Emily P. Freeman brings her calm, spiritual director voice to the complex questions that accompany our comings and our goings.

Freeman portrays our commitments, roles, and relationships as rooms, and sometimes, in the business of living, we manage to pass from room to room without incident. Other times, however, we get stuck, or maybe we are evicted from a “room” before we are ready to leave! Sometimes we leave one room and find ourselves in a hallway between rooms looking for clarity and closure.

How to Walk into a Room resists providing simple answers, and it gives the reader permission to ask the hard questions. What we think we want is a detailed floor plan, but maybe what we really need is a hand to hold and solid reassurance that we’re not alone in our wondering.

Many thanks to HarperOne and NetGalley for providing a copy of this book to facilitate my review, which is, of course, offered freely and with honesty.

How to Walk Into a Room offers insights and and a process of discernment for ending existing commitments and entering new ones. She's very transparent about the role of faith in her life and process, but you don't have to be a Christian to benefit from Freeman's suggestions. Freeman's selective, unsentimental detailing of personal experiences that illustrate the discernment process developed in this book was very helpful.

An excellent resource for anybody contemplating life changes-- And that means everyone, since by choice or not, change is inevitable.

4.5 stars rounded up to 5

My overarching review is that this was a good and very helpful book! I liked the metaphor of our decisions being like entering and leaving rooms. Emily P. Freeman is wise and insightful, and she writes in a unique, almost melodic style. I love that she shared her personal experiences throughout the book as examples for what she was teaching!

This book is not for the faint of heart; it has a LOT of information and was dense at times. Still, it was worth it! Buy the book and highlight it up…you’re going to need that! I definitely think I need to read this book again so I can absorb more of the information inside!

Overall, I would recommend this book, especially if you’re at a time in life where you are currently or will soon be making a decision!

*Thank you Net Galley and publishers for the advanced copy of this book!

This book took me a while to get through. It was a the story of leaving a church, but could relate to anything you need to walk away from. I think it would be a book I would go back to in a time of life transition.

If I had to describe this book in just a few words, I’d say it’s helpful, gracious, and balanced. Freeman’s faith-based self-help guide to decision making is a lovely mix of personal stories illustrating her points and clear, helpful practices for discerning when it might be time to make a change. Freeman’s role as a spiritual director shines through as she creates space for the reader to think, explore, and question. There is no dogma here. There is room for uncertainty. There are plenty of doable practices and questions to ask yourself and no unrealistic promises for how just following these ten easy steps will revolutionize your life! Instead, there is a realistic, even-keeled, yet hopeful look into our pasts, presents, and futures. I found myself journaling or highlighting and noting passages to revisit. Whether you have a decision you need to make soon or just want to expand your toolkit for listening to yourself and others, I highly recommend this title!

Thank you to HarperOne and NetGalley for the e-ARC!

It was hard for me to get into this book, although I'm interested in the topic. I think the style of writing and memoir bits did not appeal to me and I wasn't inspired to finish it this time. I will give it another try later on, perhaps.

How to Walk into a Room by Emily P Freeman is part memoir and part self-help. It's about transitions and how to walk into and out of rooms in our lives. I enjoyed The Next Right Thing and hoped this would be similar but it's different but as someone going to some transitions in my life it is a helpful book.
Thanks to NetGalley and Harper One for my review copy of this book.

Author Emily P. Freeman shares a combination of self-help advice and memoir in her newest book, How to Walk into a Room. I found many helpful things to ponder as I read through the book and applied it to my own life. The author shares parts of her own story, to give a frame of reference and how she applied each part.
As a Christian book, I was hoping for more reference to Scripture.
I did enjoy the book, though I think it should be marketed as memoir as well as Christian self-help. I've run into this with quite a few self-help books in the last year or two - going in expecting self help and getting mired down in the author's own story and my own forgotten. I was able to finish this one, though, and found it to be applicable without getting bogged down by the author's personal details.

This such a great book for how to gracefully walk through life’s changes/rooms. Emily P. Freeman is the friend that comes along side you to help you make decisions and cheers you on through this book.

I have never read a book like How to Walk into a Room, but I understood Emily Freeman’s reasoning in using this format in the book. She gives her readers advice on life and stages we all experience.
Her format of “rooms” is that we are born and that is a “room” where that stage of life is at. We move to different rooms as life continues, some we choose, and some life chooses for us. Emily’s wisdom comes when she explains how we to know when it’s time to move to a different room on our own.
Even if you are not experiencing a change in “rooms” in your life, I think this book will help you for when you do need to make a decision in which “room” you will choose. For many, it will be a book they refer to often.
I received a complimentary copy of this book thanks to HarperOne and NetGalley, but all opinions are my own.

I wish the format of the book had been different with perhaps more subheadings within chapters and the main personal story less spread out.

I do not read a ton of non-fiction, but when I do it is usually Christian non-fiction or self-help. This one felt like a combination of both. Emily P. Freeman is the ultimate guide for spiritual direction, and in her newest book (published March 12) she walks readers through the process of decision making by connecting our desires/decisions to rooms. Through practical steps and helpful analogies, Emily describes through a process of memoir-like essays, the ways that individuals can discern if they should stay or leave a situation through assessing various needs and by asking themselves certain questions. I really appreciated the author's vulnerability in this and it is safe to say that while she certainly worked through her own process of walking away from different institutions and beliefs, readers can apply that to their own life in various ways that do not necessarily have to be similar to the author's experiences.

