It hurts when the one you love doesn’t love you back. It’s hard to be the object of someone’s desires when you just don’t feel the same way. How should Christians deal with these situations? There are hundreds of books describing how to build lasting relationships or how to lead a chaste life as a single person. There are very few books, however, describing how to deal with unrequited love. With Loves Me, Loves Me Not, Laura Smit fills this void.

Smit tackles this universal human experience with intelligence, sympathy, and wit. An accessible book, Loves Me, Loves Me Not will be an invaluable tool for youth pastors; singles group leaders; college students; and students of human sexuality, marriage and family, and Christian ethics.

Smit brings a chaste heart and a fecund imagination to the topic of romance and relationships. Society tells us that a love not returned is wasted, but Smit shows us just how much we have to learn from unrequited love. She examines the fragments of our love lives with the skill of a pastor and the gentle encouragement of a wise friend, giving us hope that unrequited love can teach us to turn our hearts to God. This is a beautiful book, weaving together personal stories with biblical theology and challenging insight. In a world of sexual experts and sexual excess, perhaps we have the most to learn from someone who is called to be single. Whatever your station in life, this book will move you as much as it will teach you. Read it and begin to love anew.–Stephen H. Webb, professor of religion and philosophy, Wabash College

Loves Me, Loves Me Not slides easily into an empty space in the stacks of literature on singleness and relationships, explaining the mystery and the misery of why would-be romances misfire. Smit addresses this all-too-common but seldom-discussed experience with wisdom gained from both thorough research and personal insight.–Frederica Mathewes-Green, author of Gender: Men, Women, Sex, Feminism; www.frederica.com