Review: Starflower by Anne Elisabeth Stengl

Another review by Julie!

You may or may not have seen that I reviewed Heartless by Anne Elisabeth Stengl. I found it a rather heavy-handed allegory with a (purposely?) unlikable heroine, and didn't much care for it. The CSFF blog tour did Starflower a while back, but due to a glitch I didn't get my copy. Rebecca LuElla Miller generously sent me a free copy, which got interrupted TWICE (first, my ebook loan of The Skin Map came in, and then the Sigmund Brouwer CSFF tour started a week earlier than I anticipated so I had to get to work on those books).

Usually when I put down a book and then come back to it later, I read with a much more critical eye. As often as not, it's a struggle to get back into the story. The fact that even after a two-week hiatus, I still enjoyed this book, for the most point uncritically, shows that this book is an excellent match to my tastes.

My main disappointment is that this was by far my best chance to prove to the CSFF blog tour gang that I'm not just a jerk who doesn't like any books, but I missed the tour. Ah well.
 

Book: Starflower by Anne Elisabeth Stengl

Ridiculously simplified summary: Faerie playboy Eanrin seeks to save the fair lady Gleamdren from her wicked captor. But he finds a mysterious, silent, mortal princess who unexpectedly captures his attention. She has secrets of her own.

Content: I didn't notice any particularly graphic violence. I'm not sure the Christian elements would really work or make sense to a non-Christian; they seemed better fitted to a Christian audience to me. (That's not a bad thing; Christians need to read too!) For a while it does seem like the people who are similar to old-time Native Americans are outright sexist/evil (to the extreme) but there is an explanation, at least.

Rating:

Compelling: 9 out of 10. I found the beginning rather slow and dull, as I didn't care a bit about the Faerie Court (in fact, I still don't). Initially, the villain even seems like a retreading of the exact same transformations we saw in Heartless, so alarm bells were going off. But some point after Eanrin starts his journey, I started to care. By the time Starflower finally gets to tell her story (which was a bit jarring, as it takes place in a completely different world and society) I was hooked.

Characters: 9 out of 10. Eanrin is at least as selfish as Princess Una from Heartless, but he has that kind of self-assured arrogance that (at least when it comes to romance novel heroes) can be rather charming to read about. His faerie nature also works to make him likeable. Starflower is a dull character at first but as her storyline progresses, she becomes much more interesting and likable. She is good, yet interesting. The minor characters are less nuanced, with the villainess losing her temper not unlike Princess Una in Heartless. But they were all right, and Eanrin and Starflower carried the book.


Writing/editing: 8 out of 10. I'm reviewing this aspect well after I read the book...I do recall a bit of head hopping, and the beginning did little to draw me in. But I really enjoyed the allegory and thought it worked very well. I still think of Eanrin's experience in (in effect) hell. Overall I thought the story flowed well, once the slower beginning.

Plausibility/believability: 4 out of 5. Some reviewers on Goodreads had some problems with plausibility...I was surprised by the twists and turns, but I love the blending of two clashing, even contradictory worlds (in this case, the magical world of faerie and the ancient-style world of native humans).

Positive: 5 out of 5. Simply brilliant allegory that seemed to stem from the characters instead of controlling them. I loved the Christian message, delivered to Christians.

Gut reaction: 5 out of 5.

Bonus points: 5 out of 5.

Recommended for: Any fan of Christian fantasy romance.

Total Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars

*I received a free copy of this book.

CSFF Blog Tour - Sigmund Brouwer - Wrap up

Not so much to wrap up here, but I'll link two entries I particularly liked. (Even if they liked the books better than I did!)

Rebekah Loper is a long-time fan of Brouwer--her first post describes when she met the author, and also explains exactly how these books are a retelling of previous series.

And Rebecca LuElla Miller had a very good post about the use of magic in Christian fiction.

Thanks for the tour, all!

CSFF Blog Tour - Fortress of Mist by Sigmund Brouwer

Julie again for the CSFF Blog Tour!

So if you read my review of Book One of Merlin's Immortals, The Orphan King, you can see it wasn't my favorite. I found the pacing and reveal of information (and storyline!) of this one much more compelling, though my rating doesn't portray the difference so accurately.
 

Book: Fortress of Mist by Sigmund Brouwer

Ridiculously simplified summary: In 1300s England, Thomas, young lord of Magnus, is faced with war and threats from Druids. Can he somehow outwit enemies and overcome in another bloodless war?

