I Love You to God and Back: Book Review

As a participant in the BookSneeze program, I recently read the book I Love You to God and Back by Amanda Lamb.  I feel a little torn in writing my review of this book.

As a mother of a young child, I understand how precious this book must be to the author.  It is a collection of 100 of her 6-year-old daughter's prayers, followed by the mother's own thoughts and commentaries on what the little girl mentions in her prayers.  How absolutely beautiful and wonderful to have this collection for all time.  I can't imagine how special it is to the author, and I applaud her in writing this book and putting her heart and experiences with her daughter out there for the world.

At the same time, the book was nothing like what I was expecting.  Based on the book description, I was expecting it to provide me with some parenting or theological insight.  I found neither.  Instead, I felt like I was simply reading the life story of a mother and daughter.  Yes, the mother learns things from her daughter's prayers...but the things she learns are more personal and about her family, not things that can pass knowledge and wisdom onto others.

I think the prayers and commentaries in the book would have been very enjoyable to read as a blog.  Each chapter could have been a blog post, and the story could have been read slowly over time.  However, to sit down and try to read this book all at once was too much for me.  I got bored.  I honestly stopped reading the book before finishing it because I found it to be too tedious and long.

Again, as I said above, I can see the worth of this book to the author and so I don't want to negate the value of her writing in her life.  But as a person who does not know her or her daughter and never will, this wasn't a book that was very enjoyable for me. I simply did not gain anything from it.

Note: I received this book free from the publisher through the BookSneeze®.com 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.