Books for Christian Girls: "Whitewater Wishes" by Katherine Robles

About this book:
  “Bridget plans to spend her summer working as a white water rafting guide and studying for her beautician' s license exam. She isn' t looking for romance, and she isn' t impressed with nerdy nurse Drew when he steps into her raft. She' s looking for a strongman like the father she failed, but she finds it hard to resist Drew' s passion for life.
   As a hospital nurse, Drew loves helping people to heal, but after one of his younger patients dies, Drew feels the need to seize the day. So, he faces his fear of open water and goes white water rafting. He' s attracted to Bridget, but meeting his dream girl couldn' t have come at a worse time. His best friend is in trouble and Drew must decide how far he' s willing to go to keep his friend' s secret.
   When injury capsizes Bridget' s career, they' ll need strength beyond their own to keep their love afloat.”

Series: Book #1 in the “Romance in the Park” series.

Spiritual Content- Scriptures are mentioned, quoted, read, & thought about; Prayers; Singing a hymn & a song; ‘H’s are capital when referring to God; Bridget volunteers at VBS; Bridget finds it hard to talk about her faith with her best friend and tries to explain to her that her faith is important especially in regards to a future husband, but her friend says that her mom is Buddhist and her dad is agnostic and “they make it work”; Later, Bridget tries to talk to her friend about God and something she learned recently, not knowing if her friend even believes in God but presses on because both Jesus and her friend are important to her; Drew is worried about talking to his friend about the friend’s serious problem when it was the friend who introduced Drew to God and going to church (*Spoiler* Though Drew thinks about Scriptures about noticing his own faults, Drew knows his friend’s marriage is in trouble and that is friend is disobeying Jesus, so Drew grabs another Christian friend to talk with him about it; They confront the friend together and he doesn’t take it well *End of Spoiler*); Mentions of God, Jesus, & the Holy Spirit; Mentions of prayers, praying, & thanking God; Mentions of churches, church going, trying to find a church, services, hymns/songs, youth groups, & VBS; Mentions of Bibles, Bible studies, books of the Bible, & events and people in the Bible; Mentions of God’s creation & being amazed by it; Mentions of sins; A mention of Heaven;
             *Note: Bridget’s friend says that a guy is “into God stuff” like her; A guy comments that another guy looks like a ghost who haunts a library (due to his pale skin).

Negative Content- Minor cussing including: an ‘idiot’, four ‘oh my gosh’s, and eight ‘stupid’s; Some eye rolling & Sarcasm; Pain, injuries, nearly passing out, a broken bone, a concussion, & short-term memory loss (up to semi-detailed); At their first meeting, Bridget thinks that Drew might be “on something” or high, but it turns out he is not and just sleep deprived; Drew is concerned a friend is falling back into a bad habit & wonders if he should talk to him about it or do a test to see what happens (regarding money and stealing; Drew feels guilty for thinking the worse of his friend and not believing that everything is okay; *Spoilers* The friend stole from Drew’s wallet and it’s later revealed he has a gambling addiction; It started when they went to a casino together during spring break and Drew feels guilt for being the one to suggest it (it’s recalled as being fun for a time, but Drew didn’t feel the pull that his friend did and still does, up to semi-detailed); Drew tells his friend that he needs professional help, but his friend brushes him off, though he had prior asked Drew to hold him accountable; When Drew and another friend confront the other with concern and Scripture, he doesn’t react well and is concerned that his wife will leave him if she finds out about his gambling addiction; At the end, we’re told he is in counseling and working on building trust back with his wife *End of Spoilers*); Bridget feels guilt for not being there when her father went through cancer (she was in high school and focused on everything else besides his diagnosis; *Spoiler* Towards the end she apologies to her father for being selfish and pretending that everything was okay *End of Spoiler*); *Spoiler* Bridget feels hopeless and useless after breaking her ankle and having a concussion (adding that she isn’t sure if it was depression, but she didn’t want to do anything) *End of Spoiler*; Many mentions of gambling & addictions (mostly in the latter half of the book); Mentions of the dangers of water rafting and possibly drowning; Mentions of deaths, how they happened, accidents, a broken bone and surgery, pain, injures, & blood/bleeding (up to semi-detailed); Mentions of cancer & chemotherapy (including when Bridget’s father went through chemo and patients losing their hair); Mentions of heart attacks, surgeries, pain, injuries (up to semi-detailed); Mentions of spouses leaving each other & the concern of it happening; Mentions of gambling, casinos, & an addiction to them; Mentions of lies & lying; A few mentions of death eventually coming to everyone (including examples of a virus or a car getting the person); A few mentions of alcohol, drinks, & drinking; A few mentions of throwing up; A few mentions of jealousy; A couple mentions of gossip; A couple mentions of dead pets; A mention of wars; A mention of money laundering; A mention of night clubs; A mention of eavesdropping; A mention of hunting; A mention of burping; A mention of peeing;
             *Note: Drew recalls as a child his new stepfather teasing and scaring him when they were in a canoe together (he can barely swim and was scared); Drew struggles with the feeling of disappointing his stepfather by being himself: Drew’s stepfather has ideas about what men should or should not do (they should provide and protect, but should not cook or cry; Also believes that nursing is women’s work and Drew should have became a doctor instead; Drew had to learn to listen to God’s voice rather than his stepfather’s); Bridget‘s mother left when she was young and her motto growing up about her mother was “you don’t want me, so I don’t want you”; Bridget is worried that she might be like her mom and bail on someone when times get hard (her friend encourages her that she wouldn’t do that) and wonders about her mother as they aren’t in contact; Bridget’s friend starting call her (Bridget’s) dad by his first name after turning eighteen as a joke, but it stuck; Drew breeds mealworms for his pet chameleon (up to semi-detailed); Mentions of a baseball team; A few mentions of TV Shows (Star Trek).

