Monday, June 15, 2009

Never the Bride by Cheryl McKay & Rene Gutteridge

Jessie Stone has spent thirty-five years fantasizing about marriage proposals, wedding dresses, and falling in love.  She’s been a bridesmaid eleven times, waved dozens of couples off to sunny honeymoons, and shopped in more department stores for half-price fondue pots than she cares to remember.

But shopping in the love-of-her-life department hasn't been quite as productive.  The man she thought she would marry cheated on her.  The crush she has on her best friend Blake is at very best…well, crushing.  And speed dating has only churned out memorable horror stories.

So when God shows up one day, in the flesh, and becomes a walking, talking part of her life, Jessie is skeptical. What will it take to convince her that God has a better love story than one of the thousands she’s cooked up in her journals?  Will she trust Him with her pen when it appears her dreams of being the bride are forever lost?

A romantic comedy with a spiritual twist, Never the Bride is what it means to lose control—and getting more than any woman could ever imagine.

Cheryl McKay is the co-author (with Frank Peretti) of the Wild and Wacky, Totally True Bible Stories series, which has sold nearly 200,000 copies, and the screenwriter of the award-winning film The Ultimate Gift. Rene Gutteridge has published thirteen novels including Ghost Writer, My Life as a Doormat, the Boo Series, the Occupational Hazards Series, and the Storm Series. Together, McKay and Gutteridge are the authors of The Ultimate Gift, a novelization based on the feature film and popular book by the same title.

This book was one of those JUST what I needed, exactly WHEN I needed it books.  Sometimes it seems like God just smacks me on the head and says "see?!" and reading this book was one of those times.  I remember, once upon a time, thinking that I would be an "old maid" like Jessie - then, somehow I ended up getting married a month before my 22nd birthday (hardly old maid status).  Turns out, though, later in life, that I realized some of the same lessons that Jessie had to learn in this book - our lives are not our own to write - God is the author (and perfecter) of our stories.  I believe we all need to be reminded, at times, that our lives are not our own - they are God's.  We need to turn over the reigns (or, in Jessie's case, the purple pen) an let God take over and be God.

This book was a fun read - my family got quite a kick out of me laughing out loud (I could totally relate to Jessie's sense of humor) - but there was also a lot of depth to this story.  Lots to be learned if you just open your heart and listen!  I've read some of Rene's books before and would definitely pick up another collaboration by these two authors.

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