Book Review: Ten Reminders for the Single Christian Woman

Today’s book review is on Ten Reminders For the Single Christian Woman by Pamela Q. Fernandes. The book trailer is here.

I know some of you may be re-reading that first line questioning why a woman who has been married for a year (and in a serious relationship for much longer) would be reviewing a book targeted towards single women. I felt the same way early on.

I was incredibly honored when the author contacted me directly requesting I review her book. When I looked at the topic, I felt like it was a much-needed one and excitedly agreed to review her book (disclaimer: I did get a free copy of the book in exchange for an honest review). After I said yes, I started thinking about if it was weird for a married woman to be reviewing this book, especially with its description:

• Are you a single Christian woman wondering what’s going to happen next in your life?
• Is your faith wavering as you wait for that special “someone”?
• Have you been praying and enduring for months only to go through another breakup, failed relationship or bad decision?

 

If this is you, then this book is for you.

In Ten Reminders for the Single Christian Woman, Pamela Q. Fernandes talks about why you should stay optimistic and remain in God’s love.

In this follow up book in her Ten Reminder Series, Pamela talks about her own struggles with faith. She explains about discerning a vocation and finding meaning as a single Christian woman. She continues to practice as a doctor and medical writer, occasionally dabbling in fiction. You can listen to her at the Christian Circle Podcast.

I felt even weirder explaining the book to my husband when I asked him to add the book to my Kindle.

As I thought about it more, I recognized that I could review the book even if I wasn’t the target audience. I could still judge the quality of writing, the accuracy of the religious principles, and how I imagined some of my single friends would respond to it.

Ben and I believe God has a sense of humor. He likes to describe the humorous ways God gets involved in our lives. Ben describes Jesus coming up with a plan, chuckling and elbowing a saint saying “you gotta check this out.”

I think this is one of those situations where God was chuckling as I discovered how helpful this book targeted towards single women was for me, a married woman.

This book was great. It is written by a woman actively living her life as a single woman and faithful Catholic. Her tone was humble and she allowed herself to be vulnerable. The book was written in a more conversational style so you felt like you were talking about the topics over coffee with a (very wise) friend. She shared the truths of Christianity in an unwavering yet approachable manner. She connected Bible stories to her points by digging into them emotionally. Each chapter had her advice which was sprinkled with sound theological principles and words of holy people. She then had an action which took the form of some questions or practical steps. Each chapter ended with an honest, heartfelt prayer.

Though targeted towards single women, this book had several portions that I feel are useful to any faithful Christian. I loved her vocation section.  Her discussion on chastity is an important one, and her advice on seeking God was phenomenal. One of my favorite parts was how she talked about trying to be a Proverbs 31 woman while feeling like a Psalm 31 woman. I could go on and on talking about all the things I loved about this book, even from the perspective of a married woman.

My only criticism is there were a few minor grammatical errors. They didn’t impact the readability and are completely insignificant when compared to the rest of the outstanding content of this book.

I highly recommend this book to any single women, especially single Catholic women. I also think this book would be a great resource for women who would like to encourage their single friends.

You can read more of my book reviews here.