After an eternal
pause, Mom cleared her throat, “Oliva, I had wanted to talk to you about going
somewhere, just the two of us today-” Her voice sounded stern. Her hands frozen
on the half peeled banana, Olive tried to smile. “That s-sounds nice.” She still
didn’t look at Mom. “-But I can clearly see that last night was a repeat of a
few weeks ago. In fact, you’re still drunk, aren’t you? You’re slurring and
stumbling. You reek to high heaven of who knows what.” Mom cleared her throat.
“You leave me with no choice.” Oliva put down the fruit. That didn’t sound
good.
Genre: Realistic Fiction
Target Audience: Girls 15-19
Subjects: Alcohol, drugs, death, family
relationships, sexual abuse, salvation
Summary: Locking her door doesn’t work.
He takes removes it from the hinges and takes it away entirely. Telling the
police certainly wouldn’t work. No one knows better than he does how to fool
people. They’d definitely believe him over her. No, the only answer is escape.
So escape is what Oliva does. Escape to parties. She learns to drink and smoke
pot. This plan works great, even after the police catch them once. It’s not
until someone suffers the extreme consequences of their choices that Oliva commits
to Diamond Estates, a place of healing for teen girls. If Oliva will open up
and let them in, she could find healing herself. But does her past have too
strong of a hold on her to do so?
Notes: This is the first book in the
Diamond Estates series, a series about a kind of rehab and healing center for
teen girls. Each book takes a young girl with a serious problem and shows how
only through finding Jesus and getting support and making changes in their
life, can they find the healing they so desperately need. In this one, a girl
has dealt with a stepfather sexually abusing her from the time she was twelve.
She’s turned to alcohol and drugs and partying as an escape. When a friend is
killed due to these choices she agrees to go to Diamond Estates, partly just to
escape her stepfather but partly ready to seek healing. It’s a very realistic
portrayal of how tough it truly is for a girl in this situation. They aren’t
automatically cured as soon as they show up. They still battle addictions and
relationships. Even after becoming a Christian, they still struggle. It shows
not only the main character, but the side character’s struggles as well. It’s a
good series for someone who needs to see a realistic portrayal of the struggles
a teen girl faces and where hope can come from.
Spiritual Content Recommendation
Scale: 5/5
Reviewer: J:-)mi
Psalm 42:11 –Why are you downcast, O my soul? Why so disturbed within me? Put
your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Savior and my
God.
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