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As the editor of BibleStudyTools.com and as a Christian, I read the Bible a LOT. I have an NIV Bible, a NRSV study Bible from my college Old Testament class days, a journaling Bible for my art... but I've never had, seen, or used a Bible like this one. The arrangement of Scripture based on time is fascinating to me, especially as I become increasingly interested in the deeper stories, contexts, history, and meaning beneath the text.

This Bible feels fantastic in hand-- weighty, solid, well-made. The pages are colorful, full of incredible information, maps, art, facts, etc. I couldn't stop flipping through it when I got it in the mail, and I learned like five new things within a few minutes of reading.

There's just something so illuminating about realizing the historical context of the stories we read in the Bible, and something so exciting about putting together the pieces and the details of the greater scope of things. It really brings Scripture to life in a way that is life-changing, and I can't recommend study Bibles like this one enough for just that reason.

I can't wait to keep this Bible in my regular rotation as I study the Word-- it's such a helpful, unique, meaningful tool.

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I received this Bible from Booklook Bloggers in exchange for my honest review!

I received this one free from NetGalley in exchange for my review (which will be honest always, because that's my thing). I have mixed feelings about Chris Cleave after reading both Gold and Little Bee by him-- I LOVED Gold but really disliked Little Bee (even though everyone I know loves it). I wasn't sure what I would think of this one as a result! I'm pretty dead set in the middle on this one. It was a whole new subject matter, but still character driven more than plot. I blew this one pretty quickly, but just wasn't as enamored by any of the characters or able to connect with the storyline as well as I expected I would. It's a love triangle story at its core, and the twists and turns as they came didn't really hook me or shock me like they perhaps were intended to, and I felt like the ending fell a bit flat after how everything played out. Gold is still my favorite of Cleave's books, and the one I would most recommend!

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I received this one from Blogging For Books in exchange for my honest review, and honest review I will give! I couldn't finish this one. It wasn't that the premise wasn't interesting and unique (it was) or that the writing was bad (it wasn't) or that I wasn't interested in the plot or characters (I was)...there just was some spark missing and this one felt super slow.  I talked to someone else who listened to this one on audio and felt the same way about its slowness, sadly! It's about a man who takes a job as a missionary of sorts to an entirely new galaxy, where he meets the natives and goes to live among them, all the while trying to stay in contact with his wife back on Earth who keeps him informed of the disasters and tragedies happening back home. It's not a small book (500 pages) so once I had given it 200+ and still felt like it was dragging, I knew it was time to just let this one go. I can't tell you too much more about the plot because at halfway through, that's really all that had happened... I did flip ahead to find out how it ends though, even though I'm sure that's cheating. Oops! Not one I would highly recommend, but still an interesting read if you're willing to slug through the slowness.