Friendship for Grown-Ups

Remember Blair from The Facts of Life?

She, Lisa Whelchel not Blair, has written a book chronicling her journey through the ups and downs of finding fulfilling friendships in her life. 

In Friendships for Grown-Ups:  What I Missed and Learned Along the Way, Lisa speaks very candidly and transparently about her struggle to find and be able to maintain a deep and abiding friendship.  She is open about her faults and failures and the stress she put on many of the relationships she attempted to have with others.  Lisa shares openly about a week long intensive therapy she participated in after a break-up in a friendship.

There is a built in discussion guide making this an excellent "book club" piece.  Also included is a section called "Conversation Prompts" where Lisa gives excellent ideas for getting to know your friends above the casual chit-chat that normally goes on.

While I appreciated much of what Lisa shares in her book and feel it wold be an excellent resource for anyone who struggles in the area of making and keeping close friendships, I was disappointed in a few things.

I found the writing to be choppy and disjointed.  The chapters didn't flow well and it seemed as if she just hopped from one line of thought to another with no transition in between.  Although she mentions her thoughts about grace and what it meant to her to be "in Christ", her presentation of the power of the gospel was less than clear and didn't seem as a top priority.  She gives more authority to what she learned from other book authors than the power of Christ and His Word to help in such struggles.

Thank you Thomas Nelson Publishers for providing a copy of this book for review.  They expected nothing in return except my honest review of this work.

Friendship for Grown-Ups can be purchased from Amazon.