What do you think?
Body and Soul #1
Lighten Up
Bethany Light is the daughter of a minister who can’t forgive her father for running off with the church secretary. She goes to her own pastor for counsel, never expecting to fall in love with him. To make matters worse, she’s personal training his fiancé in preparation for the big day and somehow ends up in their wedding.
Refusing to make the same mistake her dad made, Bethany tries to focus on fixing her family rather than face her own issues. How could a household that used to have it all together have fallen so far from grace? And how can she keep from following in her father’s footsteps when it feels so right?
“Lighten Up is one of the heaviest Christian novels I’ve ever read. It’s also fun, smart, snappy, real, and convicting. Highly recommended for a reader who’s looking for something different from the norm, with a lot of faith-challenging entertainment.”
Christina Berry
Christy-nominated and Carol-winning author of The Familiar Stranger
“Lighten Up is a powerful work of fiction. Strong’s characters jump off the page and into the hearts of readers. Bethany’s voice rings true with life and emotional traumas many will relate to. This is a book that makes you laugh and makes you think. It moved me. And I hated to see the story end, wondering what would happen to Bethany next.”
Jill Williamson
Author of By Darkness Hid, Replication, and Captives
Refusing to make the same mistake her dad made, Bethany tries to focus on fixing her family rather than face her own issues. How could a household that used to have it all together have fallen so far from grace? And how can she keep from following in her father’s footsteps when it feels so right?
“Lighten Up is one of the heaviest Christian novels I’ve ever read. It’s also fun, smart, snappy, real, and convicting. Highly recommended for a reader who’s looking for something different from the norm, with a lot of faith-challenging entertainment.”
Christina Berry
Christy-nominated and Carol-winning author of The Familiar Stranger
“Lighten Up is a powerful work of fiction. Strong’s characters jump off the page and into the hearts of readers. Bethany’s voice rings true with life and emotional traumas many will relate to. This is a book that makes you laugh and makes you think. It moved me. And I hated to see the story end, wondering what would happen to Bethany next.”
Jill Williamson
Author of By Darkness Hid, Replication, and Captives
332 pages, Kindle Edition
First published November 4, 2012
About the author
Angela Ruth Strong
42 books750 followersAngela Ruth Strong sold her first Christian romance novel in 2009. Her books have since earned TOP PICK in Romantic Times, been nominated for a Christy, won the Cascade Award, and become Amazon best-sellers. Her book Finding Love in Big Sky filmed as a movie in Montana and aired on UPtv in 2022. To help aspiring authors, she started IDAhope Writers where she lives in Idaho, and she teaches as an expert online at My Book Therapy.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
March 23, 2015
Bethany Light is a personal trainer. She's lonely, trying to fix her family, and struggles to forgive her dad for cheating on her mom. In an attempt to make sense of things, she seeks council from the pastor of her church and ends up falling in love with him. Too bad he's engaged to one of her clients. With plenty of wit, a bit of sarcasm, and soul-searching, Bethany learns it's up to the Lord, and not her, to repair the hearts of others. Angela Ruth Strong did an amazing job showing the results of too much judgement and not enough forgiveness. I loved all the characters in the book from the motor-mouth "dumb blonde" to the adorable UPS guy to the strong-silent-type-green-eyed pastor. Angela should give a workshop on character development, not to mention, writing in first-person.
I recommend this book to anyone who desires a closer walk with the Lord and appreciates a no-nonsense Christian fiction that doesn't sugar-coat real life, all with a good dose of humor.
I recommend this book to anyone who desires a closer walk with the Lord and appreciates a no-nonsense Christian fiction that doesn't sugar-coat real life, all with a good dose of humor.
October 28, 2020
I loved all the subtle messages in this book, the big messages in this book and the time that the author took to describe the thoughts, feelings and overall process that Bethany went through. I was thoroughly surprised by the ending—I know the series continues, but would love to see a second book on how Bethany works through her feelings and the author’s thought process on how that would look.
I picked up the book to help deal with church hurt. Though I didn’t get a ton out of the book for that specifically, I did get a great reminder that a lot of times I care more about what other people think or say than what Jesus does. I’ve defeinitely been in that season of life—having a pastor tell me that what I’m hearing from God isn’t what I’m actually hearing. This was the “nail in the coffin”—doesn’t matter what earthy title they may have, listen to Jesus. So thank you, author for your words and message.
Other random thoughts that you will only understand if you read the book. Overall, the health lectures got a little annoying (not gonna lie), but I don’t think it should take away from the 5-star review. The characters were authentic, real, and made REAL mistakes, which is always a nice fresh breath of air. Loved the humor and Bethany’s internal thoughts (I can SO relate to her humor and her judginess—though I do wish we could see more of how Eric’s life lessons changed her internal monologing at the end). Also, THANK YOU for having Eric screw up and have to apologize. Humbleness is so severaly lacking in this day and age and it was refreshing!
I picked up the book to help deal with church hurt. Though I didn’t get a ton out of the book for that specifically, I did get a great reminder that a lot of times I care more about what other people think or say than what Jesus does. I’ve defeinitely been in that season of life—having a pastor tell me that what I’m hearing from God isn’t what I’m actually hearing. This was the “nail in the coffin”—doesn’t matter what earthy title they may have, listen to Jesus. So thank you, author for your words and message.
Other random thoughts that you will only understand if you read the book. Overall, the health lectures got a little annoying (not gonna lie), but I don’t think it should take away from the 5-star review. The characters were authentic, real, and made REAL mistakes, which is always a nice fresh breath of air. Loved the humor and Bethany’s internal thoughts (I can SO relate to her humor and her judginess—though I do wish we could see more of how Eric’s life lessons changed her internal monologing at the end). Also, THANK YOU for having Eric screw up and have to apologize. Humbleness is so severaly lacking in this day and age and it was refreshing!
