Maybe I'm not cut out for Christianity. I don't know. I went to a women's group which was studying this and I felt like I was sitting in a group of Stepford Wives. I envy Brestin in being so clean-cut and having such perfect examples of the ideas that she illustrates, but much of the time I felt like I was reading not only her ideas but that she had invented BS to back them up. It was unreal, her situations were too easy to solve and I just didn't see a link between Brestin-Land and the real world.

I found this book to be helpful as I search to understand my self and my relationship with my three sisters as we are 14 years apart in age range. I also found the book to be delightful as I progressed through it for ideas to help my two teenage daughters. I only wish I had read it when they were much younger to fully help them find the delight of their unique relationship as sisters.

I have seen the Amazon reviews on this book as well as Brestin's other book "The Friendships of Women," and would have to say that if you are not a Bible believing Christian, you may as well pass this one up. However, you will be missing out on a lot of valuable insight. Brestin has a lot to offer; her insight is invaluable and relevant- but if you don't believe what the Bible has to say about how we are to live as Christian women- conducting ourselves in a manner that is pleasing to Jesus Christ, then you may as well forget it.

I thought I would gag-- Brestin's style of writing is syrupy and unrealistic. I would love to visit her world of very NEAT people. It seems that they are all from the moral majority, have similar beliefs, and conversations with them-- if one of her friends is doing something that is objectionable to The Faith-- have quick conversations and quickly change their ways. She writes in a way that a forth grader can understand and is very predictable. Her advice on dealing with other women is downright cheesey, as one must assume that all your friends are like hers-- cookie-cutter perfect.

Having done several Bible Studies alone and in small groups, I regret to say that My Daughter, My Daughter is the most tedious and unfocused that I have ever labored through. Dee Brestin tells the story of how she and her co-author felt called by God to start a women "Promise Keepers". Sadly this is Dee's story rather than God's story. The narrative is long and far too detail-filled. My reaction to her story is "So what"? The Study part of the book is meant to be broken up into 3 one-hour sessions or six one half hour sessions. However, the required Bible readings are so long that it is not possible to do this study in less than 12 hours per week. If one has any sort of unrelated obligations, it is not possible to do this study in depth. After six lessons, I decided to skip the narrative. After seven sessions, I gave up altogether.