Girls in White Dresses | Jennifer Close

This book follows a group of friends in their post college city life.  First jobs, first apartments, and a seemingly endless number of bridal showers to attend each weekend.  Being a 20-something myself the characters are all too relatable and made the story hilarious!  Many will argue that the story is rather predictable and not so unique…but I still enjoyed it!

One of my favorite lines of the book:  “You never want to be the first one of your friends to get married. If you are, just resign yourself to the fact that your wedding will be a sh-t show.”  Proven.  I also loved the wedding that took place the weekend after the King of Pop died and turned into a Michael Jackson tribute concert.  I was a bridesmaid in one.  Thriller was played more than once in my real life version.

Heart of the Matter | Emily Giffin

I loved Giffin’s Something Borrowed and Something Blue…and just finally saw the movie for Something Borrowed a few weeks ago.  Well…I loved the movie as much as the book, so I was inspired to find another of her novels to check out!  Thus came Heart of the Matter.  This one delves into the gray realm of relationships [cheating and affairs in case you haven’t read the others] just as Something Borrowed and Something Blue did…and showed the events from both perspectives.

The Shack | William P Young

The combination of the imagination of the author and the common spirituality that he brings to this book made it a must read and a page-turner!  The Shack follows Mack beginning on a family vacation where is daughter is abducted and murdered.  The sadness and anger that engulfs Mack for years comes to a conclusion when he receives an invitation from God to revisit the shack where the murder took place.  Upon meeting the holy trinity and spending the weekend with the three, Mack finds healing and is enlightened on many aspects of his life.  Does God let bad things happen to good people?  Was God punishing him by allowing his precious daughter to be murdered?  The list goes on and on…

The thing that I like most about the way this book was written is the perspective you gain.  A realistic perspective.  It shows that life is not all roses and happiness…but the good that you can draw from the dark times is what sets apart from one another.  God, Jesus, and the holy spirit are not portrayed in the way you’d typically think of them from traditional theology…but their portrayal in the book still holds strong with their true nature of love and grace that is portrayed in traditional theology and scripture.

This book is absolutely thought provoking and inspiring, regardless of your personal theology.

I have lots of books lined up to read…but would love to hear some recommendations!  Leave me a comment if you have any ideas for me!