Finally, a book for single women who, unsatisfied with living a worldly lifestyle, want to give their lives a new and godly direction. Author Dawn Eden, a Jewish-born rock journalist turned salty Christian blog queen, gives these readers the positive and uplifting message that they've been wanting to hear-that spiritual healing and a renewed outlook await them. Using her own experiences in the New York City singles jungle, she shows women how they too can go from insecurity to purity, and from forlorn to reborn. She tells women who have been around the block how to find their way home. Among inspirational books for single women, The Thrill of the Chaste is a pair of hip Ray-Bans in a field of rose-colored glasses. This isn't a book for dainty damsels in lacy white dresses patiently awaiting their handsome prince. This is for real women who need strong, motivational, and deeply moral messages to counter the ones they receive from a superficial, sex-obsessed world. An intelligent, culturally aware, and (not least important) highly entertaining account of how one woman was able to break free of a culture of sexual objectification. --National Review Dawn Eden is an assistant news editor and columnist for the Daily News of New York City. A former rock historian, her writing have also appeared in National Review Online,Touchstone, People, and her own blog, The Dawn Patrol. the thrill of the chaste finding fulfillment while keeping your clothes on By Dawn Eden Thomas Nelson Copyright © 2007 Dawn Eden All right reserved. ISBN: 978-0-8499-1311-2 Contents introduction......................................................................ix1. not the same old song..........................................................12. sex and the witty: getting a rise out of chastity..............................113. becoming a singular sensation..................................................214. the agony and the ecstasy: countering the culture..............................315. the first cut is the deepest...................................................416. why it's easy to blame mom and dad (and why you shouldn't).....................517. the meaning of sex.............................................................638. saying yes like you mean it....................................................739. tender mercies: reconnecting with your vulnerability...........................8310. the iniquity of my heels: a sole in danger....................................9111. up close and personal.........................................................10112. start me up: how beginnings shape endings.....................................11313. life beyond the "meet" market.................................................12314. join the club!................................................................13315. clothes encounters............................................................14716. crush and burn: dealing with temptation.......................................15717. heavy mettle: mending the chinks in your spiritual armor......................16718. why shared values matter......................................................17719. seeing is believing: holding on to your vision................................18920. from willpower to thrill power................................................199notes.............................................................................209acknowledgments...................................................................211 Chapter One not the same old song Late one night, walking home from my newspaper job, I passed by a Johnny Rockets-the chain of Fifties-style burger joints-just as it was closing. As the bored waiters in their starched white uniforms and matching caps wiped the chrome tabletops, one last jukebox tune crackled from the outdoor speakers onto the deserted streets: the Shirelles' "Will You Love Me Tomorrow." The song brought up bittersweet memories-more bitter than sweet. Like many songs from that more innocent era, "Will You Love Me Tomorrow" expresses feelings that most people would be too ashamed to verbalize. There's something painful about the way its vulnerable heroine leaves herself wide open. She's not looking for affirmation so much as absolution. All her man has to do is say he loves her-then a night of sin is transformed into a thing of beauty. * * * Do you believe that you have the right to own an Uzi? If you're a staunch defender of the Second Amendment, maybe you do-aftert all, the right to bear arms is in the United States Constitution. But having the right to own one doesn't mean you necessarily should-and you might not like to live in a place where people tote them around. Likewise, the pursuit of happiness is in the Constitution-and it's safe to say that many single women in the New York City area where I live believe that part of that right is an active sex life. Magazines like Cosmopolitan , many