"Dust" by Kara Swanson

About this book:

  “The truth about Neverland is far more dangerous than a fairy tale.
    Claire Kenton believes the world is too dark for magic to be real—since her twin brother was stolen away as a child. Now Claire's desperate search points to London... and a boy who shouldn't exist.
    Peter Pan is having a beastly time getting back to Neverland. Grounded in London and hunted by his own Lost Boys, Peter searches for the last hope of restoring his crumbling island: a lass with magic in her veins.
    The girl who fears her own destiny is on a collision course with the boy who never wanted to grow up. The truth behind this fairy tale is about to unravel everything Claire thought she knew about Peter Pan—and herself.”


Series: Book #1 in the “Heirs of Neverland” duology. 


Spiritual Content- Claire says “Thank God” thrice; Claire says “Dear God…” twice and for one, it’s noted that her “words [came] out like a prayer”; Claire says “Hallelujah” when there’s nobody sitting next to her on a plane; Peter talks about the light being far brighter than the darkness & both him and Lily encourage Claire to overcome the weight of her shadows and let the light shine through; There are comments that “faith is learning to trust in things that aren’t there”(referring to pixie dust); Mentions of prayers & praying (Claire mostly, but it’s never set towards Who; Peter prays “to the stars” at one point); A mention of Goliath (used when describing the appearance of some men); 
             *Note: Claire believes she has a skin condition where flecks of skin/dust comes from her fingertips, we quickly learn that it is pixie dust *Spoiler* due to her being part pixie and being the daughter of “one of Neverland’s most magical creatures” *End of Spoiler* and when her emotions become out of control, it turns into ash that can burn others (we see this happen and harm others, Peter tries to get her to think of happy thoughts to stop the ash, semi-detailed to detailed); She feels like it is a curse and the dark side of herself to keep hidden from others, but Peter calls it magic and a bit of darkness (*Spoiler* About halfway, she starts to think that maybe it is a part of her and she can control it; She is able to heal others and pixies with her dust by just believing it will heal them and saying that “There is light more powerful [than darkness]…I choose light”; At the very end, she realizes that she has to do able to believe it for herself without someone else telling her that she’s worthwhile *End of Spoiler*); Neverland is said to be an “island that floats in the sky” & Peter claims to have created Neverland in the first place (his mood also apparently causes the weather of the island to change); Because of events on Neverland, Peter fell to Earth/was casted down to earth & because of there being no pixie dust available for him or the other Lost Boys, they are all aging; Peter describes Hook as the man who wants to “carve out [his] very soul”; Peter talks about the stars often (such as “not even the stars” stopping him, the stars guiding him, praying to the stars, swearing to “the maker of the stars”, thanks the stars, and saying “blithering stars” as a curse) & Tiger Lily says “thank the stars” once and refers to what the “stars say that [she is]” twice (which makes Claire wonder what the stars say about her); Hook calls Peter “the cursed fairy spawn”, “little demon”, and “little devil”; Claire says she isn’t making a deal with the devil (Hook); There is a man called “the Guardian” who is the peacekeeper between London and Neverland & maintains the harmony between both places while protecting humans against magical threats like Hook and Peter Pan (Peter doesn’t like him because he’s a grown-up and ruins his schemes); Tiger Lily tells Claire about the deity that her tribesmen talk about called “the Ever One” who “hang the stars in the sky and spins stories through them.” and adds “The prophets and the tribal leaders are taught a sacred gift of reading the skies, the constellations above us.” (Claire thinks that it’s whimsical to hear about “the spiritual beliefs” of Lily’s culture; In the tribe, the members have tattoos that serve as reminders and messages which shows “everyone who they are and what they think of themselves. Writing their own destinies” and shows Claire her tattoos that come alive across her skin); Claire comments that she’s dealt with darkness before; Flying with pixie dust (up to semi-detailed); Pixies are said to only be able to have one emotion in their heads at a time; With the Peter Pan and Pixie Dust aspects, we see pixies on page & also mentions of sirens (up to semi-detailed on describing them); All about many mentions of magic & pixie dust, & people flying with it (only if they believe); Many mentions of pixies, sirens, Neverbeasts, & magical staffs and canes (the sirens and Neverbeasts are described frighteningly, up to semi-detailed); Mentions of the darkness & shadows in people (including Claire & Peter); A few mentions of luck; A couple mentions of someone’s light (when someone almost dies & when wanting to snuff out anther’s light for the pain he caused; Peter thinks this); A couple mentions of a man’s dark eyes and cruel smirk; A mention of someone being entranced with darker myths; A mention of someone’s soul cracking and shadows seeping in; A mention of some of the Lost Boys turning evil; A mention of running as if there’s a horde of demons on your tail; A mention of someone fighting their demons; A mention of someone being a devil. 
 

