Embracing Your Second Calling - Book Review

I have had this book waiting to be read and reviewed for months.  I started it twice; it finally happened today, while I was home with a bum knee. I was very interested in reading this book since the title practically screamed at me, "This is for you!"  But after reading the book, it sort of says, "hmmm, maybe not for you after all."

The book begins with great promise, laying the foundation of Dale Hanson Bourke's life up to now.  She talks about approaching middle age and realizing that what satisfied her in the past, namely her career and accomplishments, no longer mattered as much.  She wanted to make a difference.  So she retired, a few times.  Like me, it took her a few times to really figure out what God wanted from her.  And while she admits her struggles, doors open for her in ways they do not for most people.  A few times she admitted that she had more options than most and I think she focused on herself too much.
The book is filled with great quotes, thoughts to ponder, and stories.  The personal stories though, are what turned me off a bit.  Most women embracing our second calling are not going to Africa, sitting on the board of World Vision, or becoming an AIDS activist.  I wished Bourke would have used more examples of ordinary women. 
I appreciated Bourke's honesty about her struggles with prayer and growing older.  To me, the book was more an autobiography than a way to get some advice as to how to get over this hurdle of learning what my second calling is going to be.  The examples were more distracting than helpful, though they certainly speak volumes of God's plan for us.
What I did pick up from the book though is that prayer is most important and that the past is over.  We can learn from our past, but we should not dwell there.
I received this book from Thomas Nelson publisher's as part of the booksneeze review program. I was not required to write a positive review.