Title: The Truth about Dating, Love & Just Being Friends
Author: Chad Eastham
Genre: Non-Fiction, Self-Help, Relationships
Publisher: Thomas Nelson
Publication Date: February 8th 2011
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Rating: 4 stars
Review copy provided through Booksneeze.

The Truth about Dating, Love & Just Being Friends is a non-fiction, self-help book. I don’t normally read this kind of book – I prefer fiction, and I’m stubborn enough to believe that if anyone can help me with anything, that’ll be me. And not some self-help guru, the Easter Bunny or a guy named Chad Eastham. However, when I saw this book being featured on Booksneeze, I was curious about it. The synopsis sounded funny and entertaining and not patronizing at all. It actually seemed like it was written not only for teenagers, but by a teenager as well. Now I know Mr. Eastham is NOT a teenager, I’m just trying to say that he can write like one, and I’m pretty sure that this skill appeals to his public. It’s one thing if adults tell you to do something, but it feels entirely different when someone else tells you, using the same kind of language you use and while adding some humor to it. So after reading the synopsis, I thought: why not?

I have to say that The Truth (I’m not going to write the entire title everytime because, face it, it’s just too long and I’m lazy) is a very hilarious, fun and entertaining read. In just under 250 pages, Chad Eastham talks about subjects like the Twilight-phenomenon and why all young teenage girls (and sometimes even boys!) seem to be infatuated with vampires, werewolves and the likes, while in all honesty, dead guys and enormous dogs don’t seem all that appealing when looked at from another perspetive. He talks about social media and how it ruins our dating skills, about what we should keep in mind while dating, why some people are just meant to be friends and to never get together and he even dedicates an entire chapter to why his book could be stupid.

The book is filled with charts, lists, notes from readers, jokes and fun facts. It’s a very entertaining and fun read, very casual, and I enjoyed the fact that he didn’t scare away from certain topics, like dating the wrong people and what that could do to you. On the other hand, I have to say that he mentions Christianity a lot, and the view of religion on certain things, and he quotes from the Bible too. While I personally don’t have a problem with that, I don’t think this was the smartest move. Nowadays teenagers, especially here in Europe (I don’t really know about the States), aren’t that much into religion anymore. Most of them still believe in God and Jesus, but they don’t let religious principles dedicate their lifestyle, and mentioning the Bible occassionally in a book of this kind, a self-help book aimed at teenagers, might seem patronizing or old-fashioned to them. Now, Chad mentions a lot of time that the religious views he includes are only aimed at those who believe in them, but he is actually turning away a large part of the teenage public by including them in the first place.

Muslims, jews, teenagers who are followers of the new-age religion, will all be frowning upon the casual mentioning of the Christian religion all through-out this novel. And even Christian people might seem confused at why religion is such a strong theme in this book. I’m not really against it, but it bothered me. I feel like it’s unfair to write a book aimed at teens and then basically exclude half of the teenage population. I think it would have been a wiser decision to include some of the religious themes in a not-so obvious way, like by explaining the principles without actually mentioning they’re religious, because when we look at the basic principles of most religions, they’re more or less the same or at least based on the same morals. Either you include the views of not only the Christian religion, but of some other major religions as well, or you don’t include religion at all. Not if you don’t want to scare off half of your potential public.

Apart from that, I thought the book was great. It was fun, hilarious (I even laughed out loud at times) and highly original. If you’re a teenager struggling with the entire dating process, then I advise The Truth about Dating, Love & Just Being Friends to you, and even if you’re not really struggling but just up for a fun non-fiction read, then I would advise this book as well.