Negative Content- Minor cussing & British slang including: a ‘blah, blah, blah’, a ‘blow off’, a ‘drat’, a ‘duffer’, a ‘heave off’, a ‘wazzock’, a ‘what in blazes’, a ‘what the…?’, two ‘curses’s, two ‘dumb’s, two ‘hang it all’s, three ‘dang’s, three forms of ‘flamin’’, three ‘good gad’s, three ‘stars’s, four forms of ‘brassed off’, four ‘by the stars’s, four ‘cripes’s, four forms of ‘shut up’, seven forms of ‘heck’, eight forms of ‘blast it/blast it all’, eight ‘blimey’s, eight ‘stupid’s, nine ‘idiot’s, fifteen ‘blast’s, nineteen ‘cor’s (exclamation), twenty-one forms of ‘bloomin’/blooming’, and forty-one ‘blasted’s (including used as “what in the blasted stars” and “blasted stars!”); The phrase “cut the rubbish” is said once; Peter curses often & a couple pirate and pixie side characters curse as well (said, not written); Eye rolling & Sarcasm; Lots of Fighting, Being attacked/trapped, Being tied up, Seeing others attacked and tied up, Burning/Burns, Being caught in fires, Pain, Injuries, Blood/Bleeding, Being Threatened, & Threatening others with harm (semi-detailed); Being drugged & Passing out (up to semi-detailed); Pain & Grief (semi-detailed); Throwing up (barely-above-not-detailed); Going into a pub (main characters do not drink and Claire recalls sneaking into a car with other underage girls in her group home which did not end well); Prior to the book starting and a few years after her brother’s disappearance, Claire jumped out of a window because she had “given up on life” (suicide/suicidal) and wanted to see if she really could fly (there are mentions of her scars from this; she recalls it twice & talks about it with someone who also has self-harm scars from when she “lost sight of who [she] was” and didn’t like herself trying to be something for everyone else, semi-detailed); *Spoiler* Peter pushes Claire off of a roof to make her able to fly and it backfires as she remembers jumping out of a window & goes into shock *End of Spoiler*; Because of her dust hurting and burning people in the past, Claire is fearful of it & harming others again; Claire recalls someone being badly burned from her dust (including mentions of their skin come off of their bones and her screams, up to semi-detailed); Others are hurt on page from Claire’s dust becoming ashes and creating fires (semi-detailed); *Spoiler* At one point, Claire thinks that she’s too tired to continue and may just dissolve into ash from the fires her dust creates; Peter recalls the brutal death of a pixie, deaths of Lost Boys, & abuse from a parent (bluntly semi-detailed); Peter gets very angry & violent towards enemies (including wanting to snuff out the light of someone who killed someone important to him; Called an “episode” where he feels as if he’s “coming apart at the seams” with anger taking over his body; Peter wonders if he really is a monster); Peter tries to get her to think of happy thoughts to stop the ash *End of Spoiler*; Pixies are trapped in lanterns (Peter gets very mad & frees them); Peter comments that he’d rather be tortured than grow up; Peter has guilt over past decisions & it eats at him at different times; Peter lies to Claire about his identity & different details (he also thinks that it goes better than he thought it would); Claire trespasses onto someone’s property; All about many mentions of Claire’s twin brother disappearing, a possible kidnapping, & the grief Claire has over it; Many mentions of lies, lying, liars, & manipulation (including a mention of Peter teaching a Lost Boy how to lie); Mentions of deaths (barely-above-not-detailed); Mentions of a father physically, verbally, & mentally abusing his son (Peter); Mentions of fighting, weapons, injuries, pain, blood/bleeding (semi-detailed); Mentions of scars (including self-harm ones and from Peter cutting off his shadow, up to semi-detailed); Mentions of Hook losing a hand to a crocodile (& Peter wishing he lost a lot more than just an arm and had just tossed Hook to the croc, barely-above-not-detailed); Mentions of gangs; Mentions of poison & being drugged; Mentions of alcohol, drinking, drunks, pubs, & bars; Mentions of hatred; Mentions of throwing up & vomit; Mentions of horror movies (unnamed, just that it feels like the start of one); Mentions of tattoos (including tribal ones that represent the constellations); A few mentions of throats being slit (& the threat of it happening); A few mentions of drowning; A few mentions of psychopaths & sociopaths; A few mentions of rears (such as “bite me in the rear”, cover your rear, & killing someone’s rear); A couple mentions of possible war; A couple mentions of potentially being killed (does not happen); A couple mentions of trespassing; A couple mentions of jealousy; A mention of a group being left to die in a trap; A mention of a watery death; A mention of if looks could kill; A mention of stalkers; A mention of addicts; A mention of bullies; A mention of rumors; A mention of a gamble; A mention of eavesdropping;
             *Note: Claire has anxiety, social anxiety, & also has a couple of scenes that could be called panic attacks where she can’t breathe (semi-detailed); Claire says that she’s hatred herself for most of her life (also implying depression; Someone tells her she has value becomes she’s here and Claire wants to believe that she’s not just a mistake, fluke, or outcast); *Spoiler* Someone else accuses Claire of being desperate for others to find her special that she ignores who they really are and if they have good intentions *End of Spoiler*; Claire believes that she and her twin brother were abandoned by their mother & wonders if she ever cared for them (*Spoiler* but it’s revealed towards the end that it was actually Peter who took them from Neverland and left them on Earth in a fit of jealousy; This has caused Neverland to dim without them there *End of Spoiler*); Peter rescued the Lost Boys from “neglected, unhappy homes that hadn’t wanted them” and recalls two being abandoned in an alleyway; *Spoiler* The Guardian tells Peter that he only protects Neverland and the people there as long as it serves him, but when Peter grows tired of them, he casts them away and only cares about his own happiness; Adding that Peter could cause more damage than Hook ever could; It’s later said that Peter became selfish and proud, not wanting to answer to anyone and when his soul cracked the shadows seeped in him and Neverland *End of Spoiler*; Peter is against growing up & becoming a man because of his father’s abuse (we see flashbacks of physical, verbal, and mental abuse from him & Peter thinks that he’d rather die than become like him; Peter later described the fathers he’s seen as “angry, controlling, manipulative men who have done nothing but drain the color out of their children’s worlds”, but *Spoiler* wonders if you can be a grown-up with magic in your soul and letting your dreams expand, but then shakes off the thought *End of Spoiler*); Peter refers to grown-ups as “butting in where they didn’t belong” & that adults “ruin his fun”; Peter calls Hook a ‘codfish’ often, a pixie a “bossy little snot” once, & Tiger Lily a “wet blanket” (once); Peter can come across as overall disrespectful towards adults; After an accident, Claire & her brother went through many group homes & foster homes (including some with violent foster parents); Claire refers to herself as a “freak” at times (or recalling when others would think that about her) & doesn’t belong (*Spoiler* someone tells her she feels that way because she doesn’t belong in Earth but on Neverland *End of Spoiler*); Going to Starbucks (Claire); Mentions of stores, brand names, & items (Starbucks, Circle K, the Salvation Army, Little Debbies, Coca-Cola, Dell computers, Converse, Keurig, iPod, iPad, & iPhone); Mentions of books & authors (Anne of Green gables, Oliver Twist, Treasure Island, Lord of the Rings, & Inkheart); A few mentions of fictional characters (not including those mentioned in the original Peter Pan story; Captain America & Terminator); A couple mentions of Disney & a song from a movie (Hakuna Matata); A couple mentions of a movie & a TV show (Tangled & The Twilight Zone); A couple mentions of apps (Pandora, Kindle); A mention of FaceTime; A mention of Halloween.
 
