Homeschool Friday - The Garden, the Curtain and the Cross

Homeschool Friday is a feature here at Somewhere Only We Know that showcases books my family reads during homeschool and provides a mini-review for each.

The Garden, the Curtain and the Cross

By: Carl Laferton

Illustrated By: Catalina Echeverri

Publication: February 18, 2016 by The Good Book Company

33 pages

Genre: Children's, Picture Book, Christian, Nonfiction

Source: Personal Library

( Goodreads | Amazon )

*Note: The above link to Amazon is an affiliate links. Affiliate links support giveaways for Somewhere Only We Know readers.

Goodreads description--This picture book takes children on a journey from the garden of Eden to God's prefect new creation.

Retelling the Easter story through a Bible overview, children will discover that 'because of our sin, we can't go in' but because of Jesus' victory on the cross, an even better garden awaits us...

The Garden, The Curtain, & The Cross is a Christian children's picture book that condenses the entire story of the Bible into 33 pages. It starts with the Garden of Eden where everything was perfect and wonderful. There was nothing bad and nothing sad. And better yet, God was also there. Then Adam and Eve sinned and decided they didn't want God to be in charge. And they were kicked out of the garden. To show people they had to stay outside of the garden, God put angels in front of the garden as a big keep out sign. Now things were sometimes bad and sometimes sad. People continued to sin because they didn't want God to be in charge. And God said, "Because of your sin, you can't come in." The book states that God wanted the people to remember the wonderfulness of living with Him, so He instructed them to build a special building called His temple, where He would reside. This isn't entirely true. David had the idea to build a temple for God, and God agreed. Regardless, in the middle of the temple was a wonderful place where God was with nothing bad and nothing sad. And God told the people to put a big curtain that had pictures of angels on it as a big keep out sign. For hundreds of years, the temple curtain reminded the people that God said, "Because of your sin, you can't come in." It goes through Jesus's birth and dedication at the temple. And then discusses that because people still didn't want God to be in charge, they put Jesus to death on the cross. But Jesus had a plan. On the cross, Jesus took our sins. All the bad things we do, and all the sad things they cause, and the curtain tore. The big keep out sign was ripped up. Because Jesus died, we can go in! The book also discusses Jesus's resurrection and His invitation to everyone to come and live with Him in heaven.

That's a shortened and simplified message of the gospel of Christ. It's written in a way that young kids can understand the message. I like that the positive pages are beautifully illustrated with vivid color. Whereas, the negative or sad pages are black, white, and sepia-toned. The contrast is visually striking.

I only had minimal issues with the content of the book. The overall message was spot on. And this is an easy way to get children to hear and see that gosepl of Christ and the entire Bible message in an understandable format for their ages. The Garden, The Curtain, and The Cross gets 5 Stars from me. Have you or your child read The Garden, The Curtain, and The Cross? What did you think? Let me know!

*Edit to add: I don't worry too much about whether or not this contains the entirety of the Biblical plan of salvation or that some details aren't entirely accurate because I will be continually teaching my children through the Bible and not children's books alone the gospel message. It's not like I will be consistently referencing The Garden, the Curtain, and the Cross for my children as the message of Jesus. This is intended (on my part anyway) to be an introduction to the gospel message. My teaching will not start or stop with this book. Thus, I don't care too much about the inaccuracies, and I will take the opportunity to discuss inaccuracies with them as I feel they are ready for them.

Nothing Like the Movies - Review

Nothing Like the Movies (Better Than the Movies, # 2)

By: Lynn Painter

Publication: September 24, 2024 by Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers

448 pages

Genre: Young Adult, Contemporary

Source: Publisher via Edelweiss (Thank you!!)

( Goodreads | Amazon )

*Note: The above link to Amazon is an affiliate links. Affiliate links support giveaways for Somewhere Only We Know readers.

Goodreads description--In this highly anticipated sequel to the New York Times bestselling Better than the Movies, Wes and Liz struggle to balance their feelings for each other with the growing pains of being a college student.

For a few beautiful months, Wes had his dream girl: strong-willed girl-next-door Liz. But right as the two were about to set off to UCLA to start their freshman year together, tragedy struck. Wes was left dealing with the fallout, which ultimately meant losing Liz in the process.

Flash forward months and months later and Wes and Liz find themselves in college, together. In a healthier place now, Wes knows he broke Liz’s heart when he ended things, but he is determined to make her fall back in love with him.

