The Living Room Series is a two-part series beginning with No Other Gods and continuing in Ruth: Loss, Love & Legacy. (For more information, please refer to Kelly’s website at Kellyminter.com.)

I recently read the Loss, Love & Legacy part of the series. I started it not realizing I was starting in the middle of the series, but I do not think it had any affect on what I gleaned from it.  This book is a study designed for a group to do together.

It is about the book of Ruth from the Bible. You follow Ruth, the main character, along with Kelly through a number of modern-day life changes.   It is set up for the reader to identify and witness God’s work in her life and in their own.  Ruth got married, left home with her mother-in-law after the death of her husband, and found a redeemer in a foreign land.

This book was written to correlate with Kelly’s life and problems as well.  She does a thorough job including scripture to support background and historical information and references other writer’s opinions with detailed inclusion in each chapter.

There is new information that I had never heard before so I enjoyed learning more history and understanding of the culture in Ruth’s time.   It helped me as a reader understand what Ruth was dealing with and why things were a big deal for her. For instance, women of the time were expected to bear children and since all her male relations died leaving her childless, her life could have felt meaningless or wasted.

Minter uses humor to break tension. In chapter three she describes what Naomi (mother-in-law to Ruth) told Ruth to try and get her to leave her alone.

The author used her own translation of it adding a humorous tone to break any tension for the reader in case a feeling of rejection was becoming too real.

In every chapter Minter takes the passages and relates them to her own life, giving real examples of herself or someone she knows.   This helps make the story personal, which in turn helps the heart to open to what she is trying to convey.

Throughout every study there is a “personal response” section that gives the reader the option of making this study as personal as they want to make it.   As is true with anything, one only gets out as much as they want out of something as they are willing to put into trying.

Another thing I like is the recipes she included after every “session”. They are included to help make bible studies more personal, inviting, and fun.   Although I have not tried any yet, they look and sound amazing.

At the end of the book is a “leader's guide” section for a group bible study providing structured questions to facilitate dialogue.  It also includes a menu and playlist off her CD that is also entitled Loss, Love & Legacy.    

This book would make an excellent book study focus, particularly for women.  

My favorite session is session two. To find out why, you’ll just have to read it.