This story was much more satisfying than I expected it to be. Contemporary and popular Christian fiction seems to have a reputation of being trite and simplistic, but Moments was neither. All the characters were well-developed and understandable, and they made reasonable decisions based on their personalities, backgrounds, and the situation at hand. I can’t remember any situations where I thought, “Why would she do that?” (a constant problem in The Magicians).

This is also the first time I’ve known a Christian to show concern for wealthy nonbelievers. The tendency is to focus on the poor and the oppressed, which is good (understatement of the day), but it’s like saying to people who have money, “Jesus doesn’t really care about you; you can take care of yourself.” We know it’s not true, but we focus so much on material things—which leads us to become indignant at the thought of helping a wealthy person in any way—that we forget what Ecclesiastes says about a rich man’s wealth being his burden and a constant source of anxiety. Ms. Wick just might be making a point: rich people need Jesus, too.

The writing flowed well, the pace was good, and I was able to empathize with the characters, despite the drastic differences in class, wealth, and location. Except for the author’s method of clarifying ambiguous pronouns (which I found mildly annoying), White Chocolate Moments was an enjoyable experience. Christian men: if you want a way to show your wife or girlfriend how sensitive you are, this is a good one.