"Hope Girl" by Wendy Dunham

About this book:

  “With the discovery of her birth father, 12-year-old River has definite thoughts about how her life should turn out--and that certainly does not include any of the challenges that keep popping up!
  It's not easy to decide if she should live with Gram, who has been her family for the past ten years, or with her father, who she's over-the-moon to have just met but knows little about. And when River is diagnosed with a condition that could impact her hopes and dreams and future, she feels overwhelmed and bewildered. That's when River asks God for help and decides to trust him with her dreams.
  As this tender-sweet story unfolds, River learns to persevere and stay hopeful that soon she will be part of a real family. Yes, her dream does come true...but not in the way she had planned!”


Series: Book #2 in the “River” series. Review of Book #1 Here!


Spiritual Content- A few Scriptures are read & mentioned; Prayers & Blessing over food; Church going & a sermon about forgiveness; Talks about God, forgiveness, & His plans; ‘H’s are not capital when referring to God; River’s Gram mentions about hearing “the wind” (could be taken as the Holy Spirit); Mentions of God; Mentions of prayers & praying; Mentions of churches, church going, services, hymns, & a pastor; Mentions of a Bible; Mentions of Heaven; A couple mentions of stained glass at a church; A couple mentions of nuns; A mention of Thanking God; A mention of a picture of Jesus; A mention of a miracle.

Negative Content- Minor cussing including: a ‘dumb’, a ‘gol-blasted’, a ‘gol-darned’, and six ‘stupid’s; Some sibling bickering; *Spoiler* River’s grandmother has an accident and is put on life support; when there seems to be no improvement, the doctor takes her off and River is preparing to say good-bye *End of Spoiler*; River lies, eavesdrops, & runs away/travels by herself; *Spoiler from Book #1* Mentions of Billy’s death & how it happened (barely-above-not-detailed) *End of Spoiler*; Mentions of a fire, explosion, & death (up to semi-detailed); Mentions of a child who was abducted, the abductors, & a parents’ separation/divorce; Mentions of injuries, accidents, & burns (barely-above-not-detailed); Mentions of burglars; Mentions of poison & thinking someone poisoned others; Mentions of jail; Mentions of gossip & thinking low of others; Mentions of lies & lying; A couple mentions of dead birds & fish; A mention of cigarettes; A mention of tattoos.

Sexual Content- Mentions of catching a couple kissing & a couple talks about not kissing friends; A mention of the birds and the bees;

             *Note: A mention of checking the gender of a cat; A mention of a bra.

-River Starling, age 12
                                P.O.V. of River

                                               Set in 1983
                                                        144 pages

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Pre Teens-

New Teens-

Early High School Teens-

Older High School Teens-

My personal Rating-

While I might not have enjoyed this sequel as much as the first book, I did still really like seeing River and the bunch again. Sweet River has more changes coming to her in this book and there’s some challenges she’ll have to face. I liked “meeting” the new characters and truly adore this cover. It fits a conversation from this story well. I am curious if there will be another “River” book, and it there is, I hope to read it. :)

See y’all on Monday with a special post!

*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 honest review.