About this book:
“Teenage siblings Luke, Celia, and Austin are dreading their summer vacation. A month cooped up in an RV, touring around the Southwest, with their parents, grandmother, and each other? Pure torture.
But when Grandma reveals the real reason for the trip, the journey becomes an unexpected adventure. As they travel through breathtaking canyons, the teens develop new friendships, deepen their faith, and join together to solve a decades-old mystery.
And if the siblings can put down their phones long enough to enjoy the incredible journey, they might just discover that their relationships with each other are truly the greatest treasure.”
Series: As of now, no. Seems to be a stand-alone novel.
Spiritual Content- A few Scriptures are mentioned; Prayers (including a prayer with “Blessed Mother, please be my intercessor” and Austin telling the Lord that He “were lucky You didn’t have any siblings”) & Thanking God; Going to churches; Talks about God, His plans for us, & prayers; ‘H’s are capital when referring to God; When her grandma says about God having a plan for all of us, Celia thinks that’s a “nice inspirational saying”, she isn’t sure she believed it; Luke is fascinated by the staircase at Loretto Chapel (which is wondered to be a miracle done by Saint Joseph) & a crucifix at another church; When her grandma suggests for Celia to start a prayer journal, Celia thinks that she doesn’t need to track of the answers to her prayers because “All year she’d been praying and either God wasn’t listening or was stubbornly sticking to His answer of no” (but she does try to share all her anger and frustration through prayer and it felt pretty good); When a guy asks Celia about someone claiming that Catholics worship Mary and the saints, she explains that Catholics like her respect and honor Mary, that they ask Mary and the saints “who are closer to Jesus than we are” to pray for them “just like you’d ask a friend to pray for you”, & that in the Hail Mary prayer they pray with her rather than to her (which makes Celia realizes that she should have been asking “Jesus’ heavenly buddies” for help and that her confirmation saint could surely help her); Towards the end, Luke realizes that he has drifted from God and the trip has made him feel closer to God; Mentions of God, His plans for us, His creation, & talents/gifts form Him; Mentions of prayers, praying, answered prayers, making the sign of the cross, & a prayer journal; Mentions of Bibles, Bible reading, & Scriptures; Mentions of Catholic churches, church going, church events, youth group, Mass, priests, monks, nuns, rosaries, & confirmation classes; Mentions of Catholic saints & relics belonging to saints (a discussion question at the end of the book also shares about researching these); Mentions of miracles & possible miracles (Grandma says that miracles still happen and there are many surrounding the saints especially); Mentions of cross necklaces; A few mentions of church camps; A few mentions of blessings & being Blessed; A couple mentions of religious music & Christian music; A mention of a guardian angel; A mention of incense at a church;
*Note: At a church, Luke hopes that Celia has “finally come to terms with whatever demons” that had been haunting her (due to her attitude that past year); Luke’s girlfriend texts him saying she feels bad that his family was “dragging him to boring religious sites”; Luke recalls his friends making snide comments about the “churchy” kids at school which was part of the reason he stopped going to youth group (also adding that “just because his friends didn’t go to church didn’t mean they weren’t good guys”); Austin quips that girls “really are the root of all evil”; A few mentions of luck & being lucky; A few mentions of aliens; A couple mentions of ghost stories & a ghost; A mention of a zodiac sign; A mention of karma; A mention of the Stone Age (in a joke); A teasing mention of a goddess.
