Review: A Charmed Life: A Christian Fiction Trilogy (for All Readers), by Jenny B. Jones

A Charmed Life (The Charmed Life #1-3) by Jenny B. Jones (Thomas Nelson, 2012, 976pp.)

A Charmed Life is an omnibus edition of Jenny B. Jones’s Christian fiction trilogy of the same name. This lovely series documents the hilarious, heartfelt misadventures of privileged New Yorker Bella Kirkwood, a child of divorce who finds herself living on a farm after her mother remarries and moves them to Truman, Oklahoma. To Bella, moving away from New York is a fate worse than death. Where are the fashion boutiques? What about a Starbucks? Not to mention she now has to hitch a ride to school with her obnoxious stepbrother, Budge, who drives an out-dated hearse. But when she ends up on the Truman High School newspaper, she surprises the heck out of everyone with her tenacity, her drive, and above all, her awesome investigative journalism skills. Over the course of the series, she becomes quite the sleuth. Not only does she investigate a malevolent brotherhood of football players and save a prom queen from an exploding tiara, she also joins the circus as a part-time clown so she can solve the murder of a sweet-tempered bearded lady.

I really can’t say enough about this series, for both teens and parents. First off, it’s a clean read, meaning there’s no swearing or other mature content (though Bella does have a boyfriend, so there is a lot of kissing). Second, it boasts a well-developed supporting cast. And third, but importantly, it has a heroine who experiences tremendous personal growth throughout the series. Not only must she face issues left over from her parents’ divorce (in addition to adjusting to a new stepfamily), she must also come to terms with God’s plan for her—a plan that she did not agree to, thank you very much! For those of you who aren’t usually fans of Christian fiction? You should still add this to your reading list. While religion is an important part of the characters’ lives, it’s certainly not the main point of the story. What the story is about, though? It’s about an awesome, spunky teenager fighting her way through life’s sticky situations, and being the best person she can possibly be. This series is recommended for older teens, ages 16-18, though if you’ve got younger teens who don’t mind kissing and romance, it’s a good choice for them as well. Also, check out the excellent audiobook version, read by Brooke Helman.

Sets the Bar High for Other Books by Estes

The Sun Dwellers (The Dwellers/Country Saga #3) by David Estes (Self-Published, 2012, 398pp.)

The Sun Dwellers finds Adele, Tristan, and the gang setting off on a mission to kill the egomaniacal Sun Dweller President Nailin and end a war that is wreaking havoc in the Lower Realms. By the end of the story, there will be more death, more innocence lost, and an awesome secret revealed that changes everything.

What can I say? It’s a good book. The pacing is quick, the tension is almost painful, and the ending climax is pretty epic. That said, like the other books in this series, it isn’t great. The author gets a little heavy-handed at times about the socioeconomic disparities between the Sun Realm and the Lower Realms, and certain supporting characters remain as flat as they were the moment they entered the story. That said, it’s still a very good end to The Dwellers Saga, and sets the bar pretty high bar for its sister series, The Country Saga. Recommended for Ages 15-Up.

A Satisfactory Second Installment

The Star Dwellers (The Dwellers/Country Saga #2) by David Estes (Self-Published, 2012, 374pp.)

By the end of The Moon Dwellers, heroine Adele has busted out of juvie with her new friends, Cole and Tawni, saved her little sister, Elsey, from an orphanage, reunited with her renegade father, Ben, and has finally met up with her love interest Tristan, the Sun Dweller president’s rebellious son. In the beginning of The Star Dwellers, the group has been scattered. Cole has been killed by Sun Dweller forces. Adele and Tawni have embarked on a mission to spring Adele’s mom from the Star Realm prison, while Tristan and Adele’s family work with the Resistance to convince the Star and Moon Realms to unite against the Sun Realm.

Overall, The Star Dwellers is a very satisfactory installment. Since I normally roll my eyes at teen romance, I was pleased to see that the lead couple (Adele and Tristan) show their maturity by focusing on their various missions, rather than mooning over each other’s absence. Some of the supporting characters, like Tawni, still remain a little flat, but I’m hoping that this will be amended in later installments. Recommended for Ages 14-Up.

A Good Introduction To Science Fiction For Teens

The Moon Dwellers (The Dwellers/Country Saga #1) by David Estes (Self-Published, 2012, 366pp.)

