Books for Christian Girls: "Love Will Keep Us Together" by Anne Dayton & May Vanderbilt

About this book:

“Riley McGee has the whole world open before her. She could get into any college, major in any subject, become whoever she wants to be. . . . But the truth is, Riley has no earthly idea what to do. She's paralyzed by indecision, afraid of the changes she faces, and as graduation day inches closer, it feels more and more like a threat.
Meanwhile, her autistic brother, Michael, is struggling to fit in at Marina Vista and stay on top of his classes. Riley tries to keep an eye out for him, but when Ms. Moore suggests pulling Michael out of school, Riley has to fight for her brother--and against her favorite teacher. And things take another turn when her ex-boyfriend, Tom, arrives, hoping to give their relationship one more try. On top of that, an ambitious new pastor makes her question everything she thought she knew about faith.”

Series: Book #4 in “The Miracle Girls” series. Review of Book #1 Here!, #2 Here!, and #3 Here!

Spiritual Content- Scriptures are read, mentioned, & discussed; Prayers; Talks about God, Jesus, & church; ‘H’s are not capitalized when referring to God; Going to youth group; Christmas; Riley says that Bible doesn’t have all the answers for her life (she kind of debates this with a guest pastor in youth group and later they talk it through); Mentions of God; Mentions of Bibles, Bible reading, & Scriptures; Mentions of prayers, praying, & blessings over food; Mentions of Christians & faiths; Mentions of churches, church going, youth group, pastors/priests, & worship/songs; Mentions of Christmas & the Nativity; Mentions of miracles; A few mentions of thanking God & Jesus (sometimes it doesn’t sound very sincere); A few mentions of sins; A couple mentions of being blessed;

*Note: A mention of a year from hell; A mention of hell on a cold day.

Negative Content- Minor cussing including: a ‘heck’, a ‘jeez’, a ‘gosh’, a ‘shoot’, two ‘idiot’s, three ‘duh’s, three forms of ‘screw up’, three ‘dumb’s, three forms of ‘shut up’, four forms of ‘oh my gosh’, and forty-one ‘stupid’s; Christine calls her stepmother “The Bimbo” (once); Sarcasm & Eye rolling; Riley lies about being done with college applications; Mentions of fighting & hitting a teacher; Mentions of lies, lying, & liars; Mentions of hatred; Mentions of rumors & gossip; A few mentions of beheadings; A few mentions of bullying; A few mentions of poop & peeing; A couple mentions of wars & slavery; A couple mentions of a car accident & Christine’s mother’s death; A couple mentions of when Riley almost drowned (Book #1); A couple mentions of Zoe’s parents fighting (Book #3); A couple mentions of jail; A mention of a car bomb; A mention of drugs; A mention of cheating; A mention of slaughtering animals for sins;

*Note: Mentions of celebrities, singers, songs, TV shows, movies, characters, books, & authors; Mentions of car brands; A few mentions of social media; A couple mentions of magazines; A couple mentions of Boy Scouts.

Sexual Content- a forehead kiss, a cheek kiss, two barely-above-not-detailed kisses, and six semi-detailed kisses; Touches, Tingles, Embraces, Heat, Hand Holding, Winks, & Blushes (semi-detailed); Noticing, Nearness, & Smelling (up to semi-detailed); 2 forms of ‘sexy’; Many, many mentions of boys, boyfriends, dating, dates, homecoming, crushes, cheating, break-ups, & exes; Mentions of a high school guy getting a girl (age 15/16) pregnant, peoples comments (including two girls saying getting knocked up is her punishment for getting down and dirty with the guy), her parents wanting her to give the baby up for adoption, & the birth; Mentions of kisses, kissing, & making out (up to semi-detailed); A mention of blowing a kiss; Teenage attraction, dating, & the emotions;

*Note: [On the newer edition’s cover, there is a back of a girl wearing a bikini shown]; A couple mentions of a baby picture where Riley wasn’t fully clothed (Ben comments on her nice outfit and she replies that she’s always believed less is more); A mention of holding a boy’s hand feeling like heaven; A mention of underwear; A mention of a butt-kicker.

-Riley McGee, age 17/18 (?)
1^st person P.O.V. of Riley
287 pages

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Pre Teens-

New Teens-

Early High School Teens-

Older High School Teens-

My personal Rating-

While reading this final book, I was prepared to give it a personal rating of two stars due to Riley kissing a guy quite a bit and his comments about kissing and needing her. I’ve never really liked him anyway, but the ending was what made this series.

One thing about this series that stands out to me compared to other YA books was how realistic it is, especially in this last book. Riley faces the typical high school senior dilemma about college and stressing about the future, but it’s done in a way that I would totally believe if a friend was telling me her story and thoughts.

This series is realistic also in the dating and relationships. These four girls have more than a handful of guys come in and out of their lives in these four years, and for high school, I think it was reasonably done well—even if I wasn’t a fan of all of them and the kissing.

One extra thing I’d like to note is how there really was nothing about crazy high school parties, drinking, or drugs within this series. There’s plenty of other YA series that discuss those topics, but the Miracle Girl series handled other teen problems with depth and faith.

Riley struggles with the Bible really having the answer for everything in her current, twenty-first century life and doesn’t hesitate to ask. There’s also a misunderstanding/noting of how an unwed pregnant teen girl is treated at church and how the Church’s response matters. It’s interesting to see how it all works out with Riley and the girl’s family being sensitive over words from a pastor and that same pastor trying to get a message of God’s love across. It’s cleared up with no harm or bad intention being meant, but I believe Riley’s thoughts were reasonable with what she knew about the situation.

Overall, it was a really great ending to this series, and even with the most kisses being in this final book, I’ll say that this one was my favorite of the series…but I would have liked it better without said kisses.

See y’all on Friday with a new review!