“Hadley, forced to relocate with her estranged father at age seventeen, searches for belonging. A cancer diagnosis threatens to take her beloved Nonny, and a looming senior project might just break her. Has God forgotten Hadley Edwards?
High school senior Hadley is certain she must earn a summer internship at the Office of Naval Research, and she’s pretty darn confident she might! Unfortunately, her world is turned upside down by the news of her grandmother Nonny’s bleak cancer diagnosis. Hadley is forced to relocate from her home in Maryland to Kentucky to live with her estranged father and (gulp!) new step-family. As Hadley prepares to face a world of unknowns, she fears she will lose her beloved Nonny, and her hopes of snagging her dream internship seemingly disappear.
In the midst of adjusting to her new life in the bluegrass, Hadley steps into the unexpectedly pleasant role of half-sister and tackles a daunting senior project interning at a local business, Southern Salvage. Here, Hadley strives to befriend her peer mentor Colton, who seems all too eager to rid himself of a burdensome intern. At first. As Hadley navigates life in an unfamiliar state, school, and family, can she overcome the overwhelming sense she’s disrupted everyone’s happy normal? Is she just an unwelcome inconvenience? She wonders...has God abandoned Hadley Edwards? With the help of her family and Colton, Hadley might just learn the true meaning of “salvaged.””
Series: As of now, no. Seems to be a stand-alone novel.
Spiritual Content- Scriptures are mentioned, quoted; Church going; Talks about God & Him being good no matter what; Most 'H's are capital when referring to God; Hadley tries not to groan at her grandmother saying that “God is still good” as she says it often; Hadley knows in her heart that God is good, but her brain questions His goodness because of her Nonny having to suffer; A few times, Hadley pours her heart out to Jesus and only tells Him the things that are bothering her; Hadley worries about how much she worries and doesn’t want God to be mad or disappointed with her (two others tell her that God is big enough for her questions); Mentions of God, Jesus, Him being good; Mentions of prayers, praying, & blessings over food; Mentions of churches, church going, services, sermons, pastors, youth group, & children’s church; Mentions of Christmas & Jesus’ birthday; A few mentions of blessings & being Blessed; A couple mentions of those in the Bible; A couple mentions of the Holy Spirit; A couple mentions of Christian & Christian principles; A couple mentions of a Lauren Daigle song; A couple mentions of dreams of seeing people visit from Heaven; A mention of Vacation Bible School; A mention of Chick-fil-A being the “land of the Lord’s chicken”; A mention of a sin;
*Note: A quote from Rick Warren’s ‘The Purpose of Christmas’ is shared; Religious phrases like ‘heaven knows’ (once), ‘heaven help me’ (thrice) are said; Hadley says that she is not superstitious, but that “saying certain things out loud makes them too real, gives them power” so she avoids taking about moving for some time (but later thinks that maybe she was wrong because after telling someone, she feels better); Hadley tries to use her “new telepathic abilities” to communicate with someone, but realizes she is not because it doesn’t work (teasing/kidding and later refers to her fake-telepathy again once); Hadley thinks of an older woman as her spirit animal (meaning she’s cool); Hadley refers to glitter as “devil dust”; Mentions of an alien in a movie (Men in Black); A few mentions of Santa Claus; A mention of something smelling “like heaven”; A mention of Nonny thinking that Snapchat is the “spawn of Satan”; A mention of a Zen-master; A mention of someone being like the reincarnation of a celebrity.
Negative Content- Minor cussing including: a ‘crap’, a ‘darned’, a ‘doggone’, a ‘dumb’, a ‘geez’, a ‘good grief’, a ‘gosh’, an ‘oh em gee’, an ‘oh my word’, an unfinished ‘what the…’, two ‘blah, blah, blah’s, two forms of ‘frickin’/friggin’’, two ‘holy cow’s, two forms of ‘suck/suckers’, three ‘idiot’s, four forms of ‘dang/dang it’, four ‘stupid’s, seven forms of ‘heck/what the heck’, and thirteen forms of ‘oh my gosh’; Sarcasm & Eye rolling (including from an eight-year-old); Hadley lies/fibs to others (including her best friend) a handful of times when trying to avoid sharing her emotions or when she doesn’t want to do something (like go on a double date with her friend; She later thinks that she’s going to “burn” for all of these lies and