This Is Awkward, by Sammy Rhodes

In This Is Awkward, Sammy Rhodes talks directly, honestly, and hilariously about the most painfully uncomfortable subjects in our lives. In chapter like "Parents Are a Gift (You Can't Return Them)" and "D is for Depression," he boldly goes where most of us fear to tread, revealing that we can be liberated by the embrace of a God who knows the most shameful things about us and loves us all the same. Because nothing is too awkward for God. (from the back cover)

Depression, divorce, porn, social media, introversion, and.... donuts?  These are just a few of the weird and randomly awkward chapter topics in This Is Awkward.   If that's not enough, Rhodes starts each chapter with a little behind-the-scenes venture into his meandering, neurotic mind (and I say that with total respect... and as a person who also has a meandering, neurotic mind) as he writes... or tries to write... or thinks about writing... mostly at places like Starbucks.  I would have honestly read the book just for these little excerpts alone.  To say that I could relate would be a gross understatement. They met me in the most vulnerable, darkest, awkwardest, weirdest corners of my psyche.  I'm not a husband, or a father, or a male, but I get Sammy Rhodes.

I started reading this book in the waiting room at the dentist, and found myself praying that he'd be running late so I could keep reading.  I felt like a little kid, plotting to beg her parents, "Just five more minutes!" when they came in to find me reading in bed and told me it was time for lights out.   Sammy Rhodes writes in a wonderfully relatable and conversational style that made me want to keep turning the pages.  He writes about the things that so many of us think about, but are afraid to say. Plus, he's hysterical.

The truly great thing about this book though isn't so much the camaraderie you feel reading about someone who's just as weird and awkward as you are (though that's certainly a part of it).  What makes it great is the overall hopeful message that God accepts and loves even at our most embarrassingly awkward.  Something that I think I can never hear enough.

Read it.

I received this book for free from the BookLook Bloggers program in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.