“During her freshman year of high school, Ally Griffin is determined to find her thing, a talent that will let her gain praise and recognition. Her cousins, Billy and James, have found theirs in sports and music, but Ally has yet to discover something that will make people cheer just for her.
At her best friend's suggestion, Ally tries ballet. When that doesn't turn out the way she hopes, she signs up to sing in the school talent show. Thanks to support from James, Ally's performance goes well, and she thinks she has found her thing at last.
But when James gets into an accident, Ally's whole world is turned upside down. As she tries to be there for her cousin, Ally wrestles with why God allows bad things to happen and whether she should keep doing her thing at all.”
Series: As of now, no. A stand-alone novel.
Spiritual Content- A couple Scriptures are mentioned & referenced; Prayers; Church going; Talks about God, trusting Him, & why He lets bad things happen; 'H's are capital when referring to God; Ally’s family prays together every night before bed; Ally prays for her to find her thing that she’s good at; *Spoiler* At the end, Ally realizes she’s been praying for the wrong thing and should be praying for God to reveal her part in His plan; She then prays for forgiveness and feels it *End of Spoiler*; Many mentions of God, why He lets bad things happen, prayers, praying, & blessings over food; Many mentions of churches, church going, singing/worship, pastors, sermons, Sunday school, youth group, & youth events; A couple mentions of testimonies; A couple mentions of ministries & seminary school; A couple mentions of devotionals; A mention of being a good Christian; A mention of angels;
*Note: A couple mentions of aliens; A mention of a bad omen.
Negative Content- Minor cussing including: a ‘kick butt’, two ‘dumb’s, three ‘idiot’s, five ‘shut up’, and eight ‘stupid’s; A few mentions of curses/profanity (including one of Ally’s cousin being very upset and calling someone a word that “students at school only said with no teacher around”, and a mention of a four-letter word, none are written out); Eye rolling & Sarcasm; Seeing someone pass out on a roof, injuries, & recalling it (up to semi-detailed); Being in the hospital with loved ones; Bullies, their taunts, & teasing (both Ally & James face them and later Ally feels sad for her bully because she realizes the bully’s insecurities); Jealousy; Eavesdropping; While Ally would have liked to know her parents and brother, she doesn’t think her life has “been that tragic” to gather sympathy from teachers who act like it’s the saddest thing they’ve heard (it gets on her nerves); James doesn’t like bodies of water after seeing his father and sister drown & freaks out when a bully tries to throw him into a lake; *Spoilers* After his fall, James becomes permanently deaf and we see his grief over losing one of his senses; Ally finds it uncomfortable and awkward to be around James at times because of his reactions and attitude change, so she tries to avoid him for some of the book; Her other cousin feels like it should have been him who was hurt; To get James from keeping his emotions bottled inside, Billy physically fights with him; James lashes out & is upset because of the situation; Ally struggles with singing after the accident and decides not to sing ever again if James can’t hear her; At school, a kid taunts James and calls him a ‘freak’ so Billy pummels him and gets suspended (the adults wish that the teens would have come to them and explain that they could have helped, but Billy believes his method was better at the moment); The school doesn’t offer help for James’ deafness and there is a slight battle to recognize what he needs *End of Spoilers*; *Big Spoilers* At the end, things are better with James’ attitude towards life & Ally focusing on using her gift of singing towards God *End of Spoilers*; Mentions of deaths (car accidents, drowning, & a mother in labor) & grief (barely-above-not-detailed); Mentions of passing out, injuries, concussions, swelling on the brain, life-changing diagnosis (*Spoiler* becoming deaf *End of Spoiler*), & grief over having a “normal” life; Mentions of beatings, fights, & fighting (to protect others); Mentions of nightmares (barely-above-not-detailed); Mentions of lies, lying, & liars; Mentions of jealousy; A few mentions of a guy punching the wall when angry & his injuries (up to semi-detailed); A few mentions of throwing up; A few mentions of a deer carcass & a vulture; A couple mentions of eavesdropping; A mention of burps;
*Note: Arguing with a doctor that won’t listen to the patient’s family; Mentions of James seeing a therapist after the accident; A mention of Ally’s best friend’s father not being in the picture; A mention of Hitler; A mention of a TV ad (unnamed, but you know it’s from Geico).
Sexual Content- Dancing (barely-above-not-detailed); Noticing (barely-above-not-detailed); Flirting, Crushes, & Blushes; Ally & her best friend wear dresses with modest necklines to a dance because they believe in keeping themselves covered, but Ally also knows that the men in her family would lock her in her room if she wore something that “showed more than they felt was appropriate”; Mentions of dates, dating, boyfriends/girlfriends, & dances/prom; Mentions of crushes & flirting; A couple mentions of chaperones; A mention of a hot guy on TV; A mention of a player;
*Note: Ally’s cousin is very protective of her & threats to beat up any guy who talks to her (much to her dismay).
-Kallyna “Ally” Griffin, freshman & sophomore in High School
1st person P.O.V. of Ally
Set in 2014-2015 (A few other parts in 2019)
205 pages
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Pre Teens-
New Teens-
Early High School Teens-
Older High School Teens-
My personal Rating-
Even though I was interested in this book (hello, contemporary Christian YA! My favorite genre!) I was nervous that this book would make me cry. So, I kept putting off reading it. I don’t like sad books and I was afraid that this one would be hopefully sad—sad because of the hinted accident and life changing event, but hopeful because of the faith content. During a very rainy week in Texas, I decided to finally read it.
Ally is determined to find her “thing”, the thing she loves to do, the thing that others will cheer for her when she does them. Now, that last part could sound a little conceded, but she truly didn’t come across that way at all—well, most of the time. Sometimes she did, but I do think that’s a realistic human response to these events her family is going through. I mainly just wanted to give her a hug and big sister her. Her family has gone through a lot, bless them. She lost her parents and brother in a car wreck with one cousin’s parents, and then the other cousin’s mom passed away in labor and his father and sister drowned a few years later. That’s a lot. The hits just keep coming, but they are generally an upbeat family. Then there’s the events in this book.
Missy was a true friend to Ally and good for her. I do feel like they both felt a bit young, but that’s probably pretty accurate for some young teens!
While the character development for Ally (in regard to faith content/trusting God) happened rushed right at the end, I did liked the faith content. I just wish it had been dragged out a little longer to be able to savor the message the author intended for the readers to see. I would have also liked the ending to be a little more happy-closed-case, but it ended on a hopeful note. I did enjoy this book, though, and found it thought-provoking about what I would do in Ally’s—or even James’—shoes, which I always appreciate when a book can do that.
I thought it was really neat (goose bump worthy, really) that as I finish this typing this review and rereading the last sentence of the book, it started to rain.
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.
*I received this book for free from the Author for this honest review.
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