Tuesday, April 29, 2008

Serials and Scenarios - Trish Ryan HE LOVES ME, HE LOVES ME NOT


Click on the book cover for more info, and here to visit Trish Ryan's site. Hmm. I tried to match the toad's lipstick. I think I got it.


Here's my review of this engaging book.


HE LOVES ME, HE LOVES ME NOT is a well-written and engaging memoir along the lines of those penned by Donald Miller, and reminding me very much of Lauren Winner's Girl Meets God.

Trish Ryan lays out her journey from stars and crystals to a tentative step forward, three-step- back, and final two-handed grasp of the truth of Jesus as her source of spiritual fulfillment. The road is winding and full of poetic sarcasm and sweet, struggling surrender.

Miller fans, women who despair of finding that perfect Christian man, those on the brink of a spiritual journey, or ones beaten down by religion and empty promises may find soul-balm in this book. Baby-steppers in Jesus, wheel-spinners, spiritual quicksand dwellers and ditch rollers may find fresh air and relief from the struggle in the truths that Trish discovered while wrestling spirituality.

However, warning to the sensitive. Trish is transparently generous with her thoughts and not all will please more conservative readers. Trish has embraced freedom in Christ and though I highly recommend and sometimes long for that path, my Baptist upbringing cautions me far too often. So, if you are easily offended by the idea of a Christian drinking alcohol or sharing thoughts that wouldn't pass the prim Sunday School teacher appropriateness test....do yourself a favor and don't go there. Because, if you do go there you are going to not glean the truth from the book but get hung up in the details.

Sensitive parents will also want to review the book before allowing OLDER teens to read it because Trish delves into dysfunctional relationships, including her own issues.

The chapters covering Trish's growth into wife material really should be must-reading for all females who love Jesus and want a husband real bad.