Books for Christian Girls: “Stealing Liberty” by Jennifer Froelich

About this book:

“When Reed Paine is sent to a secret detention school for teens whose parents are branded enemies of the state, he doesn’t expect to find friendship – especially after coming face to face with Riley Paca, a girl who has every reason to hate him.
But when Reed, Riley and a few others start reading the old books they find in tunnels under the school, they begin to question what they are taught about the last days of America and the government that has risen in its place.
Then the government decides to sell the Liberty Bell and Reed and his friends risk everything to steal it – to take back their history and the liberty that has been stolen from them.”

Series: Book #1 in the “Stealing Liberty” trilogy.

Spiritual Content- Scriptures are read, mentioned, & remembered; Singing a couple worship songs; Prayers & Thanking God; Talks about God & faiths; ‘H’s are capital when referring to God (but not Jesus); Mentions of God & Providence; Mentions of prayers & praying; Mentions of Bibles & Bible reading; Mentions of those in the Bible; Mentions of a pastor & churches; Mentions of worshiping; Mentions of Xoey’s underground church & group of believers; Mentions of faiths & religious upbringings; A couple mentions of God’s creation; A couple mentions of Christmas;

*Note: Xoey is mocked for her faith; Mentions of “religious accommodation” (being locked in a dark closet for a hour); Mentions of evil people; A few mentions of a movie with witches, curses, & werewolves; A few mentions of other religions & an “Exodus” of their followers; A couple mentions of superstitions; A mention of someone’s (Christian) faith being called a hateful, intolerant religion.

Negative Content- Minor cussing including: a ‘holy---‘, a ‘screwed up’, a ‘suck-ups’, two ‘dumb’s, five ‘shut up’s, six ‘idiot’s, and twenty-four forms of ‘stupid’; Mentions of curses (said, not written); Eye rolling; Reed saw his parents injured/killed in front of him (remembering up to semi-detailed); Seeing a person shot & killed (up to semi-detailed); An explosion, screams, pain, injuries, blood/bleeding, & a death (up to semi-detailed); Pain, Being hit/punched, Blood, & Held at gunpoint (up to semi-detailed); Pain, Being trapped, & buried alive (up to semi-detailed); Being tortured, Beaten, & Pain (up to semi-detailed); Being shot at & blood/bleeding (barely-above-not-detailed); Fighting, Hitting, & Bleeding (semi-detailed); Nightmares (border-line barely-above-not-detailed // semi-detailed); Wanting to strangle someone (barely-above-not-detailed); A kitten is killed (semi-detailed); Many mentions of executions, planned deaths, attacks, & bodies (barely-above-not-detailed to semi-detailed); Many mentions of abortions & deaths of those deemed unfit to live; Many mentions of wars, rebellions, & terrorists; Mentions of seeing people shot and killed & the bodies (up to semi-detailed); Mentions of landmines/bombs, stepping on landmines, & deaths (border-line barely-above-not-detailed // semi-detailed); Mentions of an explosion, screams, pain, injuries, blood/bleeding, & a death (up to semi-detailed); Mentions of burning a body & ashes in the air (barely-above-not-detailed); Mentions of blood/bleeding, being shot, & seeing others loved ones hurt/dying (up to semi-detailed); Mentions of beatings, being slapped, & pain (barely-above-not-detailed); Mentions of torturing; Mentions of people’s sadistic games; Mentions of injuries & scars (up to semi-detailed); Mentions of fighting & wanting to hit someone; Mentions of the Mafia & mobs; Mentions of bombs & places destroyed; Mentions of a fire; Mentions of threats; Mentions of stealing & thefts; Mentions of graffiti; Mentions of nightmares; Mentions of hatred, hate crimes, & bigotry; Mentions of rumors & gossip; Mentions of lies, lying, & liars; Mentions of alcohol, drunks, & weed; Mentions of vomit & throwing up; Mentions of a killed kitten (barely-above-not-detailed); Mentions of an ill puppy & a father getting rid of it; Mentions of animal & human waste (slang is used and calling others forms of the words); A few mentions of drug lords & cartels; A few mentions of a casino; A few mentions of bullies; A couple mentions of drugs & highs; A couple mentions of tattoos;

*Note: Mentions of secular books (like Harry Potter); Mentions of secular bands & singers.

Sexual Content- a hand kiss, a head kiss, and a barely-above-not-detailed kiss; Some Touches, Embraces, & Dancing; A couple Blushes; A bit of Noticing & Nearness (barely-above-not-detailed); Mentions of pretty teens being use for a “special service to a government official”; Mentions of a kiss & kissing; Mentions of flirting, winks, blushes, & a guy being ogled at; A few mentions of s*x education videos (along with having to watch them, & mentions of birth control options and unwanted pregnancies); A few mentions of teen boys ogling and peeking into an older girl’s room like perverts; A few mentions of girlfriends & boyfriends; A couple mentions of a teen boy cornering/attacking a teen girl & having to be pulled off of her; A couple mentions of married couples kissing; A mention of “fewer pregnancies to deal with” when boys and girls are separate in dorms; A mention of a couple not touching before getting married; Some love, falling in love, & the emotions;

*Note: Mentions of teenage lust (and a slang term is used for them acting on it); A few mentions of obscene gestures; A couple mentions of a shirtless guy; A couple mentions of women being treated like cattle.

-Reed Paine

-Xoey Stone

-Riley Paca
1^st person P.O.V. switches between them, & Adam
390 pages

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Pre Teens-

New Teens-

Early High School Teens-

Older High School Teens-

My personal Rating-

What an interesting story.

I’m personally disappointed that we’re seeing less and less dystopia books on the Christian market nowadays, so after hearing about this one, I was curious. Dystopia, teens as spies, and a major heist? Sounds right up my alley.

All that said, while reading, I’ll admit that I was very close to not finishing this and marking it as a DNF book so many times. The evil and crude comments were so painful to read about. There were many parts that I feel weren’t needed in the crude sense. The killing of an innocent creature (animal lovers who are sensitive will not like that part at time), the slang (especially in a sexual sense…which I had to look up…not lovely at all to say the least), and the overall evilness of the plot and people in command.

Fan of Lisa T. Bergren’s Dystopian trilogy might like this better than I did due to the content.

On a positive side: I liked the while these main characters were friends (at certain points), they also had conflict with each other, which made it feel a bit more life-like. There was more faith content than I was expecting. I also do have to say that this cover is very impressive and gives off a book-to-movie adaption feel to it.

The liberty aspect of this plot became much more important in the second part of the book, about two-hundred pages in. The entire plot parts surrounding the idea of liberty, what America was founded on, the history, and then not having those historical facts and the effects that it causes, was a very modern and current-times approach. I felt those parts were well done.

The crude parts just held back the ratings. I wish I could give it a bit of a higher rating, but because of those parts, I don’t feel like I can and that a highest rating of two-stars is being nice.

See y’all on Friday with a new review!