True Love Dates – review

True Love Dates  is a new entry to the somewhat crowded ‘Christian Dating Book’ scene which is full of confusion – one book tells you to kiss dating goodbye, another says to go on a sacred search, another says there is no such thing as “just friends” and now Debra Fileta is telling us that actually, true love does in fact date after all.
True Love Dates takes the unique slant that there are three aspects to dating relationships – your relationship with yourself, your relationship with a partner and your relationship with God. It was the first section on your relationship with yourself that I found most beneficial and a refreshing focus. Debra considers how before you can worry about dating someone, first you have to figure out who you are, finding your own identity in Christ, figuring out your interests, determining what your standards are, what things you cannot compromise on and being clear on that before starting to date.
With regards the sections on dating others and your relationship with God there isn’t a lot that isn’t already covered in other Christian dating books (or so I would imagine, I promise I haven’t read all of them….), although there are good “real life” anecdotes, both from Debra and from people she has counselled over the years. There is also a very good FAQ section at the end of the book, which includes some of the best advice I have come across for people who have been “friend-zoned” (a topic rarely covered in Christian dating books.)
I should note that I read the ebook edition, which had some formatting issues, which while irksome did not interfere too much with reading the book. If you only read one Christian Dating book, True Love Dates is a reasonable option, but if you already have one or more, there isn’t really enough fresh stuff here to justify the expense – save the money for a ChristianMingle subscription
I was provided with a free review copy by the publisher through NetGalley. I don’t have to do a positive review. All opinions are my own.