I think this would be an excellent book to give individuals going through a transitional or adjustment period in life, or simply those who are in need of some guidance and struggling with how to make the next right decision for their lives. This felt like a gentle nudge and encouragement to be empowered in our own abilities to discern our next steps and also the power and influence of God and others in our life to assist and act as lamp posts as well. There are so many words of wisdom that I think will resonate with readers and can be helpful sources of encouragement for many.

While I rated this lower than her other books that I have, it may simply be because I was not as invested in this book at the time and may not be in the right season myself to glean that knowledge that the author has for readers. However, I think it is a good book, just not my favorite. Thank you to #NetGalley for this advanced reader's copy in exchange for an honest review. This one is out now!

How does one walk into--or out of--a room with grace and wisdom?

Like many who follow EPF, I’ve been looking forward to her latest book, How to Walk Into a Room. When I began reading the book, I realized it was a keeper, a book to reference again and again, a book to study and ponder and parse out its wisdom. For those of us who wonder if it’s time to go, or if we should stay, and how in the world can we ever decide which to do—this book is for us.

I’ve been a fan of Emily P. Freeman’s thoughtful, intellectual, spiritually grounded writing since I first discovered her books ten years ago. This one is different, certainly, but I think with its metaphor of rooms it is much more useful for different interpretations and uses in our lives.

If you know me, you know I’ve spent my whole life moving around—first within my own family of origin due to my dad’s job, then with my husband in his job as a pastor, later within the military. I joke that my teaching career is more widespread and shallow, ranging from one to five years in any given school. I am learning to embrace rather than fight this reality, as much as I am able. Sometimes it’s hard to know what to do with work, and ministry, and other opportunities that may or may not come my way. Knowing where and within which opportunities to invest time, energy, and resources is a challenge that often feels more like a struggle—even when those opportunities are good and right.

I found myself nodding and agreeing with so many different things within the pages of this book. Some answers I recognize as something I’ve tried, and others I feel like I should have tried or known already but didn’t think of it in that way before. Emily’s book reframes some of the situations we may know into the metaphor of rooms and hallways, with some personal stories and anecdotes that give us an idea of how she has skin in this game, and reinforcing our belief that her wisdom is well-earned.

I just finished the book with tears in my eyes, and I can tell you now that I will start again at the beginning and read it again, slowly, pen in hand and journal at the ready. Yes, it’s that good, and true, and helpful, and exactly “for such a time as this” for me.

I wasn't sure about this book at first, but was curious. I loved it. So much wisdom shared about how to recognize when a situation had outlined it's usefulness to you. How to let go and move on. How to start something difficult. I found this book very worthwhile and will likely look at it again

I have highlighted so many sentences. I think this is a book I will come back to over and over again when I have decisions to make about leaving or entering a room. There are lots of good reflection questions. Even if you have walked out of or into rooms without thinking much about it, this book will also help you process any emotions or thoughts you might not have considered if it was the right thing to do.

A gentle guidebook about discerning when to leave, when to stay, and when to enter new spaces, this is one you will relate to and learn from. In it, Emily shares her story of leaving her church, and while it is not a faith deconstruction memoir, she describes wrestling with trying to change the system, ultimately leaving, and making peace with theological curiosity, this "gathering without walls." I especially appreciated her chapter on self-leadership, because this process of leaving certainty and exploring the hallways requires a "well-differentiated leader who insists on being okay with or without [others'] consent." Emily is a wise and gentle leader first to herself and then to us in this practical and thoughtful book.

I adore Emily P. Freeman. Her podcast, The Next Right Thing, has been a treasure to me, and I’ve been anxiously awaiting her new book.

This book was everything I needed and then some. Emily has such a gentle way of sharing wisdom, and she brings that magic to this book tenfold. If you’ve ever struggled to discern when to make changes in your life, Emily will help. Each chapter is packed with gentle guidance, personal experiences and biblical wisdom that will help inform you in your decision making. And the great thing is that these ideas can be used to help leave any “room,” whether it be big or small or anything in between. Emily’s calm and thoughtful questions help you to ponder if and when it’s right to leave a room behind, and for someone that struggles to make decisions, I really appreciated it.

This book will be one that I treasure and will definitely be coming back to when life throws me a new room to enter.

Thank you to Emily P. Freeman, HarperOne and NetGalley for an early e-copy of the book for an honest review.

I completely missed that this book was based in Christianity but that doesn't necessarily turn me off reading a book.
I liked the author's posit that endings don't have to be sad. That this may just be a place that we shouldn't be any more. This book is really about finding those times that it's time to leave a place and head to a new one. I have read almost all of the books that Freeman references and enjoyed the way that she wove in the lessons that she had learned from each and why those stories worked with what she was trying to build in her book.

Four stars
This book comes out March 12, 2024
ARC kindly provided by HarperOne and NetGalley
Opinions are my own

Emily Freeman did it again! I love her writing and fell in love with her books after reading Simply Tuesday. This book speaks volumes to reader's about trusting God and the Spirit as it leads us through life. Whether it be rooms we must leave or rooms we must refurbish, Emily Freeman breaks down the simple next right thing for Christians to do as the move to the rhythm of their lives. This book touched my heart and gave me comfort as I move through a season of life with much change on the horizon. I believe whoever picks this book up will feel the love and comfort of Christ through Emily's words, and be encouraged as they make choices to close doors and open new ones in their life!

I love Emily Freeman's approachable writing style and would recommend if you love this book to read her other ones and listen to her Podcast "The Next Right Thing!" It's just as amazing as this book!

oooof. this one really hit me hard. emily has a way of saying the things i need to hear & still do it with such grace. walking away, staying, it’s always a complicated relationship when you don’t know how to move forward. but this is such a resource for all of us as we navigate what to do now