My first book, He Loves Me, He Loves Me Not: A Memoir of Finding Faith, Hope, and Happily Ever After is about looking for the right guy…and the right God. Somehow I knew the two were connected.

 From Publishers Weekly:  Ryan’s winsome memoir and writing debut traces her desperate search for a man—specifically a husband—and for a spirituality that works for her…. Ryan is eminently likable and vulnerable, and her sharp writing will appeal to faithful and irreverent readers alike. Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

 

 

 

The sequel is A Maze of Grace: A Memoir of Second Chances.

Maze is about my quest to build a happy marriage. Everywhere I went, it seemed like people were talking about how hard marriage is. I kept thinking, Do you remember what it’s like to be single? I was determined to find a better way…that if God’s promises were real, then some semblance of happily ever after must be possible.

From Publisher’s Weekly: Ryan (He Loves Me, He Loves Me Not) returns with another spiritual memoir, bringing back her trademark wit, humor, and honesty. Her first book portrayed her journey toward love after a promise to take Jesus seriously; this sequel chronicles her spiritual and romantic life during the first five years of her marriage. Each chapter focuses on a unique struggle or revelation, from the joys and challenges of marriage to body image and politics; as a result, the book reads more like a compilation of short essays or long blog entries rather than one continuous narrative. Most admirably, Ryan… is able to present herself as a believing Christian who recognizes that spirituality can be both simple and complex, a universal experience that can be felt in an infinite number of ways. Ryan does not evangelize, instead humbly and humorously offering her own experience for interpretation. Readers of all faiths can enjoy this memoir for its humanity and its honest exploration of relationships and religion, showing how those two things can often intertwine.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.