 
Sexual Content- A barely-above-not-detailed kiss, two semi-detailed kisses (some are the same kiss from both perspectives), and a detailed kiss; Remembering a kiss; Wanting to kiss & Staring at another’s lips (barely-above-not-detailed); Touches, Embraces, Dancing, Hand holding, Warmth, Sparks, & Nearness (up to semi-detailed); Flirting; Blushes & Winks; Noticing (up to semi-detailed); *Spoiler* It’s said that Peter stole Hook’s first love and then sliced off Hook’s hand “as a warning to any other boy who dared to fall in love” *End of Spoiler*; Peter thinks about drowning into Claire’s eyes; Peter finds it distracting when Claire bites her lip; Peter thinks about stealing a kiss from Claire & is taken aback when his hidden kiss is taken; a ‘hot’; Mentions of kisses, kissing, “almost snogging”, & stealing a kiss/stolen kisses; Mentions of girls giggling, staring, & flirting with Peter (and him enjoying it); A few mentions of men breaking rules to be with the one they love; A few mentions of jealousy; A couple mentions of hot guys & cute boys; A mention of puberty (which causes Peter to panic, thinking that it’s happening to him); A mention of boys who “wanted your kiss but not your heart”; A mention of sirens flirting with a man to be able to drag him down to a watery death; A mention of Tiger Lily not needing a man to rule a tribe; Some love, falling in love, & the emotions;
             *Note: Hook can come across as a creep to Claire (not necessarily in a sexual way, but she is uncomfortable with him; He calls her “my girl” and traces the curve of her cheek at one point); A couple mentions of a father being abusive towards his son due to the wife/mother passing away (*Spoiler* Peter *End of Spoiler*); A mention of some girls showing more skin than Claire would “ever dare”; A few mentions of women wearing slinky dresses & barmaids wearing corsets that Claire thinks look “like some kind of lewd Halloween costumes”; A mention of inappropriate pirate songs; A mention of creepers.
 
-Claire Kenton, age 19
-Peter Pan, age 18/19
                                1^st person P.O.V. switches between them 
                                                        348 pages

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Pre Teens- 

New Teens- 

Early High School Teens- 

Older High School Teens- 

My personal Rating- 

{ Might not the best option for sensitive readers and/or sensitive to self-harm and suicide. }

Interesting, very interesting.  

 

I’ve been hearing about this duology since they released and have been meaning to get to it since then. I’ve heard a variety of thoughts and opinions on it, including that the series is very dark (particularly the second book). 

 

I can see why some people got annoyed with Peter. He’s very focused on having an adventure, saving Neverland, and not trusting adults. But when you learn that his actual father was abusive, it makes sense that Peter is anti-adults and anti-growing up. He was annoying at times, but felt so much like Peter Pan that I have to compliment the author. I found myself smirking at different times and comments he would make because they just felt so perfect for that character in the situation. But as more and more is revealed, his selfish and brattiness is shown. Which made me wanted to throttle Peter at times. I wasn’t a fan of how he manipulated and lied to Claire so that he would help him. Now, that’s completely on par for the selfish Peter we meet in this book that is growing up while he’s away from Neverland, but it definitely causes some problems. Big problems, really. I hope we’ll see character development and true apologies from him towards Claire in the second book.

 

I liked Claire and truly wanted everything to work out for her and her search for her brother. I don’t have too much to say about her except the notes in my final paragraph about self-harm. 

 

I like the writing style and how things are easily described. It almost feels effortless—which I know it probably wasn’t for the author—but it comes across that way because it’s so easy to understand what was happening. A lot of times I get bogged down by details and trying to understand how fantasy worlds works, but I didn’t have that problem at all with this book. Now, that could be because I know the general idea of the Peter Pan story, but I think the writing style had a major play in the parts I enjoyed in this book. It really does have that whimsical feeling that the Peter Pan original Disney movie has. 

 

There is very little Christian faith content with a few mentions of praying (but once it’s said Peter is praying to the stars) and Claire saying “Thank God” (which could feel flippant to some readers). 

 

I can see why so many enjoy this novel, I’m looking forward to the sequel to see what happens. I’ve heard it’s darker, so I’m curious how I’ll find it. The final chapter gave a taste of a part that turned my stomach, so now I’m a bit more worried. (Honestly, that scene/memory brought my rating down a full star and makes me mark this as a book that’s not the best for sensitive readers.) 

