Bloggin' 'bout Books: 03/28/17

2025 Literary Escapes Challenge

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Sweet Is the Work Offers Inspiring Lessons from Early Sister Missionaries (With a Giveaway!)

1:00 AM

(Image from Barnes & Noble)

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is well known for sending missionaries to all corners of the globe to teach people the Gospel. The majority of these missionaries have—historically—been young men. However, many "senior" couples also serve as do thousands of young women. When did the Church start extending official mission calls to women? Although many women served as unofficial missionaries (most as companions to their husbands) before then, the first female called to be a full-time proselyting missionary was set apart all the way back in 1898. I had never heard of Amanda "Inez" Knight, who earned a place in LDS history by accepting this historical call.

When Breanna Olaveson heard about Knight and other early sister missionaries, she knew she wanted to write about these courageous and faithful women. Her new book, Sweet Is the Work: Lessons From the First Sister Missionaries, tells the stories of twelve women who left their homes to serve the Lord in the mission field. They endured sickness, mob violence, anxiety, the deaths of children, and many other afflictions in order to bring the Gospel to far-flung nations. Their tales are fascinating as well as inspiring. Sweet Is the Work is a slim volume, so Olaveson doesn't go into a lot of depth on any of the women, which is unfortunate. While I always appreciate a nice, quick read, I did want a little more substance out of this book. Still, it provides an interesting peek into a piece of Church history that I knew little about. Anyone with an interest in LDS missionary work will find it a worthwhile read. I know I did.

(Readalikes: Reminded me a little of At the Pulpit: 185 Years of Discourses by Latter-day Saint Women by Jennifer Reeder and Kate Holbrook, eds.)

Grade:

If this were a movie, it would be rated:

To the FTC, with love: I received a finished copy of Sweet Is the Work from the generous folks at Covenant Communications. Thank you!

Interested in more opinions about Sweet Is the Work? Follow along on the book's blog tour:

Schedule:

*March 27th: http://heidi-reads.blogspot.com/

*March 28th: http://mybookaday.blogspot.com/, http://www.blogginboutbooks.com/

*March 29th: http://ldswritermom.blogspot.com/, http://sweetlymadejustforyou.com/

*March 30th: http://lisaisabookworm.blogspot.com/, http://ldsandlovinit.blogspot.com/, http://thethingsilovemost.com/, http://fireandicereads.com/

*March 31st: http://www.singinglibrarianbooks.com/

For a chance to win your own copy of Sweet Is the Work, plus a $25 Amazon gift card, fill out the Rafflecopter below. Good luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Books Read in 2025 (asterisks denote favorites)

1. Coram House by Bailey Seybolt (Jan)
2. She Doesn't Have a Clue by Jenny Elder Moke (Jan)
3. My Salty Mary by Brodi Ashton, Cynthia Hand, and Jodi Meadows* [audio] (Jan)
4. The Echoes by Jess Montgomery (Jan)
5. The Highgate Cemetery Murder by Irina Shapiro (Jan)
6. Barbacoa, Bomba, and Betrayal by Raquel V. Reyes (Jan)
7. Murder at Chateau sur Mer by Alyssa Maxwell (Jan)
8. Away by Megan E. Freeman (Jan)
9. Unsinkable by Jenni L. Walsh [audio] (Jan)
10. A Golden Grave by Erin Lindsey* (Jan)
11. All Over the Map by Lanie Jacobs (Jan)
12. Stranded by Nikki Shannon Smith (Jan)
13. Elementary, She Read by Vicki Delany [audio] (Jan)
14. The Souls of Lost Lake by Jaime Jo Wright (Jan)
15. How to Book a Murder by Cynthia Kuhn (Jan)
16. A Dream of Death by Connie Berry (Jan)
17. The In-Between: Unforgettable Encounters During Life's Final Moments by Hadley Vlahos, RN* (Jan)
18. Red River Road by Anna Downes [audio] (Jan)
19. Janitors School of Garbage by Tyler Whitesides (Feb)
20. Something in the Walls by Daisy Pearce (Feb)
21. Janitors School of Garbage: Trials of the Trash by Tyler Whitesides (Feb)
22. The Brightwood Code by Monica Hesse [audio] (Feb)
23. A Legacy of Murder by Connie Berry (Feb)
24. The Crash by Freida McFadden (Feb)
25. To Catch a Storm by Mindy Mejia (Feb)
26. Murder in Miniature by Katie Tietjen (Feb)
27. A World of Hurt by Mindy Mejia (Feb)
28. If Walls Could Talk by Juliet Blackwell (Feb)
29. Finlay Donovan Is Killing It by Elle Cosimano [audio] (Feb)
30. Wool by Hugh Howey (Feb)
31. Shift by Hugh Howey (Feb)
32. Two Parts Sugar, One Part Murder by Valerie Burns [audio] (Mar)
33. The Treasure Hunters Club by Tom Ryan (Mar)
34. Last Light Over Galveston by Jennifer L. Wright (Mar)
35. Murder on the Page by Daryl Wood Gerber (Mar)
36. The Housemaid by Freida McFadden (Mar)
37. The Housemaid's Secret by Freida McFadden (Mar)
38. The Last Lifeboat by Hazel Gaynor [audio] (Mar)
39. You Belong Here by Megan Miranda (Mar)
40. Asylum Hotel by Juliet Blackwell (Mar)
41. The Mother-in-Law by Sally Hepworth* [audio] (Mar)
42. Reconnected: How 7 Screen-Free Weeks With Monks and Amish Farmers helped Me Recover the Lost Art of Being Human by Carlos Whittaker (Mar)
43. Famous Last Words by Gillian McAllister (Mar)
44. Vera Wong's Unsolicited Advice for Murderers by Jesse Q. Sutanto* (Apr)
45. Her Last Flight by Beatriz Williams (Apr)
46. The Wind Called My Name by Mary Louise Sanchez (Apr)
47. What Happened to Nina? by Dervla McTiernan (Apr)
48. The Younger Wife by Sally Hepworth [audio] (Apr)
49. That Last Carolina Summer by Karen White (Apr)
50. A Pie to Die For by Gretchen Rue (Apr)
51. The Raven Thief by Gigi Pandian (Apr)
52. The Boxcar Librarian by Brianna Labuskes (Apr)
53. Cold As Hell by Kelley Armstrong* [audio] (Apr)
54. Murder Runs in the Family by Tamara Berry (Apr)
55. The Housemaid is Watching by Freida McFadden (Apr)
56. Petals and Poison by Jess Dylan [audio] (Apr)
57. It Happened on the Lake by Lisa Jackson (Apr)
58. The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah* [re-read] (May)
59. Outside by Jennifer L. Holm (May)
60. You Are Here: Connecting Flights by various authors, edited by Ellen Oh (May)
61. The Silver Shooter by Erin Lindsey* (May)
62. The Art of Betrayal by Connie Berry* (May)
63. The Secret Room by Jane Casey* (May)
64. The Sasquatch of Hawthorne Elementary by K.B. Jackson (May)
65. The Sasquatch of Harriman Lake by K.B. Jackson (May)

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Sweet Is the Work Offers Inspiring Lessons from Early Sister Missionaries (With a Giveaway!)

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Books Read in 2025 (asterisks denote favorites)