Book Review: I've Never Been to Vegas but My Luggage Has

As a Christian single woman, I have read my fair share of books for Christian singles over the years. While occasionally I've come across a book that is inspiring and insightful (in my opinion) and that centers on God's purpose for the single person, the vast majority seem to be largely focused on catching a man finding the "love of your life". And books like that typically make me want to puke are a bit of a turn-off for someone like me who (while I would certainly love to find "the love of my life") is not obsessing over it.

And so it was with some trepidation that I agreed to review another book for Christian singles, I've Never Been to Vegas but My Luggage Has by Mandy Hale. Hale, whom I had never heard of prior to this book, is apparently a popular blogger and social media maven known as "The Single Woman". The book chronicles her life from high school to present, focusing on her various relationships and emotional upheaval brought on by each. She is open about her battles with anxiety and depression, and about an abusive relationship from which she struggled to set herself free. She also shares her career woes, having worked her way up into a high-profile role in the entertainment world, only to lose it.

I appreciated Hale's honesty about her life story, including sharing some of the foolish decisions she made regarding relationships in particular, but I struggled to find a lot of Godly wisdom and insight in this book. To her credit, she does not give a list of things you should do in order to find a Godly man or keep him--if anything, I'd say do the opposite of pretty much everything she has done, relationship-wise.

Although the book had some entertaining and mildly amusing anecdotes, to me it was not the "hilarious" read that some other reviews have lauded it as. In fact, I found it sort of sad and a bit trite at times, particularly her hero worship of Oprah (of whom, I will be the first to admit, I am not a fan, so perhaps I'm a little jaded here). All in all, this book just wasn't for me.

If you're interested in reading about a single Christian woman's life struggles, you may find the book entertaining. But if you're looking for some deep spiritual insights, I'd keep shopping.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher through the BookLook Bloggers book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”