About the Book
They’ve been stripped of everything but a refurbished bus and each other. And it may be the best thing that’s ever happened to them.
Jacob Murphy always felt like the invisible brother, until he fell in love with and married the woman who’d dated his younger brother. Then he became the despised brother. Driven to prove himself worthy of respect, he gambled everything on becoming the successful brother, but with his property speculation business falling apart, he’s ready to admit defeat. He’s lost nearly every worldly good, and after years of disappointments and heartache, it looks like his marriage is about to go the same way.
Kate Murphy lied her way out of life in a trailer park—a life she felt both trapped in and ashamed of. Only Jacob knows the truth about her background. But keeping up appearances has strangled her life and relationships, and even her marriage is troubled. In desperation, she makes a plan to escape from it all—ironically, in a skoolie. But there’s still a tender place in her heart for the man she married, and in a moment of compassion, she offers to take Jacob with her.
Stripped of pride and pretension and struggling to adjust to their new 160-square-foot mobile lifestyle, Jacob and Kate are forced to confront the deception, hurt, and loneliness that have plagued them both. Will their strained circumstances be the death knell for their marriage, or will they allow humility to usher in the healing they need to rebuild?
This Life is a tender love story of second chances in marriage, of romance, and of redemption.
Excerpt
Jacob stared at the notice in his hand.
Foreclosure.
Reading that word caused a bleak sound in his mind—that like a heavy door closing. The hard boom resounded through his imagination. Not the first time. This was his fifth of such letters, four of them for investment properties. Investment properties that had proven a disaster—he was upside down on the loans, and the flips he’d promised Kate would be “easy money” weren’t anywhere close to being done. The fifth notice had been for the very place where he was right then—the downtown luxury condo he and Kate called home.
That didn’t even account for the notices of repossession he’d opened yesterday. One for his truck and the other for Kate’s Land Rover.
His hand quivered, the latest letter condemning him as the ultimate failure rattling between his fingers. As his breath caught hard, his vision blurred and his knees buckled. The Ethan Allen leather sofa broke his tumble to the ground—the furniture being something else he didn’t actually own.
All of it was going to go. Every. Last. Thing.
Jacob Murphy stood on the precipice of losing everything. His quest for respect proving catastrophic.
Shutting his eyes and not finding any comfort in the black abyss there, he fought to control his breathing, to regulate the hard, fast hammering of his heart. It’s all going to go. I’ll have nothing.
That thought barely processed before he pictured his wife.
Katie.
His chest squeezed so hard he would bellow out in excruciating pain if he could draw the air to do so. He couldn’t. The agony was like the vice grip of a cruel near-death strangle, and Jacob writhed against the leather beneath him, clutching his head.
Katie…
He’d lose her too. There was no way to stop it.
Review
One of the things I love about Jennifer Rodewald’s stories is that they’re not just about two people falling in love; they’re about two people learning how to make a relationship work. And this book really exemplifies that. Falling in love is often the easy part of a relationship, and to a certain extent, that was Kate and Jacob’s story in the beginning. But their circumstances and the way they presented themselves to everyone else laid a shaky foundation for their relationship, and things only spiralled down from there.
Having read this series from the beginning, it’s been obvious that all was not well in Kate and Jacob’s world, but they haven’t exactly inspired sympathy before now. Nothing short of hitting rock bottom could have turned this couple around, and while they really did bring that brokenness upon themselves, I found myself rooting for them from the beginning of this story—rooting for them to find their way out of the mess they were in and rooting for them to find their way not just back to each other but out of the shame and insecurity had been driving them for so many years.
Rodewald excels at inviting readers into each step along her characters’ journeys—emotional, spiritual, and physical in this case. And she excels at bringing them home, often through unexpected but meaningful twists and turns. If you’re looking for romance that really settles into your heart and expands your understanding of how God works all things for the good of those who love him—even those who have wandered and become lost—then Jennifer Rodewald needs to be on your must-read list.
I received a copy of this novel from the author. This has not influenced the content of my review, which is my honest and unbiased opinion.
Previous Books in the Series
About the Author
Jennifer Rodewald/J. Rodes lives on the wide plains somewhere near the middle of Nowhere. A coffee addict, pickleball enthusiast, and storyteller, she also wears the hats of mom, teacher, and friend. Mostly, she loves Jesus and wants to see others fall in love with Him too.
Connect with Jen: Website | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram
Thank you, dear Katie. This is such a touching review.
Always a pleasure. And always true!
I really need to read these books! I think most of them are waiting in my Kindle. Must. Read. Faster!
The struggle is real!