The daughter of a preacher, I’m no stranger to Christian fiction books. Rooms is a solid premise and a good story, but truly was a lot. It could have been shorter and been just as impactful. The story centers around the fact that worldly goods and riches should not be our focus in the world, and to gain those things is truly to lose your soul. Micah is constantly pulled between what his head it telling him and what his heart and the Lord are telling him. The difference between this book and the real world is the fact that choices made in this book had immediate consequences and impacts on the world in real time. If only that’s how it truly was in this life. But I guess that wouldn’t show faith, would it? Please don’t read my three star review as a bad book. It’s not a bad book at all. It’s a good story and worth reading, but I know I wouldn’t read it again. I would probably read this authors other books, though, to see how his writing evolves.

I requested this several years ago, I will not be reviewing it now but will try my best to review it in the future. Thank you for the opportunity.

A fun read for Christians, but if your faith differs or is shaky this may not be the book for you as the messages and the manner in which they are laid out are a bit "preachy."

I gave feedback on this title quite some time ago. It suddenly reappeared on my shelf after the addition of audiobooks. I contacted Netgalley a week ago and have heard nothing back so am getting these off my shelf this way.

I am all for a creepy cabin with rooms that contain unspeakable things, for creepy uncles sending summons letters and for psychological thrillers.
Unfortunately, this book didn't thrill me, yes there were spots that were creepier than others, but not the total creepfest I was promised.

Lives up to the reviews
Micah Taylor’s strange Uncle Archie has built him a house. But not just any house. It's a multi-million dollar mansion on Cannon Beach, on the Oregon coast. It’s literally the house of his dreams. It's also a house that tells a story—the story of Micah's life— and possibly hides a secret as well. How else could the uncle he's never met know everything about him? The catch is that the house is in the one place Micah vowed never to return, but he does.

Once in Cannon Beach, it doesn’t take long before strange things start happening. Micah’s car has an extra 16000miles on the clock. He met someone at a party, but the man doesn't remember meeting Micah. Then things get stranger when rooms start appearing in his house …

I was impressed by Rooms. It is longer than most novels I read, yet the intriguing plot and good pace meant it was easy to read and didn’t drag. There was great scene setting, and Rubart has the ability to convey a lot of information with a commendable economy of words:

“Archie was his great uncle whom he knew less than a paragraph about”

Rooms has been compared to novels such as The Shack. I haven’t read The Shack, so I can’t comment on that, but Rooms reminded me of Illusion by Frank Peretti, with shades of Sliding Doors or The Butterfly Effect in the way that seemingly small decisions can have a big impact on our lives. In terms of theme, Rooms is challenging us to choose God over the things of this world in a similar way to If I Gained the World (by Linda Nicholls), and it achieves this well.

I suspect that many of us are hiding wounds in the same way as Micah is, and these hidden wounds and secrets are affecting the choices and decisions we make on a daily basis. Most of us won't have the external push to solve those problems as Micah does in Rooms, nor, perhaps, the courage to say "have at it" to God the way Micah does, but it’s something to think about. Recommended.

Thanks to Zondervan and NetGalley for providing a free ebook for review.

This was a book that was not a good fit for me. I didn’t complete the book so I will not be rating or reviewing this title. Thank you.

Not my usual read, this book was a bit heavy in the religion. Still intriguing.

This book was a bit weird and dry for my taste, not my usual fair, it was well written enough but did not suck me in.