The Pages of Her Life - James L. Rubart

Allison Moore's life is in turmoil; conflict with her business partner, a crisis with her mom, a brother who's been out of touch for months, she doesn't know where she's going or how she's going to get there.  She turns to prayer, and seemingly gets immediate responses, yet even those answers bring more problems, forcing her to figure out who she really is and how she's going to handle the chaos.  Along the way, she overhears a conversation in a coffee shop about a strange journal that she finds herself inexplicably drawn to.  Soon after, the coffee shop owner tells her that a man left the journal there for Allison, and she begins a strange journey of discovering herself through a journal that may be edited by angels. 

As with the previous book by this author that I read, Rooms, Pages looks at unusual ways that God might choose to communicate with us today, to draw us back to Him.  In this book, He uses a journal to call Allison's attention to who He's made her to be, and to get her to question her choices and goals in life.  She continues to doubt whether this is even possible, but when she says to her mom "'God writing in there? That's crazy.  God doesn't do things like that anymore.'" Her mom responds with "'God is the same yesterday, today and forever.  If he did it thousands of years ago, why couldn't he do it today.'"  Allison then finds herself trying to rely on the journal for specific instructions and becomes frustrated when she can't use it like a magic genie.  As she reflects on its place in her life with Richard, a mysterious friend whom she tracked down after seeing him with the journal's previous owner, she says, "'I need change in here.' Allison pointed at her chest. 'It has to be more than pretending I believe in myself.  More than positive thinking.  It has to be real.'"  She begins to see that more than God wanting to direct her life, He wants her to seek Him and make the changes that make her life more meaningful.

In general, I really enjoyed this book.  The idea of an angel speaking for God through a journal and well-placed strangers was an intriguing concept, and it was satisfying to see Allison learn and grow through the process.  There were, however, two characters whose sole purpose in the book seemed to be to frustrate Allison out of her complacency, and they were so devious and hypocritical that it raised my stress level to read their sections.  They did serve their purpose, but it's frustrating to watch a character repeatedly fall for traps that the author has clearly set up as such.  I really wanted to see them get theirs, or for them to change from Allison's persistence, but that didn't happen, and I just ended up still feeling angry at them.

I give the book 4 stars; it was well-paced, I enjoyed the secondary characters, and aside from the naivete or trustfulness of Allison and her mother towards untrustworthy characters, it was thought provoking and tied up well.

You can find The Pages of Her Life HERE.
You can find the author's site HERE.

I received a complimentary copy of this book from Thomas Nelson through NetGalley.  Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

Rooms - by James L. Rubart

Micah Taylor is an incredibly talented and wealthy software company owner in Seattle, or at least, that's what he is when he receives a letter from his Great Uncle Archie.  A great uncle who has been dead for several years, and whom Micah has, to his knowledge, never met.  Weirder still is that Archie has left Micah a house on the Oregon Coast, the same coast where as a child, Micah created both happy memories, and the worst memory of his life.  When he goes to Oregon to inspect the house, ostensibly to put it up for sale and to return to his life in Seattle, he finds the house to have been created to his exact taste and preferences.  He is drawn to the house, and even when strange things start to happen in the house, and his life seems to be shifting out of balance, his search for himself and God within him keep him going back and digging deeper to see what his life is meant to be.

This book was a bit strange for me; not necessarily the content - the idea of God working through a shifting house and an inexplicable timeline is not out of the realm of possibility, but it was just a tough story for me to get through.  Instead of being eager to see Micah change and grow and realize the path God had for him, I found myself irritated at Micah and his reluctance to seek the whole truth at each step.  I can't even pinpoint why the book didn't connect with me.  Maybe there were too many back and forths for the story's continuity, or maybe it felt like too many chances for Micah to pick the right one.  Micah's girlfriend Sarah confronts him with "God gives only two choices; hot and cold.  Living in a world of lukewarm gets you spit out," and yet Micah continues to waver between his two lives and separate worlds, trying to find a way to have both.

Overall, I give this book 3 stars.  I didn't find it to be a bad book, I just didn't think it a great book. Even still, we can take Micah's story as a lesson to not be lukewarm in our own lives, and to not try to live in two worlds of our own.

You can find the book and an excerpt HERE.

I received a copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for my honest review.