A Christian Romance Review / Rant
I had reservations about this book because Christian romance
seems to be persistent in painting young Christian women as one-dimensional. By one-dimensional,
I mean that they have no other desires or passions in life but to get married
and raise children. A desire that is of course, honorable and nothing to be
ashamed of wanting. But, what about creating and establishing yourself as a
fully developed and well-rounded person. Christian women should not be moping around. GET A LIFE!
The overall theme of the book was nice. Readers are
encouraged to wait on God, and to not formulate plans and then simply fit God
in like a puzzle piece. I gave the story 2 Amazon stars because of this. I also liked that the characters prayed and acknowledge their need for God's direction.
The story
focuses on two young women, Rachel and Hannah (20 somethings) in Australia. They
are college students, Rachel is to be a teacher, much to her parents
encouragement, and Hannah is an art student with no said career goals, (I guess
because all she needs is to get married).
Rachel, one of the main characters in the book, was studying
to be a teacher - which she obviously wasn't fully interested in since it was
mentioned more than once she wanted to be a stay at home wife so she wouldn't have to work anymore. She wasn't
involved in church activities (like teaching Sunday school, maybe) nor was
there any hint of her having any interests outside of dreaming up the perfect
life.
Hannah was an art student but she wasn't given any creative
depth. She was consumed by her pending engagement, which maybe is
understandable, but I felt like Hannah's character was really no different from
Rachel's character to be honest. She had nothing going on other than school. She did have a secret, which I didn’t think
was as detrimental as it was played up to be, but it smoothed over in a short
and awkward way.
Nate, Steven and Tim are 3 men in the story. Nate is the
only character that was given a history and honestly his life was the most intriguing.
He came from a troubled past, became a teen father, and became a Christian just
in time to date Rachel... wait, I mean go back to his son’s mother so they could
be a family again. Yeah, so he and Rachel were on their way to becoming a
serious couple when suddenly, his son’s mother comes up and he wants to make it
work with her...Noooo!
Why couldn’t the Christian girl have the hot sexy, guy? At
the end Rachel ends up with Steven, which isn’t bad but I’m just say’n... why
not?
Steven was described
as a short nerdy guy with a crush on Rachel. He attends church, is involved in
church activities and (gasp!) has the guts to ask a woman from church to go on
a date. Out of all the things that were unrealistic, this is proven to be one
that many single Christian women can relate to. A man, who is clearly in a
relationship with God, is asking a woman (FROM CHURCH) out on a date... YEEEEESSSSS!!
If this was real life, I would be willing to toss short and nerdy aside. A man can
always get muscles later on.
Tim is Hannah's fiancé, whom we know absolutely nothing
about. Oh wait, he is an art student
too, that’s how he and Hannah met, and they got to know each other thru a
campus Bible study group. Tim had no depth; his physical appearance wasn’t even
described. So, I made him a skinny white guy with light hair neatly combed
over. Green shirt, Khaki pants, almost like those young Mormon guys, only no
tie.
Since this book was free on Amazon, I won't complain too
much but I tend to have the same peeve about all Christian romance novels.
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