I'm back yet again reviewing the Christy Miller series. If you've read my reviews on the first two volumes you know how this works - each book reviewed separately. So here we go.
Book #7: True Friends
Book Synopsis:
What is a true friend? Christy Miller knows she has two of them: Todd and Katie. To show how much she appreciates them, she writes to Todd, who's off surfing in Hawaii, and she agrees to join the ski club with Katie...even though she's scared of skiing! Fortunately, Christy and Katie can laugh as they bumble their way around the bunny slopes at Lake Tahoe. But Christy finds herself caught between new friends and her loyalty to Katie. Will Christy find a way to be a true friend when it counts most? And will she ever hear from Todd?
My Review:
3.75-4/5 stars. This one is a hard one to review. There were a lot of little things I loved about it, but I didn't come out of it with the same feelings I normally have when I've finished the other books in this series.
I loved Christy and Katie's friendly banter. This book's main focus was friendship, and specifically the relationship between Christy and Katie. Even though they got into fights in this book, they still had such a good dynamic. They teased each other and joked back and forth and it was so fun to read. It was very realistic for best friends and it reminded me of me and some of my closest friends.
On the topic of friends, a complaint I have is that Christy never has any non-Christian friends. This is kind of a gripe about the series as a whole, but it was prevalent in this book with Christy hanging out with the "popular" girls on the ski trip. Throughout the series, any non-Christians that Christy hangs out with end up being bad, mean people, but not all people who aren't Christians are necessarily terrible people. It's also okay to be friends with non-Christians as long as you're not letting them influence you to do bad.
Back to things I liked about this book. I love how there's a big focus on missions and witnessing to people around you. I'm interested in missions and helping people to learn about God, so I enjoyed hearing about the people at Christy's youth group talking about missions opportunities and sharing the Gospel with their friends. I did think it was a little odd that they made a list of people they wanted to witness to and called it a "hit list". I don't go around telling everybody I know about the Bible, so that part just felt a little much.
Similarly, it feels kind of unrealistic that everyone seems to be willing to listen to Christy talk about God and the Bible. Maybe it's because these books were written in the 90s, because nowadays, a lot of people would refuse to even hear anything because they hate Christianity. I wish more people would be willing to listen, so this isn't really a complaint about the book, just something I noticed and thought about.
I thought the plot in this book was kind of weak. The drama with the "popular girls" at the ski lodge felt a little shallow and cliché. It was fun to see Christy and Katie learning to ski, but the big conflict there wasn't great.
Overall, I just didn't enjoy this book quite as much as I've enjoyed some of the previous ones.
Book #8: Starry Night
Book Synopsis:
It's Christmastime, and Christy Miller has so much going on: family time, work, and maybe, just maybe, going to the Rose Bowl Parade with a bunch of friends. If only she could answer Uncle Bob's tough questions. Todd's buddy Doug gives her some insight, and she starts to appreciate him in a whole new way. Rick Doyle shows up again...but is he pursuing Christy or the cutest elf at the mall? Through it all, will Christy find someone special to count the stars with?
My Review:
5/5 stars. This was another tough one to rate. I was torn between 4.5 and 5 stars. I thought about giving it 4.75 stars because it's in the middle, but the ending bumped it up to five stars because it was adorable.
My big takeaway from this book: I LOVE Doug! I prefer him over Todd - not for Christy, but for me. I was already a big fan of him, but this book further solidified that love. He was very prominent in this book and he was so sweet, kind, and funny. I didn't like that Christy thought there was a possibility that he liked her, because the age gap is weird. While they could be cute together, I see and prefer them as just friends.
Speaking of the age gap, that was something that was a little confusing to me. In this book, it's mentioned that Doug is 20, but I thought he was younger. I thought Todd and Doug were both 16 when Christy met them back in the first book, when she was 14. That would make her two years younger than them. Maybe Doug was always slightly older and I just didn't realize, but I don't know. I'm going to assume that that's the case, because otherwise Todd would be 20 while Christy is 16, which is a little weird.
