Tuesday, July 5, 2011

Book Review: Craving Grace

I rarely think of chick lit as non-fiction, but that is exactly what Lisa Velthouse has created in the book Craving Grace: A Story of Faith, Failure, and My Search for Sweetness .  It is funny, girlfriend-y, and laugh out loud funny, and yet is a memoir.

The book starts as Lisa experiences her first kiss. This doesn't sound that big of a deal until you realize she is the author of Saving My First Kiss: Why I'm Keeping Confetti in My Closet so she has to deal with the ramifications of being a hypocrite by not living up to the premise of her book. (Or is she a hypocrite? Is she no longer a self-righteous person instead?)

She keeps referring in the book to when she did “The Honey Project” when she fasted from sweets and what she during that time about God, herself, and others. As it went on, she also became more attuned to sweetness in things like ketchup. (Ketchup is sweet? Hmmmm.)

During the course of her tale, she moves into the basement of friends. It sounds like an ideal situation to me, but she obsesses over if she's doing enough chores and other things, such as sitting on the kitchen counter and leaving a pair of panties in the dryer accidentally.

The book is entitled “Craving Grace”, and Grace is exactly what Velthouse discovers. From reaction from others when she had her first kiss. From when she eats sweets during “The Honey Project”. And maybe that annoying man with the out of date hair cut in the drive through in front of her with a bunch of Christian bumper stickers. . . maybe . . . just maybe. . . he's not as obnoxious as she first thought.

I very much enjoyed this book (with the exception of her description of an annoying pastor. He reminded me too much of someone out of my past! But then again that's a trait of good writing!) I recommend this book to any woman who would like to explore the concept of grace in a lighthearted, fun way, or any lover of chick lit. You did know chick lit doesn't need to be fiction, didn't you?






I received this book from from the publisher as part of their summer reading program. The opinions of the review are my own.

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