Thursday, July 31, 2014

"Bridge to Haven" by Francine Rivers {Age warning!!}

First off, please be cautious reading this review if you're under 20. There is high s*xual content in the book and this review. I had very high expectations for this book after hearing so much good about Francine Rivers. It technically is consider a Christian book because it’s published by a Christian publisher. Had I known what was in the first 9 chapters (which is all I read and reviewed) I would not have picked up this book! I’m not holding back on the details of this review, so read at your own caution.

 



About this book:

   “To those who matter in 1950s Hollywood, Lena Scott is the hottest rising star to hit the silver screen since Marilyn Monroe. Few know her real name is Abra. Even fewer know the price she's paid to finally feel like she's somebody.
   To Pastor Ezekiel Freeman, Abra will always be the little girl who stole his heart the night he found her, a wailing newborn abandoned under a bridge on the outskirts of Haven. Zeke and his son, Joshua--Abra's closest friend--watch her grow into an exotic beauty. But Zeke knows the circumstances surrounding her birth etched scars deep in her heart, scars that leave her vulnerable to a fast-talking bad boy who proclaims his love and lures her to Tinseltown.
   Hollywood feels like a million miles from Haven, and naive Abra quickly learns what's expected of an ambitious girl with stars in her eyes. But fame comes at an awful price. She has burned every bridge to get exactly what she thought she wanted. Now, all she wants is a way back home.



 Series: As of now, no.


Spiritual Content- Scriptures are quoted; Hymns are played on a piano & sung; A man is mad at God & says he wants to spit in His face; Many Prayers & talking to God; Zeke is a Pastor; 13-year-old Abra wonders what God ever did for her; 13-yea-old Abra also says/yells/prays to God that if a certain person dies she’s hate Him forever; Talks about God, His Love, and His Will for us.


Negative Content- Minor cussing including: a ‘h*llfire’, an unfinished ‘son of a—“, a ‘goddess’, a ‘foul name’ is said but not written, a ‘the devil’, a ‘like the dickens’, a ‘piece of trash’, a ‘tough!’, a ‘witch’, two ‘stupid’s, two curses are said but not written, three ‘shut up’s, four ‘idiot’s; “Mother” says she has to find a way to kill herself; Cigarette smoking; Wars, Blood, Bombs (all semi) and bugs coming out people’s skin (detailed); Joshua talks with the devil? (I don’t know how to explain this…); Lots of drinking, getting drunk and having a hangover; Dylan shakes, gives bruises and hints Abra; Fighting.     


Sexual Content- a ‘hot’, a ‘stumpet’, sixteen ‘baby’s; Four Semi-kisses, not detailed kisses; s*x scenes (see below); “Mother” has a baby (Abra) it’s not very detailed, but we don’t know if it’s out of wedlock; A hint of what couples do in the back row at the Swan Theater; Abra wonders what a guy would look like in a bathing suit; Joshua tells Abra that Dylan is “it’s not about love, Abra. It’s about s*x, the basest kind”; Dylan says (to her face!) he wants to get his hands on Abra, that’s he’s going to “have fun with her”, that he can’t wait to get her in bed (Abra wonders if the “earth will move, like Penny’s hidden romance books said”) but Dylan has no plans to marry her (Yet, Abra stays with him!); Abra thinks/says she knows nothing about s*x besides that it is a mystery; A getting undressed for a s*x scene, Dylan takes Abra’s clothes off  (This is when Abra at 16) thankfully it’s not very detailed but it is detailed and there; Dylan flirts & kisses other girls; Dylan takes Abra to a place where n*ked women dance for a room full of men, the waitress are topless and Dylan gives Abra a pill that makes her dance s*xual; bikini wearing; at a party, a naked man and woman run out to the beach; Dylan says “when push came to shove, she lost her nerve” when talking about another girl, then another; Dylan’s mother calls Abra “this one” and tells him to take Abra to the doctor for protection and that if him creates another little problem he’ll have to make payments for the arrangements “this time around”; Dylan gives Abra a look (many times) and we get told they have s*x; Dylan wakes Abra up so he can have the bed for “one last hurrah” with another girl; Dylan watches Abra change; Abra gets asked why she stayed with Dylan “he is good in bed?” she does not reply; Franklin tells Abra that she has a “very nice, very nice indeed” body, but says he’s not after what she’s thinking; Affairs are mentioned loosely; Franklin says he won’t compromise Abra’s virtue, Abra wonders if she has any left; Abra says that Franklin says that her audition wasn’t about s*x, but she still wonders; Franklin said he met a woman at a drive-in, she leaned over to take his order, he saw “her assets”, lost his head had an affair with her that ruined his marriage (which he is not broken hearted about at all); Franklin looks at his bed then at Abra and asks “No?” and when she does not reply he says “Good girl”; Dylan asked how well Abra played for Franklin; a hairdresser tells Abra “Men will see your eyes first, then the rest of you” and fixes her hair over her bre*sts.   {{{According to other reviews on Goodreads, there is a very, very detailed s*x scene at the end with two married people (I’ll let you guess who) on their wedding night.}}}


