Book Review for “Dearest Samantha: I Love You!!!!”

Book Review for “Dearest Samantha: I Love You!!!! Stories of Hope and Encouragement for Hurting Women” by Heather L. Smith

As a former inner city missionary supporting and helping women and children in crisis, I’m easily drawn to Christian books written by women who have lived through the pain and disappointments life can throw our way. Because of this Dearest Samantha: I Love You! Stories of Hope and Encouragement for Hurting Women, quickly grabbed my attention.

The preface starts off very choppy and somewhat confusing, but I forged on with an open mind and great expectations of stories of hope and encouragement for hurting women as promised. Sorry to say, “It didn’t happen.”

The author went through a divorce after 30 years of marriage and lost her home, and not once before chapter 11 does she give her readers a glimpse of the pain she experienced, or the effect it had on her faith.

Over the years, I have helped women whose husband’s have left and asked for a divorce. And they ALL went through a period of grief, disappointment and anger at God for letting it happen. The author gives us a tiny glimpse of this in chapter 14—the book only has 22 chapters in all.

If I were a woman who was experiencing a devastating life event and read this book, it might make me feel worse rather than encourage me through the struggle.

Chapter 9 is full of one life event after another, which paints a picture of God answering all her prayers in a great and astonishing way, minus any periods of grief she might have experienced or unbelief and wavering faith. (It seems the author crammed different events and time frames into one chapter without any distinction between them.)

My reason for saying this book might make one feel worse versus encourage and lift them up is, if you were praying to God for answers and He is quiet (or you don’t have the people in your life she talks about in chapter 8 helping her at every turn and doing so much to care for her), it might cause you to wonder if God really loved you because your scenario is playing out differently.

The order of the stories and time frames are hard to follow and lack continuity. Also some of the scriptures used, seemed to be taken out of context. The author’s particular writing style of trying to make the chapters stories and love letters at the same time—did not work.  

However, there were a few chapters on point. But truthfully if I didn’t have an agreement to read the books I review completely through, I would have never read this book long enough to encounter those chapters—closer to the end.

I do empathize with the author’s desire to share God’s great love to the hurting, especially since it seems she has made it to the other side of hope. She was just not able to articulate it in a way to help one make sense of the pain and hopelessness they might be experiencing.

Dearest Samantha: I Love You! Stories of Hope and Encouragement for Hurting Women, is not a book I recommend for hurting women to read.

(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”)

Until the next blog. Blessings and Hugs...Ponnie