Books for Christian Girls: "Falling for Forever" by Katherine Robles

About this book:

  “Hillary needs a major change in her life. She's stifled by an entry level IT job in the Virginia suburbs and longs to move to Washington D.C. where she can make a difference in the world.
    When Javier comes to her rescue in Great Falls National Park, Hillary likes everything about him except for the gorgeous fiancé hanging on his arm. But things are not as they seem. He enlists her help to renovate a homeless shelter, and romance blossoms over paintbrushes and pipes until a career-launching opportunity arises.
    Hillary can chase her dreams, but they might cost her Javier's heart.”

Series: Book #2 in the “Romance in the Park” series. Review of Book #1 Here!

Spiritual Content- A devotional at the end of the book has 1 Thessalonians 5:15 quoted and a prayer; A handful of Scriptures are mentioned & quoted; Prayers & Thanking God; Talks about God, His plans, doing what God wants, & being significant to Him; ‘H’s are capital when referring to God; Hillary struggles with the idea of God wanting her to be at her current job because she thinks she is capable of doing so much more than that (Javier tries to talk to her about this); Hillary wrestles with a couple bitter and sarcastic thoughts about things not happening if it’s not God’s will; Hillary wants to scream to Heaven when upset; Hillary’s older sister talks to her about being significant to God; Mentions of God, listening to Him, & helping others; Mentions of prayers, praying, & blessings over food; Mentions of churches, church going, & hymns; A few mentions of those & events in the Bible; A few mentions of miracles; A few mentions of being blessed; A couple mentions of Mother Teresa; A mention of showing Christian Love; A mention of Lent; A mention of Christian music;
             *Note: Hillary lies and thinks “lying about the obvious wasn’t a sin, right?”; Hillary joins a campus ministry that organizes hikes for all the “religious groups in an effort to promote unity”; When Javier shares an upbeat attitude about something, Hillary thinks that she is “dating Dalai Lama” and adds “If your job sucks, don’t worry, you’ll reincarnate as a butterfly”; A couple mentions of Dalai Lama and reincarnation.

Negative Content- Minor cussing including: a ‘crummy’, a ‘heck’, a ‘sucks’, two forms of ‘crap’, two ‘dumb’s, four ‘idiot’s, and eleven forms of ‘stupid’; Eye rolling & Sarcasm; Hillary lies a couple of times; Mentions of a civil war in Guatemala, Javier’s parents’ villages being destroyed, living in a refugee camp, and believing most of their families died; Mentions of lies, lying, & liars; A few mentions of wars & Nazis; A few mentions of a trucker having a “pee jar” (which makes Hillary wonders if it’s less gross for a guy because they “could aim” and hopes that someone created a portable seat for female truck drivers); A couple mentions of drownings; A couple mentions of a bar fight & someone being hungover; A couple mentions of a restaurant bar; A couple mentions of jealousy; A couple mentions of smoking & a pipe; A couple mentions of a mule pooping; A mention of college parties; A mention of a historical tavern;
             *Note: Hillary struggles with the thought of being stuck in her day-to-day routine (the monotony of it) and wants more for herself (she feels this way particularly herself, but also towards her parents; She struggles to understand her parents enjoying what she thinks is a “stagnant life” and can be harsh towards them, which Javier calls her out on; *Spoiler* She realizes towards the end that Javier was right and she doesn’t treat them with the respect she should and tries to spend more time with her parents and learning their reasons for doing things; Hillary also tries to be more content with her job by the end *End of Spoiler*); A few mentions of politicians & celebrities (Thomas Jefferson, Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt, & Martin Luther King Junior); A mention of NASA putting a man on the moon.

Sexual Content- A hair kiss and a border-line barely-above-not-detailed // semi-detailed kiss; Touches, Embraces, Hand holding, Shivers/Tingles, Nearness, & Smelling (up to semi-detailed); Noticing (including muscles, up to semi-detailed); Flirting, Winks, & Blushes; Hillary thinks that Javier is engaged but still flirting with her, and while she feels guilty for enjoying the attention, she shuts him down as she thinks he is either “the world’s sweetest man or an unfaithful rotten fiancé”; Hillary doesn’t want to be tempted further by Javier when she’s under the impression he is engaged; After Hillary realizes she didn’t have all the information about what she saw, she thinks Javier isn’t a two-timing jerk like she thought; Javier teases Hillary about playing footsies with him when their ankles accidentally touch; Mentions of dates, dating, boyfriends/girlfriends, crushes, & break-ups; Mentions of flirting; A few mentions of kisses & kissing; A few mentions of cheating & cheaters; A few mentions of Hillary not wanting to steal another woman’s man or drool on him; A mention of a couple making out; A mention of a forbidden romance (Hillary thinks about her and Javier not having one); A mention of men flocking to a gorgeous woman; A mention of a group of “hormonal young people”; A mention of a “testosterone-soaked” activity (demolition of a house); Love, falling in love, & the emotions;
             *Note: When climbing with Javier, Hillary notes that she doesn’t want to be in front of him or he will be staring at her backside, but she doesn’t want him to go first either, so they go side by side; Hillary teases her father about liking to watch baseball because of the players’ tight pants (she’s mostly kidding and tries not to think of Javier in tight baseball paints); A few mentions of butts; A mention of a woman’s “curvaceous figure”.

-Hillary Jacobs
                                P.O.V. of Hillary
                                                  184 pages
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Pre Teens-

New Teens-

Early High School Teens-

Older High School Teens-

My personal Rating-

While reading, I wished there was Javier’s POV because I think that would have been helpful to see! I was stressed about the thought of him being engaged and flirting with her, so once that’s cleared up, I enjoyed the book much more, haha! Hillary does have her moments of being prideful, but lessons are eventually learned. This was one of the few times I approved of the third-act break-up in a book because Hillary needed to figure out how important she is to God and not focus so much on what she’s missing. The ending was a bit rushed because of it, but it was overall a cute story and safe for older teens.

See y’all on Friday with a new review!