I talked about Doug, now I'll talk about the other prominent boy in this book - Rick. I still wasn't a fan of him in this book. He kind of had a "redemption arc" but I felt it was unrealistic. He became too nice all of a sudden; he had a personality change too quickly. I understand that he's had good influences like Doug, but it's only been a couple months since the last book so it just seems unlikely that he's way nicer so soon.
Another thing I liked was the Christmas setting of this book. I love Christmas, so this book gave lots of warm and fuzzy Christmas-y feelings. It's almost summer right now, so it was nice to read about the cozy cabin in the snow. I loved the moment on Christmas Eve night with Christy thinking about how amazing Jesus' sacrifice is.
The pacing in this book off felt a little off to me. Their week at the cabin was only two chapters, and then there were more chapters spent on a shorter amount of time. It felt like some parts went by too quickly compared to how much time it actually was for the characters.
I really liked Christy finding it difficult to answer Uncle Bob's tough questions. The question of "if God exists, then why do bad things happen?" is a common one among nonbelievers, and it's definitely a tough one to answer. Christy being honest and saying "I don't know", and then trying to figure it out so that she could have an answer in the future, was very relatable.
Another small detail I liked is that one of Christy's favorite books of the Bible is Philippians. My life verse is Philippians 4:8, so I also really like Philippians. That was just a small detail that made me smile.
The ending was so cute and wholesome! Todd is finally back after almost three books without him. Him and Christy sitting on top of his van, looking up at the sky, and just being with each other, was very easy to picture in my head and I loved it. I liked his conversation with Christy about not knowing exactly what God has planned for them, but knowing that they will be in each other's lives forever in some way.
This book was a great one and another one of my favorites in the series.
Book 9: Seventeen Wishes
Book Synopsis:
It's summer, and that means the beach and other adventures. And Christy Miller's best friend, Katie, is always full of ideas. They'll be camp counselors! But when Katie can't go, Christy is bewildered and overwhelmed by her fifth-grade girls, who have boundless energy for anything except what Christy wants them to do. Do they even hear a word she says? Soon they're playing matchmaker between Christy and Jaeson, a handsome counselor...and he doesn't seem to mind. When Christy's seventeenth birthday arrives later in the summer, just what will she be wishing for?
My Review:
4.75/5 stars. This was another really good book. I would've given it 5 stars if it weren't for one part of the book that bothered me.
First of all, I loved the camp setting. I've been a summer camp participant for many years, so I can relate to all the camp activities like swimming and archery. I've never stayed in a cabin with many other girls, usually just 1 or 2 others, so I can't relate to that, though. I've never been a camp counselor, but I actually will be this summer at a church camp. I'll be helping out with a much younger age group than the kids in this book, but I still loved reading about Christy starting to bond with all the girls.
I felt bad for Katie not being allowed to go, but I thought it was a very realistic thing for non-Christian parents to not let their child participate in church-related activities. I really liked and agree with what Christy said at the end about how a lot of people have a misconstrued idea of what things are actually Christian. That's even more true in today's society.
I loved the message towards the end of the book about "planting seeds" in the kids' hearts and then leaving the rest up to God. I've felt the same way Christy did when I tried to tell one of my friends about God and didn't see anything working, but then I realized that I had done all I could, and the rest was for God to do.
In the second to last chapter, the moment with Christy helping Sara become a Christian was so sweet and gave me a lot of feelings, partly because it reminded me of when I became a Christian. I was a little younger than Sara is, but it was kind of a similar situation. My dad explained what I needed to do and was with me when I prayed and became saved.
The only thing that prevents this book from being five stars is all the flirting between Christy and Jaeson. That's a huge part of this book, and it really annoyed me. Christy had Todd, so she shouldn't have been wanting all the attention from Jaeson. Even though she kind of realized towards the end that it wasn't even real, I still didn't like it.
Besides the whole Christy-Jaeson thing, this book was another great one.
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