feels guilt over them, so she turns at least one of them into a truth); Pain, Injuries, Blood/Bleeding, & Passing out (up to semi-detailed); Seeing a death & Grief (*Spoilers* Towards the end, Hadley’s grandmother gets worse and she passes away with Hadley next to her; Nonny told her prior that she was ready to go and Hadley cries *End of Spoilers*); A visitation & funeral; Hadley has a dream featuring loved ones who have passed and calls it a “incredibly realistic, tragically beautiful dream”; Hadley’s grandmother has had breast cancer for years, but it has gotten worse which is why they are moving (Hadley is upset to learn this and flees to her room at the news; She doesn’t want to think about the word “terminal” and wishes there was a cure for cancer; Hadley cries about it all, especially when her grandmother starts to get worse and thinks that cancer has won); Mentions of deaths & grief; Mentions of cancer, terminal diagnoses, & side effects; Mentions of injuries, pain, blood/bleeding, & passing out; Mentions of lies, lying, & liars; Mentions of vomit; Mentions of poo, needing to pee, & gas; A few mentions of the Civil War, WWI, & the Trail of Tears; A few mentions of bourbon; A few mentions of jealousy; A mention of a possible serial killer; A mention of a place not having chalk-outlined bodies, multiple burned down buildings, or shot-out streetlights; A mention of Spanish Inquisition; A mention of a lottery; A mention of poker; A mention of a Vegas casino worker; A mention of someone (not) being a betting man; A mention of gossip; A mention of an origami creation looking like it needs to be euthanized;
*Note: Hadley’s birth mother left when she was three years old and she has not been in contact with her since; Hadley’s father has recently learned about her and when going to live with them, Hadley is concerned that she if going to crash his family and his wife will hate her (*Spoilers* There is one time the step-mother explodes at Hadley, but starts to apologizes when she realizes that Hadley was unaware of what she needed her to do and they get along for the rest of the book *End of Spoilers*); Hadley refers to her father by his first name (which he suggested; *Spoiler* At the end, she calls him ‘Dad’ *End of Spoiler*); A side character pretends he is a masochist and someone else calls it his “schtick” (Hadley thinks he is too good at it and isn’t sure he if kidding at times; The man makes comments about women drivers and women voting; Another says he is a “pseudo-misogynistic clown”); A classmate tells Hadley to “Slay Queen. Slay allllll day.”; Hadley dresses up for Halloween with her siblings and takes them trick-or-treating; Hadley does not have social media because of her grandmother; A quote by Eva Chen is shared at the beginning of a chapter; Mentions of anxiety; Mentions of Halloween, costumes, trick-or-treating, & a Jack-O-Lantern; Mentions of brand names (Cinnamon Toast Crunch, Diet Coke/Coke, Uncrustables, Cheetoes, Veggie Chips, Pepsi, M&Ms, Nutella, JIF, Hershey kisses, Cocoa Puffs, Pop-Tarts, Band-Aid, Advil, Benadryl, Vaseline, iPhone, iPad, Airpods, Kitchen Aid mixer, Legos, Wii, Exploding Kittens game, Monopoly, Barbies, Chromebook, Nike, Hey Dudes, Patagonia, Uggs, Carhartt, Mod-Podge, Cricut, Crayola, Tide, & La-Z-Boy); Mentions of TV shows, movies, & fictional characters (Pranked, Twilight Zone, Numb3rs, Big Bang Theory, Days of Our Lives, Cast Away, Men in Black, Norman Bates, smurfs, Jekyll and Hyde, Cinderella, Little Orphan Annie, & Mutant Ninja Turtles); Mentions of celebrities and well-known people (Michael Jordan, Bob Ross, Tom Hanks (who Hadley refer to as awesome), Bill Nye, Benedict Arnold, Queen Elizabeth, Lucretia Mott, Theodore Roosevelt, & Vanna White); Mentions of social media platforms & websites (YouTube, Pinterest, Snapchat, Spotify, Instagram, & Netflix); Mentions of food chains (Kentucky Fried Chicken, Chick-fil-A, Starbucks, & Panda Express); Mentions of books (‘When Your Parent Has Cancer’, ‘There You’ll Find Me’ by Jenny B. Jones, ‘Macbeth’, Pete the Cat books, & ‘The Purpose of Christmas’ by Rick Warren); Mentions of FaceTime; A few mentions of car brands (Maserati & Jeep); A few mentions of the Avengers and Marvel; A few mentions of the tooth fairy; A mention of the Hunger Games; A mention of a sports team (Washington Wizards); A mention of a band (Judah and the Lion); A mention of Miss Teen America; A mention of TED Talks; A mention of Cliff’s Note; A mention of bad mojo; A mention of a couple that was unable to have biological children.