-Abra *enter one of her last names here*
-Ezekiel “Zeke” Freeman
-Joshua Freeman
                      P.O.V. of switches between them, Mitzi and Abra’s birth mother (once)
                                              Starts in 1936 and goes past 1955
                                                        468 pages

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 Pre Teens-
New Teens-
Early High School Teens-
Older High School Teens- 
My personal Rating-
Folks, that all was by chapter nine—and not even half way through the book!

First, let me just say one of my biggest pet peeves is when a guy (normally a jerk) calls a girl “baby”! I absolutely despise it! I honestly can’t tell you how disappointed I was with this book! Other reviews have said it was like a Harlequin Romance novel. Now, I’ve never read one of those (and I never will!) but those are some of those books you see in mainstream bookstores with half-naked people on the cover! The bedroom scenes were so much! (And apparently there’s more?!) I honestly can’t believe a Christian publisher would publish this! There was barely any Christian content and with all that s*xual it could have been a mainstream book! And that is something no Christian author wants to come across as.



See y’all tomorrow with a review of a book that’s become one of my favorites I’ve ever read & reviewed!
      {Psst! have you seen our Giveaway? Open Worldwide & ends on the 5th!}




*BFCG may (Read the review to see) recommend this book by this author. It does not mean I recommend all the books by this author.
*I received this book for free from the Publisher (Tyndale ) for this review.

Wednesday, July 30, 2014

"In Between" by Jenny B. Jones



 
Kindle cover

About this book:

  “Can we overcome our past?
Katie Parker is about to get a new life—whether she wants one or not. With her mom in prison, and her father AWOL, Katie is sent to live with a squeaky-clean family who could have their own sitcom. She launches a full-scale plan to get sent back to the girls’ home when she finds herself in over her head...and heart. When Katie and her new "wrong crowd" get into significant trouble at school, she finds her punishment is restoring a historic theater with a crazy grandma who goes by the name of Mad Maxine. In the midst of her punishment, Katie uncovers family secrets that run deep, and realizes she's not the only one with a pain-filled past. Katie must decide if she'll continue her own family’s messed up legacy or embrace a new beginning in this place called In Between.



 Series: Book #1 (of three) in the “Katie Parker Productions” series.


Spiritual Content- Katie really isn’t happy with God (she says “God-schomod” once); Many, many Prayers & Blessings over food by Pastor Scott (Katie’s new foster dad); At the beginning Katie does not want to go to church but as it goes on she gets a bit more open minded; Youth group, Church & Wednesday night goings (a few sermons are written out); Scriptures are said & talked about; a “Thank God”; Katie says she “had history with a teacher who probably knew your Moses dude”; Katie tries to pray; Katie recalls when she was five and at Sunday School once, that she finger-painted a mustache on a picture of Jesus; Katie says she doesn’t know that she’ll ever get through the Bible “until Nicholas Sparks puts out a version.”; Talks about God, Him accepting us, Him meeting us, forgiveness & The Grace of God (GOG).     



Negative Content- Minor cussing including: a ‘goddess’, a ‘pansy’, a ‘shoot’, a ‘sheesh’, a ‘stinkin’’, a ‘suck it up’, a form of ‘sissy’, two ‘blast it’s, two ‘screw’, three ‘sick’s, three ‘idiot’s (mostly Katie calling herself that), three ‘oh my gosh’s, eight ‘stupid’s (again, mostly Katie calling herself that) and someone cusses but it’s not written; butts, rears, back ends, tushes het told where to sit & go numb; The phase “on crack” is said once; A floor color reminds Katie of vomit; Katie had a roommate that “would just as soon slit you with the knife she hides under her King James Bible as she would befriend you”, Trina is mentioned a couple times again later; To confuse/scare Mr. & Mrs. Scott, Katie dresses goth & says that “death…that’s so cool” and that her “people celebrate it” (she mentions that a juice looks like blood and that bacon is a dead pig) (She knows that they’ll send her back soon so she just tries and get it over with); Cigarette smoking (Katie does not partake in it but hangs teens who do); Katie is unknowingly recruited for a vandalism trip with her new “friends”; Katie tries to push the envelope with Mrs. Scott and asks for “a strawberry virgin daiquiri with a little pink umbrella floating in it” (She, of course, does not get one); Katie & Frances have to dissect a pig (semi detailed & very detailed); Katie is very, very, very sassy and sarcastic (very!).