June 20, 2020
Great book to get you thinking about relationships in life
Enjoyed the characters and the honest look at how one persons decisions affect so many and how important accountability is. I also enjoyed the flash back to life 20 years ago and the references to things I loved and places I remember.
Enjoyed the characters and the honest look at how one persons decisions affect so many and how important accountability is. I also enjoyed the flash back to life 20 years ago and the references to things I loved and places I remember.
October 6, 2023
I really enjoyed this quick read. There were times in the second half that I started to become frustrated with the main character, but it did get better. Second half of the book also seemed to have a noticeable number of typos. Other than that I really enjoyed this one and can't wait to read more from this author.
October 28, 2020
Really enjoyed this book—great life lessons and the author did great describing thoughts, feelings, and the overall process the characters went through. The idea of humbleness coming from the pastor was also very refreshing. Wish we had more of that in real life!
March 14, 2021
A lot like a romantic comedy movie. With the first-person POV, I felt like I was living the heroine's life and she was funny and awkward and a little broken and very relatable. This was my first book by this author, but I would read more.
November 16, 2022
Learning who and Whose she is
Just because a person is a Christian doesn't mean he or she is perfect overnight. We are still growing and changing. These characters have grown a lot in this story, which has some interesting twists and turns. Very well done!
Just because a person is a Christian doesn't mean he or she is perfect overnight. We are still growing and changing. These characters have grown a lot in this story, which has some interesting twists and turns. Very well done!
May 14, 2017
So much quirky humor made me laugh out loud. There were several serious themes running throughout the book, but the humor "lightened" it up. I like this author and have enjoyed all her books.
July 17, 2020
Did not like Bethany. I experienced her as superficial and judgemental. I believe we were meant to experience her growth as the book progressed. She didn't grow enough for me.
September 11, 2026
Oh my goodness, I need to read more from this author!! But also, this was WAY outside my comfort zone. Gritty, honest, nonsugarcoated, uncomfortable conversations that were centered around faith. We all struggle with temptation and sin. The humor was amazing! Probably the best and most natural sense of humor I've read. This book calls out hypocrisy, was full of depth and written so well. The ending was handled so well for such a sticky situation. I really wanted to give it 5 stars but I honestly almosted dnfed a few times because at times it felt too heavy or too real for me.
*be aware there are discussions of infidelity, temptation, church hurt, and other sensitive topics (down below)
Generalized content warnings:
*be aware there are discussions of infidelity, temptation, church hurt, and other sensitive topics (down below)
Generalized content warnings:
March 3, 2013
I really, really, really enjoyed this story. It was packed with realistic emotional tension, real-life drama, and spiritual truths that kept me pondering things for quite some time. Yes, the heart is deceitful and wicked above all things. Who can know it?
I loved being in Bethany's head for the entire story. She learned so many things about herself. I recently had similar insights. It's funny how we don't realize sometimes how selfish our thoughts are until we read similar thoughts in a book. Anyway, Bethany was a lovable character. She had reasons to feel hurt and betrayed. But at the same time, she needed to learn forgiveness. I loved the interaction at Christmas and the scene where she overheard Eric talking to his mother. I hurt for her.
Bethany got so many mixed messages from Eric I could totally see how her fantasy evolved. I started to believe it myself, making the story more compelling than ever. Sometimes doing the right thing is the hardest road to take. I loved this story for pointing that out and I loved how Bethany discovered she wasn't the only person dealing with emotional pain.
I have to say I wasn't very fond of Babbling Brooke, but then again, I was in Bethany's head for the story, so that made sense. In truth, sometimes our heartache spreads like an incurable disease. There are lasting ramifications to everything we do. We need to take responsibility for the things we can control. Those are our actions and how we respond to situations. We make choices every day, some good and some bad.
More than that, we need to try and discover what God is trying to teach us in every situation, even the unpleasant ones. I loved that insight Bethany learned from Eric. For those thoughts motivate our choices and the consequences we have to live with even if we never figure the "whys" out.
I loved being in Bethany's head for the entire story. She learned so many things about herself. I recently had similar insights. It's funny how we don't realize sometimes how selfish our thoughts are until we read similar thoughts in a book. Anyway, Bethany was a lovable character. She had reasons to feel hurt and betrayed. But at the same time, she needed to learn forgiveness. I loved the interaction at Christmas and the scene where she overheard Eric talking to his mother. I hurt for her.
Bethany got so many mixed messages from Eric I could totally see how her fantasy evolved. I started to believe it myself, making the story more compelling than ever. Sometimes doing the right thing is the hardest road to take. I loved this story for pointing that out and I loved how Bethany discovered she wasn't the only person dealing with emotional pain.
I have to say I wasn't very fond of Babbling Brooke, but then again, I was in Bethany's head for the story, so that made sense. In truth, sometimes our heartache spreads like an incurable disease. There are lasting ramifications to everything we do. We need to take responsibility for the things we can control. Those are our actions and how we respond to situations. We make choices every day, some good and some bad.
More than that, we need to try and discover what God is trying to teach us in every situation, even the unpleasant ones. I loved that insight Bethany learned from Eric. For those thoughts motivate our choices and the consequences we have to live with even if we never figure the "whys" out.
January 24, 2013
This book surprised me in so many ways. I felt like the characters were realistic and I loved the intimate, vulnerable perspective we got through the main character, Bethany. Sometimes fiction seems to gloss over things we want to hide about ourselves—so Lighten Up was unique. It was intriguing to read about a girl attracted to an unavailable man, through her eyes, with her justification. It made for such an honest story. But beyond that, the plot surprises were interesting and entertaining.
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews