The Best Friend: Christian Teen Fiction Book Review

    Occasionally, I'm able to review a Christian fiction book for pre-teens and/or teens.  That's a lot of fun - but once in a while, I have too much going on.  That's when I ask one of my daughters to read the new book and provide a review for me. 

    Brittany, age 12, was the guinea pig this time.  She read the book very quickly - amazing! - and quickly typed up her review.  I'm very pleased to read Brittany's thoughts, which you'll see in her review, below.

Book Summary of The Best Friend by Melody Carlson

    The second book in the Life at Kingston High series brings the story of Lishia Vance, who seeks out a new best friend when everyone seems to have abandoned her. Lishia Vance is flummoxed. One day she has friends. The next day everyone has turned against her. No explanation. Just complete social isolation. Even her best friend Janelle isn't giving her the time of day. When she makes a connection with Riley Atkins, a popular cheerleader, things start looking up. But is Riley really as good a friend as she seems? Or is Lishia better off without her?

Brittany's review of The Best Friend

    The Best Friend is a book written by Melody Carlson, the second book in the Life at Kingston High series. I haven’t read the first book, but from looking at it on Amazon, it seems, surprisingly, that each book is about totally different characters. They go to the same school, but I was a bit surprised when I read that each book is written about different people.

    This book is actually pretty interesting! It’s about Lishia, who befriends a popular girl, and ends up messing up her life pretty bad. It’s a little bit stereotypical, nothing “out of the blue”, but written in a style that will catch your attention.

    The front cover of the book is stunning! You would never think that it was a “Christian” book, if you get what I mean. It looks like any other teen novel, which is a good thing, for me, at least.

    I thought this book shared a good message, but there were a few things I didn't like so well. This might seem like a good book for pre-teens, but I don’t recommend it for anyone under the age of 14, at least 13. There were a lot of references to alcohol, people getting drunk; and it mentioned people getting wasted a few times. Even the main character in the story got drunk in the book.

    There was a reference to someone “sleeping” with someone else, which I didn’t think needed to be put in the story. During the book, people swore a few times, but instead of actually typing the word, she just wrote something like, “Riley used language Lishia did not agree with.” I thought that was pretty cool.

    However, at the very end of the book, one of the characters said, “You ungrateful little bi-" and then it cut off the rest of the word, but you knew what she said.  I didn’t think this was good at all.

    Overall, this book is good, and I will buy the next one in the series when it comes out. For now, however, there are a few things in the book I wasn’t pleased about.

Thank you, Brittany, for helping us with this book review!

    Melody Carlson is the award-winning author of over two hundred books with sales of more than five million. She is the author of several Christmas books from Revell, including the bestselling The Christmas Bus, The Christmas Dog, and Christmas at Harrington's, which is being considered for a TV movie.

    She is also the author of many teen books, including Just Another Girl, Anything but Normal, Double Take, The Jerk Magnet, and the Diary of a Teenage Girl series. Melody was selected for a Romantic Times Career Achievement Award in the inspirational market for her books in 2010 and 2011. She and her husband live in central Oregon. For more information about Melody visit her website at www.melodycarlson.com.

The Best Friend is available June 2012 at your favorite bookseller from Revell, a division of Baker Publishing Group.

Julieanne
Joy In Our Journey.com

Disclosure:  I received one paperback copy of The Best Friend from Revell in exchange for my honest review of this book.  No other compensation was provided. 

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