Rosebud Blooming Book Review

I originally reviewed Rosebud Blooming: Hurting to Healing in His Timing by Nancy Maggio on my old blog but I'm bringing over that content to this new blog. Here is the review I originally wrote.

Life is full of challenges and difficult times that can test anyone's faith. In this book, Nancy describes the journey she took through her own personal challenges. Nancy tells the story of how she found God after making her way through some of life's challenges and how that faith was tested later in her life with more difficult times. This book is set up as a collection of short stories and poems.
Though I don't usually read religious books, I do enjoy memoirs and I am trying to expand my horizons. I really wanted to love this book but I didn't. It started off well enough with a story from her childhood that literally gave me chills and made me wish I had a faith as strong as she had as a child.From there I would say that it went down hill. The poems seemed amateurish, which doesn't necessarily make them bad as they did make the points the author was trying to make. There were a few times while reading that I found myself contemplating putting the book down and not picking it back up because there were viewpoints expressed which I vehemently disagree with, namely the author's view of homosexuality as something to be "cured". But I kept reading because the whole point was to expose myself to viewpoints that are different from my own.All in all the stories were good and I could appreciate how the author's faith helped her overcome obstacles and heal physical injuries but it felt more like I was reading someone's diary than an actual book. It was enjoyable but not so much that I'd feel the need to read anything else by this author in the future if she publishes further works.

I would edit this review to say that I have now begun to read many more religious books as a part of my journey as a new Christian. I would also add that though I still strongly disagree with some of the author's views, I enjoy exposing myself to differing viewpoints and this was definitely different. Though it was unpolished writing, sometimes that makes for very interesting reading.