Book Review: Nobody's Cuter Than You

"There is nothing as precious in life as a friend who knows you and loves you in spite of yourself. Yet over the last couple of decades, we’ve substituted the joy of real friendship with cheap imitations. We settle for “community” on Facebook and Twitter and a series of text messages that allow us to communicate with someone without the commitment. We like each other’s beautifully filtered photos on Instagram and delude ourselves into believing we have a community. But real friendship requires effort. It’s showing up, laughing loud, and crying hard. It’s forgiving and loving and giving the benefit of the doubt. It’s making a casserole, doing a carpool pickup, and making sure she knows those cute shoes are 50 percent off. Written in the same comedic style as the New York Times bestsellers Sparkly Green Earrings and The Antelope in the Living Room, Nobody’s Cuter than You is a laugh-out-loud look at the special bond that exists between friends and a poignant celebration of all the extraordinary people God had the good sense to bring into our lives at exactly the right moments. From the friendships we develop over a lifetime to the ones that wounded us and the ones that taught us to love better, Melanie Shankle reveals the influence our friends have on who we were, who we are, and who we will become. And on a day when our jeans feel too tight, our chins have decided to embrace hormone-related acne reminiscent of our teen years, and our kids have tested the limits of our sanity, they are the ones who will look at us and say, “Nobody’s cuter than you!”

I loved every second of reading this book!  Sometimes you just need a feel good book for the beach, car trip, or a rainy day!  This is definitely that book.  I was surprised and thrilled to find out that the author had two bestselling books prior to this one:  Sparkly Green Earrings and The Antelope in the Living Room.   I will be ordering both of these books!

To be honest, I prefer to use my precious spare time reading biographies of great Christian men and women, or books that will enhance my main reading of the Scripture.  But, for some reason, when offered the opportunity to review a book called Nobody's Cuter Than You I was powerless to refuse. I love stories of friendship and have even spoken a time or two on the subject at ladies conferences. What a wonderful surprise that, though this book is not intended to be theological in nature, it is a beautiful picture of exactly how God has ordained that we look at friendship.  Sacrifice, unconditional love, and preferring others over ourselves oozes out of the sweet and poignant stories that flow through this book.  And there is a beautiful undertone of the gospel threaded through the pages.

I was, at all times while reading this book, either smiling, laughing or pushing back the tears.  When I got to the last page, I closed the book quickly in denial knowing that as soon as I read that last paragraph it would be over.  I can't wait to read the other two titles and I look forward to passing these books on to my girls and my girlfriends.

Need some light but deep-hearted reading for the beach this summer?  Get in line for this book! (I say that because, last time I looked, it was already out of stock!).  If you live near me I might let you borrow my copy! :)

*I was provided a free copy of this book by Tyndale Publishing in exchange for an honest review