So Over My Head

 Dear God, if there was a breaking and entering prayer, I would so say it right now. Ruthie’s voice from outside jolts me like a cattle prod. I drop my flashlight and it skitters across the floor, under the far bed. Oh no! I have to get it! I have to hide! My brain scrambles for a rational thought. Think Bella! What do I do?

Book: So Over My Head by Jenny B. Jones, Thomas Nelson Publishers, 2010

 

Genre: Realistic Fiction

Target Audience: Girls 13-18

Subjects: Fear, Trust, Family Relationships, Friendships, Dating Relationships

Summary: When the fair comes to town, trouble comes with it. Bella goes to interview one of the performers and finds her dead. As it turns out, the lady killed was a caregiver for a relative of one of her mom’s friends. Bella’s curiosity is aroused and despite Luke’s best attempts to keep her safe, she rushes headfirst into danger attempting to solve the mystery of the murder. Meanwhile, in New York, her dad is getting married to someone Bella is confident is up to something mysterious. So now she’s up to trouble whether she’s in Truman or New York. Then there’s her relationship with Luke – or lack of it – by her choice, not his.

Notes: This book is the third in a trilogy about a young teenager who goes from being spoiled rotten to having parents that truly parent – resulting in a major shift of lifestyle for her. Everything that she has taken for granted is now gone. The spiritual theme is that Bella learns that she has stopped trusting overall. She is terrified that her boyfriend and stepdad will let her down the way her father and last boyfriend did. She learns a few lessons about trust – in her Heavenly Father, as well as those around her. It is still primarily a drama of Bella’s life though. The author states at the end of it that it was not intended to have a spiritual message, just tell a story about a normal girl who happens to be a Christian. There is also a lot of bathroom humor throughout the series. There isn’t much vocabulary held back in these books.

Recommendation Scale: 3/5

Reviewer: J:-)mi

2 Timothy 1:7 – For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love and of self-discipline.