Craving Grace

Tyndale House Publishers sent me a complimentary copy of Craving Grace by Lisa Velthouse for the purpose of review.  To be quite honest, one of the main reasons I was interested in reading this book was because I had found out Ms Velthouse once worked on staff at Mars Hill Bible Church in Grandville, Michigan under the leadership of Pastor Rob Bell.  In light of the recent controversy over some of Mr. Bell's teaching, I was curious to read what a former staffer for him would have to say about grace.

I was extremely disappointed in this book.

Ms Velthouse's writing style is confusing at best.  Her tone is very sarcastic.  I understand she was trying to be genuine in conveying her journey to understand God's grace, but the tone of her writing for outweighed anything positive she had to say.  When she finally got around to actually saying anything about God's grace at all, it seemed a bit contrived.

For the majority of the book, Ms Velthouse whines about her former book Saving My First Kiss and how it hurt her dating life.  And in the end, she seems to equate God's grace with the seemingly good things He does for us or gives to us.  She only "gets" God's grace when everything starts going the way she desires for them to be in her life...her financial debts are cancelled,  the perfect job turns up, a guy starts taking interest in her.

The organization of the book itself was confusing for me.  You never knew for sure if you were dealing with present time or three years ago when she began her fast from sweets in an effort to understand God better and what He wanted from her in her life.  She kept flipping back and forth.

If you are interested in reading this book, I would be happy to send you my review copy.  Just leave me a comment with how to contact you and I'll get with you on an address to send it to.

For anyone else who might want to read the book for yourself, you can order by following the link given below:














Blessings,
Jennifer