Like most other bookworms, great books make their way onto my “things I’m thankful for” list every year. It’s hard to choose favorites, but I went ahead and picked five books I read in 2015 and am thankful for.

1. Trim Healthy Mama, by Serene Allison & Pearl Barrrett: How can I not love this book? I know it isn’t fiction, but life changing all the same. My husband and I have been reading this book and only following the plan 40% of the way and together we have lost 35lbs this year.
   Weight loss has been a real struggle for me since children started to come along. Back in April we finally took the kids to Disney World. It was a great time but after two hours of being in each park, I hurt from the waist down. I couldn’t walk or stand. I know we missed so much because of the pain I was in. That was when I said “I’m done”. After talking with a friend who is also a THM mama, I figured I would give it a try. It has been a total life style change and our whole family is 100x’s healthier for changing how we eat.
2. Lulu’s Cafe, by T.I. Lowe: T.I. was a new author to me this year. I had never heard of her until I happened to join one of the FB Writer groups that she is also a part of. This book was amazing. I had never felt so volatile toward a book character as I did one of her’s. My heart broke for Leah as she went through her journey. You find yourself cheering her on the whole way.
3. The Camdyn Series, by Christina Coryell: Christina is another new author to me. Our meeting is the same as with TI Lowe. This series was a blast to read. I laughed and cried and could not wait for the next thing to happen. Her characters are flawed and human, that is a breath of fresh air.
4. Past Forward, by Chautona Havig: Chautona is one of my favorite authors. I came across her work when my children were really little and her Aggie Series had some life changing bits that hooked me liken and sinker. This series is twenty- eight episodes of fun and unusual twists. I have never read anything like this and it was great for those long summer nights by the fire pit.
5. What God Brings Together, by Me: Shameless, I know, but here is why I add this story to my list. (And it isn’t for the reasons you think) When I read this book over again in February to prepare it for print, it dawned on me that this story was a reflection of my own marriage. My darling husband struggles with depression and worthlessness (Like Ryan in the story) and when his grandmother passed away six years ago, he turned off the emotion switch and became a blank shell. He pushed everyone away and just went to work and slept. At first I was so angry at him and began to treat him terably. After some time, God revealed to me that I needed to stop looking at this from my point of view and instead ffrom his. I needed to pray for him, and more importantly, forgive him. After years of prayer and healing, we are now in the best years of our lives. This story is the testimony of that time.

I don’t know about you, but I’m looking forward to another great year of reading! Speaking of more reading, here’s one more thing to be grateful for. Books on sale! In honor of Thanksgiving and Black Friday, a group of independent Christian authors banded together to offer over seventy discounted books on Nov 27-30. There’s literally something for everyone.

Every single book listed on Indie Christian Books is on sale in one or more ways. Find discounted paperbacks, dozens of books offered with free shipping, $0.99 ebooks, package deals and more. Even if you have a budget of $0, new reading material awaits you.

Don’t know what to pick? The fearless Indie Christian Books team created a quiz that will generate a book list perfect for you! Check it out!

What awesome reads of 2015 are you grateful for? What books are you looking forward to reading in 2016?

A note on the Ebooks Only page. All books are listed as “Sold Out.” This only refers to paperback copies of these titles. Please click onto the product pages to find descriptions and links to discounted or free ebooks.

Acknowledgements: Thanks to Leah E. Good for her work organizing this sale, Gloria Repp for completing the time consuming job of uploading book info to the sale website, and Hannah Mills for her fantastic design work on the website graphics. Hannah can be contacted at hmills(at)omorecollege(dot)edu for more information about her design services.