'Cupidity: 50 Stupid Things People Do for Love' by Hayley and Michael DiMarco - Book Review

With Valentine’s Day rapidly approaching, my mind is (even more than usual!) focusing on love and marriage.  I have the great joy of reading and reviewing a fun book called ‘Cupidity: 50 Stupid Things People Do for Love’ by the husband and wife team, Michael and Hayley DiMarco  They are the perpetrators (and I used that word intentionally!) of the Babble of the Sexes website, which the DiMarcos describe as “A scattered conversation of a spiritual and/or humorous nature about life, love, and books.”  It is laugh out loud funny!

Here’s the description of this charming couple from the back cover of the book:

Michael and Hayley DiMarco are the visionaries behind Hungry Planet, a company intensely focused on feeding the world’s appetite for truth by producing books and new media, taking on issues of faith and life with a distinctively modern voice.

Plus they have a daughter - Addison.  Wow – these are busy people!

In addition to the nine books that he has authored or co-authored, Michael also created the Hungry Planet Bible Project, a 10,000 mile extreme road trip recording the faces and voices of the hungry and homeless reading the Bible aloud while raising money and awareness toward their plight. 

Sounds like a great idea; that will make a great book - and even a movie, perhaps!

In ‘Cupidity,’ Hayley and Michael identify 50 of the most common acts of Cupidity, ways to avoid them and learn from them, and what God has to say about relationships. 

The book is divided into 5 sections:

1. Emotional Acts of Cupidity
2. Mental (Gender-Specific) Acts of Cupidity
3. Physical Acts of Cupidity
4. Social Acts of Cupidity
5. Spiritual Acts of Cupidity

Cupidity # 1 is ‘Believing Love is a Feeling.’  We all start out with butterflies in our stomach and an emotional high when we first fall in love.  Those feelings will inevitably diminish over time.  Thank God for that; it can be exhausting to live all of your life with that intensity!  The DiMarcos offer this advice:

So, let’s just say, enjoy the feelings of love when it comes, but know that love doesn’t have to feel good in order to exist.  Consider Christ on the cross.  Certainly, this perfect act of love didn’t give him the amazing feeling that we associate with true love.  In Christ’s life, love hurt, to put it mildly.  But thank God he knew the hurt that had be endured in order for love to become available to all of us (p. 15).

One act of Cupidity to which we can all potentially succumb is # 44: Expecting Another Person to Bring You Hope, Joy or Peace (from the Spiritual Act of Cupidity section).  Michael and Hayley make this point:

When you put your hope solely in the hands of another person, you are sure to be disappointed.  That isn’t because there is no hope but because your hope is to be somewhere else.  And when your hope is heavenly focused instead of humanly focused, you have all the hope you need (Romans 15:4) (p. 214) 

I found there to be many valuable pieces of advice from this Godly couple.   ‘Cupidity’ is a unique combination – lots of fun and a big help to people, particularly younger people.  All of the advice is biblically based, and there is a lot of scripture interspersed throughout.  It is valuable to both single and married people, and is geared to both men and women.  I plan on keeping it on my nightstand as a reminder to be careful to not commit any acts of Cupidity! 

This book was provided to me for review purposes by Tyndale House Publishers.

‘Love Finds You in Bridal Veil, Oregon’ by Miralee Ferrell – Book Review

Summerside Press, based in Minneapolis MN, has a series of novels called ‘Love Finds You.’  The books in the series are named after American towns with unusual but intriguing names.  This book, ‘Love Finds You in Bridal Veil, Oregon’ is the third book in the series based in Oregon, a state I have not set foot in –yet!

If memory serves, this is the first Christian historical romance novel I have ever read.  I had heard about this book, and was intrigued.  The story centers on Margaret Garvey, a school teacher in the lovely town of Bridal Veil, Oregon at the turn of the twentieth century.  Bridal Veil, at that time in history, was a logging community; the town was built by Bridal Veil Lumbering Company, a company which existed in real life.  Most of the commerce in Bridal Veil was based on that trade.

Margaret has suffered many losses in her short twenty years.  Four years earlier, she was being courted by Nathaniel Cooper.  Sadly for her, her father, Jacob, was not happy about the relationship.  He took steps to cause them to separate, a situation which broke Margaret’s heart.  Nathaniel moved out of town to start a new job without speaking to her, and Margaret was confused and in despair.

Four years later, she is the school teacher at the town’s little schoolhouse.  She continued to live with her father.  Her mother had passed along years earlier.  Tragedy struck Margaret’s heart and life again, when her father died quickly and unexpectedly. 

At that time, a young man named Andrew Browning, a logger with the lumber company, began to court her.  He had been asked by Margaret’s father earlier on to take care of Margaret if anything ever happened to him.  When Margaret discovered Andrew had made that promise to Jacob, she questioned whether or not Andrew really cared about her, and was again wondering why so many people had betrayed her in life.

There is an interesting side story of two orphans, Samantha and Joel, who made their way to Bridal Veil after escaping from a cruel guardian.  They had many interesting escapades during their time in that lovely community.    

The story takes a turn when Nathaniel returns back to town to take a job at the logging company.  The paths of Nathaniel and Margaret cross.  Nathaniel discovered upon his return (through an interesting twist) that Jacob, Margaret’s father, had intervened four years earlier; Margaret wanted to marry him, but that was not to be.  Margaret is placed in the unenviable position of having to choose between two suitors.  She ultimately does make a decision (you will have to read the book; the secret’s safe with me!).   

I found this to be a sweet story of love and care for others.  Bridal Veil is portrayed as a small town whose residents watch out for each other.  It was wonderfully refreshing to this city slicker!  It made me want to visit, although Bridal Veil today is a ghost town whose current chief claim to fame is its postmark on wedding invitations.  It sounds like a beautiful and scenic part of the U.S.A.  I have never visited that part of the country, and the author's portrayal of it brought it to life for me.  It makes me want to see it for myself!

I was also touched by the faith and love for the Lord exhibited by Margaret and Andrew in particular, in this story.  Miralee Ferrell did a wonderful job in showing that following the Lord is the right path to take – and He will never steer you wrong!  Other important spiritual truths strongly covered in this novel are prayer, forgiveness, faith, trust, and God’s sovereignty.  Her primary goal in writing is to bring glory and honor to God – and she certainly succeeds in this story!   

Miralee’s next book, ‘Finding Jeena: A Novel,’ comes out in April 2010 (looking forward to that one!).  Other novels in Mrs. Ferrell’s repertoire are ‘The Other Daughter,’ and ‘Love Finds You in Last Chance, California.’  She is a wonderful ambassador of the Lord's love!