"The Gift of Christmas Present" by Melody Carlson

About this book:

  “College student Christine Bradley grew up in a loving and honest family. So she couldn't have been more surprised when, shortly after her mother's death, her father revealed the startling truth that Christine had been adopted at birth. In search of clues about her biological mother, Christine encounters a family she never knew she had. She digs deeper as Christmas nears and what she finds reveals a shocking lineage. Will Christine be able to come to grips with the past, take hold of the present, and look forward to a brighter future? Carlson's warm tale of loss, recovery, and acceptance will captivate current fans and create new ones.”


Series: As of now, no.


Spiritual Content- A Scripture is referenced & thought over; Set during Christmas time; Prayers & Thanking God; Church going & a Christmas service; A bit of being witnessed to; Talks about God; ‘H’s are not capital when referring to God; Esther starts thinking about God, Heaven, & believing; Mentions of God & faiths; Mentions of prayers; Mentions of Bibles & Bible reading; Mentions of & thinking about those in the Bible; Mentions of churches, church going, services, a pastor, & preaching/sermons; Mentions of missionaries & mission bases/fields; A couple mentions of teaching a Sunday School class; A couple mentions of blessings & being blessed; A mention of a miracle; A mention of sin; A mention of something being as ugly as sin;

             *Note: A couple mentions of auras; A mention of hellfire.

Negative Content- Minor cussing including: a ‘blasted’, a ‘confounded’, a ‘dang’, a ‘darn’, two ‘idiot’s, and eight ‘stupid’s; A few curses (said, not written); A couple mentions of eye rolling; Esther feels like she needs a cigarette at one point (she doesn’t then, but later tries smoking again and stops); Many mentions of guilt, lies, & deception; Mentions of a car accident, coma, & death (barely-above-not-detailed); Mentions of scams & con artists; Mentions of drinking & a drunk; Mentions of smoking, cigarettes, & tobacco (barely-above-not-detailed); A couple mentions of kidnappings; A couple mentions of jealousy; A mention of a break-in; A mention of gambling.

Sexual Content- *Spoiler* Lenore was raped by her drunken stepfather (which resulted in the pregnancy, and Christine says that’s like incest and thinks about being conceived in a violent crime and Esther thinks that her second husband raped her only daughter) *End of Spoiler*; Christine’s mother had an unwanted pregnancy (it’s said at one point that she was not sure about who the father was) and when Esther wanting her to have an abortion (they went to Planned Parenthood for information and to ‘dispose of it’, the baby is said to not be a human, but the mother knows it’s a baby and won’t murder the baby); Mentions of those Planned Parenthood brochures that say abortions are a “safe & efficient way to terminate an unwanted pregnancy”; A few mentions of another person being rudely blunt about her comments (about a pregnancy/rape); A few mentions of boyfriends; A couple mentions of a good church girl getting pregnant (not-detailed); A couple mentions of dates; A mention of a pervert; A mention of thinking a girl isn’t the type to sleep around;

             *Note: A mention of wearing a provocative bikini; A mention of pregnancy hormones.

-Christine Bradley, age 19
                                P.O.V. switches between Christine & Esther (age 79)
                                                        204 pages

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Pre Teens-

New Teens-

Early High School Teens-

Older High School Teens-

My personal Rating-

While I thought this might be like Robin Jones Gunn’s Christmas books, it definitely wasn’t. I was not a fan of all the mentions and content in this book.

See y’all on Friday 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.