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New Christian Novel Explores Dating, Drinking, and God’s Purpose for Our Lives

Erin Elise Kiu’s new novel, One Transforming Love, tells the story of Aubrey, a twenty-something administrator working in public accounting who has decided it’s time to stop looking for love in all the wrong places and discover the purpose of his life. Aubrey recently moved to San Diego from Chicago, and hopes to find a decent boyfriend and new friends, as well as get over her past mistakes. Although raised in a Christian family, Aubrey never really listened in church or understood the concept of what God was calling her to do. She let drinking and dating distract her, but now she wants to start over and discover God’s plans for her.

Two things happen to Aubrey shortly after moving to San Diego. She starts going to church and talking to her Christian friend, Tina, about God, and meets Jake, an attractive man who lives on the beach not far from her.

Aubrey and Jake start seeing each other and she becomes very attracted to him. Although Jake is eight years older than her, Aubrey enjoys his company and feels they could be a good match. She understands when Jake explains that he is getting divorced, and is willing to believe that he might be ready for a serious relationship once he gets over his divorce. Like her, Jake obviously wants to start over and Aubrey is willing to give him a chance. After all, Aubrey has made her own mistakes, having gotten into trouble as a result of drinking too much at a work party that led to her parole.

Unhappy in her job and past relationships, Aubrey tries to create a new life for herself, trying to figure out what God wants her to do with her life and how Jake can be a part of that life. However, the more she tries to seek God and do what is right, the more it seems that the people around her want to lead her astray.

I won’t reveal more of Aubrey’s story, though I will tell readers that this novel has an unexpected happy ending that manages to avoid all the clichés. Throughout the book, I was rooting for Aubrey to find love and feeling sorry for her when she made a mistake or things didn’t work out the way she wanted, and was inspired by how she never gave up. Her final decision to turn things over to God and let him find solutions for her realistically comes out of her pain and frustrations.

Author Erin Elise Kiu has created a down-to-earth novel that never indulges in sermons or cornyness. Instead, it describes a situation many young people go through as they try to navigate their lives amid the mixed messages they receive from society and their peers. In many ways, the novel can be summed up in this passage: “Aubrey needed more. She didn’t need more party people in her life, but she didn’t know what she needed.” The purpose of the novel is to explore what Aubrey needs and lead her to answers that may be as surprising to the reader as it is to Aubrey.

The novel is based on solid Christian teaching, and Kiu plants various resources for the reader in the form of books Aubrey reads or blogs he visits. The story describes a modern version of the Christian’s journey that, surprisingly, is not that different from the journeys of Christians in biblical times who tried not to get swept up in the ways of the world as they sought to follow Christ.

I think One Transforming Love is a novel that anyone can relate to. It’s perfect, especially for the teen or thirty-something woman who is unhappy with her life and wants to find answers to make it more meaningful. It would be a wonderful gift, especially for new Christian women and others seeking God who need to know that they don’t have to live a life that consists of drinking and dating men who won’t marry them. In these pages, they will not only be entertained by the story, but will find solutions to their own spiritual dilemmas.

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