The Inconvenient Truth About This Book

The Inconvenient Marriage of Charlotte Beck by Kathleen Y'Barbo

Athough entertaining, I would hardly call this a Christian book. The references to God and faith are few and far between, with the main character, Charlotte Beck, having the most shallow faith of all. Charlotte spends most of the book denying the need for God and believing that a person's lot in life comes from hard work. At the climax of the book, she does admit a feeble need for God, but then the remainder of the book is spent focused on the consumation of their marriage, which at times was more detailed than I felt was appropriate.

The witing was also rather extreme. Charlotte's character was over the top wild and opinionated. Alex's character, which bounced between smart businessman and dreamy, entitled stargazer, left a lot to be desired.. But the most confusing part was the storyline of Charlotte's mother, who 'disappeared' when Charlotte was young. The scene in the book where this storyline pinacles was full of holes. Even worse, the author does not fill in all the gaps, leaving the reader wondering what it was all about.

Overall, I would not recommend this book unless extremely bored and needing something to do.

I received this book for free from WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group for this review”.

An amazing story of love

Redeeming Love by Fancine Rivers

I am a huge fan of Francine Rivers, Redeeming Love being my favorite of her works. Set during the California gold rush, it is the story of a godly man, Michael Hosea, who is called by God to rescue a prostitute, Angel, and marry her. Although he does not understand why God is calling him to do this, he follows the call. As the story evolves, the power of following God's will becomes evident.

Ms. Rivers based this book on the bible book/story of Hosea and his wife Gomer. Rivers succesfully brings a biblical story into a more contemporary setting. The characters are well developed and the storyline is very well written. Reading the book, I experienced an array of emotions and felt myself pulled closer to God as his truths were revealed to me.

Some of the points I love about this book are that God loves all of us, no matter who or where we are. God is the great healer, nothing and no one is to damaged for him. Listening to God WILL lead to great reward. I also love that God shows us that he can use us to do great things as long as we listen to what he wants us to do.

I did NOT received a free copy of this book. I just loved it so much that I had to write a review.

Don't let the title fool you

Dinner with a Perfect Stranger by David Gregory

The theme of this book intrigued me. What would it be like to have dinner with Jesus? What would you talk about? What could you say to the man who knows everything about you? This book had the opportunity to really make the reader think outside the box. Unfortunately, the author failed. Jesus and the main character, Nick, have an ongoing debate on the same old arguments for Christianity we have all heard before. This book also seemed to be chocked full of cliches. Of course, Jesus knows all the right answers, and of course Jesus is able to share just enough about Nick to make him believe he really is the Christ. There were a few points that left me thinking, but reading through the drivel to get to that point was tough. I would only recommend this book to those who are new to Christianity and haven't been exposed to the Christian faith. Maybe they would gain something from it.

To comply with new regulations introduced by the Federal Trade Commission, I am required to mention that Waterbrook Multnomah Publishers has provided me with a complimentary copy of this book for review purposes. This in no way influenced my review.