Book Review: "Love Defined"
Full Title: Love Defined: Embracing God's Vision for Lasting Love and Satisfying Relationships
Authors: Kristen Clark and Bethany Baird (of Girl Defined Ministries)
Publisher: Baker Publishing Group/Baker Books
Release Date: May 1, 2018
ISBN-13: 9780801075568
Genres:
Christian Non-Fiction
Christian Living
Target Audience: Christian young women and teen girls (mainly geared towards the single and dating crowd, but may also be beneficial to married women)
Special Features:
Study guides for personal or group study after each chapter
2 sections in the appendix at the back of the book:
- Finding Freedom and Forgiveness from Past Sexual Sin
- 50 Questions to Ask Early in the Relationship
Some tips and lists, including...
- 4 Ways to Bring Femininity into Your Love Life
- 5 Strategies for Thriving as a Single Girl
- 3 Must-Have Qualities to Look for in a Future Husband
- 3 Strategies for Pursuing Purity
- What Married Women Want You to Know
And much more!
My Review:
What I liked:
The conversational (and occasionally humorous) writing
style. Honestly, the way it was written made me feel like I was getting advice
from my older sisters that I never had, which I enjoyed. This style made it
easy to read and very relatable for me. They mention their own struggles and a
bit of history of their love lives, including stories of being boy-crazy and
unwise, which shows that they’re not perfect and that they are still learning
how to love like Christ.
I liked how they defined in detail what love and
romance looks like in the worldly mainstream society and Hollywood and the lies
that we have been conditioned to believe about our love lives, and that they
combat those lies with refreshing Biblical truths and their personal advice about
femininity, being a help-meet to your future husband, waiting for the man to
pursue and to lead, etc. They bring up a lot of convictions that are currently
considered highly controversial, even in some Christian communities, which is
brave and bold of them, and I really admire and respect that they are not afraid
to go against the popular opinions of our time, despite the backlash that they
will inevitably receive because of it.
I love all their wonderful tips and strategies
for how to navigate different stages of life in relation to love and romance! As a single woman, I especially appreciate their advice about trusting God in my
singleness, what to look for in a future husband, what to do if a godly young
man pursues, good questions to discuss with him to help us really get to know
each other, and how to have an intentional and Christ-centered relationship.
What I didn’t like:
I think that they could have given a lot more
Bible passages and complete explanations and context of stories/accounts from
the Bible, and then explained what that means for us as Christian women. They
did go into detail about the account from Genesis about Adam and Eve, but not
much else.
They used parenthetical Bible references quite a
bit (i.e. Eph. 5:31), which is fine for a blog, but not for a book, in my
opinion. I would have much preferred it if they had put more of the actual verses
in the book, because it would have been more convenient, accessible, and
impactful, especially for those who are unfamiliar or less familiar with the
Bible.
Other things to keep in mind:
The target audience of this book is mainly
unmarried women, either single or in the beginning stages of a relationship. There
are certainly some chapters and sections that could speak to married women, but
the majority of the book speaks to the unmarried crowd. If you’re looking for a
Christian book targeted to married women, this isn’t it.
This book should not be used on its own to equip
young women for their future marriages. While this book
is helpful, it only provides a small piece to the puzzle. There are other books
that I highly recommend you read as well: When God Writes Your Love Story by
Eric and Leslie Ludy, I Kissed Dating Goodbye by Joshua Harris, For Young Women
Only by Shaunti Feldhahn and Lisa A. Rice, among other Christian books on singleness,
dating/courting, and marriage.
Final Thoughts:
Despite my couple of critiques, I really liked this book overall! It’s another great book from Kristen Clark and Bethany Baird, two Christian sisters (one who is married and one who was single), that focuses on love and romance. (Write more about my overall thoughts of the book, why I gave it a 4 star rating)
My rating:
Full Disclosure: As a member of the book's launch team, I was given the book for free by Baker Books (on behalf of Girl Defined Ministries) in exchange for my honest review. Beyond that, I am not sponsored by or affiliated with Girl Defined Ministries or Baker Books in any way.
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