Sexual Content- A cheek kiss, a not-detailed kiss, and a barely-above-not-detailed kiss; Touches, Butterflies, Smelling (up to semi-detailed); Wanting to touch & embrace; Noticing (up to semi-detailed); Blushes; A co-worker flirts with Bridget (harmlessly and she doesn’t say anything because he’s handsome and it’s nice to be complimented by “someone like that”; Later she is bothered by him hanging around her and acting like her boyfriend, especially when Drew is around and trying to touch/be near her); A ‘sexy’ (Bridget calls a client’s new hairstyle “fun and sexy”); Many mentions of boyfriends, dating, dates, interest in someone, & crushes; Mentions of a flirt, flirting, winks, & blushes; Mentions of a cute guy; Mentions of jealousy; A couple mentions of married couples kissing; A mention of an affair in a TV show & the person being caught kissing another; A mention of someone teasing Bridget with a kissy face; Love, falling in love, & the emotions;
             *Note: Mentions of guys’ muscles; Mentions of butts (such as someone landing or falling on their butts); A mention of breeding & studs.

-Bridget Capo, age 22
-Drew Martin
                                P.O.V. switches between them
                                                        176 pages

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My personal Rating-

I wasn’t sure what to expect with this book, but I’m glad that I took a chance on it because it ended up being a pleasant read. I liked both Bridget and Drew, and how this was almost slice-of-life with their lives and how they meet and get to know the other. While, yes, it was a “romance book” it never felt heavy on the romance and they had other interests outside of thinking about the other. They both felt realistic and the progression of their friendship to more felt very natural and had that awkward stage. Speaking of awkward, Drew was so awkward but it was a cute, slightly doofus awkward. A nerd, you could call him—down to his pet chameleon.

This book actually made me—a not-a-water fan—curious about rafting. I still don’t think I would ever do it, but being like Drew and his thoughts on boats, I was proud of him for conquering his fear. I do think that ending is a wee bit rushed, but I did really like that final chapter.

I have to add that I always like seeing good faith content in the books I read, but this one had a really refreshing note because we have some pretty serious and also very important faith moments in this book. It wasn’t just the characters praying and going to church—which is great don’t get me wrong—but this book had more. More faith content and more serious discussions and keeping Christian friends accountable and witnessing to non-Christian friends, which I liked seeing. It makes me curious about the next books in the series even though it looks like those won’t be connected to this book at all.

See y’all on Friday with a new review!