Deb Brammer

I admit I was somewhat skeptical when I first picked up this book. I wasn’t sure if the author would be able to pull off some of the things this book was promising, but I was willing to give it a try, and I’m glad I did!

This book does have some strengths and weaknesses. The one element I was particularly concerned about—the ex-cult aspect—was somewhat disappointing because it didn’t feel completely realistic to me. But where this book shone was with the American missionaries. I show more easily connected with them and some of the predicaments they found themselves in.

Overall, this was a fairly fast read, which I was pleasantly surprised about. It’s also fairly in-depth; watching what these characters had to go through—and how that forced them to rely on the Lord and seek guidance for what to do next—was an encouragement to me.

I haven’t read the other books in this series, but if you enjoy realistic Christian fiction with a strong focus on missions, outreach, and trying to share the gospel, this could be a good series to check out.

I was given a complimentary copy of this book, and this is my honest opinion of it. show less

Amy Kramer's family moves to Taiwan where her parents plan to work as missionaries. Amy and her brother attend the international school where Amy meets her "peanut butter friends," people she can understand and relate to. But she would also like to make "chop suey friends" with the Chinese girls in her neighborhood and perhaps bring them over to the church. This proves difficult since Amy only knows a handful of words in Chinese and the only seem to want to call her names like "a-tok-a" or show more "big-nose." She finds herself relying more on her peanut butter friends, especially Jessica, a popular but bossy girl who convinces the girls to avoid Mickey, a Chinese student at the school. Amy learns she's been afraid of everything different in Taiwan that she hasn't given herself the chance to enjoy it, and that perhaps being a good missionary isn't so much the goal as being a good Christian. show less

This book had been on my "to-read" list for over a year. I'm glad that I finally got round to buying and reading it. It is well written and researched and I found it hard to put down at times. It was especially of interest to me having worked in Child Protection in the police force for a few years.

Mary Weaver (a married mother of two and a Christian) finds herself in court charged with first degree murder and child endangerment after a child she regularly babysits dies whilst in her care. show more Weaver finds herself subjected to not one but a total of three trials in the public eye due to the issues at stake in the case and the legal arguments surrounding "Shaken Baby Syndrome." One of the most worrying factors is that at various points during her ordeal many medical and legal experts were openly and publicly questioning the verdict in her case but it seemed that nothing could be done and that those originally involved were determined to convict her despite the evidence so she remained languishing in prison. The public quite rightly began to ask themselves "What is preventing this same situation from happening to me if a child dies on "my watch?"

Weaver stunned those around her by clinging to her strong faith in God even at times of great trial and during periods of separation from her husband and two young children. She refused to believe that God had made a mistake and chose (like Paul and others in Scripture) to "count her blessings" and try to use her time of incarceration for God's glory. I'm sure her behavioural testimony impacted many people for Christ during this time.

This case also caused other cases of SBS to be re-opened and re-examined.

The book is clean; free of bad language, there are some references to violence in connection with the child's death and also sexual references but nothing unnecessary and the references are not in graphic detail. I would recommend this book to all readers especially those with an interest in legal procedures/court cases/police etc. show less

This was definitely one of the better books I have read as part of a review group. The plot and characters kept my attention and although I wouldn't describe it as a page-turner it was definitely readable. I liked the Christian content and the unique subject matter. I especially liked the way the main character changes and develops in the company of real Christians having been subjected to a negative experience in the past. The grafitti storyline felt a bit as if it ran separately to the show more main plot with the four characters...maybe more could have been done to interlink the two but it still added to the plot rather than detracting from it.

I would recommend this book to Christian teens/young adults. It deals with sudden death, dealing with disabilities and a whole range of other issues. show less