In the first volume of David Estes’s Dwellers/Country Saga, Earth as we know it is over. Due to an environmental cataclysm, people have been forced underground. Now, people live in what’s known as the Tri-Realms. The luckiest live in the Sun Realm (closest to the Earth’s surface) alongside the likes of the system’s dictator-president, Edward Nailin. The not-so-lucky middle-class are stuck in the Moon Realm with terrible living conditions, while the truly desperate are forced to live in the Star Realm, the deepest level of them all. Told from the points of view of its two teenage narrators, the novel chronicles the plight of middle-class waif Adele Rose and Tristan Nailin, the president’s rebellious son, two strangers who are surprised when a chance-glimpse of each other seems to awaken a peculiar connection between them.

The YA genre could definitely use some good science fiction, and The Dwellers/Country Saga is a good place to start. While the action is non-stop, the world-building pretty thorough, and the pacing consistent, the characters, unfortunately, were not given equal chance to develop at the same rate as these other factors. Aside from that, though, it really does make for some exciting reading: with action and love at first sight, there’s enough here to attract both male and female teens. Recommended for Ages 15-18.

The Chosen One

The Chosen One (Teravinea #1) by D. María Trimble (Self-Published, 2012, 210pp.)

Twenty years ago, in the Kingdom of Teravinea, dragons and their human riders once filled the skies and served the royal House of Drekinn. After a violent coup, the ruthless usurper Galtero seized power and exterminated the royal family and the dragons, causing the dragon riders to flee into hiding. Now, school children are taught that dragons were nothing more than mythical creatures—but  15-year-old Amàne soon finds out otherwise when an odd-shaped rock she finds on the beach hatches into one of these noble reptilian steads, and “links” with her. Shortly after she confides in a trusted family friend about her discovery, former dragon riders start making themselves known and start training Amàne and her dragon, Eshshah, for a battle that will unseat the wicked usurper and restore power to the House of Drekinn. Amàne, the narrator of the tale, is a strong heroine, with enough flaws to make her human, but enough good qualities to make her likable. The plot is a tad bit simplistic (evil king must be dethroned), but I get the feeling that the author intends to focus more on Amàne’s evolution as a character rather than Teravinea’s politics. Recommended for younger teens, and fans of Anne McCaffrey’s The Dragonriders of Pern.

Interesting High School Drama

Paraestrals, Volume 1: A Vampire’s Awakening by Sara Stenner (Self-Published, 2012, 106pp.)

The first part in a serial novel, Paraestrals: A Vampire’s Awakening takes place in a large city in England, and focuses on Samantha LeFay, a vampire gumshoe. Just fresh out of high school, she co-owns the Paraestrals Private Investigation Service with her best friend. As the story begins, she’s wrapping up a case involving child abduction, when she thinks back on her awakening as a vampire. Like most vampires of pop culture, Samantha enjoys super strength and hearing, but that’s about it in terms of advantages. When Samantha turns 16, she suddenly finds sunlight unbearable. She starts sunburning more easily than the average person, and has to wear long-sleeves and sunglasses in the summertime. No glamor or sparkly advantages here. To be honest? I kept expecting a secret vampire society to swoop down any second and say, “You’ve been accepted to the House of Night/Hogwarts/whatever,” but the truth is, poor Samantha’s adventures as a supernatural creature are actually quite lonely. Her newfound strength freaks out the kids at school, and turns her into a social pariah. As for her bloodsucking tendencies, there’s no one to act as her mentor. Her parents are dead, and all she has left is a snarky stepmom and a beloved half-brother. So, kudos to the author for taking the less-trodden path. 

In technical terms, however, the story still needs some work. It suffers from run-on sentences and an overabundance of adverbs, and there are several instances where the author spells a word correctly, but misuses it. (For example, “I was soar” should be “I was sore.” “She gave me a complement” should be “She gave me a compliment.”) Other than that, it was an interesting high school drama that is sure to please readers ages 14-Up.

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A Fresh and Engaging Read

Thrall (Daughters of Lilith #1) by Jennifer Quintenz (Secret Tree Press, 2012, 297pp.)

Braedyn Murphy wakes up one day to learn that she is far from an normal high school sophomore—she is, in fact, a demon. Odysseus called them sirens. Harry Potter calls them Veela. Braedyn’s brand of demon is called Lilitu. To the ordinary human eye, they are beautiful, irresistible women. But the Guard, a centuries-old organization dedicated to fighting these demons, knows better: the Lilitu are succubae that use their beauty as a tool to lure their prey and then drain them of their life-force. A kiss can be draining to a human; sex itself can be deadly.

Braedyn’s father, a member of the Guard, explains to her that although she is a demon, the Guard intends to use her as a force for good, a spy of sorts, to infiltrate the Lilitu and learn what they’re up to. When she meets Lucas, a fellow classmate at school and the only other teen member of the Guard, it’s love at first sight. But there’s only one problem: Lucas doesn’t know she’s a Lilitu, and harbors a particular grudge against her species for killing his brother. 

