Never Been Kissed

I tell myself this is all a bad dream, and anytime soon, I should be waking up. But then Detective Lewiston and Office Jones come in. "We'd like to get a statement from you." the detective tells me. "Unless you'd rather wait to have an attorney present." Officer Jones interjects. "My statement is that I’m not guilty," I tell them.

Book: Never Been Kissed by Melody Carlson, Revell Publishers, 2010

Genre: Realistic Fiction

Target Audience: Girls 15-18

Subjects: Dating relationships, Purity, "Sexting"/Pornography

Summary: Almost 16 and Elise has never been kissed. However, maybe things will soon change. She just changed schools and there is hope. A guy, a popular guy at that, seems to be quite interested in here. The only trouble is that he currently has a girlfriend. But that's ok, he has figured out how to have a relationship with her secretly through e-mail. Elise is ok with that at first. Eventually though, it gets tiring to wait for him to break it off with his current girl and acknowledge her in person too. The real trouble comes though when he sends her a pretty hot photo of himself and asks for a more revealing photo of her as well. She refuses of course, but somehow he gets one anyway - and everyone knows it! The whole school has seen the photo she swears she didn't take - of her completely naked.

Notes: This book gets into some pretty blunt issues. Sending pornographic photos of oneself as a minor is illegal and so the police take interest in her when the word gets around about this photo. Even though Elise did not commit an actual crime, she made choices that led to her downfall. Rather than waiting on God's timing, she tried to rush and force things to happen for herself. The lesson in the book is that God has a plan and waiting on His timing is a lot wiser than taking matters into our own hands. 

Recommendation Scale: 5/5

Reviewer: J:-)mi

1 Timothy 2:22 – Flee the evil desires of youth and pursue faith, love, and righteousness, along with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart.