Cupidity by Hayley & Michael DiMarco

A lot of acts of Cupidity are perpetrated in the name of expecting another person to bring us hope, joy, or peace. It’s probably the most common mistake of the single person looking for love. When we look for love, we all believe in some part of our hearts that when we find it we will have arrived. After all, we think we’ve found the person who will bring us the joy of love, the hope of perfect life together, and finally the peace that will put our chasing and loneliness out to pasture.

– Cupidity, p. 213

Synopsis: As an older song puts it, “Everybody plays the fool, sometime. There’s no exception to the rule.” Who hasn’t done stupid things for love? In the book Cupidity (cupid + stupid) married couple Hayley and Michael DiMarco identify 50 such foolish things. The hope is that the reader turn from his or her mistakes and avoid potential mistakes altogether.

The book is split up into 5 sections: emotional, gender-specific, physical, social and spiritual acts of cupidity. Here is an example from each section:

• Believing love is a feeling
• Fearing the Silence
• Becoming Too Comfortable with Each Other
• Refusing to Apologize
• Sharing Sins

Who this book is for: According to the back cover, this book is for single or married people. To me, it seemed mostly applicable to unmarried females in their late teens or early twenties. The font is a maroonish color and the book includes materials (e.g. quiz, sidebar lists) that look like something out of a magazine for young women.  Guys are often presented as wanting to play video games all day long, wimping out on leadership and not necessarily holding a job.  Unless the male reader fits this category and sees the need for change, he might be turned off and not want to keep reading. Also, this book is intended for Christians.

Positives: While discussing serious matters, the book is light-hearted and the authors don’t take themselves too seriously. There is a lot of practical information in here, especially for people who haven’t read similar books/magazine articles in the past. Also, this book has a great look and feel and the layout is very nice. Bold, italics and larger font are sometimes used to get the point across.

Negatives: Apart from an overly-simplistic view of men, I found this book theologically sloppy at times. For example, on page 213 they write, “None of your thoughts go unnoticed, and no sinful thought goes unpunished…” They are right, but Christ took the punishment. For those in Christ, God does not treat us as our sins deserve.

Summary: As the old adage goes, “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure”. This book can save a lot of heartache and is gracious and hopeful in cases where the damage has already been done.

Rating: 4/5

This book was provided for review by Tyndale. To learn more about or purchase on Amazon, click here.

Category: Reviews