When I go to a bookstore, check out the books with interesting titles then check the reviews online when I go home.   When reviews are good, I buy them.  Chasing Harry Winston is one of those books that caught my attention so I checked the story and search for reviews online.   The next time I went to the bookstore, it was even on the bestseller list and is on sale so I decided to buy.

Well, what can I say?  At first, I did not really know who Harry Winston is.  Ignorant as you may say but I don’t really suppose a lot of people know him.  I even thought he was a character in the story but no, he is not.  He is actually a maker of fine jewelry, and is popular for his diamond rings or more popularly the engagement ring.  So, the title actually means chasing the engagemet ring.

Now, after the short background, let’s get into the story.  As you will read at the back, it is about three women friends who are about my age- almost 30 years old and how they dealt with it.

I guess, in the story, I can relate more with the character of Emmy.  Of course, excluding her escapades.   Adi is definitely someone women will look up to.  This pretty Brazilian surely knows how to handle a man or men for that matter.  Leigh is one different character but someone we can also relate to at some point.  The girls made a pact one evening to do something - Emmy will start dating more and Adi will be a monogamist.

Emmy was dumped by her boyfriend of five years for a younger, sexy personal fitness trainer.  With age running after her, she seem to have lost her confidence and is a bit desperate in finding someone to marry.  She has always been the type who wants to settle down, have kids and have a happy family.  A wife material.  A serial monogamist, as her friends call her.  While her stupid boyfriend was not able to see that.  My favorite part is when her ex-boyfriend tried to win her back but she did not accept him.

Adi met a director who is popular and handsome.  Well, Adi meet a lot of guys in the story and somehow, she was able to snatch them all.  I actually picture her character as a Catherine Zeta-Jones look-alike.  You will learn a lot from her on how men should be treated and how you can get their attention.  I guess, I just didn’t have the guts or the chance to use that.

Leigh is actually supposed to be in a perfect relationship with the perfect boyfriend.  I must say, Russel is really the man of most women’s dreams.   Her story only proves the fact that no matter how perfect we try to be, it will not be enough.  It is love that makes a person happy and no matter how hard you try to please your partner, if there is no spark then it will go nowhere.  It does not mean that because you are great, the one you love will love you back.  No matter what your flaws are, love will find you when it wants to.  Oooooppppsss…. I am getting a bit mushy here.

There is almost nothing mushy about the story, except for the ending.  It all ends well for the three of course.  In general, it was a good and light read.  I enjoyed reading it.

All of us are looking for answers. We want to know the reasons behind our predicament or the troubles that haunts us.  We search everywhere - through other people, places, books, movies.  These thirst for the truth and for answers that most of us have, our desire to find meaning, is perhaps one of the reasons why there is the abundance of self-help books in the market.  Books that claim that they have the answers.  And who can give us the best answer other than the One who created us and knows us by name?  Our God.  Yet, even if others claim that they have the answers, how can we know that their answers are  true?  That they did not write the book just for the sake of profit - promising us the answers that we so desire.  That the author is not an instrument of deception?  Against this, we must be vigilant.  As Christians, we are fully aware that the devil roams about as a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour (1 Peter 5:8).

One good example could be the book Conversations with God written by Neale D. Walsch.  It has a teen edition called Conversations with God for Teens.  As one concerned Christian wrote in the October 2008 edition of Emmanuel:

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These books are devastating.  They sound harmless enough by their titles alone.  They have been on the New York Times best sellers list for a number of weeks, and they make truth of the statement, ‘Don’t judge a book by its cover or title’.

The author purports to answer various questions asked by kids using the  ‘voice of God’.  However, the  ‘answers’ that he gives are not Bible-based and go against the very infallible Word of God.

For instance (and I paraphrase), when a girl asks the question ‘Why am I a lesbian?’  His answer is that she was ‘born that way’ because of genetics (just as you were born right-handed, with brown eyes, etc).  Then he tells her to go out and ‘celebrate’ her differences.

Another girl poses the question, ‘I am living with my boyfriend.  My parents said that I should marryyou him because I am living in sin.  Should I marry him?’  His reply is, ‘Who are  you sinning against?  Not me, because you have done nothing wrong.’

Another question asked about God’s forgiveness of sin.  His reply:’I do not forgive anyone because there is nothing to forgive.  There is no such thing as right or wrong and that is what I have been trying to tell everyone, do not judge people.  People have chosen to judge one another and this is wrong, because the rule is ‘judge not lest ye be judged.’

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Let this serve as a wake up call to parents, to priests, and religious ministers.  Let us be vigilant.  Our youth is in danger, unless we guide them and guard them from these schemes.  Teenagers can be passionate, with great hunger for answers and belongingness.  Let us bring them to where they belong - in our family, with God.