Today I’m your hostess for “Friendship Friday” on The Friendship Project blog tour. This new book from Michele Faehnle and Emily Jaminet (Ave Maria Press, 2017) inspires women to foster friendships based on holy virtues.
The title of this book immediately made me think of Gretchen Rubin’s Happiness Project, but there’s a big difference here. Rubin’s book is all about how to make things more pleasant for yourself. The Friendship Project invites you outside your personal cocoon into a world of relationship where you and your friends encourage each other. As Sister John Dominic, O.P., remarks in her back-cover endorsement,
“We live in a technology-driven world where people are instantly connected, yet in our own personal lives, we often feel isolated and alone. … [The Friendship Project] underscores the truth that happiness lies in living a virtuous life.”
Friends since college, Michele and Emily write from their own experience, sharing the joys of their twenty-year friendship. Each chapter features a pair of women saints who were friends, and focuses on one virtue that will help us to become better friends and deepen our spiritual friendships.
I know you shouldn’t judge a book by its cover, but I was struck by this book’s lovely cover design featuring images by Ivona Staszewski. The folk-art style portraits of saints fit so well with the down-to-earth treatment of saints and holy friendships that Emily and Michele discuss in this book.
I met Emily and Michele earlier this summer at the Catholic Marketing Network, where they displayed advance reading copies of their book. They are powerhouses: energetic, prayerful, dedicated women–and clearly BFFs. When you meet them in this book, you’re going to want what they have. When you read The Friendship Project, you’ll find out how to get it.
Visit the other stops on The Friendship Project blog tour!
This post contains Amazon affiliate links; your purchase through these links helps support this blog. Thank you! I was given a free review copy of this book, but no other compensation. Opinions expressed here are mine alone.
Copyright 2017 Barb Szyszkiewicz