Sexual Content- A cheek kiss, two forehead kisses, an almost kiss (border-line barely-above-not-detailed // semi-detailed), four not detailed kisses, and a semi-detailed kiss; Remembering kisses (barely-above-not-detailed); Seeing a couple kiss (barely-above-not-detailed); Touches, Embraces, Hand holding, Tingles/Electricity, Warmth, Flutters, Nearness, & Smelling (up to semi-detailed); Remembering touches & nearness (barely-above-not-detailed); Blushes & Flirting; Noticing & Staring (including Hadley trying not to drool over a guy’s smile and trying not to stare at his biceps, up to semi-detailed); Hadley was conceived out of wedlock and her parents were sixteen and seventeen (her biological father didn’t know about her as Hadley’s grandparents thought it best since they decided to move after learning about their daughter’s pregnancy; Hadley refers to herself as an “illegitimate lovechild” and notices that her father doesn’t have much to say to her grandmother, but thinks that to be fair, her grandmother did hide his daughter for over sixteen years; Later, her father tells her that he doesn’t mean to sound “hypocritical to the daughter I made at seventeen”, but she says she makes good choices [so he doesn’t have to worry]; He shares a quote that meant a lot to him from Rick Warren that is “there are accidental parents, but no accidental babies” and gets choked up, but then adds that her door has to stay open when a guy comes over); Hadley is afraid of dating and boys & her best friend is constantly playing cupid and trying to set her up on dates; Hadley’s mentor is a handsome young man a couple years older than her and they are attracted to each other (their age gap or the fact she is a minor is not mentioned); Hadley recalls going on a half-date that ended half-way through because the guy crassly asked her “how far” she had been with a guy; A married woman teases Hadley about not doing anything on a date that her and her husband wouldn’t do; Hadley says she’s never been properly kissed; Four forms of ‘hot’; Many mentions of dates, dating, boyfriends/girlfriends, attraction/crushes, cheating/cheaters, exes, & break-ups; Mentions of kisses, kissing, & kissers; Mentions of relationships & “situationships”; Mentions of cute guys (also called “eye candy”); Mentions of swooning & being weak in the knees; A few mentions of flirting; A couple mentions of homecoming; A mention of “steamy” Instagram pictures (of Hadley and Colton, and while give off the vibe they are a couple, it is not steamy in a smut/spicy way); A mention of a guy being unable to get “handsy” on a date over Facetime; A mention of a married couple sharing a kiss on the cheek in a dream; A mention of a eight-year-old mentioning her classmate who is her future husband; A mention of Hadley thinking a girl who cheated on a great guy needs a lobotomy; Attraction/Love, possibly falling in love, swooning, & the emotions;
*Note: A young woman’s Halloween costume fully displays her “ta-tas” spilling out of the top; Hadley covers a nude statue at the antique store with a shirt because “modest is hottest” and to give it some dignity; Hadley asks her best friend if her Halloween costume makes her butt look big; A girl makes a catty remark to Hadley suggesting her to order a drink with less calories while slowly looking her over (this doesn’t work on Hadley and she still gets her normal order); A married man wears a t-shirt that says “this is your girlfriend’s shirt” and Hadley isn’t sure if he is kidding or not; Mentions of bras, shorts, & tank tops (including when Hadley tells her little sister to grab a sports bra, Libby is shocked by the word and Hadley later calls it a four-letter word); A mention of cramps; A mention of puberty; A mention of shaving legs.
-Hadley Edwards, age 16-17
1st person P.O.V. of Hadley
211 pages
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Pre Teens-
New Teens-
Early High School Teens-
Older High School Teens-
My personal Rating-
{ Add half a star to a full star for older girls in High School. }
Hi, I’m Lindsey and I’m always good for a contemporary Christian YA book. It’s my comfort genre, really. That’s why I was so excited to find out about this book and eager to read it.
And as Larry would say: “I laughed. I cried. It moved me, Bob.”
I really liked the faith content in this story because it was natural. Hadley has a faith, and you can tell she’s grown up in a Christian home with her grandmother’s influence, but when unexpected and heartbreaking events happen, it’s hard for her to focus on God still being good like her Nonny says He is. It wasn’t really a tell-all or how-to get over this thought, but there are her feelings about it and others around her encouraging her to keep talking to Jesus about it all. It had to be a thing of knowing that He is still good rather than how you feel in that moment. That is a topic I heavy related to after the death of my sister and my heart broke for Hadley but also felt for her as she works through this.
The humor in this book was unexpected and I found myself laughing and then tearing up at the next page. It was balanced well—even if I had to put the book down a couple of times due to second-hand embarrassment due to Harley’s “word vomit” (as she calls it). But the author captured the awkward teenager-in-a-new-place well and I really loved how the majority of the people around Hadley are good people, even a possible mean girl only shows up a few times and it ends on an encouraging note. As someone who is tired of the mean girl/bullying the new girl element, I’m so glad there was very little of that in this book.
I definitely would compare this book to “Seeing Voices” by Olivia Smit (because of the new town and new life situations) and even a couple Jenny B. Jones books (because the romance might be a little much for some, but there was a lot of humor), but it really reminded me of “Victoria Grace, the Jerk Face” by S.E. Clancy because of the lovable elderly character, the cute romance, the sassy humor, a great best friend (who stays her best friend despite the distance!), and a main character you just want to cheer for.
On the romance element, some may not care for it, and I’ll admit that I’m a bit uncomfortable with it myself. Hadley is 17 and her mentor for the project for school is around 19-20 (not specifically said), so that’s a wee bit questionable, I know. Not necessarily a big deal when it’s 21 and 24, but something to note when one half of the couple is a minor. That said, in Kentucky (where this book is set), the age of consent is 16 so that’s something to also note. Because of her attraction to Colton, some staring/noticing, and a couple comments, I would suggest this book more for fans of the books listed above and/or public school teens that would be okay with a bit more romance content than I usually recommend on here. Still cleaner compared to secular YA books by far, of course, and I really enjoyed the book overall, but just a heads up! Personally, I would love to see these characters again as despite the shorter 200-pages length book, I really got into this story and enjoyed everyone in it.
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.
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