Such a good read! Very Christian. What I needed right now ... so thankful to have the opportunity to read The Urgency of Slowing Down ... especially at this Christmas season. So much to do and rushing around. So important to take some moments and just thank God for the day and to look for the beauty in it and to appreciate the good and great things that have happened in the day.

There is a chapter on fasting. It is why Catholics fast at Lent. :)

Many thanks to NetGalley and Our Daily Bread Publishing for the opportunity to read the advance read copy of The Urgency of Slowing Down in exchange for an honest review. Highly recommended! Approx 248 pages.

I enjoyed this title very much. Laura Smith is a new author for me, but I found her writing fresh, insightful, and relatable. Her thoughts were practical and realistic. Although it was a “self-help” book, it pointed us to the greatest Help available—God. Deep without being boring or theoretical, this book is a keeper and one I will share.

A huge shout out to Laura L Smith and Netgalley for this ARC. Cannot recommend this book enough, this is everything my mind, body and soul needed.

I was excited to read *The Urgency of Slowing down *, gifted by NetGalley, as the premise sounded refreshing and deeply meaningful. Unfortunately, while the book had moments of brilliance, it didn’t fully meet my expectations.

The author has a gift for weaving scripture into her writing—these parts were beautifully written and truly resonated with me. When the focus shifted to Jesus and how His teachings can be applied to our lives, the book was insightful and inspiring. However, much of the content felt overly personal, centering on the author’s family and life anecdotes without enough connection to a broader, Christ-centered message.

While personal stories can enrich a faith-based book, in this case, I found they often overshadowed the spiritual depth I was hoping for. It felt more like a memoir with scattered verses rather than a guide to slowing down in a way rooted in faith.

That said, the sections focused on scripture were powerful and made the book worth finishing. I appreciated those moments of reflection, but overall, I wished the balance had been tilted more toward Jesus and less toward the author’s personal narrative.

A solid 3 stars for its potential and the beautifully written spiritual insights

I was really encouraged by reading this book,. I saw things that I was already doing to slow down and connect with Jesus, as well as things I needed to implement in my life. Challenging and encouraging all at once.

I like how personal this book feels, it's easy for the reader to connect and relate to the struggle.
I like the formatting too, how the pages are often broken with a powerful sentence and pretty graphics. One can also learn a lot about the Bible from this book in an easy and not intimidating way.
With this book, we get many opportunities for reflection and prayer, and it comes with some useful hints on how to practically slow down. Thanks to the short chapters, this book can be used as a part of daily time alone with God.

I liked the last half of it, it started very slow for me I kept getting distracted but soo soo many great notes I got. I will be rereading in the future!