A sweet, gentle romance for Christian readers, unique in its engagement with trauma.
A college freshman struggles with PTSD as she adjusts to university life and fights her attraction to a dreamy fellow student in Welch’s YA novel.
After a horrible senior year of high school, Kit relocates from Colorado to attend college at Mayberry University, a Christian school in rural East Texas. When she hears loud noises or encounters other triggers, Kit experiences visceral flashbacks to a traumatic event that occurred in her last semester in Colorado. Kit refuses to talk about the event to anyone, but it is known to be related to her ex-boyfriend Aiden, a popular boy at her high school. Her issues lead Kit to decide to steer clear of Levi Whitaker, a boy who catches her eye on her first day at Mayberry (“He’s just a guy. I have to get a grip”). According to the gossip of her new friends, the wealthy and attractive Levi is a junior, notorious for not dating despite legions of interested girls. Kit seems to have caught Levi’s eye as well, and she runs into him everywhere, from the cafeteria to Sunday night prayer group. Like Kit, Levi seems devout and sincere in his Christian beliefs—this is confirmed for the reader by Levi’s occasional narration. Both Kit and Levi regularly pray, which is signified by the use of italics in the text; they also “hear” God’s responses, which are rendered in a bold font. These responses typically take the form of paraphrased Bible verses and fit seamlessly into the narrative. Kit and her friends continuously make references to films and music that sometimes feel dated, such as the 2005 film Hitchand comedian Brian Regan, who stopped doing standup in 2015. Still, Welch succeeds where some Christian authors fail by advocating for therapy to deal with emotional issues. While some devout narratives might insist Kit needs to pray more, Welch makes it clear that, while prayer does help Kit, she also requires care from a professional to combat her PTSD.
A sweet, gentle romance for Christian readers, unique in its engagement with trauma.Pub Date: Feb. 1, 2025
ISBN: 9798992337617
Page Count: 350
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: Feb. 28, 2025
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
A delightfully captivating swatch of autobiography from the author of Kiss. Kiss, Switch Bitch and many others. Schoolboy Dahl wanted adventure. Classes bored him, there was work to be had in Africa, and war clouds loomed on the world's horizons. He finds himself with a trainee's job with Shell Oil of East Africa and winds up in what is now Tanzania. Then war comes in 1939 and Dahl's adventures truly begin. At the war's outbreak, Dahl volunteers for the RAF, signing on to be a fighter pilot. Wounded in the Libyan desert, he spends six months recuperating in a military hospital, then rejoins his unit in Greece, only to be driven back by the advancing Germans. On April 20, 1941, he goes head on against the Luftwaffe in the Battle of Athens. On-target bio installment with, one hopes, lots more of this engrossing life to come.
Pub Date: Oct. 1, 1986
ISBN: 0142413836
Page Count: 209
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Review Posted Online: Oct. 16, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 1986
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Paulsen recalls personal experiences that he incorporated into Hatchet (1987) and its three sequels, from savage attacks by moose and mosquitoes to watching helplessly as a heart-attack victim dies. As usual, his real adventures are every bit as vivid and hair-raising as those in his fiction, and he relates them with relish—discoursing on “The Fine Art of Wilderness Nutrition,” for instance: “Something that you would never consider eating, something completely repulsive and ugly and disgusting, something so gross it would make you vomit just looking at it, becomes absolutely delicious if you’re starving.” Specific examples follow, to prove that he knows whereof he writes. The author adds incidents from his Iditarod races, describes how he made, then learned to hunt with, bow and arrow, then closes with methods of cooking outdoors sans pots or pans. It’s a patchwork, but an entertaining one, and as likely to win him new fans as to answer questions from his old ones. (Autobiography. 10-13)
Pub Date: Feb. 1, 2001
ISBN: 0-385-32650-5
Page Count: 150
Publisher: Delacorte
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2000
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