Content: Priests are portrayed so negatively I, a Southern Baptist (a denomination hardly known for adoring Catholicism) got uncomfortable. Overweight people are again bad. There is some gruesome violence and quite a bit of cruelty to animals (including mice, bats, even a puppy, and this isn't all by the bad guys). Though in fairness, that all would've been pretty minor by 1300s standards. Still very light on the speculative element; I'm not sure I've seen any actual magic, as everything seems to be done by herbs.

Rating:

Compelling: 8 out of 10. I felt like the mysteries in this one were much better revealed, and there was more of a focus on Thomas trying to do more compelling trickery for, generally, a good purpose (saving the lives of people). Seeing more of Katherine's viewpoint kept things interesting, too, and we start to see more of the stakes of what the bad guys are doing.

Characters: 5 out of 10. Thomas was more likable, though I'm not completely certain what his motivations are for not wanting people to die, since he threatens death on people (including an apparent old woman) often enough and I got no sense that he actually loves his people. Still, it's a fun conceit to see him try to get through a war without anyone dying. (He is less kind to animals this time around.) I found few other characters memorable, excepting Katherine, and I wasn't in love with all the developments involving her (see Gut Reaction).

Writing/editing: 9 out of 10. I did see one little line I thought was awkward, but no other problems. There were still points where I felt things got muddled, but overall I was able to follow the characters' motivations and the story flowed.

Plausibility/believability: 3 out of 5. I still felt like characters had some modern trappings--Thomas gives a very social conservative speech about making the needy do work for their food (if they can), so that they'll turn to seeking employment from private enterprise instead of accepting handouts. The janitor (?) character--who seems to be the only one remotely affiliated with the priesthood who is considered a "Christian"--sounds very much like a modern-day Evangelical. Again, I'm not a fan of what the Catholic church did in the 1300s, but I don't like to believe that basically all the priests were corrupt (and the implication that their flock wasn't saved).

Positive: 3 out of 5. Love the idea of bloodless battles. I do think people are more important than animals, but I squirmed at the animal violence, particularly blinding a mouse.

Gut reaction: 2 out of 5. We've established that I HATE when books end on a cliffhanger for no good reason except to make readers buy the next one. I didn't feel like this was a gratuitous ending like in the last CSFF book, but it still felt unfinished to me because of how it ended right where you'd normally put a chapter break.

More significantly I was extremely disappointed by (spoiler!)...

Katherine turns out not to be scarred at all, but rather, is in fact beautiful. I'd been looking forward to a story where a guy (granted, a guy I didn't find terribly likable) who claims to see beauty beyond skin-level, might eventually find a scarred woman beautiful. But no; she's perfect. That substantially cheapens the major religious scene in Book 1 where Katherine insists to Thomas that God is a God of love even though she's terribly scarred. ("I am accustomed to the covering of my face." She touched her bandages lightly. "This is not a curse. It is only a burden. After all, our time on earth is so short. And God is more interested in our hearts and souls than in our appearances.") Sure, easy to say, when you have no scars at all and are being cuffed around and called a freak as part of a spy act. Easy enough when you could always choose to take off those bandages and run away and get a fresh start in another town.

Bonus points: 5 out of 5.

Recommended for: Fans of medieval stories, but maybe not Catholics.

Total Rating: 3.0 out of 5 stars

*In conjunction with the CSFF Blog Tour, I received a free copy of this book from the publisher.

Check out the other participants in the blog tour!


Gillian Adams
Thomas Fletcher Booher
Beckie Burnham
Janey DeMeo
Theresa Dunlap
Victor Gentile
Nikole Hahn
Jeremy Harder
Ryan Heart
Janeen Ippolito
Becky Jesse
Jason Joyner
Carol Keen
Emileigh Latham
Rebekah Loper
Shannon McDermott
Meagan @ Blooming with Books
Megan @ Hardcover Feedback
Rebecca LuElla Miller
Anna Mittower
Eve Nielsen
Nathan Reimer
James Somers
Steve Trower
Phyllis Wheeler

CSFF Blog Tour - The Orphan King by Sigmund Brouwer

Julie for the CSFF Blog Tour!

I'll preface this by saying that now I know how my mom feels when she reads fantasy...you know how some books just don't click with you? Well, now I can see why Mom doesn't "get" the genre, because I had trouble following this one. (Just glancing through the Goodreads reviews tells me I'm not alone, so I feel a little less stupid.) I also got to review these two books while dealing with an apartment flood, so that may not have helped so much.
 