 

I would say 17+ because of the mentions & alluding to self-harm and wanting to end it all when grief is too much. It was almost brushed to the side at times and some characters relate to others who have self-harming scars, but there was just something slightly off about it all? It didn’t settle well with me (perhaps because of the lack of talking about God in such situations and emotions). Because of this and a few other scenes, this book does have a deeper story to tell, but also portrays a darker vibe as well that may be unsettling for sensitive readers.

 

 

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.

"Hey, Jude Carpenter" by Storm Shultz

About this book:

  “Jude Carpenter likes his life. Sure, his mom is a little intense sometimes, and sure, it would be great if his older brother would help out more on their family dairy farm, but overall, Jude is happy. That is, until he finds out his family could lose their farm, and Jude’s life goes from peaceful stability to tense uncertainty.
    Enter Mona Montgomery, whose life revolves around her cat, Shakespeare, the Beatles, and church. There’s not much else to do in Clearwater. Then she meets Jude, and life gets interesting.
    With Jude's family losing their dairy farm, Mona is desperate to help. Though helping isn't as easy as she had hoped it would be. Jude's mom distrusts the Montgomery family, and that includes Mona. Mona's family did split a whole church, after all.
   Romeo and Juliet had less trouble being near each other than Jude and Mona do. As time slips by and the deadline to lose the farm approaches, can Mona help Jude save the farm he loves?”


Series: As of now, no. A stand-alone novel.


Spiritual Content- 1 Timothy 4:12 is referenced in the dedication; A couple Scriptures are mentioned; Prayers & Thanking God; Church going, a sermon, & hymns/worship; Talks about God & praying; 'H's are capital when referring to God; When at church, Jude zones out during a sermon (which he doesn’t typically do); Jude’s mother has him talk to their pastor after church every Sunday (much to the confusion of both Jude and the pastor because Jude’s a good kid, but Jude does enjoy talking to him and comes to him with a problem); Mona calls a Sunday special because her cousin is singing (saying that it’s special not because of a “lowly” sermon but because of her cousin); Jude’s older brother has gotten out of going to church with their family for the last while (*Spoiler* About halfway through, their mother makes him come with them and he starts going again *End of Spoiler*); Mona writes in a prayer journal because she finds it easier because she can’t say something dumb to God then (she knows that that’s a silly fear because God knows everything already & feels like God is talking back to her written prayers); Jude get hit with “an overwhelming feeling to pray” at one point which he adds hasn’t happened in a while; The church split ten years prior to the book starting and was due to investing money in a new building and expanding the church (we see how this affected Jude and Mona’s mothers’ friendship *Spoiler* and at the end, conversations with both families and their pastors happen; There is an event bringing the two churches together that’s very healing for their families *End of Spoiler*); All about many mentions of churches, pastors, services, sermons, hymns/hymnals, worship music (song titles are given), a church split years before, & the division it caused in a town; Mentions of God & Jesus; Mentions of prayers, praying, & Thanking God; Mentions of Bibles, a Bible study, & a prayer journal; Mentions of church events, Sunday school, & youth group; Mentions of Christians; Mentions of Catholics, Mass, Lutherans, & going to a Protestant church; A few mentions of sprucing up a church almost every Saturday (Jude and his family, which while Jude would love to have his own Saturdays, knows that it’s good to see his “church family more than an hour a week”); A few mentions of miracles; A few mentions of blessings; A few mentions of theology & eschatology; A few mentions of tithing; A few mentions of a gospel singing group; A couple mentions of Christlike behavior (someone having it); A couple mentions of Heaven; A couple mentions of missionaries; A mention of an event in the Bible; A mention of a prayer chain; A mention of someone being accused of being a holiday Christian; A mention of an unequally yoked relationship (& a girl breaking it off because of that); A mention of a cross necklace; A mention of a Christian theologian (R.C. Sproul); A mention of the sin of “speeding and tardiness”; 
             *Note: The phrase “for the love of our gracious, heavenly Father” is said, but not meant disrespectfully; Mona’s mother hates mice so much that Mona thinks that “if a mouse are between Mom and heaven, I think Mom would really consider going to hell rather than get through the mouse to get to heaven”; A mention of a family not being a cult that can only eat their own culture’s food; A mention of luck; A mention of a caveman.
 

