Friday, September 7, 2018

"Heading Home" by Renee Riva


About this book:

  “For eight years, A.J. Degulio has been itching to get back to her beloved Indian Island. It’s home. But a lot has changed: Sailor moves slower, Danny has grown into a man ... and A.J. has a promise to keep but it doesn’t include Danny. When Danny discovers the truth, he’s shocked and hurt. But he won’t stand in the way of what she really wants. What’s a girl to do? She wants to keep her promise and Danny. But Danny has plans of his own. Can they work it out? It will take compromise and laughter before Danny and A.J. figure out that home is more than a place on the map. It’s a place in the heart.”


Series: Book #3 in the “A.J.” series. Reviews of #.5 Here, Book #1 Here, and Book #2 Here!


Spiritual Content- A few Scriptures are read, mentioned, & talked about; Prayers; Church going, Mass, & sermons; Talks about God, religions, & churches; ‘H’s are capital when referring to God; *Spoiler* AJ is considering becoming a sister (she does not become one though) *End of Spoiler*; A church retreat; Many mentions of God & Jesus; Many mentions of churches, church going, preaching, & hymns; Many mentions of Catholics, Baptists, Orthodoxies, & their churches; Many mentions of nuns/sisters, priests, vows, mass, calling, convents, confessions, missions/charity work, & catechism; Mentions of prayers, blessings over food, & thanking God; Mentions of faiths & loving God; Mentions of hearing from God & His will; Mentions of Bibles, reading, & lessons; Mentions of a Bible study; Mentions of a youth group, Sunday school, & becoming a pastor; Mentions of Heaven; Mentions of a Christian camp; Mentions of denominations; Mentions of holy people; Mentions of Mother Teresa; Mentions of saints & saint statues; Mentions of a church’s mosaics; Mentions of Easter; A few mentions of those & events in the Bible; A few mentions of the Nativity; A few mentions of blessings; A couple mentions of miracles; A couple mentions of Spiritual matters; A mention of Billy Graham;
             *Note: A couple mentions of superstitions & bad luck; A couple mentions of Apollo & Hercules; A couple mentions of going to Hell; A mention of a movie with ‘Hell’ in the title; A mention of Greek goddesses.


Negative Content- Minor cussing including: a ‘duh’, a ‘holy cow’, a form of ‘shut up’, a ‘what the heck’, three forms of ‘dang’, three forms of ‘dumb’, three ‘heck’s, three ‘stupid’s, four forms of ‘darn’, four ‘geez’s, five forms of ‘idiot’, six ‘oh my gosh’s; A bit of eye rolling;
Mentions of almost drowning (in Book #1); Mentions of pain & injuries; Mentions of alcohol, drinking, & fake IDs; Mentions of lies, lying, & liars; Mentions of jealousy; Mentions of manure; A few mentions of gossip; A few mentions of tattoos; A few mentions of a dog that was on death row & putting a dog down; A couple mentions of a dog that killed a duck (not-detailed); A mention of the Mafia;
             *Note: Mentions of pop culture, TV shows, characters, celebrities, movies, songs, books, & brands; Mentions of Barbie; A couple mentions of Girl Scouts.


Sexual Content- two cheek (goodbye) kisses, a cheek kiss, an almost kiss, a not-detailed kiss, eight barely-above-not-detailed kisses, two semi-detailed kisses; Touches & Hand Holding (barely-above-not-detailed); Blushes; Some Noticing; a ‘babe’, a few ‘hunk’s, and eleven ‘wench’; Mentions of vows of chastity; Mentions of girlfriends, boyfriends, cute boys, breakups/dumping, PDA, kisses & kissing; Mentions of heartbreakers & a two-timer; Mentions of girls laying claims to guys; Mentions of chaperones; Mentions of crushes; A couple mentions of wanting to fall asleep next to someone & wake up next to them; A couple married couples kissing; A couple mentions of men staring at AJ’s sister; A couple mentions of blushes; Some love, falling/being in love, & the emotions;
             *Note: A few mentions of fannies/behinds; A mention of a song about shaking a booty; A mention of the statue of David; A couple mentions of a period.

-AJ Degulio, age 18
                                1st person P.O.V. of AJ
                                        Set in 1976
                                               258 pages

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Pre Teens-
New Teens-
Early High School Teens-
Older High School Teens-
My personal Rating-
This is completely bittersweet! It’s the last AJ adventure! Wahhh! This was honestly such a fun series & I enjoyed every single one!
I found that in this book, the first 100 pages were so angsty! I was nearly panicking a few times over what was happening. I didn’t laugh quite as much as the previous books (but that’s probably because her family wasn’t in this one so much), but still did laugh at different times. I thought that ending was perfect.


See y’all on Monday with a new review!


*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.

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