"Allison O'Brian on Her Own, Volume 2" by Melody Carlson

About this book:

  “Continue the adventure of a lifetime!
  It's 1948, and fourteen-year-old Allison O'Brian has never known what it's like to have a real family. She knows nothing about her father, and her mother is a glamorous movie star who has little time for her. But when Allison stumbles upon a long-lost letter, she learns there is more to her past than meets the eye, and she embarks on a coast-to-coast adventure to find the love of a family she has always dreamed about.
  Volume 2 includes the last two stories in Allison's adventure: The Secret and The Promise. In The Secret, Allison is faced with the frightening prospect of losing the father she worked so hard to find. In The Promise, Allison deals with the fallout as her mother's movie-star identity is revealed and the normal life Allison has always wanted gets turned upside down.
  Join this sweet and spunky girl as she makes her dreams come true!”


Series: Book #3 & #4 in the “Allison O’Brian Chronicles” series. (This is a review of the second volume which includes the last two books.) Review of Volume 1 Here!


Spiritual Content- Prayers & Thanking God; Church going; Christmas; Witnessing; ‘H’s are capitalized when referring to God; Talks about God, Jesus, trusting Him, & talking to Him; Mentions of God, forgiveness, & faiths; Mentions of prayers, praying, thanking God, & blessings over food; Mentions of churches, church going, sermons, pastors, hymns, & a Christmas service; A couple mentions of those in the Bible; A couple mentions of what the Bible says; A couple mentions of Heaven; A couple mentions of miracles; A couple mentions of blessings.

Negative Content- Minor cussing including: a ‘dumb’, a ‘gosh’, a ‘jumpin’ jehoshaphat’, a ‘stinking’, an ‘idiot’, and ten forms of ‘stupid’; Some sarcasm & eye rolling; Mentions of the World War II, deaths, injuries, fighting, bombs, prison camps, & prisoners of war (barely-above-not-detailed); Mentions of a plane crashing & the wreckage; Mentions of criminals/thieves, burglaries, stealing, & stolen items; Mentions of lies & lying; Mentions of gossip & rumors; Mentions of jealousy; Mentions of hatred; Mentions of divorces; A few mentions of blackmail & threats; A couple mentions of World War I; A couple mentions of mean girls & their mean comments about another girl; A mention of cigars; A couple mentions of tattoos; A mention of champagne;

             *Note: Mentions of historical figures, authors, books, singers, actors/actresses, & movies; A few mentions of car brands.

Sexual Content- Blushes; School dances; Some hints about Allison & Andrew and her feelings; Many mentions of dates, dating, & school dances; Mentions of boyfriends/girlfriends; Mentions of liking someone, crushes, & interest/feelings; Mentions of jealousy; A few mentions of girls going after boys & boys liking being chased; A couple mentions of kisses;

             *Note: Mentions of a girl’s weight (one girl calls her a pig) & Allison gives her a make-over and Grace writes her a diet to follow to lose weight; A few mentions of women measurements & Allison mentions sticking out her chest for a certain number (the numbers are actually written for both her and Marsha’s figures).

-Allison O’Brian, age 14
                                P.O.V. of Allison

                                                  Set in 1948
                                                        381 pages

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Pre Teens-

New Teens-

Early High School Teens-

Older High School Teens-

My personal Rating-

Just like the first volume for this series, this second volume has two stories from the “Allison O’Brian Chronicles” I enjoyed reading them. Below there are spoilers for the first volume though, so just a fair warning!

“The Secret” was probably my least favorite in this series, but it was nice to see Allison settling into a more normal life. There was friendship/mean girl drama and liking a boy content, so I think that’s why it wasn’t my favorite. I did like Allison’s father a bit more in this book than the prior books. He seemed a little strange at times but he was more dad-like in this one. This book does end in a cliff-hanger, so beware!

With the second book, “The Promise”, we pick up from that suspenseful cliff-hanger and quickly get back into Allison trying to have a normal life. Like the third book, this one also had more of a mean girl and boy content than the first two books, but I did like the ending.

I don’t see a lot of historical YA fiction, so this was a fun series to read and I liked many different parts of the stories.

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.