Negative Content- Minor cussing including: a ‘darn it’, a ‘sucks’, a ‘what the—‘, two forms of ‘idiot’, two ‘jeez’s, three ‘heck’s, five ‘oh my gosh’s, ten ‘dumb’s, ten ‘shut up’s, and ten forms of ‘stupid’; A possible curse word is left-off of a sentence (“I’m sorry for being an… for being a jerk to you”); When upset with her cousin, Mona calls her a “cow”; Eye rolling & Sarcasm; A few mentions of curses/bad language (said when adults aren’t around or not said because adults arearound); Planning to tell someone to “kick rocks”; Seeing a fight, injuries, & blood/bleeding (barely-above-not-detailed); Jude’s family is having financial difficulty with their dairy farm & he hears his mother crying and praying about it; Mona goes to take an apple from a tree on Jude’s family’s property & has a bit of guilt, but defends herself when Jude says that it’s stealing; Mentions of Juliet taking her own life for Romeo (Mona doesn’t understand her doing this at all); Mentions of a fight, pain, injuries, & blood/bleeding; Mentions of thieves, stealing, & thinking about stealing a sibling’s car (doesn’t happen nor is seriously thought about, more of a “what if…?” situation); A few mentions of cancer (in thinking that someone’s bad mood is because they have cancer and are dying; not true); A few mentions of vomit; A few mentions of a prank (towards a family business that didn’t go over well); A few mentions of lies & lying; A few mentions of divorces; A few mentions of tattoos; A couple mentions of wars; A few mentions of gangs & gang members; A couple mentions of psychopaths; A couple mentions of gossip; A couple mentions of peeing (a phrase about peeing in someone’s food when the person is in a bad mood); A mention of poison; A mention of bullies; A mention of Jude and his friend being apart of the “rejects” at school; A mention of eavesdropping; A mention of jealousy; 
             *Note: Like many married couples, both Mona & Jude’s parents have a few disagreements about minor things and it’s worked out; Jude’s mother is picky about who her children can be friends with (wanting only good influences) & is rude at first to Mona because of past history with their families; Jude’s mother has signs of anxiety (never named but shown as her wanting control & a song makes Jude stop to think about what his mom’s motivations for being so involved in his life are; He wishes their relationship was less stiff and *Spoiler* a bit past the middle, they are able to work through some emotions and he realizes what stress she is under *End of Spoiler*); Jude’s older brother enjoys irritating Jude & acts like a jerk to him at times (including news that was devastating to Jude & messing with their mom for fun, *Spoiler* but past the halfway point, he talks to Jude and they rebuild their relationship again *End of Spoiler*); Mona tries to avoid her mom for a bit because of a decision that felt unfair; Mona feels hurt by her cousin not spending as much time with her after going to college; Mona makes a comment about walking to a place being better for her family’s health and for the environment; Mentions of Jude’s mother calling his older brother’s girlfriend “Miss California” because of her always giggling, talking about movies, always tanning, & wanting to become a model; Mentions of books & authors (mostly classics such as Romeo and Juliet, Narnia, The Hobbit, Anne of Green Gables, Moby Dick, Hamlet, Little Women, Harry Potter, Shakespeare, Jane Austen, Ernest Hemmingway); Mentions of songs & groups (Queen, The Beatles and the members, & Hank Williams); Mentions of brand names & places (Cheerios, Chips Ahoy cookies, Post-it notes, Tupperware, Styrofoam, Dairy Queen, Walmart, & Piggly Wiggly); A few mentions of TV shows & a movie (Gilmore Girls, Andy Griffith, & The Titanic); A couple mentions of wrestling matches (MMA & WWE); A couple mentions of a fictional characters (Captain America & Daffy Duck); A mention of a car brand; A mention of social media (Pinterest); A mention of kicking someone’s butt.
 
 
Sexual Content- A cheek kiss, two head/forehead kisses, a barely-above-not-detailed, and one border-line barely-above-not-detailed // semi-detailed kiss; A bit of Touches, Embraces, Hand holding, & Smelling (barely-above-not-detailed); Blushes; Noticing (barely-above-not-detailed); Jude’s brother tells him to stop “checking out” his girlfriend (which Jude wasn’t); Jude is concerned that his brother and his girlfriend might be pregnant, but when he mentions this thought to his brother, his brother tells him that that wouldn’t have happened and that the girlfriend is saving herself (Jude then thinks that he wasn’t expecting to have a conversation about his brother and his girlfriend’s virginity); A college-aged guy calls Mona a “cutie” and she thinks he’s a red flag; Mona’s cousin is in college has a creep around her & she says that he“literally attacks girls” (no other details are given beside that he tried to grab her once and has followed other girls; *Spoiler* his friend didn’t know and they work together to bring awareness to the school about him being a threat *End of Spoiler*); Mentions of girlfriends/boyfriends, dating, dates, being dumped, break-ups, & exes; Mentions of crushes & finding a girl cute; Mentions of boys fighting over a girl (a dad says it’s normal but a mom says that they shouldn’t act like animals); A few mentions of a first kiss; A few mentions of jealousy; A couple mentions of married couples kissing (not-detailed); A mention of a girl perching herself on her boyfriend’s lap; A mention of kissing sounds (teasing by a friend); A mention of a guy kissing his girlfriend’s hand; A mention of flirting; Jude & Mona really are friends only first, but some others tease them about being interested in the other; A bit of love, falling in love, & the emotions (definitely more awkward teenager feelings than sexual tension-filled);
             *Note: Jude thinks someone mistakes him as a girl and panics that he’s going to have to reassess his whole life before realizing that the person is talking to someone else; A couple mentions of a girl being called a hypocrite for dressing the way she does & professing to be a Christian; A mention of Jude’s mother disapproving about a girl’s above-the-knee shorts; A mention of some laws saying that there is an age requirement for love; A mention of it taking long for a couple to have another child.
 
-Ramona “Mona” Montgomery, age 14
-Jude Carpenter, age 14
                                  1^st person P.O.V. switches between them 
                                                        206 pages

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Pre Teens- 

New Teens- 

Early High School Teens- 

Older High School Teens- 

My personal Rating- 

As soon as I saw about this brand new Cotemporary Christian YA book, I was so excited for it! This feels like coming back to my roots of good Christian contemporary YA summer-ish books. I love it! It gives you the feeling of being outside on a hot summer evening listening to the cicadas with a glass of iced tea. It’s that summer nostalgic feeling that I love that this book had in so well done. 

 

Everyone’s backstories were written in such a realistic way that if you told me if these were actual real people, I think I believe you. That’s always neat when that happens in a book. A couple times it felt a little bit like info dumping, but most of the time it just felt like a friend was catching me up on extended information and family. I love the family and sibling content this book. It just felt so realistic and humorous.

 

There were a few small parts that made me think that this book is better for 15+ (despite the main characters being 14), but overall it was just a really good and really sweet read. I will note that I wasn’t a fan of Jude & Mona kissing when they’re only 14, but it definitely wasn’t detailed or a major part of the story. I honestly kept picturing them as sixteen, and I would have preferred them to be closer to that age, personally.