Book: The Orphan King by Sigmund Brouwer

Ridiculously simplified summary: In 1300s England, an orphan is prophesied to take the impenetrable castle of Magnus. With no one but a knight, an eleven-year-old thief, and a mysterious, beautiful woman to aid him, can he succeed in his quest?

Content: Religion is for the most part portrayed negatively, until near the end, and there's still not much of it. Overall light violence (at least two folks get hit in the crotch, and at least one act appears much worse than it turns out to be). But until a turnabout in the end, I didn't notice the protagonist being at all bothered by violence. From the start, I was irritated by the negative portrayal of overweight people (who were historically, and noted in the book itself, considered attractive).

Rating:

Compelling: 4 out of 10. I had a very difficult time discerning the motivations of the main characters. The reason I agreed to review this book was because it was on the blog tour (which is always fun) and the first few lines drew me in:

Amidst the shouting and haggling in the crowded and filthy market square, two women appeared to be examining the quality of spun wool.

Neither was a woman.

And neither cared about the wool.

Most of the rest of the book is nothing like this (in my opinion), focusing on completely different characters and even changing in tone. I've heard authors aren't supposed to use prologues anymore, since many readers skip them...but this is as good a case for a prologue as any, because I would have known what I was in for.

At any rate, I didn't know what was going on, wasn't sure what characters wanted or why they wanted it, and overall just kind of muddled through this one. If I hadn't agreed to review this for the blog tour, I actually would've stopped sometime well before chapter 10.

The author seems to eventually acknowledge that the reader is left with questions--about three-quarters through the book, Thomas ruminates on all the questions that we, as readers, also have. And as the end approaches, some mysteries are resolved in a compelling manner and other mysteries are explained. I thought the book finished much stronger than it started. I don't mind some mysteries--quite a few are present at the end of the book--but I need to have SOME answers, and it took way too long for me to get to any.

Characters: 3 out of 10. Again, I couldn't follow the motivations, which means that I can't follow what characters want or why they want it--and it's difficult to engage with characters who aren't instantly likable or humorous, when you don't know what they want.

Through most of the novel, I actively disliked the protagonist, Thomas. Soon after the book starts, he attacks the (admittedly corrupt) monks for whom he'd been working as a slave, with practically no sympathy for what becomes of any of them. Later on he throws acid in the face of two men (substantially later, it comes out that this acid only causes temporary blindness, not permanent blindness and deformity--but by then his integrity was hopelessly damaged in my mind). I just found him very unlikable, probably due to his initial violence to get his way over a cause that I didn't even believe in. Maybe he is the kind of character that's supposed to start out rough and get better by the end, but I couldn't find much to like until well more than half the book had passed.

Other characters, like the knight William, held things so close to their chests that I had a hard time caring what they were up to, since I didn't understand what they were doing or why they were doing it.

The less-important characters were pleasant enough, with the boy thief and Katherine being likable, if not groundbreaking.

Writing/editing: 6 out of 10. I saw nothing wrong with the writing style itself, aside from some abrupt point of view shifts within scenes (often accepted for fantasy, but something new writers are told to avoid, and not my favorite). But the way the story was revealed (or in many cases not) did not work for me at all. While I enjoyed the idea of how Thomas could win Magnus nearer to the end, I found some of those descriptions muddled and confusing.

Plausibility/believability: 3 out of 5. I felt like I got a fairly good sense of this medieval world (which was only VERY lightly speculative...almost every speculative element seemed to me to be plant-based). I didn't really get a sense of characters as behaving as if they were people of the day, but maybe that's part of the speculative.

Positive: 3 out of 5. It ended much more positively than it began, though I still have a bad taste in my mouth about the treatment of the overweight and even the disfigured.

Gut reaction: 3 out of 5. I'm glad it got better at the end...from the first half, I was very much dreading reading the second book the publisher generously gave us. (And frankly, I am starting to suspect the publisher purposely provided Book 2--shipped separately nonetheless--specifically because it promises to be a much better read than this book.)

Bonus points: 5 out of 5.

Recommended for: Hardcore fans of medieval stories...through this book, no love of fantasy (or Christian fiction) required, in my opinion.

Total Rating: 2.7 out of 5 stars

*In conjunction with the CSFF Blog Tour, I received a free copy of this book from the publisher.

Check out the other participants in the blog tour!


