Reviews for Christy Miller Collection, Volume 1: Summer Promise, A Whisper and a Wish, Yours Forever

The average rating for Christy Miller Collection, Volume 1: Summer Promise, A Whisper and a Wish, Yours Forever based on 2 reviews is 3.5 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2018-09-16 00:00:00 Kristen Hansen OH MY GOODNESS SO MANY THOUGHTS + FEELINGS ON THESE THREE BOOKS THAT MAKE UP VOLUME ONE. I got the book and read all the synopses first from the back cover + the last pages. Which meant I read the summaries of all 12 books in the series and was like, "ummm yep we know where this is going". And guess what. IT'S ALL SO SPOILERY ABOUT THE OUTCOME OF THE ROMANCE. Any romantic tension there was supposed to be is now ... DEAD. Let's begin by talking about the good things before I start ranting and offend some fan 😂 . I am obviously not the target audience, which might explain why I didn't enjoy it as much as I should have. I'm too old, too mature (haha?? Look at my self praise) for this main character. I think the book would be best for 12/13 year olds who love a generous dose of clean romance + important life lessons for girls about friends + peer pressure + making good choices. Christy deals with things that I assume most girls would have to face at some point - friends, peer pressure, trouble that others teens get into, crushes, insecurities about looks, adults meddling in her life, etc. I have been super sheltered in a good environment for my whole life + learn stuff the easy way (aka NOT  from experience) so I'm mostly like, 'is this what it means to have friends? Cos I never had any friends' 😆 . So yes I THINK YOUNGER GIRLS IN THE RIGHT AGE GROUP COULD LEARN GOOD STUFF FROM HERE. . I really like the settings/vibes?? California, beach, fancy house, shopping malls, small town, big church, school, restaurants and cafes ... etc. All felt really ordinary + beautiful + easy to imagine. . It was attention-holding, I must confess. I read through in three days and was really interested to know what happens next. . I laughed a lot. But not necessarily over the good stuff 😐 . The characters were nice? I mean other than Christy being immature and Todd being perfect and Rick being a questionable red herring, everyone else was really fun? Sure there were some jerks + stupid kids + annoying adults but they really were colorful and varied and I enjoyed reading about them. They all had struggles + conflicts to work through and no one was perfect (ya know, other than Todd). Ok now for the bad stuff??? HAHA HERE WE COME. . Christy was so immature. Like literally, I quote: "They waited and waited. Finally, at seven, Uncle Bob started suggesting why Todd was late ... 'Maybe he chickened out!' ... Tears filled Christy's eyes." I mean, MY DUDE, don't you understand a joke when you hear one??? Christy starts out at fourteen. Too worried about her looks, too whiney, too jealous, too naive, too inexperienced in every way for the plot of how-she-gets-a-boyfriend. Now, I think a lot of us can agree 14 is too young for a boyfriend. Hmm? But let's just say for critical purposes that we agree kids can have boyfriends at 14 if they are ready for it. CHRISTY IS SO SO SO NOT READY. The one time one of the guys acts like a boy in joking + laughing + being loud all she can say is, 'ugh why is he acting like such a brat??' And spoiler -  she doesn't ACTUALLY get a boyfriend in these books, but the entire plot revolves around her thinking + crushing on these couple of guys and wondering if they like her + trying to spend time with them + trying to make them like her. Which brings us to point two. . THESE GUYS ARE LIKE TWO GRADES ABOVE HER. I was complaining about this to my mom who said, maybe it's a case of girls maturing faster than boys? And I was like HAR HAR I see no evidence of that whatsoever. Did I tell you how immature Christy is? Well lemme say - HER TWO BOYFRIEND CANDIDATES ARE SO ... UGH ... PERFECT. Which means, ummm yes they act all mature + caring. Todd is like the ... idk same as every other boyfriend I ever encountered in fiction. Tall, so handsome, blond, friendly when no one else is, super sweet and kind and gentle and funny and caring, and OOOHHH A CHRISTIAN. Extra points??? *stifles growls* While you read, he makes you go, awww, but as soon as you're done you're like, ummm can we call this enormous spider walking around the house Todd cos I wanna yell at him. (That was