Book Review- Live by Sadie Robertson with Beth Clark

A few months ago, knowing there would be some major life changes for me, friends of mine suggested that I read Live by Sadie Robertson with Beth Clark. These life changes are good changes, but they also left me confused about where my life is heading and what kinds of long term goals I should have. Knowing this, my friends knew I would feel pretty down and wanted me to have a book besides the bible to read and encourage me. Ironically, my friends’ suggestion of this book came before lock downs and quarantines from the Coronavirus/Covid-19.

Despite this, I didn’t think about reading it until May. It took me a few months to read because I wanted to process the book and dwell on the information in it, but I have finally finished the book to write a review about it.

Live is the book is the third book from Sadie Robertson, who is best known for being a member of the Robertson family who stared in the reality TV show Duck Dynasty as well as her time as a celebrity competitor on Dancing With the Stars. Live, or Live: Remain Alive, Be Alive at Specified Time, Have an Exciting or Fulfilling Life, is a Christian inspirational book focused on how to live life to the fullest in a Godly, Christian way. The book is meant for young adult women (13-16 years old) but women of all ages can read it.

Over the years I read many Christian inspirational books and many of them are not very good. They seem to miss the point of what the book is about, what point the writer is writing about, any practical advice for people who don’t belong to the writer’s church denomination, and who the book’s target audience and age group is. After reading these kinds of books for years, I stopped reading them totally out of frustration.

Because of this, when I started reading this book, I felt very hesitant about it and how it could help me. Yet, after reading the first few chapters, I found this book easy to read and the writing is focused on the subject of living a hope filled, fulfilling life. It is written in a hopeful and optimistic way without making the reader feel overwhelmed or guilty about any thoughts or mindset that contradicted what the book says.

Although the book is about living a hope filled, fulfilling, Godly life, it talks about keeping a positive attitude when the bad things that happen in life, looking for the good in life, and finding reasons to celebrate even when there seems to be nothing to celebrate. There are, of course, bible verses and bible stories to back up what is talked about in the book as well as real life stories from Sadie’s life to serve as real life examples.

I’m very happy I read this book. The book is cheerful, feminine, and has plenty of happy, optimistic photographs and graphics to keep the reading experience enjoyable and hopeful. Even though this book is targeted towards a younger audience, I enjoyed reading it and could relate to many points made in the book, especially when it comes to comparing myself to others as well as social media.

The version of the book that I read is a Walmart exclusive that includes two additional chapters that are not included in other printed versions of the book. I highly suggest that if anyone whats to read this book, try to find and buy the Walmart version before looking for it anywhere else. I really liked the additional chapters and I believe they are also needed to make the book and everything it talks about even better.

I really enjoyed reading this book and am very happy and grateful my friends suggested this book to me. Even though I started to read this book skeptically because of my previous experiences reading Christian inspirational books, I’m very happy the book is not what I expected it be. I found this book really eye opening and gave me a perspective about life and how I feel about life. This book is written for younger women, but reading it in my 30’s, and after my health problems, reminded me about how I saw life when I was in my late teens and early 20’s, before I became ill. I realized many things about my life, my mind set, and how my attitude changed because of set backs in my life. Reading this book was a breath of fresh air to remind me life does move on after serious problems and set backs, and the new direction life takes after them could be fathoms better than where it headed before them.

Well, that’s all for now! Thank you for reading!