This book is about birds, and grief, and faith, and family, with the pandemic featuring too. It is unique- I have never read anything quite like it.
I did find the book quite hard to read at times, but I think this was because it was very real, and I have my own grief so sometimes needed to take it slowly.
As someone who likes birds, but who lives in a different part of the world, I would have loved some illustrations or photos to be included, but this is a minor detail and I would still recommend this book to others with similar interests.

Thank-you very much to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read this.

Looking Up by author Courtney Ellis is an encouraging and inspiring book for anyone struggling with grief or trials. The pages are filled with messages of faith, nature, and purpose. Readers will be reassured of God’s love and that joy will come in the morning. I recommend this book to anyone that is mourning. It receives a 4 star rating from me. A copy was provided by NetGalley, but these are my honest words.

Thanks so much to Netgalley for allowing me an ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review!

Unfortunately, I decided to DNF this book. 😅
I was initially drawn in by the title of the book… ironically, the phrase “Looking Up” has held much significance to me, and I was intrigued by how the author describes joining bird watching with grief, hope and her journey through that.
I personally am not a bird watcher, but do enjoy nature and animals. But the bird watching knowledge just felt very foreign to me; and therefore it made it very difficult for me to feel invested in this book.
But I think any bird watcher would be interested in this book! We all deal with grief, and I do wish I read a little more on that in the portion of the book I did read.
I hope to maybe revisit this book sometime down the road, but it just wasn’t for me during this season of life.

A lovely book about faith, nature, and so much more. I've followed the author's birding adventures on social media and it's made me open my eyes even more to the beauty in my own backyard.

Thanks to Net Galley and the publisher for the complimentary digital review copy of this title.

Lovely mix of nature and faith without feeling preachy. I like the memoir style of each chapter, and that they can be read separately as needed.

This book would be wonderful to share with anyone who is grieving or even for someone who is just struggling. I found the beauty of this book is that everything has a purpose under heaven. Even Vultures. I also appreciated the author sharing that she even struggled sometimes in her faith. The biggest take away is that God is always present. We just have to slow down, listen, and look around.

An uplifting story of loss, grief, and healing through birding and faith. Inspiring!

Thanks to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for the ARC.

Opinions are mine.