee. Somehow I forgot this was on my list! 😳 I’ll put it next in the queue of things to read.

In the Best Possible Light by Beneth Peters Jones, subtitled Godly Femininity in the Twenty-first Century. I am about three chapters away from finishing it. Though every reader wouldn’t agree with every point or application, it is a good handbook for just what the subtitle says. I will probably write more about it when I am finished reading.

Then I read these that were not originally on my list, but that’s okay: I believe in flexibility on these kinds of things.

How To Say No To a Stubborn Habit (subtitled Even When You Feel Like Saying Yes) by Erwin Lutzer (which is the title of my 1994 copy: it has been republished under the title Winning the Inner War: How To Say No to a Stubborn Habit), reviewed here.

Sisterchicks Go Brit! by Robin Jones Gunn, reviewed here.

The Listener by Terri Blackstock, reviewed here.

Uncharted by Angela Hunt, reviewed here.

Only Uni, “Asian chick lit” by Camy Tang, not reviewed. I won this at a contest on Sharon Hinck’s blog: I hadn’t really been interested in it until I saw a review there. I hadn’t read the first book in the series yet, but I was able to quickly get into the dilemmas of main character Trish: dealing with an authoritative grandmother, an ex-boyfriend who won’t let go, job challenges, and the desire to regain or maintain purity after having lost it before getting her heart right with the Lord. It’s frank and very funny in places poignant in others, with a major surprise along the way. Though it was a little too slapstick in places for me (it seemed like people were frequently falling or spilling), overall I enjoyed it, especially Trish’s learning that surrender to the Lord is not just making a list of rules.

So, though I only had seven books on my original list, I ended up reading nine and am in the process of two more. I did read one other that I am still processing and have mixed emotions about, so I haven’t mentioned it yet and haven’t decided whether I will.

I don’t know if I read more with this challenge, but it did help me to be more purposeful and to actually plan on including certain books that I’ve been meaning to get to. I probably benefited most from How To Say No. It would be hard to say which one I enjoyed most — they each had things I liked about them.

And, yes, I would love a fall challenge!