False Friends and True Strangers

They have this process for getting what they want. First, they just expect to get what they want, so usually they do. If that doesn’t automatically work, then they have enough nerve to just go to the person who has what they want and tell that person to give it back to them. Or they just take whatever it is. And if that doesn’t get them there or if somebody gets suspicious, they issue a warning – like a nasty warning.

Book: False Friends and True Strangers by Nancy Rue, Zondervan Publishers, 2003

Genre: Realistic Fiction

Target Audience: Girls 13-19

Subjects: Shoplifting, bullying, truth

Summary: For a teenager with an active social life, the need to get a job because of running into a popular kid’s car is nothing less than a tragedy. When Duffy catches a fellow employee helping her friends shoplift though, it gets even worse. The popular crowd at school now has multiple reasons to be out to get here, including her unwillingness to surrender her role in the musical to one of them. And it seems they will stop at absolutely nothing to get what they want. If they don’t automatically get it because of their popularity, they will demand it, just take it or hurt someone in an attempt to get it. Laura wants to do what’s right, but telling the truth could put her in even greater danger and she has certainly been warned, both by friends and enemies to not mess with this crowd.

Notes: This story is about truth and boldness. Laura Duffy knows things that could hurt her and has to decide whether or not to speak the truth about these things. Her friends warn her that it could come with a very high cost, but she is determined to do it. As she wrestles with her decision, her counselor has her looking up verses that help her figure out what the right decision is. She is continuing, in this 2^nd book in the ‘Nama Beach High series to search for keys of power. In this book, she discovers the key of obedience. The cost was high, but when her friends ask her if it was worth it, she sees all the treasure that came from her paying the price of obedience and assures them that it was.

Recommendation Scale: 5/5

Reviewer: J:-)mi

Matthew 16:19 – I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.”

Matthew 6:19 –Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal.