"Emily Makes a Difference" by JoAnn A. Grote

About this book:

  “People need Emily Allerton’s help.

Emily Allerton is like any twelve-year-old girl—excited about her chance to see the Chicago World’s Fair and mesmerized by the remarkable technology on display there. She even sees an amazing new machine called an “automobile.”

But when Emily and her cousin, Ted Kerr, return home to Minneapolis, a national economic slowdown puts thousands of people out of work. They’re homeless and hungry—and Emily knows that God wants her to do something to help.”


Series: Book #16 in the “Sisters in Time” series. Click on the numbers to be taken to that review: #1, #2, #3, #4, #5, #6, #7, #8, #9, #10, #11, #12, #13, #14, & #15.


Spiritual Content- A Scripture is quoted; Prayers & Thanking God; Talks about God; ‘H’s are capitalized when referring to God; Mentions of God; Mentions of churches, church going, a Christmas Eve service, a sermon, & a pastor; A couple mentions of Bibles; A mention of missionaries; A mention of hymns; A mention of being blessed;

             *Note: Mentions of a magic show (Emily doesn’t think her mother would like her seeing one, but after being told that it’s not real magic, she goes to the show with a sliver of guilt); A mention of looking like someone saw a ghost.

Negative Content- Minor cussing including: two ‘stupid’s; Some eye rolling; Getting caught in a trolley track & pain (barely-above-not-detailed); Falling into the water & not being able to swim (barely-above-not-detailed); Mentions of accidents, missing fingers as a result, & deaths (up to semi-detailed); Mentions of a former slave & slavery; Mentions of a fire; Mentions of a young boy being arrested & called a thief; Mentions of rumors; A few mentions of lies & lying; A mention of horse droppings;

             *Note: A few mentions of a silly song about a girl killing her parents (Lizzie Borden); A couple mentions of books.

Sexual Content- N/A

-Emily Allerton, age 12
                                P.O.V. switches between Emily & Ted

                                            Set in 1893
                                                    143 pages

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Pre Teens-

New Teens-

Early High School Teens-

Older High School Teens-

My personal Rating-

Because of the writing about the unions and statistics about injuries, deaths, and populations felt very Wikipedia-like in the way they were presented, I didn’t really enjoy this one. It was interesting but came across a little too stiff at times with those facts. Emily’s family can also come across a bit mean to her with their comments of comparing her to her older sister and a cousin’s wife saying that she has no brains. Didn’t enjoy this one as much as I hoped based on the back-cover.  

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.

"Dead Silence" by Robin Caroll

About this book:

  “Political games can be deadly…

   Elise Carmichael is a court sign language interpreter who reads lips all the time. As a widow with a young son who is deaf, lip reading is simply second nature, until the day she reads the lips of someone on the phone discussing an attempt to be made on a senator’s life—a senator who just happens to be her mother-in-law. Before she can decide what she needs to do, she receives the information that her son is rushed to the ER and she must leave. Then she later sees the news report that her mother-in-law has been shot and killed. But when she comes forward, her life, as well as her son’s life, may now be in the crosshairs of the assassin.”

Series: As of now, no.

Spiritual Content- Scriptures are read, mentioned, & thought over; Prayers; Going to church & singing a hymn; Talks about God & faiths; ‘H’s are capitalized when referring to God; Elise is angry at God & has to work through it in this book; Mentions of God & faiths; Mentions of prayers & praying; Mentions of Bibles & Bible reading; Mentions of churches, church going, services, pastors, & hymns; A couple mentions of Heaven; A couple mentions of sins; A couple mentions of blessings & a curse; A mention of a possible miracle; A mention of a christening;

             *Note: A few mentions of evil; A mention of a demonic-looking doll.

 

 

Negative Content- Minor cussing including: a ‘dumb’, a ‘idiot’, a ‘oh my gosh’, a ‘sheesh’, a ‘how in all that is holy…’, two ‘blah blah blah’s, and six forms of ‘stupid’;  Some sarcasm & eye rolling; Pain, Injuries, & Blood/Bleeding (barely-above-not-detailed); All about (& many mentions of) threats, shootings/murders, & trying to find the murderer (up to semi-detailed); Many mentions of a kidnapping & a hostage situation (up to semi-detailed); Many mentions of threats through packages (this includes a dead rat, a deadly snake, and more, up to semi-detailed); Mentions of shooting, guns, & knives; Mentions of injuries; A few mentions of Elise’s late husband who was shot in the line of duty; A few mentions of car accidents & deaths; A few mentions of criminals & crimes; A few mentions of break-ins & thefts; A few mentions of lying & lies; A few mentions of hunting; A couple mentions of autopsy; A couple mentions of blackmail; A couple mentions of rumors; A few mentions of vomiting; A couple mentions of divorces; A couple mentions of tattoos;

             *Note: Mentions of brand names, products, & stores; A few mentions of car brands; A few mentions of mass shootings & a politician calling for stricter gun laws; A mention of a driver throwing a hand signal; A mention of Girl Scouts.

 

 

Sexual Content- Mentions of (married man) womanizer who seduces young girls, assaults (rapes) them, & pays them to get an abortion; Mentions of a man being unable to father children; Mentions of a paternity test; Mentions of flirting & crushes; A few mentions of married men cheating or possibly cheating & adultery; A few mentions of romance novels; A mention of a place that married men and their mistresses go to; A mention of a young woman who wasn’t the type at all to be in a physical relationship with someone she didn’t know well; A mention of Elise thinking about her late husband’s touch; A mention of a peeping Tom;

             *Note: A few mentions of Elise being a model for swimsuits when she meant her husband; A couple mentions of a STD & a hysterectomy.

 

-Elise Carmichael

                                P.O.V. of Elise

                                             320 pages

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Pre Teens-

New Teens-

Early High School Teens-

Older High School Teens-

My personal Rating-

{ Add ½ star for older girls who enjoyed political/suspense books. }

I’ve read a prior suspense book by this author before and enjoyed it, so “Dead Silence” was on my release radar. The beginning of this book was suspenseful and the ending of this book was very suspenseful. I really liked Elise and her determination to do whatever for her son. I loved seeing them together and I really liked that this wasn’t a romance story at all. Elise is a widow who still very much misses her husband, but besides that there is no “romance” content at all. I’m constantly trying to find romance-free books in the Christian Fiction genre and it’s hard to find. That was an added bonus to this book.

I only have two and a half things that I wasn’t thrilled with: There was mentions of a senator who assaulted young women and made them get abortions. The middle of the book seemed a bit slower that the beginning and end (but it still flowed well). And the half-point goes to Elise’s faith. Now, I really enjoyed the faith content and the discussions, but Elise’s realization about trusting God felt a little out of place to me. The faith content was really good, but I wanted to see more of Elise having to make the steps towards trusting God, not just have someone witness to her and her pray. A little detail that doesn’t matter too much in the scheme of the plot, but something I wanted to note.

Overall, this was a good political suspense book that had nice faith content and a no-romance-based plot.

 

 

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.

*I received this book for free from the Publisher (Shiloh Run Press) for this honest review.