cover image Do You Think I'm Beautiful?: The Question Every Woman Asks

Do You Think I'm Beautiful?: The Question Every Woman Asks

Angela Thomas. Thomas Nelson Publishers, $19.99 (224pp) ISBN 978-0-7852-6355-5

A title like this leads a reader to think that this will be a book about body image. However, it's more about understanding beauty and acceptance in the context of God's unconditional love, a poignant message that many women will appreciate. ""A good man can be wonderful,"" writes Thomas, a motivational speaker and mother of four. ""But he can never be ENOUGH, and he can never make you WHOLE. You and I were made for even more. We were made for God."" Although some readers may balk at the gender essentialism that drives this book (women are ""wired"" for relationships and beauty, etc.), Thomas spins compelling anecdotes from her own experiences and the lives of others. She builds a persuasive case for God as a pursuing lover who delights in each one of his daughters, even when they feel unlovable. She speaks honestly and with cutting humor about how Christian women appear to be all smiles, but ""are dying on the inside."" She also does an especially fine job of drawing on the prodigal son parable from the New Testament to demonstrate that although women sometimes feel like the prodigal and sometimes like the unappreciated elder son, God is waiting to receive them with open arms.