Books for Christian Girls: "Of Peace and Precipitation" by Aaron J. Gourlie

About this book:

  “After discovering at age eleven that she was “smarter” than her mom, freshman Jen Morris has since been trying to find balance in her life.
   Between high school, her complicated mother, the school play, drifting friendships, and the boring church that her mom makes her attend, Jen feels like she is inadequately equipped for her life.
   When her most embarrassing moment happens in front of the whole school, a devastated Jen questions her existence.
   In the following days, Jen deals with ridicule and family, doubt and faith, the humiliation of Youtube infamy, hope, and the distancing of people close to her.
   Deeper acceptance of her own family, faith, and circumstances lead her to become empowered to not just focus on her own issues but to the needs of others as well.”

Series: As of now, no.

Spiritual Content- A couple Scripture are quoted & mentioned; A few prayers; Church going & Youth group events (which Jen did not want to go to more youth events at church because they were all boring); Talks about God & Jesus; (Most) 'H's are capital when referring to God; Jen is pretty sure she believes in God, but doesn’t like church that much since it feels like (to her) that church is pointless as it’s full of people that talk about love and doing nice things, but it feels like “a special club for lame, close-minded, and judgmental adults” (she adds that the people there aren’t mean, but don’t cross them or get caught doing something sinful; Jen recalls when an eleventh grader was caught smoking outside and was “practically excommunicated from the church”, had a meeting with the pastor and her parents that told her she had to repent or she was going to hell, and everyone staring at her; Jen does like the hymns and peaceful moments at church, but they are “few and far between” and most moments were “spent thinking about how annoying the people at her church were”); Jen thinks that a man is crazy to have heard God talked to him (since God has been silent towards her and her mom); *Spoiler* Towards the end, Jen feels peace and a Voice comes over her, saying Jeremiah 29:11 and she feels loved (this happens again once more when she wonders why something happened *End of Spoiler*; Jen’s church is not looked upon well by her expect in a few moments where she feels peace, elsewise, there’s only negative comments about the church and the judgmental people there;  Mentions of God & Jesus; Mentions of Bibles, Bible reading, & books of the Bible; Mentions of prayers & praying; Mentions of churches, church going, services, pastors, hymns, Bible studies, youth group events, & children’s service (Jen’s mom is adamant about them attending); Mentions of a youth pastor sharing his story of being bored at church & then coming across a Scripture; A few mentions of blessings & being blessed; A few mentions of being lectured about sin; A couple mentions of a church’s Wi-Fi password being ‘predestination777’ and Jen not knowing what that means; A couple mentions of Christmas & Easter services; A mention of Christian pop music (which Jen calls “crappy”);
             *Note: Jen recalls when a pastor told her that Star Wars seemed innocent but was “based on Buddhist principles and how it was really evil or something” (Jen was embarrassed and after her mom heard about that, she was not longer allowed to watch them); A couple mentions of doing or reading something religiously; A mention of being lectured on the evils of secular music; A mention of Jen not wanting to be lectured by someone at church for breathing “unChristian-like or whatever”.

