Book Review - Divine Appointments

Divine Appointments
by Charlene Ann Baumbich

This is the story of a 40 something business consultant named Josie who is going through menopause and starting to re-think her loner lifestyle. Josie is not the only main character. Several other people who work at the company Josie is helping to streamline during the hard economic times in 2009 are also featured prominently. Lyle is a Vice President who has left a career in non-profit
work to work at Diamond Mutual, Barb is a department manager of 20 years and nearing retirement, and Marsha is one of Barb's department workers who is getting over a divorce by focusing her anger into writing a science fiction novel.

I was disappointed at how little mention of anything Christian there was in the book. Barb is a Christian and prays for her co-workers who are loosing their jobs. She starts Encouragement Meetings for them to help them deal with being laid off and find new jobs. I would have loved to read more about these meetings and how she might have helped others find faith. Instead prayer is only mentioned briefly and too much space is taken up with selections from Marsha's bad
science fiction book. I tried to read a few of these and ended up skimming or skipping them. Josie is always thirsty and has a magic snow globe that comes to life whenever she has done something in her life to quench her thirst for friends and family. This was just odd to have a fantasy taking place in one person's life while there is such a clear division between another character's real life and the fantasy she writes in her novel.

The book starts out very slow with a lot of description about what people are doing and what they are thinking about. It picked up once the layoffs started and the Encouragement group was founded. Josie's life changes very quickly after this, almost too quickly. I never did warm to her character and enjoyed the stories of how the other Diamond Mutual workers dealt with being laid off more.

To comply with regulations by the Federal Trade Commission, please note that Waterbrook Multnomah Publishers has provided me with a complimentary copy of this book for review purposes. I received this book for free from WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group for this review.