The Lost Art of True Beauty: The Set-Apart Girls Guide to Feminine Grace

Leslie Ludy is the bestselling author of Set-Apart Femininity, When God Writes Your Love Story, Authentic Beauty, and more than a dozen other books she has coauthored with her husband, Eric. She reaches thousands of young women each year and is passionate about helping them discover Christ’s design for their lives. Leslie and Eric live with their three children in Colorado.

Leslie Ludy’s most recent book for women, The Lost Art of True Beauty, is all about redefining beauty and what a Christian woman looks like. As with many other books on this topic, Ludy notes the less than desirable influences the media place on females to “look hot” and flaunt their sexuality. What is unique about this book, however, is that not all of the advice she gives is spiritual in nature. Much of what she discusses includes how to dress like a modern Christian woman without giving too much away, how to become attractive to the right kind of guy, and how to behave with social grace. Spiritual beauty is not neglected, however, as she does discuss adopting God’s ideal of femininity as our own and seeing ourselves as God does rather than as the world does. Both the physical and the spiritual aspects of her discussion include very practical and applicable advice and are backed by Scripture, some personal stories that she shares from her own dating life and marriage, and the stories of girls she’s met at conferences.

Ludy has every qualification to write this book, as a woman who has dealt with beauty issues herself, has written many other books for women about this topic, and as someone who interacts with young women regularly at conferences and through her ministry, Set Apart Girl. The book is relatively short and very easy to read. The advice given in the book, though targeted for younger women, can be applied to women of any age or relationship status who struggle with feeling and displaying the beauty and femininity God has given them.

I think that this book would make a useful tool for Christian women across the board. This might be fun to read with other women for discussion and bonding, be it as a mother-daughter pair, among girlfriends, or in a women’s Bible study or book club. I would certainly recommend this book to those looking for concrete and practical ways to change the way they see themselves and beauty in general. – Shannon Potelicki, www.ChristianBookPreviews.com