Gillian Adams
Julie Bihn
Thomas Fletcher Booher
Beckie Burnham
Janey DeMeo
Theresa Dunlap
Victor Gentile
Nikole Hahn
Jeremy Harder
Ryan Heart
Janeen Ippolito
Becky Jesse
Jason Joyner
Carol Keen
Emileigh Latham
Rebekah Loper
Shannon McDermott
Meagan @ Blooming with Books
Megan @ Hardcover Feedback
Rebecca LuElla Miller
Anna Mittower
Eve Nielsen
Nathan Reimer
James Somers
Steve Trower
Phyllis Wheeler

Review - The Skin Map by Stephen R. Lawhead

Another review from Julie! Borrowed this one free for Kindle from my local library! Oh, and as a note, I read this completely in the wrong order...I started with The Bone House (book 2 in the Bright Empires series), then The Spirit Well (book 3)...and then made my way to Book 1 a couple months later. So my perspective may be a bit odd. And frankly, if you've read those reviews, there's a lot of overlap with this one.
 

Book: The Skin Map by Stephen R. Lawhead

Ridiculously simplified summary: First in a series. Kit, a hapless young man, is dragged into the world of magical ley lines, which take travelers through time and place, and to parallel dimensions. Along the way, Kit's girlfriend is literally lost. Of infinite importance is The Skin Map, a guide to the numerous pathways between worlds...which must not fall into the wrong hands.

Content: Several fights and a few deaths. Nothing that struck me as terribly gruesome, though I'd known what was coming beforehand. Very light talk about God (not so much Christianity).  Maybe the sweetest example:

"To our success!" cried Etzel gladly. "May it please God."

"May it please God," echoed Mina softly, almost to herself. And something in her stirred at the thought.

Rating:

Compelling: 7 out of 10. Like the other books I've read in the series, there are some storylines I loved (I found the book worth reading just for Wilhelmina and Etzel). Others, not so much. Since I knew the ultimate outcome of some of the storylines, they weren't as interesting as they might have been otherwise.

Characters: 7 out of 10. Pretty much exactly like in The Bone House. Lady Fayth was interesting, though if I hadn't read later books I'm not sure I would have liked her. Wilhelmina and Etzel...I thought Etzel did bring up things being God's will and such a bit gratuitously by the end, but I still could just hug him, and it was so much fun to see Mina's progression. Lord Burleigh was nicely scary. As for the main character, Kit, I still found him rather dull.

Writing/editing: 7 out of 10. Overall solid writing and I didn't notice any outright errors. The use of unusual dialogue tags (things like "Kit allowed" instead of "Kit said") was here in full force, which made it especially difficult to read the long conversations. I had a bit of difficulty following the fight scenes, and found some of the descriptions of the foreign places they visit overly long and dull. But then, my main interest is the concept of space/time travel, and seeing how people interact in these worlds...not watching fights and reading descriptions longer than my Kindle screen.

Plausibility/believability: 4 out of 5. Lots of details about each locale (I occasionally found it to be too much). The place Mina ends up, and who rescues her, could arguably be considered too convenient, though I found it more Providential than anything else.

Positive: 3 out of 5. Not really a happy ending in any way, though it's a series, and there's a hint of hope at the end.

Gut reaction: 3 out of 5. I have no idea if I would've maintained interest in the series based on this book. By book 3 I was hooked, though. Reading this one out of order was fun because you could see what was set up here and then explained later. I can't fathom the amount of planning this series must have taken.

Bonus points: 5 out of 5.

Recommended for: Fans of time-travel fiction, not necessarily Christian.

Total Rating: 3.6 out of 5 stars

*I borrowed this book free from my local library.

Random thoughts re: Angel Eyes - CSFF Blog Tour

I mentioned on other blogs that Dittemore is obviously aware of Twilight. Brielle thinks:

...I refuse to join the stalkarazzi as they giggle and bat their eyes, but their worship has me curious.

Did I miss something spectacular about the kid this morning? Does he sparkle in the sunlight? Does he have fangs? What?

On the one hand, that's a pop culture reference, which others on the tour noted, were fairly common in the book. But I think it shows a level of awareness on the part of Dittemore. Which is a good thing--I don't think she copied Twilight, but there are some unmistakable similarities, and I wouldn't be surprised if there was some inspiration from there, intentional or not. (Myself and a few others observed some of them, but Jason Joyner noted the similarities from the point of view of someone who read the series!)

