Books for Christian Girls: "Paige Torn" by Erynn Mangum

{{This is an updated review. Originally posted April 6^th, 2016, it was updated on March 14^th, 2023 to the Official Rating System.}}

About this book:

“Everyone knows they can count on Paige Alder. But between volunteering at church, putting in overtime at work, and helping her best friend plan an anniversary party, she's lucky to grab a cheese stick for dinner. Paige can't even remember the last time she had a few minutes to relax or dig into God's Word. Then she meets laid-back Tyler, an attractive, Jesus-loving guy. Will he be able to help Paige get her priorities on track?”

Series: Book #1 in the “Paige Alder” series.

Spiritual Content- 2 Peter 3:18 in the acknowledgments; Many Scriptures are mentioned, read, thought-over, & discussed; Many Prayers, Blessings over food, & Thanking God; Bible reading & Thinking; Church going, hearing a couple sermons, & also teaching (two-year-olds about David and 9^th grade girls about sin); Many talks about God, service, & giving control to God; ‘H’s are capital when referring to God & Jesus; Paige teaches youth group for 9th grade girls & a Sunday School class for two-year-olds; Many, many mentions of church, church going, Sunday school classes, youth groups, services, worship, pastors, & sermons, & lessons; Mentions of God, Jesus, & serving; Mentions of Bible reading, devotional time, & those in the Bible; Mentions of prayers, blessings over food, & thanking God; Mentions of Christians; Mentions of hymns & Christian children’s songs; A couple mentions of Heaven; A couple mentions of sin; A mention of feeling called by God; A mention of a Christian concert; A mention of a Christian camp.

*Note: A few mentions of allegories to Christ in popular fiction (such as Lord of the Rings); A mention of someone saying someone else is from “down south of the heavenly border”.

Negative Content- Minor cussing including: Minor cussing including: a ‘dang it’, a ‘duh’, a ‘dumb’, a ‘screwed up’, a ‘shoot’, a ‘stupid’, two forms of ‘crap’, two ‘darn’s, two ‘gosh’s, two ‘holy cow’s, two ‘wimp’s, three ‘sheesh’s, and four ‘oh my gosh’s; Sarcasm & Eye rolling; Mentions of divorce; A couple mentions of a car accident & death (of someone’s father); A couple mentions of cannibalism (not seriously); A couple mentions of someone who likes to drink a lot & hoping they will be sober; A couple mentions of jealousy; A couple mentions of taunts from kids at school; A couple mentions of tattoos (including Paige’s sister getting one which broken their mother’s heart); A mention of possibly being kidnapped; A mention of a 3^rd grader beating up a classmate; A mention of dead chickens; A mention of a violent video game;

*Note: Going to & many mentions of Starbucks; Many mentions of brand names & items (Ken doll, Forever 21, BIC pens, Beanee Weenees, Coke, Sonic, Lean Cuisine, Special /k, Ziploc, Crocs, Cheerios, Mountain Dew, Jell-O, Lipton, Excedrin, Dr Pepper, M&Ms, Dippin’ Dots, Marie Callendar’s frozen meals, Nike, Xbox, & iPods); Many mentions of movies, TV shows, TV channels, actresses, characters, & books (Anne of Green Gables, NCIS, Peter Pan, The Sandlot, Pride & Prejudice, Tangled, Emma, Cinderella, Clue, Clueless, Just Like Heaven, Lamb Chop, The Little Mermaid, Lord of the Rings, Cheaper by the Dozen 2, Gladiator, Beauty and the Beast, The Princess Bride, Bewitched, Kate and Leopold, The Sound of Music, Gwyneth Paltrow, Cher, Kathy Bates, Discovery Channel, HGTV, Food Network, Fox News, Disney, Pixar, & Diary of a Wimpy Kid); Mentions of singers & songs (Keith Urban, Elvis, Taylor Swift, & Michael Bublé); Mentions of restaurants & stores (Cracker Barrel, Panda Express, Subway, Olive Garden, Chili’s, Panera, California Pizza Kitchen, Marriott, Target, Pottery Barn, T.J. Maxx, & Bass Pro Shop); A few mentions of car brands; A few mentions of the Mario Brothers; A couple mentions of celebrities of (Shepard Smith & Guy Fieri); A couple mentions of Google; A couple mentions of social media site (YouTube & Facebook); A couple mentions of the Pioneer Woman blog; A couple mentions of March of Dimes; A mention of Disney World; A mention of Paige working her “tail off”.

Sexual Content- Two cheek kisses; Touches, Hand holding, & Dancing (barely-above-not-detailed); Blushes; Noticing (barely-above-not-detailed); a ‘baby’ and a ‘smoking-hot’; Many mentions of dating, dates, cute guys, exes, & break-ups; A few mentions of kissing & seeing couples kissing; A mention of Paige’s sister who moved in with her boyfriend (which broke their dad’s heart); A mention of a man who had an affair for six years; A mention of believing in abstinence; Mentions of cute guys & dating; A mention of a guy’s belief in abstinence; A tiny bit of love, falling in love & the emotions.

*Note: Mentions of pregnancy hormones & breastfeeding; A few mentions of women’s figures; A couple mentions of birth fathers not being a part of an adoption or contesting the adoption; A couple mentions of periods; A mention of puberty & PMSing for the first time; A mention of there being “no better birth control than [working in] church nurseries”.

-Paige Alder, age 22
1^st person P.O.V. of Paige
289 pages

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Pre Teens-

New Teens-

Early High School Teens-

Older High School Teens-

My personal Rating-

Erynn Mangum’s main characters are always caffeine obsessed and on fire for God and I love that!

This author has done it again.

Not only does “Paige Torn” have a hilarious main character, there’s a crazy (fun!) best friend, a great guy, it’s set in Texas, there’s a ton of Spiritual Content, and Paige works at an adoption agency. Yep, that’s what makes this novel fabulous. Paige honestly reminds me of myself at many points, and needless to say, I definitely think Erynn Mangum hit it out of the ball park with this one.

See y’all on Friday with a new review!