Negative Content- Minor cussing including: a ‘blah blah blah’, a form of ‘crud’, a ‘dang’, a ‘good grief’, a ‘holy mackerel’, a ‘shut up’, an ‘oh my gosh’, a ‘what the heck’, two forms of ‘screwed’, two forms of ‘sheesh/geesh’, three forms of ‘idiot’, four forms of ‘darn/darn it’, four ‘geez’s, seventeen forms of ‘stupid’, and nineteen forms of ‘dumb’; A couple mentions of curses (said, not written); Eye rolling & Sarcasm (some are done in annoyance rather than just teasing); The siblings sneak out without their parents’ permission (for the sake of fulfilling their grandmother’s mission; Later they avoid telling them about another dangerous event by deciding to hold off on it because their parents couldn’t handle the truth right then); Celia also thinks that there’s a reason why her family didn’t know the things they didn’t know about her because “some things were personal and private—and should stay that way”; Austin accidentally eavesdrops on her grandma’s conversation; Being trapped in a storm on a lake, Major pain, Injuries, & Passing out (semi-detailed); Concern over a grandma possibility being sick; Mentions of the possibility of the sibling’s grandma being sick, their worry for her, & heart attacks; Mentions of pain, injuries, passing out, & a surgery needed (barely-above-not-detailed); A few mentions of a high school party with drinking and drugs; A few mentions of stealing (but one time it’s deemed as good because it was rescuing an abused dog); A few mentions of a man often cursing at his animals and kicking his dog; A couple mentions of an accident & deaths; A couple mentions of wars; A couple mentions of possible drownings & flash floods; A couple mentions of gangs; A couple mentions of drunks; A couple mentions of alcohol; A mention of Civil War soldiers going through amputations; A mention of someone being a buzzkill;
*Note: There’s a lot of sibling bickering and negatives thoughts/comments towards the other (Such as: All three of them thinking of another sibling as their parents’ favorite-child and find it annoying; They all often find each other annoying and lash out; Celia has become a loner at school and Luke makes negative comments about it (*Spoilers* At the end, she shares with her siblings that her friends dumped her for a new friend group so she decided to spend her time alone; After reading a Scripture her Grandma recommended, Celia realizes that she should pick friends with similar beliefs *End of Spoilers*); Wanting to ignore the other and their comments; Calling each other ‘losers’, ‘witch’, ‘twerp’, and ‘dweeb’ (the last one their mom overhears and scolds for saying); Austin feels like he’s been brushed off by his older siblings & is often compared to his siblings by adults (*Spoilers* At the end, he tells them about this and that they treat him like an annoying nuisance; They plan to do better from now on and hang out with each other more *End of Spoilers*)); Mentions of TV shows, movies, an actor, & author (Lone Ranger, Jeopardy, & The Lord of the Rings, Orlando Bloom, & J.R.R. Tolkien); Mentions of fictional characters (Nancy Drew, Huckleberry Finn, Scooby Doo and Scrappy Doo, Batman, Angry Birds, & the Hulk);A few mentions of zombies (mostly related to video games); A few mentions of Indiana Jones; A few mentions of a teen slasher movie; A couple mentions of Alzheimer’s; A mention of Disneyland; A mention of National Geographic magazines; A mention of a brand name (Red Bull); A mention of yoga.
Sexual Content- An almost kiss that is a forehead kiss instead (Celia thinks she’s going to get her first kiss, barely-above-not-detailed); Some touches, embraces, dancing, shivers/flutters, nearness, & smelling (border-line barely-above-not-detailed // semi-detailed); Flirting & Blushes; Noticing (barely-above-not-detailed); Luke’s girlfriend is clingy & shows PDA in front of his family (which makes him uncomfortable); Grandma talks to Luke about dating someone that you have things in common with, but most importantly sharing the same beliefs and values; *Spoilers* About halfway through, Luke meets another girl on the trip that he is able to talk to about anything and realizes he needs to break-up with his girlfriend when he gets back; There’s obvious attraction between Luke and the new girl and they plan to keep in touch, but Luke says he was already thinking about breaking up with his girlfriend before meeting her; Celia and Austin say they never liked Luke’s girlfriend and comment on her appearance *End of Spoilers*; Celia dances with a “dreamy” cowboy and while she knows he probably flirts with lots of girls, she doesn’t care and wants to enjoy the attention; Celia goes on a date with a guy & when father is not happy when he thinks they have sneaked off alone; Austin gives a note to himself that girlfriends are “so not worth the headache” when hearing about his brother’s girlfriend; Mentions of boyfriends/girlfriends, dates, dating, & breakups; Mentions of flirting; Mentions of crushes & cute boys (one that Celia calls ‘dreamy’ and a ‘dreamboat’); A mention of a high school party with couples making out; A mention of a summer fling; A mention of hormones;
*Note: A teasing mention of a buxomy maiden; A mention of urinals.
-Luke Webber
-Celia Webber
-Austin Webber
P.O.V. switches between them & letters/diary entries from their grandma
305 pages
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Pre Teens-
New Teens-
Early High School Teens-
Older High School Teens-
My personal Rating-
I really enjoyed the summer setting and family road trip element of this book. However, I do think it’s probably my least favorite by this author for a couple different reasons and because I’ve enjoyed other ones more.
It actually took me longer than normal to read this book and I think it was due to the main characters’ attitudes. The siblings bickering was kind of uncomfortable? Sort of like when you’re at a friend’s house and they start arguing with their brother or sister and it’s just awkward for you? It was like that and I didn’t care for it.
The characters’ epiphanies (for lack of a better word) about their problems at the end felt a little too adult-ish or like something a mom would say, not a teenager. Because of this, the ending—while good—was a little off to me and felt a little rushed. I wanted the siblings to understand the blessing they could be to each other sooner, but their emotions and own selves’ with their own problems got in the way of that for the large majority of the book.
There was more Catholic Faith content and discussions in this book than the other ones I’ve read by Leslea Wahl. Because I’m not Catholic, those parts were lost on me, but it was good to see the character growth from Luke, Celia, and Austin.
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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