Customer Reviews

Emily Ever After

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(14)
3 star:		(11)
2 star:		(7)
1 star:		(19)

 

 

Disappointing. (I must have a new edition, because my cover DOES mention this a christian book though.)

The plot is really weak and confusing - and I personaly don't know of any christians who would advocate preventing people with other opinions from publishing their essays! What next?
I remained frustrated until the end that the Brittany plotline was never followed up, and felt most of the secondary characters to be underdeveloped.

The student/young professional lifestyle is well described. And the absence of God in everyday life balanced by the occasional outbursts of moralism and choice of 2 or 3 stereotypical "causes" (no sex before marriage, drinking) as representive of what the christian should and shouldn't be like, is unfortunately an exact reflection of the typical "backslidden" city christian of today.
i.e. the priorities are all wrong - it's quite unfortunate that a whole chunk of christianity today apparently sees no sex no drink as the substance, rather than one of many symptoms of the christian life. It's no surprise that these people whose faith lacks depth (including Emily in the book) often find themselves playing with the borders.
It begs the question - have the authors got beyond that stage themselves?

Like many reviewers, I was unaware of the part that Christinaity played in the book. I, myself, am a Christian and found the book refreshing, although a bit cliche. Although Christianity played a part, I didn't find it preachy. I thought it gave a honest look at the naivety that many Christians have. Other than that, it was standard chick-lit, except for no bad language or sex. It was a taste of old-fashioned refreshing that was enjoyable.

This book seemed slightly schizophrenic to me, and I kept wondering if the two authors split up the writing duties "I'll take the first half, you take the second."
The first half was a fun, lighthearted chick-lit story with a refreshingly nice, grounded heroine. It's similar to a book I enjoyed much more by these two authors, "The Book of Jane."
In the second half, let the moralizing and judging begin. We get harangues (from her friend) about how Emily's "values" are wrong because she drinks alcohol and even eats out in restaurants! To her credit, Emily does at least disagree with that, but the friend still plays the role of her conscience. Then, after bragging about how non-judgmental she is, Emily sneers at a friend who is dating a bartender. ("Appalling standards," she calls them). She doesn't know anything about this girl, mind you, other than that she is a bartender, not an "amazing" girl like Emily herself. What a shallow little snob.
Emily also (reluctantly) allows her parents to call her boyfriend's parents to check on the sleeping arrangements when she goes to stay in the family home for Thanksgiving! This is a college graduate! My parents are about as conservative as it gets but no way would they be interfering like that. This is the point at which Emily begins to seem like pious 12-year-old.
It all implodes in a frenzy of clueless self-righteousness (and I'm a Christian, mind you) when Emily makes "the right decision" to suppress a book whose ideas she doesn't agree with. The answer to "bad ideas" is "more ideas" -- if you don't agree with something, present your argument as to why. But given the way Emily's desperate squelching of ideas is presented as heroic, the finale seemed downright fascist.

I really wish I had saved myself some money by not buying this book. I bought it at the bookstore, not on Amazon and so I had no idea it was a story about an uptight Christian girl who thinks she is too good for her friends, family and love interests. The back cover makes the story sound like it's full of fun and romance, "a whirlwind romance" to be exact, but it was far from it. The main character, Emily, had zero personality and had absolutely no chemistry with any of the other characters. What a boring book!

My mother gave me a copy of this book for my 18th birthday and it was really good. I totaly identified with Emily who is the main character. I am from a small town too in Illinois (Wheaton!) and am moving to a big city for college - Chicago! But I'm worried about losing touch with my Christian values becuase I will be so far from my Family and my Church. I t was nice to see that someone is writing in a real way about how hard it is to be a Christian sometimes with all th worldly pressures and temptations. Some of the other Christian books I have read make it seem so black and white, but its not. Emily has these temptations too and without giving anything away I think she deals with them very well. Although she does drink a little too much once or twice she is able keep in touch with her Christian values - and with her friends back home (shout outs to Kim Katie and Geoff). This would be a great present for any girl or "young woman" who might be going off to school somewhere far away from her roots. Plus it's a really funny book sometimes especially when Emily is with her girlfriends talking about their boyfriends. And it's really touching too when she has to choose between a guy who seems really dreamy and a guy who is much more perfect for her. This is my first reveiw and I totally recommend this book.

This was a fun, easy-read novel with a moral and a message. My daughters loved the details tying CA & NY as we have family in both areas. Emily's struggles to remain true to her own personality, hold onto the foundation of her faith, and live in the real world ring true. Without becoming "preachy", Emily models real life struggles, slip-ups, and successes.

