Amy Inspired by Bethany Pierce

Amy Inspired is the second published novel by the young author, Bethany Pierce. I haven’t read her first book, Feeling For Bones, but I did purchase it recently so I can get another taste of Bethany’s unique writing style.

Amy Inspired is written in first person form rather than the omniscient third person style many of us are accustomed to. I often felt I was sneaking a peek into someone’s personal journals.  An author generally writes about topics they know and live. This reader gets the feeling that Amy Inspired was written in that way and probably became somewhat therapeutic for the author. Bethany Pierce has a story to tell. What is that story? Real life. Not the wrapped up in a neat comfortable Christian bow life some readers might prefer to read about.

Bethany spins a complicated, yet simple story about a near-thirty single woman who no longer thinks maintaining her virginity at the cusp of becoming thirty is noble, yet holds tight to her Christian upbringing amidst temptation. Amy has quirky friends that appear to accidently land in her life, including the awkwardness of an unwanted male roommate. Explaining this modern day Christian version of Three’s Company to her firm-faith-founded mother becomes a challenge. Mother, of course, comes complete with the eye-rolling pat Christian answers to Amy’s complicated life situations.

Bethany’s main character, Amy, is a writer doing what she has to do (teaching creative writing at a college) while waiting to do what she wants to do, which ironically is to become a successful writer. It reminds me of the adage among the athletic world: those who can’t… coach. In Amy’s case, those who can’t… teach.

While Amy is trying to find the path to what she truly longs to do, life happens. This story is less about romance and more about testing her faith, understanding true friendship, and growing up… in a twenty-nine-year-old sort of way.

If you like stories that take you off on a romantic, yet virgin-pure jaunt through the make believe land of Christian romance fiction, complete with the white wedding gown “I do” at the end…don’t read Amy Inspired. If you find yourself reaching for books that dare to pull you in to the awkward grey areas of your faith that show you how someone else might grapple with the same struggles you have or have had, and are by an author that accomplishes this with amazing artistic writing skill…Amy Inspired will do that.

On a personal note, if you are an aspiring author like myself, you will enjoy Bethany’s style of writing. I often read phrases thinking that sounds like something I’d write. Or I could totally see one of my fellow-author friends phrasing things like Bethany did. For me, that’s what made the journey from the front cover to the back, an enjoyable ride.

I recommend this book to adult readers that are mature enough to handle the hint of potential sexual encounters.