by Melody Carlson ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 15, 2013
Perfect for young Christian readers and fine for others too.
Five very different high school juniors team up to get a date to the prom in this series opener slanted toward the Christian audience but accessible to all.
Devon has just joined longtime best friend Emma at her mostly Christian private high school. The Northwood Academy faculty isn’t sure that students should date at all, although the school does not expressly forbid it. Aggressive Devon, used to a far more raucous public school and a bit boy crazy, enlists her new friends in a secret effort they name the Dating Games club. Once it’s launched, things begin to percolate. Cassidy follows her Christian faith and tries not to judge Devon, whom she initially dislikes. Meanwhile, Emma gets a makeover, and Abby deals with her too-strict father, while beautiful Bryn uses her charms to shake things up. Several characters wonder whether dating might be dangerous, and in fact, a cautionary plot twist indicates that it can be. The narrative continually refers to Christian ideals, churchgoing, prayer and Christian counseling. Not all characters are religious, but all love and respect their parents and sincerely try to form real friendships even when jealousy strikes. It’s all completely innocent and will be a welcome book for those uncomfortable with more frank fiction for teens.
Perfect for young Christian readers and fine for others too. (Christian chick lit. 12 & up)Pub Date: Oct. 15, 2013
ISBN: 978-0-8007-2131-2
Page Count: 224
Publisher: Revell
Review Posted Online: July 17, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2013
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by Melody Carlson & illustrated by Sophie Allsopp
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by Rachel Lynn Solomon ‧ RELEASE DATE: July 28, 2020
A dizzying, intimate romance.
Rowan teams up with her academic nemesis to win a citywide scavenger hunt.
Rowan Roth and Neil McNair have been rivals in a never-ending game of one-upmanship since freshman year. Now, on the last day of senior year, Rowan hopes to best Neil once and for all as valedictorian, then win Howl, a scavenger hunt with a $5,000 cash prize. She also hopes to sneak away to her favorite romance author’s book signing; no one’s ever respected her passion for the genre, not even her children’s book author/illustrator parents. But Rowan’s named salutatorian, and vengeful classmates plot to end her and Neil’s reign. At first their partnership is purely strategic, but as the pair traverse the city, they begin to open up. Rowan learns that Neil is Jewish too and can relate to both significant cultural touchstones and experiences of casual anti-Semitism. As much as Rowan tries to deny it, real feelings begin to bloom. Set against a lovingly evoked Seattle backdrop, Rowan and Neil’s relationship develops in an absorbing slow burn, with clever banter and the delicious tension of first love. Issues of class, anti-Semitism, and sex are discussed frankly. Readers will emerge just as obsessed with this love story as Rowan is with her beloved romance novels. Rowan’s mother is Russian Jewish and Mexican, and her father is American Jewish and presumably White; most other characters are White.
A dizzying, intimate romance. (author’s note) (Romance. 13-18)Pub Date: July 28, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-5344-4024-1
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Simon Pulse/Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: April 7, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2020
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by Sarah Arthur ‧ RELEASE DATE: Jan. 30, 2024
Evocations of Narnia are not enough to salvage this fantasy, which struggles with thin character development.
A portal fantasy survivor story from an established devotional writer.
Fourteen-year-old Eva’s maternal grandmother lives on a grand estate in England; Eva and her academic parents live in New Haven, Connecticut. When she and Mum finally visit Carrick Hall, Eva is alternately resentful at what she’s missed and overjoyed to connect with sometimes aloof Grandmother. Alongside questions of Eva’s family history, the summer is permeated by a greater mystery surrounding the work of fictional children’s fantasy writer A.H.W. Clifton, who wrote a Narnialike series that Eva adores. As it happens, Grandmother was one of several children who entered and ruled Ternival, the world of Clifton’s books; the others perished in 1952, and Grandmother hasn’t recovered. The Narnia influences are strong—Eva’s grandmother is the Susan figure who’s repudiated both magic and God—and the ensuing trauma has created rifts that echo through her relationships with her daughter and granddaughter. An early narrative implication that Eva will visit Ternival to set things right barely materializes in this series opener; meanwhile, the religious parable overwhelms the magic elements as the story winds on. The serviceable plot is weakened by shallow characterization. Little backstory appears other than that which immediately concerns the plot, and Eva tends to respond emotionally as the story requires—resentful when her seething silence is required, immediately trusting toward characters readers need to trust. Major characters are cued white.
Evocations of Narnia are not enough to salvage this fantasy, which struggles with thin character development. (author’s note, map, author Q&A) (Religious fantasy. 12-14)Pub Date: Jan. 30, 2024
ISBN: 9780593194454
Page Count: 384
Publisher: WaterBrook
Review Posted Online: Oct. 21, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2023
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