Negative Content- Minor cussing including (& written in the book as listed): an ‘a-holes’, a ‘D-bag’, a ‘d---‘, a ‘dumb’, a ‘[someone being as] high as f---‘, a ‘f----ing’, a ‘God only knew’, a ‘gosh’, a ‘pissed’, a ‘s---‘, a ‘shoot’, a ‘shut the hell up’, a ‘what the hell’, a ‘who the bleep cares’, two ‘AF’s, two ‘blah blah blah’s, two ‘BS’s, two ‘bull s—‘s, two ‘OMG’s, two ‘what the heck’s, three ‘geez’s, four forms of ‘crap’s, five ‘idiot’s, six ‘oh my gosh’s, six ‘shut up’s, seven ‘sucks’s, nine forms of ‘retarded’ (mostly used when kids refer to Jen’s mom) and eleven ‘stupid’s;  Mentions of curses (said but not written, not fully written out, & also Jen thinking her mom would have a heart attack if she heard how kids talked at school); A couple mentions of Jen’s best friend potentially cussing someone out for her; Lots of Sarcasm & Eye rolling; Jan is sassy, talks back to, & argues with her mom (she also gets impatient and yells at her, but feels bad about doing that); Jen argues with her brother & calls him names; Jen wishes that her mom was normal & like other moms (this is a major part of the book as her mom has a learning disability and Jen says she’s smarter than her mom and that her mom ruined her life; Jen’s aunt tells her that while academically Jen might be smarter, her mother still deserves respect and is a good mother, which Jen agrees with overall); Jen has negative thoughts & thinks she deserves others saying bad things about her after she messes up; When Jen is mad about her family’s cat, she mutters that she’d love to kick her & then denies saying that when her brother tells on her; Being teased & mocked by others at school; Mentions of injuries, pain, & blood/bleeding; Mentions of being bullied & bullies; Mentions of a drug addicted mother, her addiction, & rehab; Mentions of smoking, tobacco, & teens being caught smoking weed (and the smell, barely-above-not-detailed); A few mentions of Jen’s father leaving their family, promising to come back and send money (which he did once or twice); A couple mentions of parole & someone doing community service (Jen wonders if a teacher is helping with the school play because of this; it’s never said if that’s true); A couple mentions of lies & lying; A couple mentions of jealousy; A couple mentions of tattoos (including a pastor getting upset at a youth pastor for showing his); A couple mentions of peeing (in a pool & someone in their pants); A mention of a kid being pushed down the stairs & breaking his leg; A mention of Jen wondering if a teacher is trying to make his class brain-dead; A mention of throwing up; A mention of Jen calling her eyes “poop-colored”;
             *Note: Many mentions of social media, games, brand name items, & pop-culture (Instagram, Tik Tok, Snapchat, Netflix, Google, YouTube, FaceBook, Fortnite, Elder Scrolls, World of Witchcraft, iPod Touch, iPhone, Lego, Raisin Bran, Kool-Aid, Lucky Charms, Taco Bell, & Yu-Gi-Oh! Cards); Mentions of an adult (who was adopted) sharing that in middle-school, he hated that he was adopted, his birth parents for giving him up, looking different than everyone else, facing racism, & that his parents couldn’t fully understand him; Mentions of Disney, movies, TV shows, & actors/actresses (Camp Rock, Serendipity, Star Wars, Pride & Prejudice, An Affair to Remember, Veggie Tales, The Vampire Diaries, Arrow, Hawaii 5-0, Deborah Kerr, & Cary Grant); Mentions of clothing brands (American Eagle, Gap, Abercrombie, Puma, Old Navy, Hollister, & Sophique); Mentions of Agatha Christie & her books; Mentions of mothers who aren’t able to do “normal” mother things (like take care of her children or pay the bills, because of a learning disability or an addiction) and it falling to their daughters; A few mentions of & jabs about an awkward homeschooler (including his mother thinking he needs to socialize more & him being obsessed with a video game); A few mentions of Jen’s mom thinking a Korean man is Chinese (Jen tries to explain to her that those are different countries and languages but gives up because her mom doesn’t understand); A few mentions of car brands; A few mentions of a boy singing “Watch Me (Whip/Nae Nae)”; A couple mentions of a football team (Cleveland Browns); A mention of a band (Metallica); A mention of a play (Guys and Dolls); A mention of a song (Moon River); A mention of a student wearing a “420” hoodie (which typically refers to weed); A mention of a Black kid being bullied at school & being called racist names; A mention of Jen thinking that her church isn’t racist or prejudiced, but is so “racially and culturally monochromatic”.

Sexual Content- When a guy touches Jen’s hand, she has butterflies and gets excited; Jen stares at a handsome guy & gets breathless when talking to him (barely-above-not-detailed); Jen thinks that if she was prettier, boys would like her, make friends easier, & she’d be cooler; Mentions of crushes, boyfriends/girlfriends, group dates, dating, & break-ups; Mentions of Jen and her best friend talking about cute boys, crushes, & saying a crush is “my man”; Mentions of flirting, “flirty little chats” with a guy, & girls being giggly over a popular guy; A few mentions of Jen’s father who was called a womanizer and left their family saying that it was “for the good of the family”, promising to send money (he came back a couple times more, including the time Jen’s younger brother was conceived); A couple mentions of teens in the hallways at school embracing, kissing, and grinding on each other as if they’re going to start a family; A mention of a guy raunchily saying that nobody licks a girl (Jen; she messes up her line in a play that sounds like “nobody licks me” and gets teased for it); A mention of a popular guy’s harem; A mention of Jen’s best friend saying that her and her crush are “lover-soulmates”; A mention of jealousy;
             *Note: A mention of a curvy woman; A mention of Jen’s curves; A mention of Jen and her friend doing silly and sultry poses for Instagram pictures; A mention of a teacher’s shirt being not so flattering and tighter than it should be; A mention of a girl saying that she would join the boys’ soccer team at school because of all the cute boys, practices, long bus trips, and group showers.

-Jennifer “Jen” Morris, 9^th grade
                                P.O.V. of Jen
                                          134 pages

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Pre Teens-

New Teens-

Early High School Teens-

Older High School Teens-

My personal Rating-

{Add 1-2 stars for older girls in Public School who feel like they could relate to this story}

This was an interesting story and while I did like the ending revelations of Jen’s, I wish that they would have come much sooner in the story. I was happy to finally see the resolution of Jen and God towards the end, but it did feel a little out-of-the-blue. I wasn’t personally a fan of how her church was portrayed as judgmental and everyone was a fuddy-duddy.

This was a short book, but I nearly marked it as Did-Not-Finished multiple times for different reasons—which those reasons are why the ratings are what they are.

I was personally very disappointed by all the cussing found in this book. Yes, that can be realistic for some circles, but there’s other ways to allude to a character cussing without actually writing the word with little dashes instead of the whole word. Then there were a few sexual innuendoes were were throw in that I wasn’t happy to see either.

I really disliked how Jen acted towards her mother and how Jen thinks about those at church. I was taken aback by how Jen talks to her mother and brother. She’s responsible for quite a bit, such as knowing the amount in their bank account, paying bills, but she also has a chip on her shoulder the size of Alaska towards her mother. It was sad to see, really.

For older girls in public school settings and could possibly related to Jen’s struggles, this might be an interesting book for them, but it’s not one I can personally recommend due to all the cussing and other content.

See y’all on Friday with a new review!