“Ever since Tori Weston and MamaBear were abandoned by her dad, finances have been tighter than a new pair of skinny jeans. As if keeping her grades up for scholarships and working every spare moment weren’t enough, Tori gets suckered into visiting a retirement home and paired with ancient resident Marigold Williams. After learning she’s the only one to visit Marigold in decades, Tori becomes a regular at Willow Springs. Besides, someone has to help with her history homework.
Corbin Dallas barges into Tori’s life with a prosthetic leg and a dimple, working his way into her hectic schedule. Though she tries to deny it, there’s something beyond his Texan drawl that gets Tori hoping she’s more than his sidekick. Together, they race to find Marigold’s missing family before she fades away. Tori ditches her soul-sucking job, along with her dreams of having a paint-peeled clunker to call her own, in order to help her friend one last time.”
Series: As of now, no.
Spiritual Content- Prayers & Blessings over food; Church & Youth group going; ‘H’s are capitalized when referring to God; Tori comments that she goes to youth group since her mom goes to church and it would be expected of her (but she does look forward to youth group sometimes); A youth group’s message one night is about being who God created you to be instead of what people expected, but Tori thinks she’s too busy between work and school; Mentions of God; Mentions of prayers, praying, & blessings over food; Mentions of churches, church going, youth groups, pastors, & lessons/sermons; A few mentions of blessings; A couple mentions of Christians; A mention of a missions trip; A mention of Providence (Tori finds it cool that a woman uses the “politically correct term for God”);
*Note: A few mentions of luck; A couple mentions of a librarian being Satan reincarnated; A mention of a boss looking Tori like she’s Satan himself because of nail polish and permanent marker doodles; A mention of Hercules; A mention of an item seeming to be possessed (because it never works); A mention of paving a personal highway to hell.
Negative Content- Minor cussing including: a ‘blah, blah, blah’, a ‘crickey’, a ‘freaking’, a ‘gah’, a ‘holy cow’, a ‘holy moley’, an ‘oh my gosh’, a ‘screwed up’, a ‘shush’, a ‘sweet mother’, a ‘ticked’, two ‘dang’s, two ‘duh’s, two forms of ‘dumb’, two ‘heck’s, two ‘oh my word’s, two ‘wimp’s, three ‘shut up’s, six ‘idiot’s, seven forms of ‘suck’, and thirteen ‘stupid’s; A mention of a curse (said, not written); Sass, Sarcasm, & Eye rolling; Passing out (barely-above-not-detailed); Grieving; Tori sends a picture of her homework for a class to her friend (she knows she shouldn’t, but can’t image failing a class); Mentions of wars, 9/11, injuries, & deaths (barely-above-not-detailed); Mentions of World War II, Japanese Americans being put in camps after Pearl Harbor, & deaths (barely-above-not-detailed); Mentions of car wrecks, deaths (of someone’s parents and sibling), & major injuries (barely-above-not-detailed); Mentions of a death & grieving (for a dear friend); Mentions of criminals, crime scenes, & prison; Mentions of break-ins, fires, & murderers; Mentions of lies & lying (including a young woman lying about her age to get a job in the 1930s); Mentions of jealousy; Mentions of urine, farts, & body odor; A few mentions of prejudice & hatred; A few mentions of drinking & drunks; A few mentions of poker & winning money; A few mentions of lies & lying; A few mentions of gossip & rumors; A couple mentions of law enforcement family members being shot at; A couple mentions of deaths from reactions to the vaccinations in a camp; A couple mentions of cheating; A couple mentions of throwing up; A mention of children who were abused horribly (no details); A mention of wondering if a husband hurt his wife; A mention of Tori’s friend manipulating her parents (typically when she says she’s sick so she doesn’t have to go to school); A mention of sneaking out to parties; A mention of someone passing out “like a frat girl”; A mention of Tori’s mom’s tattoo; A mention of drinking wine; A mention of cigarettes; A mention of someone saying where a person can go (implied rudely); A mention of someone looking like they accidentally kicked a puppy; A mention of hunting;
*Note: Victoria mentions about mentally drooling over a guy’s chest/biceps & calls him “yummy” (once); Mentions of cute guys, their chest/biceps, & shirtless selfies (barely-above-not-detailed); Mentions of butts & kicking a butt (including a couple mentions of Tori thinking that a guy is staring at a girl’s derriere); A few mentions of events happening (like a break-in or a fire) when someone is showering and/or naked; A few mentions of hormones, estrogen, & testosterone; A few mentions of underwear; A couple mentions of teen girls liking a youth pastor (who Tori says is a bit outside of their (age) range and finds their crushes to be gross); A mention of some girls looking like a hooker at school because of their short skirts; A mention of Tori thinking that a girl’s physical appearance is the reason she’s passing a class; A mention of a boss being a firm believer in “medieval patriarchal societies” and having the women work the concession stand; An elderly woman calls a young man a “tall drink of water”; A mention of a girl’s “female problems”; A mention of a teen crisis pregnancy center.
1st person P.O.V. of Tori
228 pages
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Pre Teens-
New Teens-
Early High School Teens-
Older High School Teens-
My personal Rating-
{ Add a full star for those in Public/Private School. }
If you’ve been reading this blog or watching my BookTube videos for any amount of time, you would probably know that Contemporary YA is a favorite genre of mine—if not my absolute favorite. I’m not sure what it is that draws me to the genre, but I truly get so excited when I see new Christian Contemporary YA books being released.
There were many aspects of this book that I liked and some others that I wasn’t the biggest fan of. That’s pretty normal, I’d say, so let’s get into those details.
One thing that I really, really liked about Victoria Grace was that she was awkward and weird in a realistic way. Not “awkward for the sake of amusing the reader” kind of awkward, but awkward in the sense of “giving the reader second-hand-embarrassment because they’ve probably done this before too if they’re social awkward”. She wasn’t a perfect character and definitely not the perfect Christian YA heroine, but she was very real.
Victoria Grace and her mom have a unique relationship. I think to some readers might not like how they kid with each other in a way that may come across as crossing the line between parent and child. At some points I was reminded of a sister relationship with their comments towards each other, but at the same time I thought it worked for this story, their past, and her mom’s law enforcement occupation.
There wasn’t a ton of high school and/or dating drama in this book, which I appreciated. One chapter towards the end of the book was basically all of it.
In “Victoria Grace the Jerkface”, I found myself laughing often and enjoying the plot-line. I would compare this book in terms of content to a Jenn B. Jones YA book.
So, yes, so fans of Contemporary YA (and those that are okay with the content listed above) would probably be interested in this one and may even enjoy it. I think the book could have been a little longer and had a little more Spiritual Content, but it was a fun read for this fan of the genre. :)
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.
*I received this book for free from the Author for this honest review.
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