Books for Christian Girls: "Hearing Lies" by Olivia Smit

About this book:

“They’re all fighting different battles … and no one wants to tell Skylar the truth.

After navigating her final year of high school, Skylar Brady can’t wait to go back to Golden Sound. But when she gets there, nothing is quite like she expected. Anastasia is gone, the library is in danger of closing, and there’s something Cam isn’t telling her. Skylar is sure she can rescue the library. But can she save Cam?

Mike, on the other hand, never wanted to return to Golden Sound, but after his summer internship falls through, he finds himself headed straight back to the unresolved mess he left behind. So many secrets: the summer job that went wrong. The woman who paid the price. And the fact that Eric knows the truth … and plans to hold it over his head in more ways than one.”

Series: Book #2 in the “Seeing Voices” duology. Review of Book #1 Here!

Spiritual Content- 1 John 4:19 at the end; Prayers, Thanking God, & Blessings over food; Church going & worship (Skylar struggles with feeling like her private line to God has been cut off (because of not being able to hear the worship or sermons)); Talks about God, Jesus, & being a Christian; Some ‘H’s are capitalized when referring to God & Jesus; Mike says he’s not really into religion (He asks Skylar to help him with answering question about how he became a Christian to be able to apply to a position at a Christian camp, and while she thinks it would maybe encourage him to give Jesus another chance, she doesn’t think lying is the way to do it; She does end up helping him by sharing about God’s love with him and he also uses Google; He tries to think of Jesus-y things to say in the interview and has a bit of guilt about it all); Mike thinks it’s too simple to just pray for everything to be fixed with just a “wish and a prayer” & someone talks to him about it (*Spoiler* While he does not fully believe or asks Jesus to forgive him by the end of the book, he has questions that he hopes a couple other Christians around him will answer and he no longer feels like a coward because of past choices *End of Spoiler*); Mentions of God, Jesus, & forgiveness; Mentions of being a Christian & being in a Christian family (Skylar says it’s hard to be a Christian alone as none of her family are believers and Mike says he grew up in an atheist home); Mentions of prayers, praying, & blessings over food; Mentions of churches/chapels, church going, worship, sermons, & pastors/priests; Mentions of a Christian camp & a song about forgiveness; A few mentions of Bibles and Bible reading; A few mentions of Heaven;

*Note: A mention of the phrase “Thank Google” (by someone who is not a Christian); A mention of Mike thinking that his owns his own demons; A mention of a devilish grin; A mention of Mike trying to clear his brain by being “Zen and stuff”.

Negative Content- Minor cussing including: a ‘crap’, a ‘frigging’, a ‘omg’, a form of ‘suck’, two ‘idiot’s, three ‘dumb’s, three ‘oh my gosh’s, three forms of ‘screw up/screwed’, three ‘what the heck’s, seven forms of ‘dang’, seven ‘shoot’s, and thirteen forms of ‘stupid’; Mentions of or alluding to curses (such as a guy replacing the first letter of Mike’s name; Mike also cusses; all are said, but not written out); A bit of eye rolling & sarcasm; Seeing someone having a panic attack; Going to a place after there was a party with drinking, drugs, & people still high or drunk (not taking part of any of it); Mike recalls when he was drunk/buzzed and hang out with others who were drinking & smoking (and on his bad days, he says, he misses it but he swore he wouldn’t go back to it; he does later wish he had a few cans of beer to not be able to remember a hard conversation later); Mike tells a white lie to his parents (he later tells them the truth); Mike lies about being a Christian to get a job; Mike also lies to Skylar, but she knows he’s lying to her; Nightmares of dying, being held at gunpoint, drowning, & being attacked by a shark (up to semi-detailed); Many mentions of smoking (cigarettes and joints with marijuana and “the good stuff”), being high, parties, alcohol, drinking, drunks, hangovers, drunk driving, & a car wreck (that thankfully didn’t hurt anyone); Mentions of the car accident that Skylar lost most of her hearing from; Mentions of panic attacks; Mentions of stealing money, thieves, & thefts (*Spoiler* Eric encouraged Mike to steal money from when they worked at McDonald’s together by saying that everyone does it and that an old CEO doesn’t need it—which Mike believed back then but changed his mind after someone else was fired because of their actions, he confesses and apologizes to those involve *End of Spoiler*); Mentions of blackmail & threats; Mentions of lies, lying, & liars; Mentions of a tattoo parlor (that is also a coffee shop); A few mentions of injuries & blood/bleeding (barely-above-not-detailed); A few mentions of bullies & being bullied; A few mentions of nightmares; A few mentions of gossip & rumors; A few mentions of throwing up; A couple mentions of crimes; A couple mentions of someone getting a tattoo of a serpent & the blood (barely-above-not-detailed); A mention of horror movies; A mention of eavesdropping;

*Note: Mentions of McDonald’s; Mentions of social media platforms (Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, TikTok, Netflix, & FaceTime); Mentions of brand names (Tupperware, Kleenex, Band-Aids, Pop-Tarts, Nutella, & an iPad); Mentions of books & a movie; A few mentions of Google & Google Maps; A mention of Starbucks.

Sexual Content- A blown kiss, a fingers kiss, four cheek kisses, three forehead kisses, a not-detailed kiss, and a border-line barely-above-not-detailed // semi-detailed kiss; Touches, Embraces, Tingles, Butterflies, & Hand Holding (including Skylar having her head in Cam’s lap when watching a movie, barely-above-not-detailed); Blushes; Noticing (barely-above-not-detailed); Mentions of boyfriends/girlfriends, dates, & dating; A few mentions of cute boys; A couple mentions of kisses; A couple mentions of flirting; A mention of parties where guys and girls go upstairs together; A mention of a break-up; Some love, being in love, & the emotions (teenagers);

*Note: Skylar & Mike stay at her boyfriend’s house with him and his family (nothing sexual happens or is alluded to); A few mentions of shirtless guys (not noticed in a sexual way); A mention of a sports bra; A mention of sitting down hard & making your butt hurt.

-Skylar Brady

-Mike Brady

1^st person P.O.V. switches between them

222 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 Girls Who Are in Public/Private School}

I’ve been saving reading this sequel until I could reread the first book as I wanted to be fully invested in this new story and not trying to remember details as I was reading it. I’m really glad I did because I still enjoyed the first book so much and it made seeing certain parts of this second story even better.

Between both books, there is such so much vulnerability and sincerity from these characters that you can’t help but like them and want to cheer them on to do great things. I honestly wasn’t sure how I would feel about seeing Mike’s, Skylar’s brother, point of view, but I ended up becoming very involved in his parts almost as much as Skylar’s.

With this story, like the first one, it ends kind of open-ended—including the parts with Mike wondering about God—but like a lot of the story, it feels realistic that way. And it leaves it open for possibly another story (let me be hopeful! I want to see a novella of the prior Christmas break so bad!) to be told. (Also, the epilogue! My heart!)

Personally, I think this duology is a hidden gem in the Christian Fiction YA market. It doesn’t glorify the negative content discussed at all (it shows that it’s not right and the characters regretting their actions/choices) and then there also isn’t a rush confession of faith at the very end of the story. It’s just…realistic and I really appreciate it.

See y’all on Friday with a new review!