The Chase: Trusting God with Your Happily Ever After is a unique, fun and breezy little book written by a young husband-and-wife duo, and aimed towards an audience of teenage girls and college-age young women. Friendly, Christian-based advice on relationships, romance, and living your own happily-ever-after story are the main cornerstones of purpose for this book. The two perspectives add dimension to the insights and personal stories, but the overall tone remains very light and bubbly… At times so light and bubbly that older members of the target audience may find it slightly juvenile and repetitive.

On the flipside, however, some of the content is arguably too mature for very young ladies, especially in the chapter entitled “Worth the Wait”. Many of the thoughts that Kyle and Kelsey share in this section of the book were, for me, uncomfortable to read and I was disappointed to see a specific word pop up in the sentences over and over again. Of course, I understand that in many circumstances today girls NEED to read insight like this from a Christian viewpoint. However, I have found there to be very few books about relationships available for young women who wish to avoid this topic, and focus instead on how to nurture godly relationships before marriage. I was hoping The Chase might be one of those, but I was sadly mistaken.

Apart from the issue mentioned above, this book DOES contain much in the way of good advice, encouragement, and hope. Certainly the authors strive to honor God with their words, and to help girls chase after God first and foremost in their lives. Prayer and faith play significant roles in their guidance, and I appreciated this. However their words also contain some controversial ideas, such as the view that dating multiple different people is a good thing, to “see what kind of guy you like”. They also never mention anything about the practice of courtship, and never share wisdom or understanding for the women who God does not intend to be married.

Overall, I am very torn about this book. At times it seemed filled with hope and encouragement, but at other times it included too many uncomfortable topics and so much baggage in the stories that I was wished I hadn’t read it. If you are looking for a book that will appeal to the majority of Christian youth, who must endure the typical high school and college scene every day, this is undoubtedly the book for you. However if you are searching for a book that steps outside the normal mold of relationship advice for young women, I recommend looking elsewhere.

I am grateful to have received a copy of this book, free of charge, in exchange for an honest review. All opinions expressed are my own.