Book Review: Love Waits by Donald James Parker

Love Waits by Donald James Parker

My review

This was the first e-book I've ever read. I was amazed at how much slower I read this book than I probably would have had I been holding a hard copy in my hands. It took me about 4 days to read what I should have read in about a couple of hours.



This book is the story of Cheri, a young girl who is moved away from Nebraska and everything she knows by her single-parent dad. Cheri has had her share of heartaches and heartbreaks in life and this move sure didn't help her out. However, along the way, Cheri meets her next door neighbor Jean and things start to look a little better. See, Cheri didn't *want* to meet Jean and hang out with her...she's old enough to be her grandmother. But with Cheri home alone while her dad is out working, her dad thought it best that she have a chaperon, especially after he saw her walking home from Duke's house one day.



Lots of things are going on in Cheri's life, just like any other hormonal teenager. She learns many valuable life lessons and joins the local youth group. It's there that she learns the value of saving oneself for marriage and where a chastity pledge is taken.



I liked this book and I didn't like this book. It was very easy to read (and would have been faster for me if it was a hard copy) and focuses on what many teenagers (and adults) face today...human sexuality and it's urges. The storyline in and of itself is very straightforward and what today's society needs to know and learn about....especially our teenagers! The parts of this book that disturbed me is that the author and I have some obvious differences in religion and religious thoughts. This is the first "christian fiction" book that I have read where a specific religion was mentioned and elaborated on. I do not believe in this religion and for that reason, could not in good conscious, recommend this book to anyone. I was also a little taken aback by the use of strong language in a book that is considered to be "christian". However, I think that the author may have been trying to make the book as true to the nature of teenagers as possible. A small warning at the beginning of the book would have been appropriate.



I will add that I think my favorite character in this book is Judy. I immediately got a picture of someone named Judy that I know and that seemed to fit this description. As mean as Judy was in the book, I couldn't help but laugh at some of the things she said/did because of the image I had put onto her. I felt sorry for Judy throughout the book, regardless of what she chose to do. I guess in some ways, Judy reminded me of myself at one point in my life.



Another thing that struck me from reading this book is that I'm not sure I've ever read a book that was almost straight dialogue. At first I didn't like it, but the more I read, the more I appreciated the straight up story. The characters described the setting well in their conversations and I was alright with that. This was just a little different than I had expected when I first started reading it.




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