Lisa Grace

When I am asked 'what is the worst book you have ever read?' this one inevitably springs to mind.

This book was . . . full of errors. Grammatical errors, spelling errors, continuity errors.

The story itself felt sketchy to me - as though it was the seed of a story that had not quite been grown into the story it was trying to be. Also, the cliffhanger I read in other reviews that I would find at the end? It read less like a cliffhanger and more like this was only about one third of the actual novel.

For all that the book is about a great battle, on the spiritual plane and the mortal one, Megan, our main character, did not seem to really come up against and overcome - or be overcome by - any significant obstacles. When she could not accomplish something she tended not to even try, and some other event or person would come along and make it disappear.

Megan also did not wind up making many of her own decisions on large or small issues; she followed the instructions of the angels almost without question. Just as she accepted, from the very beginning, any and everything they told her, including the very fact that they were angels.

I will say - I am not a Christian. I occasionally read Christian fiction, for many of the same reasons I read other books out of my usual genres. (Curiosity is a big one, also I like to try to be well-read - I’m a writer, it’s important to me.) None of my problems with this book were explicitly because of it being a book of Christian fiction.

Among the many, many errors I came across (among the grammatical side of things: missing commas, missing full stops, missing quotation marks, sentences and paragraphs without spaces or breaks between them, misused words) were also some things that were perhaps not specifically errors.

For example, late in the book, when Max is mentioned hugging Megan and talking to her - I honestly had no idea to whom the book was referring. I had forgotten that this girl, who is the main character and supposedly quite dedicated to her family, had a younger brother. I almost had to page back to the beginning to reassure myself that I had been introduced to him before.

There were some heavy real-life issues tackled in the book, as I half expected from what I had read about it prior to beginning it - most of them were merely glossed over, even if they were focused on specifically as horrible things; serious issues that if included in a story like this really must be focused on more seriously.

The serious issues that were treated as serious issues were dealt with too quickly and too easily, sometimes in the wrong ways - and I'm thinking of an early case, a non-religious issue, when Megan (eventually) sought help from an adult for something she found out.

It was not only Megan's worries and uncertain way of dealing with the issue that bothered me - she's a fairly sheltered teenager, I would not expect her to handle things perfectly, I perhaps even expect missteps. An adult should do better, particularly one in such a position.

An argument made - whatever side of it I happen to come down on - that has actual facts to support the argument. Use those facts - do not lie about those facts, it only weakens the argument. (Included with straight-up lying in my book: leaving things out entirely, inflating or skewing statistics, formally or informally.)

Preaching. It is Christian fiction, I expect it to be Christian fiction - I have no false expectations of it to be like, say, a fantasy novel. However, I do not expect things to come the way that they did in this book. Megan's inner monologues often felt like lectures or sales pitches - and I'm not sure which is worse - directed at the reader.

Leaving aside the over-the-top feel of the almost precisely the same things directed to Megan's friends, family, and acquaintances - and when they do the same - I cannot believe that anyone actually thinks in those particular pathways. It felt forced and also a little bit like I was being attacked, even on points I might agree with Megan on, by about the second time she delivered such an inner monologue or stream of consciousness.

As I said, I am not a Christian. I have attended church, and have had a number of friends who are very passionate about their faith. I have only rarely come across people who treat ‘recruiting’ (this is a term used in the book) or ‘saving’ people in the way that every Christian we meet in this book seems to.

It came across as aggressive, a little bullying, and talked about the individual ‘saving’ whoever they had been speaking to - or, once or twice, failing to do so - again, my knowledge is based mainly on friends and long-ago days of attending church myself, but I don’t believe that is how it is supposed to work. Is the idea not that humans can lead each other to the knowledge, but only God/Jesus can ‘save’ anyone?

That was one of several issues that made me wonder about the Christians as I saw them depicted in this book, but I feel too uncertain in my own knowledge on most of these things to comment in an informed manner.

Honestly, I would probably not have finished this book at all if it had not been so short. I was curious (and concerned) about how Lisa Grace would handle the issues she had raised, and also about the cliffhanger I had read it ended with.

I've done my best to give a fair review that does not depend specifically on my views on any religious or controversial things in the book, but opinions are, of course, subjective.

Oh, and in that vein. . . This is honestly one of the worst books I have ever suffered myself to read in its entirety.… (meer)

A blend of history and mystery. The American flag is created and stitched by Mary Pickersgill, her daughter Caroline, her nieces Jane and Eliza, and Grace Wisher, an indentured servant. Upon its completion, Grace delivers it to Major George Armistead at Fort McHenry. This is the flag that flew in the battle of 1813 and which is the basis of Francis Scott Key's The Star-Spangled Banner.

This flag of 15 red and white stripes and 15 stars still exists today at the Smithsonian, although the 15th star is missing.

Lisa Grace has taken the history of this flag, creating a fictional account of the women who stitched it and brought it into the 21st century as a treasure hunt.

Interesting read, though I found the account of the 21st-century search for the star to be weak and the ending result improbable.… (meer)

As this was Christian YA, I went in expecting to eyeroll a lot more than I actually did. Sure, it has some of the dorkiness and standard tropes that one would expect from Christian YA, but I found it to be a surprisingly good read, with less of the judgemental crap than I expected. There is no homophobia in it and less of the celibacy-pushing than I would expect. While it's pretty clear the main character Megan, and probably the author, are pro-lifers, the point is not overly belabored.

Pros: there's cool and/or cute angels, sin, drugs, the possibility of illicit sex, a pure chick main character, lolarious srs!christianity, and high school drama. What more can you ask for?… (meer)