 

Overall, I’m really glad to share that I enjoyed this highly anticipated read but do have a few notes that make me suggest it for slightly older girls. 

 

 

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.

"Lady of Disguise" by Melanie Dickerson

About this book:

  “Only the hidden treasure will allow Louisa and her sister to gain their freedom.
   England, 1388: All her life, Louisa has dreamed of finding the rumored “Giant’s Treasure,” a collection of ancient, lost riches said to be hidden on a mountaintop in Scotland, guarded by a fierce monster. It’s a story her father used to tell her, and when he dies and she and her younger sister have to go live with their shiftless, greedy uncle, Louisa is determined to find that treasure. It’s the hope that has kept her defying her uncle’s efforts to marry her off to the highest bidder.
    After her uncle starts to parade Louisa’s twelve-year-old sister Margaret in front of potential husbands, Louisa realizes she has no time to waste. She disguises herself as a boy and takes off for Scotland. But the road is a harsher place than she’d imagined, and she is relieved to find a friend in the knight, Sir Charles, who goes along with her on her journey.
    Charles is intrigued by this young woman who claims her name is “Jack” and is set on going to Scotland. He goes along, pretending to believe she is a boy, in order to make sure nothing bad happens to her. As they meet new friends along the road, and as Louisa comes clean about her identity, the pair find themselves falling in love. But what will happen when they reach Scotland? Will they find their independence and the freedom to marry in the form of a buried treasure, or will the monster from Louisa’s own past keep the young couple apart?”


Series: Book #6 in the “The Dericott Tales”. Review of the Book #1 Here!, Book #2 Here!, Book #3 Here!, Book #4 Here!, and Book #5 Here!


Spiritual Content- Scriptures are mentioned & quoted; Many Prayers & Thanking and Praising God; Going to churches, lighting candles, & praying; 'H's are capital when referring to God; Louisa’s aunt tells her that it’s her “duty to God and to [her] husband to bear children and baptize them”; There is a friar that joins Louisa and Charles & is very opinionated and shares many judgmental things (such as stained glass on churches are for the “uneducated” people to feel God’s presence, shoos away a beggar child and comments on the child going to becoming a thief, begging being “idleness and is of the devil”, that Louisa rebelling is a sin of witchcraft and needs to repent for that and wearing a man’s clothing, telling Charles and Louisa that they are committing a graven sin by traveling alone together, comments on the way for a soul to go to hell is broad, and fears for Louisa’s soul if she doesn’t repent); The friar shares about the dangers for a woman alone and other “various tales of woe” which are not in the Holy Writ, which Louisa knows because she’s read the Holy Writ herself; Charles comments to the friar about Jesus traveling with women during his ministry & the friar has nothing to say about that; Charles thinks that the friar is condemning Louisa because she showed more Christian charity and compassion to orphan children than he did; Charles tells the friar that Jesus only condemned Pharisees and the teachers of the law, adding that Jesus care more about mercy towards others and He said to not judge others or they will be judged in the same way; Because of the friar’s words making her feel like “the worst kind of sinner”, Louisa prays and asks God if the friar is right; Louisa has a moment where she wants to tell the friar that he is being pharisaical and not Christlike at all; Louisa prays about finding the treasure & thinks that God would bless her with it if she believed it was real; Charles thinks that people are too fearful of the devil & forget that God is more powerful; A woman wants to pray at a church and put a penny in the poor box at every church she sees because “who knows where one might meet the very Spirit of God and gain His favor for a miracle?” (Louisa has never thought of it this way before and has a desire to pray where many others have prayed before her); Louisa has had a couple of times where God appears to her with a thought appearing in her mind; Louisa prays for a sign from God about a decision & recalls a conversation with a priest (the priest discourages her from asking for a sign, she asks why not because Gideon asked for a sign, & he only answers with “you are not Gideon”which wasn’t good enough for her; Louisa believes she’s more justified in asking for a sign compared to Gideon because she “didn’t have the benefit of hearing from God first”, but understands that “asking for a sign was not something to be done lightly or in any and every situation. She had to truly believe and not doubt, and to go against what God was telling her would surely be a grave sin”; She later sees something that makes her wonder if it is a sign or just her trying to see what she wants); When Louisa takes part in a ritual about dreaming about her future husband, she thinks that while she believes in miracles “surely God did not let people manipulate Him into telling her who she would marry by placing herbs under their pillows on certain night of the year. However, just as she’d argued with her priest, perhaps Gideon using the fleece was simply an example of a child of God asking Him to confirm what they believed God had told them” & she asked God to let her dream of the man she would marry; *Spoiler* Louisa prays with the “giant” for forgiveness of his sins and after repenting, he says he feels lighter; He later thinks that he deserves whatever happens to him because of the bad things he’s done, but Louisa is quick to say that “none of us get what we deserve because God is merciful and forgiving, and He has forgiven you” *End of Spoiler*; Mentions of God, Jesus, His will, & forgiveness; Mentions of prayers, praying, thanking God, & praising God; Mentions of the Holy Writ & reading it; Mentions of those & events in the Bible; Mentions of churches/cathedrals, monasteries, priests, friars, nuns, & stained glass; Mentions of a mother going to a shrine to procure some of “St. Thomas’s Water” for her sick daughter (hoping that it will heal her) & when she put a drop of the saint’s blood with water on a man’s forehead in the sign of the cross and it shockingly did not restoring his strength; Mentions of sins & sinners; A few mentions of crucifixes; A few mentions of showing Christian charity; A handful of mentions of pilgrimages & holy relics; A couple mentions of miracles; A couple mentions of blessings; A couple mentions of God resting someone’s soul; A couple mentions of others crossing themselves; A mention of bad things happening to everyone because we live in “a fallen and evil world”; A mention of Heaven; A mention of being Blessed; A mention of a chant from church; 
             *Note: The phrase “saints above!” is exclaimed thrice; Louisa thinks she sees a unicorn & is excited about it (thinking that it may be a sign from God); A child that was born with one arm is called cursed by a village leader and is casted out of the village (Charles has read the Holy Scriptures are knows that the child isn’t to be blamed for misfortunes); A man (who is called a “giant”) says that people want to know if he made a deal with the devil or if he was “cursed by a witch or a demon” to look the way he does; With many mentions of the Viking treasure, there are also mentions of magical beans, giants, fairies, elves, & unicorns; Mentions of curses & people calling others cursed because they are different than “normal” (including a child with one arm and a man who is very tall); Mentions of a ritual about young women putting certain herbs under their pillows & dreaming about their future husbands (Louisa takes part of this); Mentions of evil men; A couple mentions of luck; A mention of strange tales that were of “miracles and fairies and giants, strange beasts and heroic deeds that defied normal abilities of man”; A mention of a child being born with only one arm being considered as a “sign of the devil’s curse”; A mention of a guardian angel; A mention of fate deciding something; A mention of an evil spirit.
 

