I was excited to have a new book reach the house recently. It is "Heather" Book V of The Circle of Friends series by L. Diane Wolfe. Even more so was Ashley from across the street, as my book was snatched up and carried away before I was able to even open the front cover. Now Ashley is young but she has a high reading level. Since the book is listed as a YA (or young adult) I felt that this was no problem. I saw her walking around with her nose in the book for several days afterwards. Great! Now I could ask her what she thought and then dive in myself once I could get the book back.Well, that finally happened and I have had time to sit and read "Heather" for myself. I wish I had done this beforehand. Even though I enjoyed reading this story I feel it was not at all right for Ashley to have read it. I looked up what age ranges was a YA book meant to be for. According to Wikipedia " Young-adult fiction (often abbreviated as YA) is fiction written for, published for, or marketed to adolescents and young adults, roughly ages 14 to 21." Well the 21 part OK, but the 14 or so...not to my liking. With talk about drinking, sex, suicide and including cuss words, this is not something I would want my young adult reading. I had to go over and apologize to Nessa for letting Ashley have the book in the first place. Thank goodness Ashley may be able to read on a higher level but she is still pretty innocent so somethings just went over her head. Whew!
Now on to the story itself. "Heather" is about a young 20's woman who is making on her own. She has a new job as a Couch and also is enjoying her relationship with her boyfriend. But there are many conflicts that she has to deal with (as all of us do in life). With her father dealing with Cancer and then seeing that thoughts of suicide are entering into the life of a young woman, Heather has a lot on her hands. Top that with the up and down of her serious romantic relationship, there is plenty to keep a young woman in a topsy-turvy state of mind. But Heather must also learn to concentrate on her job while maintaining her friendships too. Thus the lessons of life are set into place. I really did enjoy reading "Heather" and hope to go back and get the first 4 books in The Circle of Friends series. If you are interested you can check them all out at Wolfe's website.
I do wish to thank Direct Contact for sending me this title. I do recommend it for age appropriate of 18 and up. I would not think of it as a YA recommendation though.
Lynette, thanks for reading and reviewing my title.
ReplyDeleteWhile this book might seem beyond YA, the series began with the characters in high school, so that is where the series was placed ny my publisher.
I always tell people it's for 14 and up. I used to be a foster parent, so I saw all the YA books our teen foster kids were reading. They were full of foul language, sex, drugs, and a lack moral beliefs. While the main character in Book V did not hold the same strong Christian beliefs as some of the other Books' characters, I still believe overall my series is one of the cleanest, most positive on the market.
I am pleased you enjoyed it. This was the most difficult of the series to write, as Heather was an ornery character who kicked my butt throughout the process!
And I'm sorry, Lynnete, I did not realize Ashley was so young. You are correct - a ten year old should not be reading this series.
ReplyDeleteWe'd like to hope they aren't ready for adult situations, although they grow up much faster now than we did.