Reading When God Wrecks Your Romance was the third time I had encountered Amanda’s story. Despite the familiarity, I still found myself eagerly reading page after page. I highly recommend this book, especially for teenagers and young adults.
Disclaimer: I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.
I first heard Amanda Vernon at a small concert held at a friend’s house. Between the beautiful music and the engaging stories, I couldn’t help but feel moved by her performance. Performance doesn’t feel like the right word because what shone through was this authenticity as she shared her heart through her music and her testimony. When she shared that she had written a book, I was extremely excited to read more of her seemingly unbelievable story.
You would think that after hearing her story a second time (when I enthusiastically convinced a group of friends to come to my parish to hear her sing), I would be kind of bored reading the same story when I was given the opportunity to read the book.
Instead, I found myself engaged throughout the entirety despite knowing the ending.
When God Wrecks Your Romance is a beautiful witness to the struggles of living an ordinary, faithful Catholic life.
The book goes between Amanda Vernon and Fr. Matt Fase as they share their perspectives on a romance that never was. Typically, I struggle with books that switch narrators, but both Amanda and Fr. Matt maintained a strong voice so it was easy to just read the book without struggling to remember who was speaking. It was also just interesting to hear both sides of the story. It added a lot to the book to read what was really going on in their minds compared to how the other perceived the interaction.
Another aspect of the book I enjoyed is how the story was told. It would’ve been easy to just do a chronological back and forth. Instead, they pull moments from their tween years as they build-up to their meeting. It still had that chronological feel, but the reader is reminded that they are building up to something big.
I appreciated both the authors’ honesty throughout the book. They didn’t shy away from uncomfortable and embarrassing experiences, but instead shared them openly and discussed how it impacted them. The vulnerability both shared was powerful.
This builds onto another great feature of the book: beautiful representations of the faith. By admitting the realities of being human, they emphasized the beauty in the ordinary lives of Christians. Beyond that, they articulated the beauty of what the Church teaches. When a specifically Catholic belief came up, the seamlessly explained it while continuing on with the narrative. As a Catholic, I appreciated that the explanations not only didn’t disrupt the flow of the story, but also highlighted the greatness of God and His Church. The love for God both Amanda and Fr. Matt possess is genuinely inspiring.