Review: Not My Will by Francena H Arnold

Eleanor's secret love for Chad could mean losing her inheritance and giving up a lifelong dream. Should she follow her own carefully laid plans to be a scientist---or marry the man she really loves? Originally published in 1946, this inspiring story continues to spark fresh discussion about choosing God's will over our own.



This book gets 5 big, bright, beautiful golden stars.

1: I've wanted to review this book for ages, but I needed to read it again first, because I wasn't sure but that I'd leave out something important. It's a book you can't forget reading, not that you'd ever want to. In fact, if you read this book, and at the end you say "I wish I'd never picked that up" then there is something wrong with you that I can't fix.

2: In my memory, this book stands out as the one that had me doing the "slow, leaky tears" thing for chapter after heart-wrenching chapter. There's something special about the first time you read it. This second time, there were fewer tears, just because I knew the end of the agony. (Mind, I don't say no tears, because at one point I was afraid my brother would hear me from the other room, with my little choking sobs.) There is a tenderness and a conveying of sorrow in this book, one I can't describe with much accuracy but which is very much real.

3: Mother Stewart is one of my favorite literary characters, probably ever. I can't get enough of her, or her love toward Eleanor.

4: The title of this book is Not My Will, but the subtitle is really a one-sentence summary of the whole sad, yet satisfying, story. "How much will surrender cost?"

5: Honestly, seeing exactly how wonderfully God worked and maneuvered things throughout the whole story is enough to have you in tears without the sadness. It's a blessing of a book. And if I don't stop now I'm going to sound like a ranting sap, as if I didn't already. Oh..... I'd let the book speak for itself if I had any inkling that you'd read it.


(Can you see where I got scared and backed off before I gave away multiple show-stopper spoilers there? Oh, my, though. I can't say enough good things about this book, and I wish you'd read it.)

Is this my all-time, couldn't live without it, favorite ever book? POSSIBLY! There's a VERY strong probability. Now excuse me while I go pick this up again, and relive the joys and sorrows. <3

(Oh, ummm.... I gave this a romance tag under the labels, but it isn't really a strictly romance. Honestly, Christian and Classic are the only two labels that truly define this book. There is so much in here but it's not easy to pin down.)