Wes knows Liz better than anyone, and he has a foolproof plan to win her back with the rom-com worthy big gestures she loves. Only…Liz will have none of it. Wes has to scheme like a rom-com hero to figure out how to see her. Even worse, Liz has a new friend…a guy friend.

Still, Wes won’t give up, adapting his clever plans and going hard to get Liz’s attention and win back her affection. But after his best efforts get him nowhere, Wes is left wondering if their relationship is really over for good.

I requested Nothing Like the Movies for review without really realizing that it was the second book in a series. It took me way too long to get my hands on the first book, but I finally got it read and reviewed (Better Than the Movies). So I finally got around to reading Nothing Like the Movies.

Wes and Liz actually start Nothing Like the Movies broken up. The reader doesn't really know what happened between them. Honestly, Liz doesn't even know why Wes broke up with her. But it's been about two years since they first came to college together. We do know that Wes's dad died, and he returned home to help out for a while. But lo and behold he shows back up at UCLA and a party that Liz's roommates are hosting. Liz panics and tells him that she's dating Clark, her current best friend. Clark goes along with Liz because he has her back.

Not only is Liz still majorly into music, but she's also developed a love of photography and, more specifically, sports photography. She currently has an internship with a great mentor who has her working closely with the baseball team, for which Wes is a pitcher. This puts them in close proximity. Not to mention that Wes is determined to win Liz back, even though he likes Clark. He just doesn't see them as having chemistry, and he knows that Liz is the one for him.

Personally, I thought there was a little unnecessary drama in this book. It fits the typical book patterns that I'm used to. There's a conflict, one character decides to self-sacrifice to save the other character, but only ends up hurting themselves and the other character worse. The truth ends up coming out. I appreciated that Liz didn't just let this slide, and I liked her real-world response in wondering if this behavior would repeat itself should another conflict arise in the future. Yet, I also think that people just aren't this self-sacrificing in real life. We very often don't break up with someone else for their good. A breakup might ultimately benefit the other person, but there has to be a benefit to us as well to actually end a relationship. At least, that's been my experience in observing human nature.

Believe it or not, I didn't highlight hardly anything. This might be due to the fact that I kept switching back and forth between reading this book and listening to it on audio. Both are equally good. I will say that I was negatively impressed with the amount of cursing in Nothing Like the Movies. I don't remember there being as much of this in Better Than the Movies. Maybe that is because the characters are supposed to be older, or maybe I blocked it out in my reading of the first book. Either way, it stood out negatively to me in this book. I tend to skim over language unless it's excessive.

Nothing Like the Movies was a decent wrap-up to Wes and Liz's story. I felt like some of the conflict was forced. I mean, if there was going to be a second book, there would have to be additional conflict. But I didn't exactly find all of it to be plausible, even if I devoured the book. In the end, I'm giving Nothing Like the Movies 3.5 Stars. Have you read Nothing Like the Movies? What did you think? Let me know!

Can't Wait for An Accidental Marriage

Can't-Wait Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted by Wishful Endings to spotlight and talk about the books we're excited about that we have yet to read. Generally they're books that have yet to be released as well. It's based on Waiting on Wednesday, hosted by the fabulous Jill at Breaking the Spine. Find out more here.

An Accidental Marriage (The Gentlemen's Gamble, # ?)

By: Deborah M. Hathaway

Expected Publication: March 19, 2026 by Draft Horse Publishing

? pages

Genre: Adult, Historical Fiction

( Goodreads | Amazon )

*Note: The above link to Amazon is an affiliate links. Affiliate links support giveaways for Somewhere Only We Know readers.

Goodreads description--He expected a quick visit. He left with a wife instead.

Charles Shepherd is in no rush to marry. He's sure he'll find a wife eventually with his good looks, small fortune, and considerable charm. After all, everything always works out for him… doesn’t it?

***The Gentlemen's Gamble is a series about seven men racing to the altar in order to avoid losing a wager. Starting January, the books will release in surprise order so as not to give away who the final bachelor and loser of the wager is.***

What are you guys waiting on this week? Let me know!

We Met Like This - Review

We Met Like This

By: Kasie West

Publication: September 16, 2025 by Saturday Books

368 pages

Genre: Adult, Contemporary

Source: Publisher via NetGalley (Thank you!!)

( Goodreads | Amazon )

*Note: The above link to Amazon is an affiliate links. Affiliate links support giveaways for Somewhere Only We Know readers.

Goodreads description--Beloved author Kasie West's sparkling adult rom-com debut about a hopeless romantic falling for the one man she never expected

Can a swipe right turn into swept away?