Shannon McDermott always writes better entries than I do and she had a good, fairly brief rundown of angels in the Bible.

And if you didn't see it, Anna Mittower links to a very good interview with the author (and also has a scavenger hunt!). After reading the interview, I can see where Dittemore is definitely suited for the young adult market. (I was shocked to see who the biggest influence in her writing career was!) I'm interested to see what series Dittemore might write in the future.

One parting thought that came to me yesterday. Recently I started watching the show Leverage in syndication. (By "recently," I mean a full 3 days before the season finale aired--I sure can pick them.) The show is basically about a gang of cons and grifters using their deceptive powers for good. It's not uncommon for the gang to perform a good deed, using secret identities, and then vanish suddenly. For instance, in a recent episode, one member posed as an "air marshall" who helped save an innocent woman from certain doom (and then the gang asked her to do a good deed herself that could, in theory, endanger her own safety).

Presumably, if the woman later tried to find that anonymous air marshall, not only could she not track him down, but no one would have any record of him even existing at all.

If Dittemore's speculations are even remotely right--and they're not un-Biblical--then REAL angels could be doing that exact same kind of thing this very moment.

MIND BLOWN.

Thanks for the tour, everyone!

CSFF Blog Tour - Review - Angel Eyes - Shannon Dittemore

Julie here for the CSFF Blog Tour!


So I've probably written more than my fair share of less-than-glowing reviews. When I saw we were doing Angel Eyes by Shannon Dittemore (website, Facebook), I was wary. Angst-filled girl moves from the big city to a small town to live with her father, and then a strangely attractive, apparently supernatural young man shows up at her high school and evidently has a thing for her? OK, granted, I haven't read Twilight but I KNOW Twilight's not my cup of tea and I assumed this wouldn't be either. I didn't request a review copy because I didn't really want a copy of a book I didn't think I'd like and I REALLY didn't want the obligation of reading a book that I thought might be pure torture.

But, my local library had an electronic copy that I could borrow on my Kindle for free. So here I am, writing my review!
 

Book: Angel Eyes by Shannon Dittemore

Ridiculously simplified summary: Guilt-ridden teen Brielle moves back to the small town of Stratus. She meets a mysterious young man named Jake, who speaks of angels. Turns out, there's a whole spirit world Brielle never knew of...and even the physical world around her has more darkness than she could ever have imagined.

Content: Some violence against adults, children, and angels, including murder. The dark twists closer to the end surprised me. I'll speak of angels in "Plausibility/Believability" below. Besides the ending, the only thing that tempted me to throw my Kindle across the room was:

"Lean not on your own understanding." The words are melodic, fortune cookie-ish.

Any protagonist comparing the word of God to a fortune cookie, without instantly being corrected, makes me squirm.

Oh, and let's make it clear. I'm female, but not a teenager. I was never into much of what teen girls were "supposed" to like back in my day (Beverly Hills 90210, Saved by the Bell, New Kids on the Block). As I hinted at, I don't care for Twilight.

In short, I am not the target audience. (IANTTA) But hopefully the rating system will help make things a bit better.

Rating:

Compelling: 6 out of 10. I can't stand when characters spend their time moping and pitying themselves, and at the start, that's Brielle's forte. She spends (literally) the first quarter of the book beating herself up with guilt over some unstated awfulness in her life. And even once we find the source, her guilt didn't feel quite right to me.

MINOR SPOILER:

She's beating herself up over something she couldn't have controlled

That's not necessarily unrealistic, but not something I want to read.

The middle section, where we start to learn about the world of angels and demons, is more interesting, and there are parts I absolutely devoured. The world set up is fascinating, with a lot of potential.

Near the end, though, a bunch more people come in and the situation got very complicated. I found some of the twists unbelievable, while the action ramped up and I couldn't follow all of it. (I have that trouble with quite a few books, though.)

Characters: 5 out of 10. I enjoyed some of the minor characters--Kaylee was entertaining and when we see Ali she was great. The angels were likable, and Jake was interesting enough, even charming at first. Brielle was just hard for me to like, which drove the rating down. Beautiful teen ballerina/photographer...not my kind of character. Her number quirk kind of creeped me out. (IANTTA)

Writing/editing: 7 out of 10. Others will certainly disagree, but I feel Dittemore writes in a rather distanced style, considering it's first-person present tense. (Oh. Yes. Most of the book is first-person present tense, so instead of saying "She walked across the room," it would be "I walk across the room.")