Thrall is a fresh and engaging read. Parents of readers worried by the mention of sex needn’t worry. Although sex is the ultimate “power-up” for the Lilitu, no sex actually appears in the book. Braedyn and Lucas have one or two kissing scenes, but that’s about all in turns of “mature” content. Recommended for fans of urban fantasy, and readers ages 16-18.

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Kadamba of Gentle Humilaith

Kadamba of Gentle Humilaith (Cosmic Library #2) by Mirti Venyon Reiyas (CreateSpace, 2012, 132pp.)

This second stand-alone installment in Reiyas’s Cosmic Library series deals with the effects of the malicious Thorn Virus spawned by the mischievous kinkas, a malignity which is gradually suffusing the universe—both people and things—with ill-will and unscrupulous behavior. On planet Ethera, Kon Fu-Zed, the ambitious director of an aerospace travel company, has plans to develop the previously untouched continent of The (pronounced “thay”) into an animalline-hunting theme park. He also can’t wait to try out his brand new invention, the “Whe-pin,” a devastating weapon which would be the nightmare of any endangered species. He appoints Tahdi Bellevue, an employee, to lead a surveying expedition. But when Tahdi lands on The, he meets Neelaiyahay, a half-tiger, half-human being who opens his eyes to the ecological consequences of Kon Fu-Zed’s plans. In the end, Tahdi and Neelaiyahay must defeat not only the physical manifestation of the thorns (which are clogging up inter-dimensional gateways), but convince Kon Fu-Zed that razing everything green to the ground is not beneficial to anyone in the long run.

As I finished Kadamba, my initial reaction was: “Well, that was okay. Things certainly happened, but at the same time, the events weren’t very...dramatic.” Then I  remembered seeing something on the author’s website about the name she has assigned for this particular genre: “Positive Young Adult Romantic Adventurous Fantasy.” Ah, I thought. That explains it. The Cosmic Library series is one that keeps the conflict on a juvenile reader’s level while exploring interesting ideas. There are no cars and trucks exploding, nor people massacring their families and then setting themselves on fire. The series shuns violence, and instead choses to focus on the importance of choosing the path of positive thinking over that of negative (if you’ve ever taken a yoga class, you’ll know what I’m talking about).

Now, some of the best psychological fiction has no “action,” but instead mediates on the characters’ internal struggles. In this regard, however, Kadamba loses some points. Although I liked the relationship between Tahdi and Neelaiyahay, I didn’t feel like I got to know them, or the other characters, as well as I could have. Recommended for Ages 12-14, and for adults who are tired of the graphic violence in the media.

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Will Appeal to Fans of "The Hunger Games"

The Forsaken (The Forsaken Trilogy #1) by Lisa M. Stasse (Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, 2012, 384pp.)

This latest offering in the YA dystopia genre covers the adventures of Alenna Shawcross, a shy, quiet teen citizen of the oppressive United Northern Alliance. Her story begins after she fails the national Government Personality Profile Test and is banished to Island Alpha, a dumping ground for social undesirables and political dissidents. Every child in the UNA grows up hearing horror stories about Island Alpha, that it’s a prison colony populated by violent sociopaths—and that the average life expectancy is 18. Imagine her surprise, then, when she discovers that the other island inhabitants are, for the most part, just normal kids like her. But Island Alpha has a reputation for a reason. There are bad kids, too. The Drones, a chaotic horde of teens who really are violent and anti-social, are constantly on the prowl. What’s more frightening than the Drones themselves is their almost rabid devotion to a mysterious figure known as the Monk. Containing elements of intrigue, suspense, and romance, The Forsaken reads like a kind of futuristic version of Lord of the Flies—except it’s much more accessible, entertaining, and appealing than LOTF will ever be. Recommended for Ages 16-18, and fans of The Hunger Games.

Unique Ideas, Narrow Target Audience

Ephemerine Tree (Cosmic Library #1) by Mirti Venyon Reiyas (Self-Published, 2012, 166pp.)

Eda, a young woman from planet Artea, is enlisted by Rainyun, a light-being from the Ephemerine Realm, to help steer her world away from environmental disaster. Reiyas produces a very creative piece of work to provide a unique, cautionary tale. Artea—and the rest of the galaxy, for that matter—is suffering from the use of the destructive tachyonic particle inverse dematerializer, a device built to extract electricity-producing potrillion juice from ocean caves at the expense of the environment. While the dematerializer seems to be a stand-in for fracking, the author is able to make it part of a very believable universe. While this short novel is great to read for its ideas, its focus on spiritualism and New Age principles may not appeal to mainstream readers looking for a face-paced action tale. Recommended for Ages 16-18.