Margot Hart is a hopeless romantic. That’s why she wants to be a literary agent—to help bring romance books to the world. It’s also why she hates dating apps with all her romance loving soul. She wants her own love story to be just as much fun as the books she reads—a mixed up coffee order, a mistaken identity. She’s not going to tell the story that she swiped right on future husband’s shirtless pic for the rest of her life.

The problem is that her most consistent relationship over the last several years is with Oliver, a guy she keeps rematching with on the apps. They’ve only been on one date and it was a disaster…well, until the make out session in the car before parting ways. But, she keeps reminding herself, a make out session does not a relationship make. And so there will not be a date two regardless of how witty their app banter is.

When Margot gets fired from her job on the same day she meets Oliver again, her life becomes a veritable shit show. Her dream career is dying right before her eyes, and Oliver thinks she’s interested in only one a repeat of the hot make out session they had three years ago so she can get him out of her system. And maybe that is all she wants from him, because she and Oliver are definitely not compatible—he doesn’t hit the snooze button, he runs five miles every morning, he reads nonfiction, and worst of all, she didn’t meet him in cute way! But in her scramble to keep her dream career alive, by opening her own agency, Oliver is there with his golden retriever energy, more steady and helpful than any man she’s ever dated. Just when she thinks she’s overcome her app bias, she realizes that maybe it’s not her who’s holding back, but him. And his reasons are more than she bargained for.

Kasie West's romantic adult debut is full of witty banter, meet cutes gone awry and, ultimately, true love.

We Met Like This is Kasie West's first adult book. She usually writes YA books with happily ever afters. I find her to be a consistent author, but when I heard she wrote an adult book, I knew I wanted to check it out. And I am so glad that I did.

I will say that We Met Like This definitely starts out with some spice and shows the reader early that this isn't the young adult they might be expecting from Kasie West. Now, I can do without spice, but I do appreciate adult characters with adult storylines. There weren't too many scenes even if there were innuendos and comments throughout the book. The language was definitely more than you will find in one of her other books. But again, I suppose this is to be expected.

Margot works as an assistant/junior literary agent. She's been at this job for over three years without moving up despite being very good at her job, working beyond the scope of her title, and being verbally promised by her boss that she will advance. She's also been looking for love in all the wrong places. She keeps settling and getting disappointed. She's looking for a meet cute, but she keeps using dating apps to try to meet people. She feels a little bit like a failure compared to her sister who has what Margot considers the perfect life. But Margot is just her own person.

Oliver and Margot start off the book in her car making out after a terrible first date. The date went wrong, but the making out is on point. Oliver wants to slow down and get to know one another, but Margot has already written him off. She decides to leave instead. Through the next three years they match on the dating apps off and on and chat a few times laughing it off that they had such a terrible first date.

For Oliver's part, he was fresh off of a break where his girlfriend cheated on him when he went on that date with Margot. Apparently that girlfriend wasn't the only one to cheat on him either, and that's created some trust issues. I could relate to Oliver in that way. He works for himself in tech. I think software engineer, coder, and maybe some other titles were mentions which could all be quite different. But in my experience, a lot of techy people are pretty well-rounded even if not all of them know how to code. (I can do some coding in the old COBOL and DYL280 languages which were way old even when I was using them. They are pretty much obsolete nowadays. And of course, I use HTML and JavaScript with my blog.) But I'm nowhere on par with my techy brother who has worked his entire career in the field in various positions.

I loved Margot and Oliver's relationship development. I did feel like the secret that was kept was pretty obvious and it was also a little annoying that this was used in the climax of the plot for the thing the characters needed to resolve. Things did resolve fairly easily, so at least there's that.

I thought Kasie West did a wonderful job with all of the side characters. From Sloane, Margot's roommate, to Audrey, Margot's sister, Margot's parents, Sloane's boyfriend, Margot's boss, and even some of her co-workers. They all seemed to be pop-off-the-page characters even when they didn't have much page time.

Favorite quote:

-“Your friends are so lucky to have you,”

We Met Like This was exactly what I needed when I read it. I was having trouble getting into a story before I picked this one up. Margot and Oliver were so fun to read. I really appreciated that the guy was almost more interested in a real relationship than the girl at first. We Met Like This gets 4.5 Stars. Have you read We Met Like This? What did you think? Let me know!

Sunday Post - 01/25/26

The Sunday Post is a weekly meme hosted by Kimba @ The Caffeinated Book Reviewer ~this meme was inspired in part by ~ In My Mailbox~ It's a chance to share News. A post to recap the past week, showcase books and things we have received and share news about what is coming up for the week on our blog.

