Book MYView: The Ideal Wife by Jacquelin Thomas

Marrying a handsome, wealthy lawyer and living in a Hollywood Hills mansion...it's a dream come true for twenty-four-year-old Jana, from the moment Lawrence Collins swept her off her feet and into his luxurious world. True, she put her studies at a local Bible college on hold in order to wed after a six-month whirlwind romance. Beautiful and vivacious, with a stunning body, Jana knows men like Lawrence don't come along every day, and she vows to be a perfect companion -- the ideal wife -- to this sexy, powerful man. But at what price?

From her wardrobe and hairstyle to her friends and her choice of church, Lawrence seems to want to change Jana into someone she's not...and soon, the man Jana thought she knew will test her values and her faith with a shocking revelation that goes against everything she believes. How far will Jana be willing to go to keep the man she loves? With her "ideal" marriage falling apart, Jana -- the real, modest, smart, and strong girl who knows what she stands for -- must put her trust in God, and follow His guiding light out of the darkness of a broken relationship. (Pocket Books, 2009)


MY Thoughts: The Ideal Wifewas a difficult book for me to read due to its subject matter. Many bloggers desire Christian fiction to be more edgy, more real to life. Well, The Ideal Wife is as real as you can get.

Edgy Christian fiction done right portrays Christians in real situations, offering bible-based solutions to their problems. Jacquelin Thomas does that well in this story as we see Jana struggle with what it means to be a submissive wife caught unaware in an unusual marriage.

The Ideal Wife frankly portrays a naïve, faith-filled wife trapped in the manipulative, sexually addicted grasps of her so-called Christian husband. Pornography, scripture twisting, and spousal swapping, are frankly discussed.

However, not once did I, as a reader, feel a participant in anything inappropriate. Scenes weren’t written for shock value to sell books. I believe scenes were written to show readers these types of situations really happen to normal people outside of the Playboy mansion. Maybe not to the extreme portrayed in the book, but the percentage of Christians involved in pornography is startling. Therefore, you never really know what anyone is going through.

Last week, I mentioned we needed adult books to openly discuss emotional manipulation, well I have it here in this book. This book isn't easy to read, but it is necessary. Who knows, someone sitting in church may be suffering in silence wishing for someone to talk to about his or her pain. The Ideal Wife might open the door for needed discussion in the Christian community.


Jacquelin Thomas is an award winning, bestselling author with twenty-nine titles in print. Her books have garnered several awards, including two EMMA awards, the Romance In Color Reviewers Award, Readers Choice Award and the Atlanta Choice Award in the Religious & Spiritual category. Jacquelin was a 2005 honoree at the Houston Black Film Festival for the movie adaptation of her novel, Hidden Blessings. She was the first recipient to receive the Writers Achievement Award at the North Carolina Book Festival in Winston-Salem.

Although Jacquelin initially published in the romance genre, she decided to follow the call on her heart to write Christian fiction because she seeks to write books that will touch your heart and uplift your spirits with tales of characters who yearn to have an intimate relationship with God.

Committed to writing books that glorify God and her growing teen audience, Jacquelin published the first of her Young Adult Inspirational Fiction series titled Simply Divine in October 2006. Her second book in the series, Divine Confidential was nominated for a 2008 NAACP Image Award. She has since gone on to publish two more books in the series. When asked why she is so passionate about writing teen novels, Thomas shares that teens are confronted with so much—sex, drugs, violence and abuse, physically and mentally. They need to not only listen to what the world says about these things but also to what the Bible says.

Jacquelin is a member of the National Writers Union, Romance Writers of America and the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators. She is happily married to her best friend and is the proud mother of three children. Jacquelin and her family live in North Carolina.