The initial premise is good but the book quickly becomes repetitive and there are several inaccuracies that I found distracting. For example, at one point, the author asserts that there was a point in Christ’s life when He “realized and accepted that He was the Son of God,” which has no scriptural basis and with which I take issue. She also seems to forget that Jesus is God in some of her suppositions in an apparent effort to make His “hidden years” more relatable.

The prologue and chapter 1 are the best parts of this book and the inspirational ideas and analogies presented therein (icebergs and winter-bare trees that reveal infrastructure) are not original to the author. I’d say skip this one or read it with your discernment hat on and be ready to fact-check a few things with your Bible, lexicon, and perhaps Blue Letter Bible on hand. ( )

Once in a while I find a book that cuts right to the quick, for various reasons. In fiction, these are stories that are tight and succeed on every level, real literary masterpieces. In nonfiction, these are books that are me, my life and my issues, that make me feel like the author was writing directly to me. This book was one of the latter.

Chole is a Christian, and she is writing about those times in life when we feel undervalued or unappreciated. She makes a corollary with Jesus' life, and the fact that Jesus spent so much of his time overlooked by the world around him before His ministry began. Even though I technically knew this, I never really considered before how little of Jesus' history is recorded. Most of the Bible focuses on just a few years of his life, the last few, with only a smattering of childhood stories given beforehand. All that time that goes unrecorded is what she refers to as the hidden years, and if Jesus benefited from them, we will, too.

The format of the book is divided thematically, as Chole takes us back to the temptation story. Chole points out that this episode was Jesus' entry into His ministry, and be observing how he responds to Satan we learn about the character God grew in Jesus during his hidden years. The content is divided into sections, each one focused on a particular temptation by the enemy, followed by Jesus' response and what this teaches us about our walk with God, what characteristics we need to withstand these temptations. These are the characteristics that God grows in us when we enter our own hidden years.

This book affected me for several reasons. First of all, I'm a recent stay at home mom. Despite the fact that respect has grown tremendously for stay at home parents in past years, that doesn't change the fact that when you make the move, you go off the radar, so to speak. Try to have conversations with people when you take career out of the dialogue pool. I definitely feel like I've entered my own hidden years.

More than that, though, the temptations that she writes about struck home. The desire for fame or attention, the desire to obey short term gratifications that are harmful in the long term, and the desire for power. People struggle with these, right? Because I do. Some more than others. She applies them all to modern day life, and she writes with clarity and concision about what we can do to fight them. I know that I want to defy these temptations, just as my lord Jesus did, and I was both convicted and encouraged by reading this book. It is one that I will read again, and hope to better my life through the lessons that are contained in it. ( )