Couples Who Pray by Squire Rushnell and Louise DuArt

The title of this book "Couples Who Pray: The Most Intimate Act Between a Man and a Woman" had me highly intrigued and excited about reading it. Unfortunately the book did not live up to my expectations.  The book encourages couples to take the "40 Day Prayer Challenge" and gives many real life examples of what prayer in a couple's relationship can accomplish. The testimonies of the couples taking the challenge were entertaining and added to the enjoyability of reading the book; however, most of the couples who share their stories are easily recognizable celebrities whose accomplishments are well noted in the introduction of the book. Personally, I would have been better able to relate to unrecognizable couples who come from main stream society.

The book lacked the depth I was looking for - while it had lots of wonderful tips and ideas for creating a happy marriage they were merely touched on rather than explored to the extent I was hoping for.  The book covers a broad range of subjects some of which  left me with a feeling of disjointedness, as in my opinion, they did not really relate to the subject of the book. I would have preferred going deeper into some of the core issues and maybe leaving the "extras" for a different book.

While the 40 Day Prayer Challenge sounds like an excellent idea to me, I question whether or not prayer was being encouraged for the right reasons.  It seemed that it was being presented as the means to an end, one of personal gain - a better marriage, better finances, etc. - rather than as a special time set aside to go before our Creator with our spouse for His glory and our enlightenment.

I received this book free from the publisher through the BookSneeze®.com book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own.