The Secret Life of Becky Miller by Sharon Hinck Published by: Bethany House Publishers (2006) 304 pages Rating: 9/10 Buy it Now:    Also by Sharon Hinck: Renovating Becky Miller The Restorer The Restorer's Son The Restorer's Journey

Every once in a while, a book comes along that can only be described as "a pleasant surprise." This is definitely such a book. When I picked it up, I had no idea what I would be getting into. (You probably don't, either, even after reading the back cover.) Was this going to be another one of those "chick-lit" books that are fun, but hard for a male reader to identify with, full of "girl talk" and such?

The heroine of our story is Becky Miller, ordinary mother of three, wife, student, women's ministry organizer and daydreamer par excellence. Each chapter of Becky's story begins with such a daydream, in which she imagines herself taking on ninjas, flying through the air with a cape, speaking truth to millions, feeding the world's hungry, and much more. Back in the real world, Becky has to deal with family medical emergencies, her husband's sudden loss of employment, and much more.

As I started reading, I found myself laughing out loud at numerous occasions early on, prompting my wife to wonder if I was reading a new comedy novel. In actuality, I was laughing because the scenes with Becky's family were so incredibly familiar. This is real life, true stories adapted into fiction. And it's great, great stuff.

It would be easy to classify this as another "Job" type story to tell Christians how to deal with suffering. And in a sense, that's part of it. But making it much better, and much more refreshing is the fact that this feels REAL. There's a sense of standing around, watching a real family interact, watching real people deal with trials and tribulations. All of Becky's problems do not get resolved in one neat, predictable climax that happens to tie them all together. Yes, there's a happy ending, but it's not the cliche that would quite often occur at the end of such stories. And along the way, she has to deal with Christian friends telling her the same old stuff that everyone is tired of hearing.

The daydream sequence at the beginning of each chapter actually wears thin later in the book, not because they aren't enjoyable, but because the main storyline has become so interesting that the daydreams come as an interruption to the "good stuff." The schtick could have been dropped for part of the book and it would have flowed better.

Sharon Hinck has an excellet debut novel here. If this is only the beginning, I can't wait to see what's next. Highly Recommended.