The kids spent the night with my parents last Sunday and Monday night. Husband and I went on a date Sunday night to a local pizza restuarant and then to Walmart. It isn't a date night without a stop by the grocery store or home improvement store. Monday, I worked on making some homemade ketchup and canning it. Husband worked on our pool filter. The o-ring busted and it was leaking pretty significantly. While he had it open he decided to switch out the filter sand. Tuesday, I had a hair appointment. Just a cut. Then I went to my parents. We hung out, and I grabbed my grocery pickup order on the way home. The Big Kids had martial arts Tuesday night. Wednesday was back to school and a normal schedule. Thursday, Scout had a grooming appointment. So I had to drop him off and pick him up. We did school work. And the Big Kids had martial arts again. Friday was the best day we have had with school since starting back from after Christmas.

THE PAST WEEK

Monday: Review of We Who Will Die (Empire of Blood, # 1) by Stacia Stark (3.5 Stars)
Wednesday: Can't Wait for A Fortunate Miscalculation (The Gentlemen's Gamble, # ?) by Karen Thornell
Friday: Homeschool Friday - The Lemonade War

UPCOMING THIS WEEK:

Monday: Reivew of We Met Like This by Kasie West
Tuesday: Top Ten Tuesday?
Wednesday: Can't Wait for Wednesday
Friday: Homeschool Friday - The Garden, the Curtain, the Cross

NEW BOOKS:

A Fortunate Miscalculation (The Gentlemen's Gamble, # ?)

By: Karen Thornell

Expected Publication: March 19, 2026

252 pages

Genre: Adult, Historical Fiction

( Goodreads | Amazon )

*Note: The above link to Amazon is an affiliate links. Affiliate links support giveaways for Somewhere Only We Know readers.

Goodreads description--Andrew Langford thought his chance at love was long gone, but with the woman he once loved returned, married but needing his help, how can he manage to both win love and his childhood wager?

The Last Page

By: Katie Holt

Expected Publication: May 12, 2026 by Alcove Press

320 pages

Genre: Adult, Contemporary

Source: Publisher via Edelweiss (Thank you!!)

( Goodreads | Amazon )

*Note: The above link to Amazon is an affiliate links. Affiliate links support giveaways for Somewhere Only We Know readers.

Goodreads description--A bookseller with a dream of running her beloved bookstore vs. the owner’s out-of-touch grandson who inherits everything. Game on.

From the author of Not in My Book comes another irresistible, bookish contemporary romance.

Ella has grown up at The Last Page, a charming local bookstore in New York City where she now works. Her first kiss was in the women’s health section. A boyfriend dumped her in comedy. The owner is like a second father to her and has begun training her to take over the store. So when he unexpectedly dies and his estranged grandson is left everything in the will, Ella is devastated.

Henry doesn’t know the first thing about running a bookstore. With his aging mom back in Tennessee, he plans to stay in New York just long enough to ensure things are running smoothly and then head back home. What he never could have counted on was the beautiful, funny bookseller who loves The Last Page more than any place in the world—and who sees him as the villain who’s come to ruin her life.

But when it becomes evident that the store is in deep financial trouble and Henry and Ella are both at risk of losing everything, they have no choice but to put their differences aside and team up—despite the inconvenient chemistry blossoming between them.

Fans of Christina Lauren and Ali Hazelwood will adore this rivals-to-friends-to-lovers bookish romance!

The Mysterious Benedict Society

By: Trenton Lee Stewart

Publication: April 1, 2008 by Little, Brown Books for Young Readers

497 pages

Genre: Middle Grade, Fantasy, Mystery, Adventure

( Goodreads | Amazon - currently on sale )

*Note: The above link to Amazon is an affiliate links. Affiliate links support giveaways for Somewhere Only We Know readers.

Goodreads description--Dozens of children respond to this peculiar ad in the newspaper and are then put through a series of mind-bending tests, which readers take along with them. Only four children-two boys and two girls-succeed. Their to go on a secret mission that only the most intelligent and inventive children could complete. To accomplish it they will have to go undercover at the Learning Institute for the Very Enlightened, where the only rule is that there are no rules. But what they'll find in the hidden underground tunnels of the school is more than your average school supplies. So, if you're gifted, creative, or happen to know Morse Code, they could probably use your help.

That's it for my shelves and recaps of my past and upcoming week. What did you add to your shelves this week? Any bookish news you want to talk about? Let me know!