Negative Content- Eye rolling & Sarcasm; A mention of a curse (said, not written); Being attacked by robbers, Being attacked with arrows (& shooting one that injures another), Being slapped, Fighting, Fighting back, & Pain (up to semi-detailed); Being surrounded by wolves, attacked by them, & killing them (up to semi-detailed); Louisa behaves badly with potential suitors to keep them from choosing her (scowling, crossing her eyes, and “generally saying and doing anything that might make a man not choose her for his wife” when her aunt and uncle weren’t looking); Louisa disobeys her aunt and uncle when she thinks their commands are unreasonable (“which was often” she adds); Louisa runs away from home to find a rumored treasure (to be able to live with her sister without the pressure of marriage or her uncle’s ways); Louisa lies about being a boy to others (including Charles; which she hopes will be forgiven because she’s only trying to save herself and her sister & she hates deceiving him; He realized right away that she was a girl); Louisa feels guilt about potentially stealing someone else’s treasure; A giant is said to have skinned & killed people that come after his treasure & threatens Charles and Louisa (*Spoiler* It turns out that the villagers are forcing him to kidnap those who come for his treasure so that they can get ransom money for them; Other times, they have kill the people; *End of Spoiler*); Charles thinks about killing someone, but knows he wouldn’t because the man was unarmed and that vengeance belongs to God; Charles threatens someone about harming him if Louisa is hurt at all (saying that if she is harmed or touched, he will kill the man and even adds that the man will wish he was never born; Louisa takes comfort in his words and is soothed by picturing it); A man threatens Louisa with slitting Charles’ throat and burying his body if she doesn’t listen to him (barely-above-not-detailed); Mentions of killing, murders, & being held hostage for ransoms; Mentions of deaths (including of Louisa’s parents and a cousin); Mentions of potential illnesses and/or deaths; Mentions of attacks, being attacked, screams, injuries, pain, & blood/bleeding (barely-above-not-detailed); Mentions of stealing, stolen items, & thieves/robbers; Mentions of women being beaten and flogged for disobeying a man above them (implied that this would happen to Louisa when she’s found); Mentions of lies & lying; Mentions of gossip & rumors; Mentions of alcohol, alehouses, & drunk men; Mentions of relieving one’s self (barely-above-not-detailed); Mentions of being attacked and/or killed by wild animals; Mentions of hunting & slaughtered animals (for food, up to semi-detailed); A few mentions of a baron who mistreated, murdered, & robbed his own people (Book #5); A few mentions of a man who lost his arm in a sword fight (Book #1); A few mentions of almost beheadings (Book #1); A couple mentions of treason; A couple mentions of poisons; A couple mentions of nightmares; A couple mentions of jealousy; A mention of a massacre; A mention of a bully; A mention of horses being shot with arrows unintentionally; A mention of a nearly dead horse; 
             *Note: Louisa thinks about how woman have no more power than in Jesus’ lifetime (thinking about the women that followed Him and went where they pleased); Louisa’s aunt and uncle threaten and manipulate her to do their bidding (typically by threatening to marry off her younger sister); Louisa’s aunt calls her selfish and ungrateful, which Louisa doesn’t think she’s any more selfish than more people as she just wants to protect herself and her sister; Louisa wants to rebel against the “duties” her aunt says she has to do (such as getting married and bearing children specifically) because the aunt has made marriage to be “something distasteful that was done out of duty, not a joyful relationship of love and choice” (this makes Louisa thinks that most men didn’t have such distasteful duties and could do whatever they pleased; She also thinks that she wants to rebel more the more her aunt talks); A man is called a “giant, misshapen beast of a man”because of his height and appearance; Mentions of a man’s chest pains & him believing that he doesn’t have much longer to live; Mentions of those with afflictions being treated as if having a curse (a women with difficultly walking and a child being born with one arm); A couple mentions of some women laughing at another woman for being clumsy and breaking her ankle.
 
