I’m on a roll. This was the second book I checked out from the church library. And – while it wasn’t as good as Sisterchicks I did enjoy it.
The storyline centers on a young man – Jay Jarvis – who has just moved cross-country from Texas to South Carolina for his job. Being a young man in a new location, his goal is simple…and the same as every other young single man in America: to meet eligible women. So, where does our hero go to meet said women?
To the bars? No.
To the uptown, trendy clubs? No.
Apparently, in South Carolina, the best place to meet nice, young, eligible single Southern women is…of all places…at church. In fact, according to the story, there’s a list. A list of which denominations have the best pickin’s. So our friend Jay ends up at the Presbyterian church and hooks up with the quirky-but-active singles’ group. Instantly he is – dare I say – flabbergasted to meet Allie, an outside-the-box young woman who piques his curiosity and stirs his affections.
The story is more of Jay’s journey to spiritual awareness than it is about the church itself, though there are some moments that gave me pause as I considered how we “church folk” appear to the outside world. Reading this story of single, unmarried young adults as a now-40-year-old-married-woman-with-two-kids gave me a different perspective…and I had to stop a few times to remember, “Yeah, I did act like that” or “yeah, I remember feeling like that, too.” But there were a few moments of hilarity – one in particular where I laughed out loud until I cried. And that’s something I rarely do when I read a book.
I also found the author’s perspective interesting as a man writing a “romantic” fiction. I’ve become so accustomed to reading romance stories from a woman’s point of view…where the man is what women WANT him to be, rather than the men they are. It was refreshing to catch a glimpse of just how men think about women and the wiles we use to try to trap gain their affections.
All in all, the storyline was uneven, but the ending was satisfying if abrupt. A good, light read, with moments of humor and introspection. Enjoyable…but certainly nothing to get flabbergasted about.