Perfectly Dateless by Kristin Billerbeck (Review)

Reading level: Young Adult
Paperback: 259 pages
Publisher: Revell (July 1, 2010)
ISBN-13: 978-0800734398

About the book:

Daisy Crispin has 196 days to find the right date for the prom. There’s only one problem – her parents won’t let her date or even talk to a guy on the phone. Oh, and she’s totally invisible at school, wears lame homemade clothes, and possesses no social skills. Okay, so maybe there’s more than one problem.

Can she talk her parents into letting her go to the prom? Or will they succeed at their obvious attempts to completely ruin her life?

Perfectly Dateless is hilarious, shocking, and totally real. You’ll fall in love with Daisy’s sharp wit and resourcefulness as she navigates the world of boys, fashion, family, and friendship.

My Review:

This book is about more than just finding a date for prom. Daisy Crispin is an interesting character. Her mother and father are very conservative Christians and she feels smothered not that she wants to be a bad kid just a more normal one. Her mother makes her wear homemade clothes. She is not allowed to date, have a cell phone, or go to prom. Her life is filled with work, school, and helping her crazy friend Claire. Her friend Claire is only similar to Daisy in the fact they are both outcasts at school. Daisy works for a company that makes checks answering the phones and helping with the accounting. Claire is almost Daisy's opposite. Her parents have a lot of money and she gets to do what she wants when she wants too. The book has journal entries by Daisy in it and they were the best part. There are some funny moments in the book. The book turned more serious toward the end. I thought the ending was rushed and a little choppy. So overall a good Christian YA book. Recommended.

Available July 2010 at your favorite bookseller from Revell, a division of Baker Publishing Group.

Review copy provided by Revell.

Back to Life by Kristen Billerbeck

This week, the
Christian Fiction Blog Alliance
is introducing
Back To Life
Avon Inspire (September 16, 2008)
by
Kristin Billerbeck


ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Kristin Billerbeck was born in Redwood City, California. She went to San Jose State University and gained a bachelor's degree in Advertising, then worked at the Fairmont Hotel in PR, a small ad agency as an account exec, and then, she was thrust into the exciting world of shopping mall marketing.

She got married, had four kids, and started writing romance novels until she found her passion: Chick Lit. She is a CBA bestselling author and two-time winner of the ACFW Book of the Year for What A Girl Wants in 2004, and again in 2006 for With this Ring. Featured in the New York Times, USA Today, World Magazine, The Atlanta Journal Constitution, Kristin has appeared on the Today Show. She is credited with jump-starting the inspirational chick-lit phenomenon. Most recently she has been names as a finalist for the Christy Award in the Lits category for The Trophy Wives Club.

Her other recent books include: She's All That.


ABOUT THE BOOK


Lindsey realized when she married Ron, a man 17 years her senior, that the odds were he’d see heaven before her, but she never expected to be a widow at 35. There’s too much of life left for her to just sit around in mourning. But she can’t seem to kick start the rest of her life.

That is until she gets some help from Ron’s first wife, Jane, who shows up unexpectedly at her door one day as the executor of her husband’s estate. Jane is everything Lindsey’s not… independent, stubborn… and a lot older. Plus she has one surprise after another… including a son named Ron Jr. (she insists he’s not “really” Ron’s son). But an unlikely friendship develops as each woman begins to reevaluate what is really important, and owns up to the mistakes they’ve made in the past.

Told in the alternating voices of Jane and Lindsey, and with the return of many of the witty characters of The Trophy Wives Club, this book is a lighthearted, relatable read for when life goes in a direction you never planned. With faith and friends, there’s always light at the end of the tunnel.

If you would like to read an excerpt of chapter 1 of Back To Life, go HERE