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How the Other Half Lives

Confessions of a Teenage Hermaphrodite by Lianne Simon (Faie Miss, 2012, 246pp.)

Confessions chronicles two years in the life of Jamie, a teen born with Mixed Gonadal Dysgenesis. She has one testis and one ovary and could easily pass as either male or female. But which is she, really? She was raised as a boy, despite the fact that she would rather play dress-up than football. Now that her older brother, Scott, has been killed in Vietnam, Jamie’s parents—and her father, especially—need for her to be a boy. Convinced that her cross-dressing is a phase she’ll outgrow (a phase which has lasted sixteen years, mind you), her father feels that Jamie will come to her senses once she experiences the joys of being a man. He agrees to consider letting her live as a woman only if she completes a list of “Things Boys Do,” a series of tasks that ranges from getting her hair cut short, to hunting and killing an animal, to learning to drink and smoke. Fortunately, Jamie can do most of those things--how hard can it be to get your hair cut?—but can she do these things as a man?

I found Jamie to be a refreshing protagonist. Far from being a rebellious youth, she’s actually very respectful of her parents, even though she comes to realize that if she doesn’t embrace her true self, she’ll be torn apart by misery. I also appreciate the fact that even though we never really get to know Jamie’s parents beyond their roles as the story’s antagonists, they are never reduced to mere stereotypes. My only complaint is that the supporting cast is not more fully developed. But it is Jamie’s story, after all.

For readers born with conditions similar to Jamie’s, Confessions of a Teenage Hermaphrodite will certainly be a welcome addition to this neglected area of young adult fiction. For those born without such difficulties, it’s still an enlightening, eye-opening experience. Recommended for Ages 16-Up.

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Not Perfect, But Certainly A New Angle for Paranormal YA Romance

Source: Author Website

Lies Beneath (Lies Beneath #1) by Anne Greenwood Brown (Delacorte Books for Young Readers, 2012, 320pp.)

 Mermaids weren’t always the perky, bikini-top clad creatures you saw in The Little Mermaid. Early legends depict them as monsters that lured sailors to their deaths - a more or less fitting description for the family of mermaids in Lies Beneath. Calder and his sisters must kill to live, and they do this by luring mortals into the water and then absorbing their life forces. They’re are a pretty vindictive bunch, too. They blame a man named Hancock for breaking their mother’s heart and then leading her to her doom. When Calder and his sisters hear that Hancock’s son, Jason, will be moving into a house by their lake, they plot revenge by sending the strikingly handsome Calder to seduce Jason’s oldest daughter, Lily. Unfortunately, Calder soon falls in love with the girl, and finds himself torn between protecting his beloved and remaining loyal to his sisters.

It’s not a perfect book by any means. The action takes a while to build, and some readers may not find Calder and Lily’s romance particularly compelling. However, it’s certainly a new angle for the paranormal teen romance genre, and I predict that fans of Twilight will definitely gobble this one up. Recommended for Ages 16-Up.

For Fans of the Parallel World Premise

Have Book – Will Travel by Kfir and Yonatan Luzzatto (Pine Ten, LLC, 2012)

(Warning: Spoilers Ahead!)

Whether it’s off to Narnia through the magic wardrobe or falling down a rabbit-hole into Wonderland, transport to parallel worlds has always been a favorite in fantasy. In Have Book – Will Travel, the method of transportation happens to be a book – specifically, one Book of Dreams found by two friends, Darla and Max, in the storage room of an old fortress. Read a line aloud, any line, and within seconds, you’re in another dimension.

Plot-wise, the novel chronicles the adventures of Darla and Max as they flit from world to world. Max and Darla only visit two unnamed parallel worlds. The first, only briefly touched on, is ruled by gentlewomen who consider men to be second-class citizens. Upon the teens’ arrival, Max is thrown immediately into prison to await execution. After a few chapters spent trying to rescue Max, the two escape into a second world, one somewhat similar to their home world except for a few tweaks in the laws of physics. To be more exact, it’s not uncommon for people to find their spirits separated from their bodies, either by fever (you literally go out of your head from sickness) or, in Max’s case, dropping from the sky and landing on some poor unfortunate below – only to realize once you’ve gotten up and dusted yourself off that you’ve somehow knocked yourself out of your body and into that of the other person (whoops!).

Personally, I found the “Book of Dreams” premise to be a neat idea, but one that is not as fully explored as I had hoped. The two alternate worlds are not equally developed, which makes the flow of the story feel somewhat unbalanced. In all, I would recommend this for younger teens interested in Phillip Pullman’s His Dark Materials trilogy or C.S. Lewis’s Chronicles of Narnia, both of which employ the “parallel world” premise.

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