Published in time for Mother’s Day on May 8, Fox News anchor Shannon Bream takes #1 on our Religion Nonfiction Bestsellers list with a look at biblical motherhood in The Mothers and Daughters of the Bible Speak. The book was promoted across Fox News programs including Fox News @ Night and on the Livin the Bream podcast series, both of which are hosted by Bream. The Mothers and Daughters of the Bible Speak is a follow-up to Bream’s bestselling The Women of the Bible Speak, which takes #7 on our Religion Nonfiction Bestsellers list. It mines the biblical stories of 16 women for “wisdom and warnings for how to better navigate our own faith journeys,” according to the publisher.
Coming in at #2, Ann Voskamp’s Waymaker—a follow-up to her bestsellers The Broken Way and One Thousand Gifts—explores how life’s challenges can yield a deepened faith. The book was promoted on Voskamp’s website as well as through giveaways on Rafflecopter.
Tim Tebow’s Mission Possible debuts at #3 on the Nonfiction Religion Bestsellers following a profile of the former NFL quarterback in People magazine as well as appearances on Good Morning America, Fox and Friends, the Tamron Hall Show, and the Christian Broadcasting Network’s 700 Club. ESPN commentator Stephen Smith, country music singers Thomas Rhett Akins and Luke Bryan, and author Steven Furtick also offered blurbs for Mission Possible, which PW called “earnest and quite funny” in its review.
Meanwhile, the Mother’s Day shopping season is also driving sales for a number of books geared toward female readers, including Jennie Allen’s Find Your People (#4 in Religion Nonfiction) about friendship and Get Out of Your Head (#9) on self-doubt. Lysa TerKeurst comes in at #5 with I’ll Start Again Monday about healthy eating habits and again at #10 with Forgiving What You Can’t Forget, in which she grapples with her husband’s affair.
In Religion Fiction, Mitch Albom remains #1 with Stranger in the Lifeboat for the third consecutive month, while Francine Rivers continues her reign in the next three spots. The big screen adaptation of Rivers’ 1991 bestseller Redeeming Love continues to drive sales to the original book (#2), its movie tie-in edition (#4), and Rivers’ latest love story, The Lady’s Mine (#3).