me, literally.) Then there's Rick. Low key jerk. He seemed nice enough but he knows Christy can't date till she's 16 so WHY THE HECK ARE YOU TRYING TO GET SO ROMANTIC WITH HER MY DUDE WHY??? (Spoiler, Rick is not "the one".) . Oh yeah and did I tell you she meets Todd in chapter four? Yeah, so unique 🙄 . And she's praying "I want a second chance with Rick + I want everything with Todd to be exactly like last summer". Which part of running after two guys do you not understand Christy?? I hate love triangles in which we all know which guy is the jerk + I doubly hate the love triangle in which the girl is running after both of them and THAT. IS. CHRISTY. There was this one part in which a friend says, why don't you try to make Todd jealous? And Christy is like, idk, but she accidentally DOES and Todd gets mad and I'm like, wow I'll just sit back and enjoy watching you suffer these consequences for a little while. . And her parents tell her she can't date till she's 16. SO TELL ME MY DEAR, WHY DON'T YOU STOP THINKING ABOUT THESE GUYS ROMANTICALLY UNTIL THEN. . Yeah I had major problems with the romance in here. . I also feel like the books could have explored other things so much more. Like her relationship with her brother. She thinks he's a brat. And when Todd starts teaching him to surf she's whining like 'oh why is he playing with me bro and isn't spending time with me??' Christy dear, let me tell you something. Of all the impressive things Todd could do this is a top notch quality. DO YOU KNOW WHAT IT TAKES TO SPEND QUALITY TIME WITH OTHER PEOPLE'S LITTLE SIBLINGS?? If I ever see a teen who can hit is with kids my opinion of them goes up threefold. . Also her parents. Family life was sorely lacking. We suddenly find out in book 3 that 'things started to get better when they started going to church' SO WHY WAS IT NOT MENTIONED BEFORE?? Christy has very average relationships with her parents, and while it began to improve in book 3, WHERE ARE THEY HALF THE TIME?? . And yeah this has Christian messages/themes but really not in an outstanding way. Christy has not been reading her Bible or talking about Christian things with Christian friends and she only prays when she has some sort of conflict and still she says, JESUS IS LIVING INSIDE ME AND IS AS REAL AS ANY PERSON I KNOW. I don't see much evidence of that. In my experience the more time you spend with Jesus the more he'll be alive to you and I don't see Christy doing that. I MEAN, YES, WE ALL STRUGGLE LIKE CHRISTY. We struggle to grow closer to God and to follow him above all the other drowning voices but from a Christian book that has SO MUCH TIME to focus on romance where was the time to make Christy grow a little more as a Christian + as a good family member??? SO YEP. RANT OVER. To some tweenage girls who ask, 'can you recommend me a Christian romance book about young girls?' I /might/ say, 'try Christy Miller.' 'Though you'll probably be better of not reading romance at all.' The thing is, I am still super hesitant to recommend this to anyone - especially YOUNGER girls - because reading about Christy's constant thoughts about guys might influence similar thoughts in readers 😕 So ... I can't say I really recommend. I LOW KEY ENJOYED READING THESE FROM MY MATURE PERSPECTIVE but I don't know if I can put up with nine more books of Christy + the love squares that are certain to crop up.

Review # 2 was written on 2012-07-05 00:00:00 Jani Kurki I LOVED this series! I myself, am an avid reader, so I read the books in the time span of about three months. Before I found this book, I had been in this sort of, "slump" if you will, where I thought that all the books I was reading, all had the same type of plot, the same sort of sappy love story etc. and I was growing especially tired of reading the same thing over and over again. Then one day at the library, I found the first volume of this series, and thought, "Hey why not, the synopsis looks pretty good, it contains the first threee books in it..." So I checked it out and went home, only to read the book in less then three days, to return to the library aferwards to check out the second volume and so on. I even went so far as to put a hold on some of the copies that my library didn't have, which is a whole new experience for me. Any Christian teen, looking for an uplifting story, good morals, holding out for a hero, and the importance of centering your life on Christ, this is a must read! :)