When Stars Fall

“But how can those things possibly be a good thing? “Well, we know He loves us,” Hannah said. But even in her own ears, it felt like a weak argument. Solona flung her hair back. “O, really? Well, that kind of love I can do without.”

Book: When Stars Fall by Kathy Wierenga Buchanan, Focus On The Family Publishing/Tyndale House Publishers, 2005

 

Genre: Realistic Fiction

Target Audience: Girls 13-21

Subjects: God’s faithfulness, dating relationships, Trust in God, Death

Summary: Shouldn’t your senior year be amazing? Shouldn’t everything go right? It’s not happening that way at all for any of the Brio friends. The guy Solona loves is leaving and thinks it best to cut ties completely. Becca’s hopes of starring on the basketball team get destroyed with an injury. Tyler gets rejected by his only choice of college. Jacie’s dad won’t come be her escort when she gets elected to homecoming court. Then, worst of all, Hannah’s closest friend, her Aunt Dinah, gets killed while doing mission work in Africa. Hannah has always had all the answers when things go wrong. Romans 8:28 says that all things work together for good. So maybe God let Becca get injured so Becca will spend more time with Him? Maybe God wants to teach Tyler something more and that’s why he didn’t get accepted at his choice of colleges. Hannah just can’t reconcile the God she has put her faith in, with the God who would allow something this horrid to happen! Did she not pray enough? If she had prayed for her aunt, like she was supposed to, would her aunt still be alive? If this is how God teaches lessons, Hannah doesn’t want any part of it anymore!

Notes: This book is the eleventh one in the Brio Girls series, a series put out by Focus On The Family about 5 friends as they go through their last two years of highschool. Each book boldly addresses a major question that Christians might ask about faith and following God. These books don’t make light of the struggles or give pat answers. It shows very realistic characters wrestling with God. I highly recommend all of the book in this series! This book deals with the question “How can a loving God allow bad things to happen?”. Hannah keeps trying to supply answers to the bad things that happen to her friends, but when her Aunt dies, there are no more answers. She becomes angry and lost. She’s not sure she even believes in God anymore. She has to reevaluate what her beliefs are and what her relationship with God is based on.

Recommendation Scale: 5/5

Reviewer: J:-)mi

Psalm 23:4 – Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.