"If Walls Could Talk" by Emily Thomas

About this book:

  “After a heavy rain, Anne discovers that one of the walls in the library basement is crumbling. She asks Alex to evaluate the damage, but while they're examining the hole, they uncover a human skeleton! Anne finds an arrowhead buried with the skeleton, as well as Aunt Edie's bow and arrow hidden nearby. Surely her beloved relative had nothing to do with this mysterious person's death, did she? Anne must dig deep into the library's past in order to learn the truth.
  Meanwhile, Anne stumbles on a flyer for the church's father-son retreat in Ben's trash and is determined to find a way for him to participate, despite his protests. As she researches Aunt Edie's love of archery, she discovers a new link to her aunt who can help Anne pass on a very special legacy to Ben.”


Series: Book #9 in the “Secrets of the Blue Hilly Library” series. Reviews of #1 Here, #2 Here, #3 Here, #5 Here, #6 Here, #7 Here, and #8 Here! (The fourth book has not been reviewed yet.)


Spiritual Content- A couple Scriptures are quoted; Prayers & Thanking God; Church going & a sermon; Singing hymns; Talks about God; ‘H’s are capital when referring to God; Mentions of God; Mentions of prayers, praying, & thanking God; Mentions of faiths & Bible reading; Mentions of those in the Bible; Mentions of churches, church going, a pastor, sermons, & hymns; A few mentions of blessings & being blessed;

             *Note: A mention of a primitive item.

Negative Content- Minor cussing including: two ‘stupid’s; A tiny bit of eye rolling; Visiting a historical prison; Many mentions of a human skeleton, how it got there, & the death (*Spoiler* Not scary and it was from an illness, not a murder *End of Spoiler*); Many mentions of fires, injuries/blood, possible arson, how it happened, & a possible death; Mentions of criminals, violence/assaults/possibly a murder, & prisons; Mentions of crime scenes & a possible one; Mentions of injuries/wounds, blood, illnesses, & deaths; Mentions of a possible murder, threats, & hatred; Mentions of rumors; A few mentions of a war; A few mentions of morgues; A few mentions of a father who left his family; A few mentions of lies & lying; A few mentions of nightmares; A couple mentions of murders; A couple mentions of a gang member; A mention of a hunter;

             *Note: Mentions of books & authors; A couple mentions of Disney movies; A couple mentions of car brands; A mention of an actress.

Sexual Content- A few mentions of dating & dates.

-Anne Gibson
                                P.O.V. of Anne
                                        268 pages

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Pre Teens-

New Teens-

Early High School Teens-

Older High School Teens-

My personal Rating-

{Add ½ for girls interested in medical history}

While not as light of a mystery compared to the major of the books in this series, I did find it interesting! I appreciated that while it was a mystery about a skeleton, it wasn’t scary at all. There was quite a few twists and turns that also helped my interest level. “If Walls Could Talk”  was a unique mystery book with a good amount of faith content.

See y’all on Monday 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.

"The Lost Girl of Astor Street" by Stephanie Morrill

About this book:

  “Lydia has vanished.
  Lydia, who’s never broken any rules, except falling in love with the wrong boy. Lydia, who’s been Piper’s best friend since they were children. Lydia, who never even said good-bye.
  Convinced the police are looking in all the wrong places, eighteen-year-old Piper Sail begins her own investigation in an attempt to solve the mystery of Lydia’s disappearance. With the reluctant help of a handsome young detective, Piper goes searching for answers in the dark underbelly of 1924 Chicago, determined to find Lydia at any cost.
  When Piper discovers those answers might stem from the corruption strangling the city—and quite possibly lead back to the doors of her affluent neighborhood—she must decide how deep she’s willing to dig, how much she should reveal, and if she’s willing to risk her life of privilege for the sake of the truth.”


Series: As of now, no.


Spiritual Content- ‘H’s are not capital when referring to God; Mentions of God; Mentions of prayers & praying; Mentions of chapel/churches, church going, the reverend, & a book of the Bible; Mentions of Heaven & angels; A few mentions of thanking God & praising God; A few mentions of Bibles; A couple mentions of miracles; A couple mentions of blessings; A couple mentions of choirs & hymns; A mention of mustering to believe God is with you; A mention of a God-fearing man; A mention of stained glass of saints; A mention of Catholics;

             *Note: A mention of being dragged through hell; A mention of spirits.

Negative Content- Minor cussing including: three ‘idiot’s, four ‘dumb’s, eight forms of ‘blast’s, and seventeen forms of ‘stupid’; A couple mentions of curses (said, not written); Sarcasm, Sass, & Eye rolling; All about a missing best friend & trying to find her *Large Spoiler* Her body is found, what happened (barely-above-not-detailed), and Piper grieves her best friend hard *End of Large Spoiler*; Being held at gunpoint, a gunshot, seeing someone shot, pain, passing out, blood/bleeding, being held hostage, tied up, & nearly strangled (up to semi-detailed); Many mentions of missing girls, runaways, & kidnappings/abductions; Many mentions of mafias, gangs, mobsters, & threats; Many mentions of illegal alcohol/wine, drinking, speakeasies, & drunks; Many mentions of secrets, lies, & lying; Mentions of finding dead bodies & murders (barely-above-not-detailed); Mentions of gang shootings & deaths; Mentions of beatings & being held hostage; Mentions of violence & trauma; Mentions of fights & injuries; Mentions of crimes & criminals; Mentions of guns, gunfire, shooting, seeing someone shot, pain, & blood/bleeding (up to semi-detailed); Mentions of whippings, punishments, bruises, & pain (barely-above-not-detailed); Mentions of seizures, blood/bleeding, & urine (up to semi-detailed); Mentions of jails; Mentions of screams; Mentions of hatred; Mentions of gossip & rumors; Mentions of smoking, smoke, cigarettes, & pipes; Mentions of nightmares & nightmares of seeing someone abducted (barely-above-not-detailed); Mentions of poisoned & murdered animals (& a threat of doing it to someone’s pet dog); A few mentions of an illness & death; A few mentions of gambling & money laundering; A couple mentions of wars; A couple mentions of slavery; A mention of slitting someone’s throat; A mention of someone who was murdered for sport; A mention of an old saloon; A mention of vomit;

             *Note: Mentions of car brands; Mentions of celebrities/actors/actresses/singers, songs, & movies.

Sexual Content- a barely-above-not-detailed kiss, and a border-line barely-above-not-detailed // semi-detailed kiss; Touches/Brushes & Hand Holding (barely-above-not-detailed); Some Noticing & Nearness; Flirting; Mentions of a young woman who got pregnant, her son does not know who his father is, & her parents sending her somewhere for an abortion (which she does not get); Mentions of brothels, girls sold to them, refusing the captors orders, those who escape, prostitutes, & men who spend time with them; Mentions of married man’s lady friend (who used to work for his family) & affair; Mentions of Piper’s father’s girlfriend who is a year older than his oldest son; Mentions of dating, dates, boyfriends, & girlfriends; Mentions of flirting & flirts; Mentions of blushes, winks, & crushes; A few mentions of jealousy; A mention of a man taking advantage of a woman; A mention of a mistake of passion ending in a pregnancy; A mention of a gangster’s female companion; A mention of a woman with loose morals; A mention of unwanted male attention; A mention of a man staring at Piper’s legs; Some love, falling in love, & the emotions;

             *Note: A couple mentions of a mother who died in childbirth; A couple mentions of an infant that passed away; A mention of a miscarriage; A mention of waitresses showing a lot of their legs.

-Piper Sail, age 18
                                1^st P.O.V. of Piper

                                         Set in 1924
                                                  350 pages

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Pre Teens-

New Teens-

Early High School Teens-

Older High School Teens-

My personal Rating-

{{Trigger warning to those sensitive to abductions.}}
{BFCG suggests this book to have at least a 16/17+ rating on it due to content}

Somedays, I’m a glutton for punishment.

Typically, those days are when I pick up a book by a publisher I’ve had content problems with in the past.

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As many of y’all may have seen before, I’ve reviewed quite a few books published by Blink and in all honesty, none of them have met my standards.

So, why in the world did I pick this one up?

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Seeing this book for a dollar at a bookstore and seeing some trusted friends’ reviews had me get this story.

Compared to the past dozen books I’ve read by Blink, this novel set in the 1920s had the most “Christian” content, but to be honest, it was not a high bracket it needed to pass by any stretch. However, for going in assuming that there would be none, it was a shocking amount I wasn’t expecting. Oh, don’t get me wrong, it wasn’t the amount I would have liked, but for my past history with these books it a pleasant surprise.

Other reviews have mentioned that there was a lot of prostitutes and such mentioned, but I feel like there was much more mentions of illegal drinking, gangs, and violence. Add in about our main girl’s best friend (which, I’d like to say, makes me seriously mad about that all ended up and give a major trigger warning to readers) and while it wasn’t gory, it was straight and blunt.

The first-half of the book had me nicely surprised by the story and characters. “Will this book possibly get three stars from me?” I wondered. I liked that there was an opposite gender friendship in the book that had no hints of romance or attraction between them. That’s something I’d love to see more of in the Christian Fiction YA market.

The title of this books suggests an innocence. The Lost Girl of Astor Street. “Oh, okay, she’s just lost. Everything will end up okay.” My reasoning when the disappearance happened.

That wasn’t true and causes me to put out a major trigger warning to those sensitive to abductions.

I personally found the reason behind everything happening from the middle to the end to be ridiculous like some other readers. I was so disappointed the book went that way.

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While I know this book and publisher does not advertise as Christian, this is a Christian book review site and books will be held up to that. For a Christian book, this book has some major trigger warnings and the rating is low. Two-stars on this site imply that the book was okay. I don’t want to give the message that everything in this book was okay. It wasn’t. For seeing it as a secular book, it could have a bit of a higher rating. But I stand by my content rating of reviewing it from a Christian perspective.

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.