Trouble in My Way by Michelle Stimpson

Karis Reed means well. She really is a good person at heart. Going to a boy's house without permission was just a mistake. But her minister of a mother doesn't see it that way. Karis's mother takes away all of her electronics, including her cell phone, leaving Karis feeling unjustly punished. Even though Karis is grounded, trouble seems to find her anyway. After a cell phone disaster and a questionable young man put Karis at odds with her mother again, Karis must figure out how to be the godly person she knows she is inside.

This book was okay. It was the author's first attempt at writing young adult fiction and the writing showed her inexperience. The premise of the story was good, but the plot could use some doctoring. Parts of this book were unrealistic and characters reacted to events differently than what normally would be expected. There was also a lot of '90s slang used that made me laugh (see: "His body was slammin'"). Yes, that's an actual quote (or near an actual quote). And Karis was so naive, it wasn't even funny. Her boyfriend is a player and everyone knows it, but she doesn't figure it out until the very end when they're in the backseat of his car. Nice, Karis, nice. There were other things she did that were stupid too, like running up her friend's cell phone bill to 900 dollars. How is that even possible? I actually started to feel like this book was a satire of another book, that's how ridiculous it was. Also: there's a lot of religious themes in the story, so if you don't like that, this book probably isn't for you.

5 out of 10.

Release Date: November 2008