 
Sexual Content- Two almost kisses (one in a dream), two hand kisses, two hair/forehead kisses, two cheek kisses, two barely-above-not-detailed kisses, and six semi-detailed kisses (including two of him kissing her neck); Remembering kisses & almost kisses (up to semi-detailed); Staring at another’s lips & being tempted by the thought of kissing the other (up to semi-detailed); Wanting to kiss (up to semi-detailed); Touches, Embraces, Being held, & Nearness (up to semi-detailed); Wanting to touch & embrace (up to semi-detailed); Swooning; Blushes; Noticing (including muscles, up to semi-detailed); Louisa recalls when a potential suitor (who was drunk) sneaked into her room and tried to force himself on her (also called trying to steal her “virtue”; she was able to knock him out and she had nightmares of it for weeks after, mentioned a few times, barely-above-not-detailed); Both Louisa & Charles aren’t interested in marriage due to past events; Charles thought he was in love with a wealth woman and entered her bedroom to find out that she’s been stringing him and other knights along (she’s engaged to someone else and tells the knights they can love her from afar; Charles says he doesn’t want to spend his life in love with a married woman; They had prior shared kisses); Louisa disguises herself as a boy on her trip (including by binding her chest), but Charles realizes she’s a girl right away; When Charles helps her, Louisa is afraid that he’ll want something in payment that not money (she doesn’t think he’s that kind of man, but is distrustful towards men because of a prior event); Louisa starts to wish that Charles could see her as a pretty and feminine woman; A friar asks if there is something between Louisa and Charles that “would be considered fornication” (which they both quickly deny); Louisa and Charles sleep close to each other on the ground when a storm keeps them in a shelter/cave (they both think about how much they want to kiss the other, but Charles definitely won’t kiss her when she’s asleep because that would be unchivalrous); Louisa’s uncle comments on her running off by saying that bad things would happen to her and that she “would be with child and then [she] would be no good to him anymore”; Louisa’s uncle asks if she’s with child & she answers that she is not and asks him if he is (he says that would be impossible and she responds that it is the same for her); After one kiss that leaves them breathing hard, Charles comments on needing to be “a bit more restrained until we’re married and alone with a lock on the door”; Many mentions of Louisa’s uncle trying to marry her and her twelve-year-old sister off to man (ranging in age from 16 to 60 and some are called “disgusting” and “perverted”) for the highest amount (it’s also said that some of the men will just “use [Louisa and Margaret] and not care about them”); Mentions of kisses & kissing; Mentions of reputations, virtue, & it being looked as “unseemly” that Louisa & Charles are traveling alone together; Mentions of flirting; A few mentions of men leering at Louisa with greedy and disgusting smiles & make her feel as if there were bugs “crawling on her”; A couple mentions of men trying and succeeding in taking advantage of servant girls; A couple mentions of men “blustering about their conquests or making ribald jests” about women; A couple mentions of children born out of wedlock (including Jesus); A couple mentions of jealousy; A mention of seeing a couple kissing (barely-above-not-detailed); Love, falling in love, & the emotions;
             *Note: Margaret (Louisa’s younger sister) comments on her lack of breasts and sticks out her flat chest to Louisa; A man comments on Louisa being “well proportioned”; Mentions of women being forced to marry & bear a man’s children (Louisa mentions this for herself and her younger sister & being “used” by a man who only care “about having a boy child to carry on his name”); Louisa is concerned about falling into the same “trap” that her aunt and uncle set for her about “marriage and a life of having babies until her body was so worn down that it gave up”; A mention of Margaret not being able to bear children yet, but would be able to soon; A mention of a wife dying in childbirth to a stillborn baby.
 
-Louisa Lenton, age 18
-Charles Raynsford, age 21
                                P.O.V. switches between them 
                                           Set in 1388 (Medieval)
                                                        304 pages

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Pre Teens- 

New Teens- 

Early High School Teens- 

Older High School Teens- 

My personal Rating- 

After some…concerns with content in a couple other books of this series, I was pleasantly surprised that this one did not have an insta-love attraction between the main characters. They fell more for the other’s personality than their physical appearance (though, they did notice the other’s physical assets) which was better to see after said prior books in the series.

 

I’m learning with a lot of fairytale retellings, that you really have to suspend your disbelief for a lot of the book. At least, that’s how I’ve been feeling with the series. Louisa is not the brightest bulb in the chandelier. I don’t understand her logic of wanting to protect her sister and then goes off to find the treasure which means she’s leaving her 12-year-old sister alone with the people that are trying to marry her off?? She estimates that she would have a week to stop a wedding from happening if she comes back to that, but that’s way too close for my comfort and events can come up to alter travel plans—especially in this time period when plans get derailed easily. 

 

I liked the Charles wasn’t fooled by her disguise at all, that he instantly knew that she was a girl. He did have about the same personality though as his brothers in the prior books especially because they all really want to do is rescue damsels in distress and be all knightly. There really hasn’t been much difference in their thoughts, compared to the prior main characters of this series. 

 

I wasn’t a fan of the message of asking God for a sign and then Louisa brushing off a priests’ comment on the topic. In this series, I have noted that if there are priests or any type of clergyman (friars even) their comments get pushed to the side because the main characters know what the Bible says about such topic they’re discussing. (Because they’ve been privileged enough to have been able to read the Holy Writ for themselves.) And I think the author is trying to point out that you should read the Bible for yourself and just the overall the judgmental era of the history with the Catholic Church, but it also puts those supposed to be men of God in a bad and judgmental light. I could go much more in depth on my thoughts about both of those elements, but this review is long enough.

 

Honestly, it wasn’t terrible. It wasn’t fantastic either, in my opinion. I liked it more before all the kissing happened. I feel like it’s just a bit too much kissing to be read by preteens. And that’s what I feel like fairytale retellings are really for—or should be aimed for—especially in the Christian Market when the plot is very fluffy like in this book. Older teens would probably be absolutely fine with that amount of kissing, but the storyline may be too simple and cheesy for some. Definitely better than the prior books of the series in terms of plot and characters, but I still just didn’t love it, unfortunately, and would not give it a wide age recommendation.

 

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.