I don't personally feel things along with Brielle, but rather I hear her tell me about them. For instance, pretty much every critiquer advises writers to show, not tell--to avoid saying "It was" etc. (For a poor example, instead of saying "It was cold," say "The chill air raised goosebumps.") There are few "was"es here, because the book is all present tense, but there are tons of "is"es. That said, a reader may not mind that at all...a teen reader almost certainly won't. (IANTTA)

Earlier in the book, some of the phrasings delighted me, though. To describe the condition of a car:

One of the back doors is missing a handle, and the other is red.

It just made me laugh. (Which shows that yes, "is"es can work just fine.) The descriptions of the Celestial world, too, are interesting--I couldn't have come up with them.

I didn't notice any glaring editing issues--aside from the editor letting a couple (teen-friendly?) "Nooooo"s slip through--those read like fanfic to me. I didn't notice any major Kindle formatting glitches.

Plausibility/believability: 2 out of 5. I'm still a bit squeamish about people writing fantasies about rules that angels have (mostly that one angel's only guidance from God is being given clues that he has to decipher). But as I mentioned earlier, I'd say that most of it is more extra-Biblical than anti-Biblical. I don't personally believe real angels are quite like the ones in this book, and I'm not so sure they literally live among us long enough to even raise a child as their own, as Canaan does. And I really have difficulty believing God actually gives angels clues so they can try to do His will--though I can't say that it's completely impossible, and I don't mind the speculation. In short, Dittemore does quite a good job painting the world, with only a few inconsistencies. I enjoyed the angelic aspects on a speculative level, and they made me think about the spiritual level. If plausibility were just limited to the spiritual element, I'd give this at least 4 out of 5.

But what really got me were the problems in the "Terrestrial" world, and specifically, the human trafficking subplot. The way I read it, at least, the captives were primarily white, middle class, and fluent in English. Human trafficking is a terrible thing and I'm not denying it happens in America. But I live in a world where a (white, American) girl who's kidnapped and kept as a slave can make the news years after her rescue, and where I live, the "Fundamentalist" polygamist Mormons in Colorado City make the news with some regularity. I just can't believe that numerous well-connected families' children would be kidnapped and no one even noticed. I'm not sure how it should've been handled, given how distasteful it would be to have the white/middle-class kids save the minority kids. Frankly, I would've personally rather that part of the plot had been more subtle to begin with, as I thought the spiritual element was intense enough without such an extreme ending. By the end, I didn't feel like I was reading the same book I'd been set up for. But hey, (IANTTA).

(If I am wrong about exactly who is trafficked in America, I'd like to know. But I looked both on Dittemore's blog/website and chabdai.org, the site listed at the end of the novel, and could not find anything about human trafficking of multiple, English-speaking, white Americans.)

Positive: 4 out of 5 (maybe). While some rather shocking things happen, God has His purposes and will work all things out to good. Except...

Gut reaction: 2 out of 5. ...I guess a trend of YA novels is to have a nice happy ending, and then in the last few pages, throw a huge wrench in it to try to make you read the next book? It happened in The Hunger Games and it happened here. Frankly, that infuriates me. If you want to hook the reader, throw a few paragraphs or even a chapter from the sequel in at the end. But I think a book should stand on its own. Having something random go wrong to entice the reader to keep reading makes me not want to read, and makes me less interested in reading the rest of the series.

I also found it disturbing that multiple villains are described as having "dark hair, dark eyes, olive complexion." Granted, there are a lot of villains, but it just rubbed me the wrong way.

Bonus points: 5 out of 5.

Recommended for: I think this would be an excellent book for fans of "angel" books. It gives an actual Christian point of view--I don't agree with every bit, but it's a far sight better than many portrayals.

It might help if you are a teenage girl, though!

Total Rating: 3.1 out of 5 stars

Here are the other tour participants!

Late entry - April Erwin

Gillian Adams
Julie Bihn
Beckie Burnham
Theresa Dunlap
Nikole Hahn
Jeremy Harder
Jason Joyner
Carol Keen
Emileigh Latham
Shannon McDermott
Meagan @ Blooming with Books
Rebecca LuElla Miller
Anna Mittower
Faye Oygard
Nathan Reimer
Chawna Schroeder
Jessica Thomas
Rachel Starr Thomson
Steve Trower
Dona Watson
Shane Werlinger
Phyllis Wheeler

*I downloaded this book free from my local library.