Becoming Us Book Review

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Becoming Us is the first book in the Haven Maker Series by Robin Jones Gunn, author of the well known Christy Miller Series. I devoured the Christy Miller books in high school and was excited to know that Robing was releasing Becoming Us which features Christy as an adult. The main character in Becoming Us is a young wife and mom named Emily who moves to Southern California from the East Coast.

Emily and her husband Trevor experience a season of transition as they seek to establish their roots and remove themselves from the shadow of Trevor’s domineering family. While living in California, Emily becomes friends with Christy Miller and her friend group which includes Jennalynn, Sierra, and Tracy.

Life takes an interesting turn when Trevor’s job in California ends up not being all that they expected it to be. Emily and Trevor wrestle through whether or not they should move back to their hometown where life is familiar and there is a guarantee of a job for Trevor. While Trevor considers committing to what’s comfortable, Emily finds herself growing closer to her new circle of friends as she shares with them some hard things she’s experienced in her past.

Overall, I enjoyed Becoming Us. I love that Robin Jones Gunn produces fiction that is lighthearted and encouraging but there were some aspects of Becoming Us that I wasn’t particularly fond of. I felt that the book was a bit lengthy. Also, there is a part toward the end of the book in which Emily and Trevor’s daughter is about to have her first menstrual period so Emily and her friends throw a party for her to celebrate. I thought this idea was a little odd and were it a normal, non-fictional celebration, I would opt out of participating.

I did appreciate that there were many aspects of the book in which I could relate to Emily as a wife and mom, but this wasn’t one of them. I did enjoy reading about how the main characters had to work through conflict in their marriage. I believe this side of marriage is often glossed over especially in Christian fiction. I really appreciated how the characters worked together to seek God’s will in the tough decisions they had to make. Much of what Emily and Trevor had to work through as they trusted God in their marriage reminded me of similar instances in my marriage.

I received Becoming Us compliments of WaterbrookMultnomah in exchange for my honest review.