Maryanne from Milpitas

Id like to answer Kim's question of "I would like to hear the opinions of actual young Christian women about this book. I am neither Christian or in the same stage of life that Emily was in. It was an easy read but with some of Emily's characterization flawed. "

As a 20 something Christian gal, I really enjoyed this book. I related to Emily a lot because she was real. To address the sexual part - I never thought Emily didn't want to go further with Bennett. She had physical lines she had and expected from whom she thought was a fellow Christian. I thought what was shared explained that, but I also come from a mind set of a Christian with the lines I believe Emily had.

To address the "boys" comment. In the chick world, sure we call guys, even men boys! I work with guys who all are from the ages of 25 to 40 whom when I refer to them they are "the boys". I guess it depends of the relationship the female has with a male. But in the chick-lit realm, its very appropriate. I hope that helps answer you're questions!

I am a fan of Chick-lit and when this book got some press about it not being very Christian-like as its marketed. As a Christian myself, I enjoyed this book. It was a very real book because Christians are not perfect. Emily went through the very same things so many do even as a Christian. Its encouraging to read a book that's real because if I cant relate to a character its very hard to get into a book. A good part of the book is Emily getting comfortable in her faith away from her comfort of home. Its a neat experience to go through with her because it wasn't all flowers and sunshine. She did stand up for her faith when it came down to it at work.

I am a guy, so I don't know what "chic lit" is, but I enjoyed reading this book. I am also not a Christian, but Emily is not the least bit preachy. I saw her Christianity more simply as a strong sense of morality. In this story it mostly meant she wanted to wait until marriage for sex, which may seem passé or naive, but is far from preachy.
Emily, Lane and her uncle Matthew are very endearing characters and you are wishing them the best throughout the novel. Her uncle helps her pursue her dream of living in NYC and working with books. She meets an obviously insincere "Christian" guy, but luckily doesn't fall too hard and is able to recognize who he is and move on. This alone makes it different from most stories of modern women, and I think is great evidence for why people should be more patient with their relationships.
Emily is reintroduced to a guy she grew up with, and he seems like a truly decent guy. My only issue with the story is that the last 10% of the book seems to take the characters in a direction that is contradictory to what we know about them. The decisions made in the end are not inconceivable, just a little disappointing.
So if you are looking for a fun, romantic story check out Emily Ever After.

1) No where on the book did it identify itself as a religious book. I wanted a light hearted beach book, not to be preached at.

2) The characters are flat. They do not have their own personalities, motivations. There is no one in the book you like, or even hate. Yawn!

3) I'm from NY. New Yorkers are not like they are depicted in this book. We are not flat one-dimentional beings solely interested in sex, alcohol, clothes, and upward mobility. We are a varied group of people with a lot of diversity. I was offended by this characterization.

4) The main character is preachy and judgemental. I went to Catholic school as a child, this is not what I was taught Christiantiy was about.

5) This book was poorly written. At several times in the book the subject or speaker changed suddenly causing me to re-read sections to figure out what was going on.

I wanted a fun book, not a sermon. To top it off, it was poorly written. I only made it to page 107, as I felt bored and preached at. Judging by others reviews, I made the right decision.

I must first say that I am not the demographic for this book but was looking for a quick read and got a copy from a friend. I'm male, over 30 and I have to admit that I really enjoyed this book!

I come from a religious family and I worked with youth in Christian groups for many years. So I have some background with this and a bit of understanding regarding the potential audience. My experience with Christian, religious media (or whatever you want to call it) is that it overlooks a huge group of people. The "common" Christian. We're the ones who appear occasionally in your congregation, your prayer list or maybe just your Christmas service - but we've retained our faith more than you know - and there are more of us than you realize.

Much of the Christian literature I've read goes overboard just as non-Christian literature goes the opposite direction. These authors have presented a very accessible faith based piece of work. It's not too "preachy" yet it never lets you forget that Emily has a moral foundation based on her faith in God. Are there times when Emily seems "pious"? Yes. And pious can be defined as "devout, commendable or worthy". All traits that are found by characters in this book.

Emily came across as a young woman still discovering herself and her boundaries. As I live in NYC, I can say this isn't an easy task for anyone in this city whether they are male or female, Christian or non-Christian. Many of the less flattering reviews of this book seem to point out a "lack" of Christian example. Unlike other books of this genre, Emily is presented as real and flawed and trying to do her best. (I think they make Christian super hero literature if you're looking for the flawless Christian.) This book reminded me of Romans 3:23, "For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God." Luckily, God forgives and we're reminded we're human and there's at least one accessible piece of Christian literature for the masses. I look forward to giving this book to my niece.