Never the Bride by Cheryl McKay and Rene Gutteridge

Wow!  I'm not even sure where to begin.  I read this book in 4 days time, which is pretty quick for me right now.  Overall, I really enjoyed the story.  Cheryl McKay's characters honed into book format with Rene Gutteridge's help made for an interesting and thought-provoking story on many levels.  In the story, we meet Jessie Stone and follow her through life's misadventures and human assumptions.  She is thirty-four, single, longing for the man of her dreams, wanting her love story to finally happen.  She has tried all the avenues that most of us (until recently maybe) wouldn't try.  She's going through life on her terms without considering what God might want for her.  She is the ultimate romantic (hopeless or otherwise) and everybody who knows her knows this about her.  What is a woman to do when a mysterious man shows up in her life; a man who says that he's God.  This presents many interesting situations for Jessie as she talks to someone that only she can see, etc.  The story has twists and turns as does life when we try to follow our format for it and not the format (path) picked out for us by our Creator.  Many good characters, fun scenarios, and great details.
I have a problem or two or more with this story.  Normally, I try very hard to be very positive when I write my reviews, but I struggle to do that with some parts of this book.  I guess my trouble comes from the fact that I want all Christian fiction to be entirely Christian.  Not to say that Christians don't have their stumbling blocks (myself included).  The issues for me from this book are Jessie's sister (who has lived with one guy after another for some time now), Jessie's decision to move in with someone, Jessie's need to get drunk, and even Blake's shallowness when it comes to women.  The other thing that bothers me is that Jessie hasn't had a relationship with God for years, if ever.  At one point, we find out that she hasn't set foot in a church in 14 years or so, yet God comes into her life to write her love story.  I guess for me the state of one's heart in terms of their relationship with Christ is more pressing, but maybe I'm missing the purpose of this story or overanalyzing it when that much analysis was never what the authors wanted.  I believe truly that God wants to be involved in every aspect of our lives.  He loves His children (His creation) and wants to be involved in us, but we have a tendency to limit His involvement.  Truly, I believe this saddens Him.  So, from that point of view, I can see where the authors want us to see that God truly is concerned for us, wants to guide us, counsel us, reprimand us, praise us, enjoy us, etc.  I find that there is so much more that I could say about this story, but I don't want to tear about what really was an entertaining, fun, unique story full of interesting characters with human aspects we can each certainly relate to.  I did find the book funny, intriguing, and hard to put down.  Check it out and tell me what you think.

Disclaimer: This book was provided free for review by WaterBrook Press.