Sexual Content- a ‘floozy’, a ‘hoochie mama’; Katie says she has a boyfriend named Snake (“the shorter the name, the easier to get it tattooed on your—“) (He’s made up and not mentioned after that scene); Maxine was a Vegas Show girl and says once that she’s “not afraid to show a little cleavage” and also says at a different time that she keeps her ATM card in her bra; Katie says that the “dog’s way of getting to know me is totally scandalous. If I greeted people like that at school, I’d be arrested.”; When she’s trying on a pair of jeans, Katie says that the pair “makes me look like a actually have a butt”; Katie gets two new padded bras and that she’s shortcoming in that area, those bras are mentioned again a few times again as a “wonderbra”; Katie says that “the underwear could go since I like to go au natural anyway” (that doesn’t happen and Mrs. Scott finds room for all the bags in her car); Sam dances with a young guy, but it’s clear a few pages later that Charlie is teaching Sam to dance; Boyfriends & Girlfriends are mentioned but don’t play major roles in this book; Katie calls a guy “totally hot” and that guys who usually like her “usually have a few body piercings and a taste for cheap cigarettes.”; Katie tells Frances that she thought she was going to hyperventilate when she asked Millie (Mrs. Scott) to buy her some tampons; Maxine stuffs tissues in Katie’s dress saying that they’re “Boobs in a box!”.    


-Katie Parker, age 16
                                         P.O.V. of Katie
                                                        345 pages

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Pre Teens-

New Teens- 
(and a half)

Early High School Teens-

Older High School Teens-

My personal Rating- 
(and a half)


**Just a note: Katie is very sassy and very sarcastic; some families will not want their daughter reading this book**
 While this had some funny parts, I think it would be best for girls ages 16+ because of some of the content.



See y’all tomorrow with a review of a…*gasp*…a banned book?!

{Psst! have you seen our Giveaway? Open Worldwide & ends on the 5th!}



*BFCG may (Read the review to see) recommend this book by this author. It does not mean I recommend all the books by this author.


Monday, July 28, 2014

"Grace's Pictures" by Cindy Thomson



About this book:

  “Grace McCaffery hopes that the bustling streets of New York hold all the promise that the lush hills of Ireland did not. As her efforts to earn enough money to bring her mother to America fail, she wonders if her new Brownie camera could be the answer. But a casual stroll through a beautiful New York City park turns into a hostile run-in with local gangsters, who are convinced her camera holds the first and only photos of their elusive leader. A policeman with a personal commitment to help those less fortunate finds Grace attractive and longs to help her, but Grace believes such men cannot be trusted. Spread thin between her quest to rescue her mother, do well in a new nanny job, and avoid the gang intent on intimidating her. Grace must put her faith in unlikely sources to learn the true meaning of courage and forgiveness.


Series: Book #1 in the “Ellis Island” series {The second book is called “Annie’s Stories”.}


Spiritual Content- Psalm 105:4 in at the beginning; Grace thinks she’s not good enough for God; Reverend Clarke witnesses, and talks about God; A couple of Scriptures are quoted; someone says “for the love of St. Michael” once; a hymn is sung; Prayers; Talks about God, His Will, Trusting Him & why He lets things happen. Owen has a Faith and Grace re-gets hers.


Negative Content- Minor cussing including: two ‘blast’s, a ‘what the devil’, a ‘criminy’, an ‘idiot’, and a ‘shut up’; Grace gets called a ‘biddy’ seven times; Drinking & Smoking (but not by the main characters); Children are kidnapped (no details, everything works out fine)  


Sexual Content- Owen said he had seen the worst of people like “merciless men extorting money from ten- and eleven-year old prostitutes.”(no details); A baby is born (detailed); One semi-detailed kiss; And a very light romance theme--Love & Falling in love.

-Grace McCaffery
-Owen McNulty
                                         P.O.V. switches between them.
                                              Set in 1900
                                                        389 pages

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Pre Teens-

New Teens- 
(and a half)

Early High School Teens- 

Older High School Teens-

My personal Rating-


“Grace’s Pictures” had a really unique storyline, but didn’t have action. It was a much slower paced novel, even the parts that I think were supposed to be heart-pounding, weren’t to me. The parts I did like and looked forward to was when she had her camera. 
As a fellow photographer, I enjoyed reading those parts. :)






*BFCG may (Read the review to see) recommend this book by this author. It does not mean I recommend all the books by this author.
*I received this book for free from the Author for this review.