Lady Maybe
by: Julie Klassen
•°o•:*:•.LUSTY.•:*:•
o°•
[Rom 13:12-14 ESV] 12 The night is far
gone; the day is at hand. So then let us cast off the works of darkness and put
on the armor of light. 13 Let us walk properly as in the daytime, not in orgies
and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and sensuality, not in quarreling and
jealousy. 14 But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires.
I have been putting off the writing of this review because it is with a
heavy heart I do so. While this book is
well written, with lots of mystery and twists, it is not at all what I would
expect from a well-known Christian author.
I realize I will be in the minority for my opinion, but I cannot, in
good conscience, lay the book aside without giving fair warning to other conservative
Christians.
This book has a strong love triangle that pulls back and forth at Hannah. I found her to be quite wishy-washy. I was surprised at how steamy the intimate
scenes were. Where my friend and I who
share books are usually fine with handing books down to her teenage daughter, I
have warned her not to do so with this book.
Perhaps utilizing Penguin Publishing instead of Bethany house gave the
author more freedom. While she does not
cross the line completely, I know I felt disturbed reading the material.
God, church, scripture are hardly present at all in this book. In one of the much later chapters, maybe 2/3
or more through, Hannah finally has a repentant heart, and prays to God. She is encouraged by a kindly staff member
and reminded of God’s forgiveness. She
even shows incredible grace to her nemesis.
However, shortly after that, she still seems wishy-washy about which man
she will choose. After being out looking
for one man, and then packing and paying the remainder of her rent to continue
to look for him, she receives the other into her room: [“But, Hannah, I want to
be with you. I could not bear to never
touch you again…” He ran his hands up her arms, lowered his head and kissed her
exposed shoulder, prickling her skin into gooseflesh. “Don’t go yet. Stay and give me a chance. Give us a chance.” For one moment, she
considered it.-Ch.29] Uuuugh. That was
hard to read. Even though she had been
careful to not let him in her room previously for the sake of propriety, for
this scene she did. She did not come off
very repentant. And allowing him to get
that close to her and touch her was just cruel.
The Bible is clear, that lust is a sin. Rather than just being a casual observer of what
the character was going through, as related to simple alluded to explanation, I
felt drawn in with more explicit detail than was necessary. Sadly, I believe reading the romantic scenes
in this book can easily promote the reader to feel lust.
I can only pray that her next book, The Painter’s Daughter, scheduled for
release in December through Bethany House will be a cleaner read.
2 stars
© 2015
Berkley Books, a div of Penguin Random House Publishing
384 pages + Readers Study Guide
I received an advance copy of the
book in exchange for my honest opinion.
Read: 07/11&12/15-, Reviewed: 07/15/15
