Here's a blurb about the book from the author's publisher's site:
Channing Johnson is everything Eden's ever dreamed of and she can't believe he just moved in next door. When he starts showing interest in her, she's overjoyed...until she sees him out on a date with Lexi. He says Lexi talked him into it to repay her for tutoring him. Lexi says they're in love.
Eden doesn't know who to believe and is forced to choose between her best friend and the guy of her dreams. Nothing is as it seems and no matter who she chooses, someone will get hurt.
Now truly, can there by anything more dramatic in a young girl's life than to feel second-best to her best friend and have that very same friend set eyes on the guy of her dreams? Due to my job, I spend a lot of time with hormonal youth, and everyone of them need to read about young Eden, a girl who is trying so hard to live for Christ in an environment that's not always conducive to that.
High school is full of angst, and I think that's why this plot drew me in. Thankfully, I never had a tiff with a best friend over a guy...but I knew of plenty friends who did. Kim writes the emotions with sincerity and honesty, and my hope would be that young adult readers would think twice about their own situations in light of the similar fictional ones they read about in this book.
That's the power of fiction. Kim introduces young adult readers (and older adults like me!) into some very tough topics...and she does this "softly," which is my therapeutic term for describing a non-invasive, non-in-your-face way of bringing something up for discussion. She addresses premarital sex, alcohol abuse, reckless behavior of youth, cheating, self-image/confidence--all jam-packed into a romantic story that really will make your heart melt.
Kim--I'm eager for more of Lexi. Hopefully there's a Book Two planned! Congrats on your very awesome YA!
Kim has agreed to give one commenter an Amazon gift card in the amount needed to purchase her book! All you have to do (if you haven't already) is click "Follow" on the right-hand column, since I like for my giveaways to benefit my readership, and then leave a comment to be entered to win.
Q4U: Did you ever have a tiff with a best friend over a romantic interest?
11 comments:
Can't say I ever had a tiff with a friend over some guy... then again, through most of my public school education almost all of my friends were guys. I really didn't make successful long-term girlfriends until I was married.
I wonder what that says about me.
I never had a tiff with my best friend over guys...things is in our teens, we both hated boys! :D That worked superbly for us...haha...
Jokes apart, I really liked the review and hope to read it soon!
This happens more than not...
Mine happened with a friend, not a best friend.
Why do we want what our friends have? (I mean when we are young and stupid, those petty feeling have long since vanished.)
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Thanks for hosting me, Character Therapist! Mistaken Identity was so much fun to write.
The closest I came to that situation was one of my band friends taking my locker neighbor to prom. They were just going as friends, and my locker friend was simply one of the few guys who talked to me outside of class. But I was mildly disappointed, though partly because all my friends were officially going in pairs, and I had no one. I skipped so that I wouldn't be the oddball out.
But I think I would have strongly identified with Eden. We probably had similar confidence issues.
Wow. I can't wait to read this story now. I know all about that plot line! My best friend and I had huge trouble over one guy for three years. Looking back now at almost 40 it sounds so silly - but at the time it was devastating.
(In fact I just told my 16 yr old daughter about it the other day. She couldn't believe her mom acted that way!)
I wasn't a Christian in my teen years which made the situation get even uglier. So I look forward to hearing a take on that scenario that includes Christ. Then I can let my teenage daughters read it too.
Thanks for tackling these topics for our kids. There is so much going on in the lives of teens today - it is nice to address them in a "soft" way, like you said, through fun and entertaining fiction.
I was curious what age the teens in the story are?
Thanks for posting!
jeff - that's a great question for the ages. jealousy has been around a LONG time (i'm thinking of Cain and Able here...) i think some emotions are hardwired into us due to our sin nature.
jodi - in the story, Lexi is a senior, as is Channing. Eden was a bit younger...sophomore or junior, but for the life of me at this very moment, I can't recall which! Kim, want to help out?
Oh yeah, did this ever happen to me! The guy I fancied the pants off went out with BOTH of my best friends over me... In hindsight everyone said they were glad I didn't go out with him because his overwhelming arrogance would have crushed my sensitive little heart. But still - there's nothing like having two best friends betray you and go behind your back a matter of months apart just because you're travelling with family and therefore out of the picture...
Eden was a sophomore and just getting her driver's license. And, Jeannie, you just might see more of Lexi. I've had more than one person ask me to write her story and I've emailed my editor. We'll see what happens.
My step-daughter recommended Simone Elkeles' books to me. She writes great romance, but the books are full of profanity and sex, which makes me very proud of Mistaken Identity, which teaches against sex drugs, alcohol, etc, but in a kind, gentle way without preaching. I think consequences are the best teachers and my characters in Mistaken Identity had to suffer some of life's hard licks for wrong choices.
I totally adored this book!
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