I bought this while perusing through the list of top rated children's fiction on Amazon. It was only 99 cents, and it was about a high school girl who wasn't sure about hanging with her church friends. Hmmmm, plus it was an independently published book with such good ratings? Sounds interesting. I loaded it before leaving town for work, and didn't come to it in my queue until I had finished a couple other books first. By that time I had forgotten i had even downloaded it. So I began reading the first chapter which takes place at a party, and by the time the main character is in an upstairs bathroom washing some spilled beer off her skirt I was hooked. The story is written in first person, but is straight forward without trying to be "cool." I think the absence of hipster language will give this book a longer shelf life.

Bowling does a great job of writing a believable real life problems story from a Christian worldview without being either cheesy or too R-rated. It isn't preachy and the characters aren't perfect, yet it communicates hope and grace better than most books I've read in this genre. It's also a cautionary tale that I would not hesitate to hand over to even the most sheltered 8th grader. I think it would actually be a great book for a book club of young girls (even guys) to discuss some of the things Lenna faces in the book regarding her faith, friends, boys, judging others and the sanctity of life.

There are a couple nit-picky things I didn't agree with in the book. For instance, I would have had Pastor Ted communicate things little differently with Lenna. I think he could have acknowledged that she did sin but that God was ready to forgive. What makes God's love so amazing is that we are all so undeserving because we are all bent on living lives our own way apart from God's help. Overall, though, I did love the scene and thought Bowling did an amazing job with the interaction between the two characters without being sappy.

This book was a total surprise. I cried several times, and that is not my usual response to teen fiction. I hope Bowling has more books on the way. I'll be looking for them. ( )