Kayla's Notebook: Review of "Roadside Assistance" by Amy Clipston

Roadside Assistance

By: Amy Clipston

My description:

Seventeen year old Emily Curtis is a normal teen girl from the outside- although she is very different than all other high school juniors: she loves working on and rebuilding cars. Her hobby (and stress reliever) comes to a halt when she and her dad must move in with her cousin's family after her mom dies from cancer. Emily is convinced she does not like her new neighborhood, home, school, and friends. She suffers through the grief of the death of her mom, and the way she must dress and style her hair and makeup to please her aunt and grandmother. She believes God has abandoned her- but a boy she meets at school named Zander might be able to lead her back to God- through the help of her family, new friends, and church family.

Spiritual content:

Emily had great faith in God until her mother died: she doesn't understand why the Lord would let her die. The Richards' family (her cousins, aunt & uncle), go to church but don't always act out their faith or resemble Christ's love. Zander, Emily's new friend, is a "Christian outside of church too (by witnessing and sharing about God openly)" so he is "out of her league."

Positive content:

Most of the characters are Christians. Whitney and Zander both say the Bible and prayer helps them through their troubles. There are no bad words. It was clean for the most part (see below in negative content).

Negative content:

Language: Tick** off used twice or more. Shut up and stupid as well.

Negativity in Story: Zander and Emily kiss about 5 times. Boyfriends and frequent break-ups are mentioned quite often. Emily's aunt and grandma are always criticizing her in the way she dresses, styles her hair, and does her makeup. The parts of cars and talking about building cars are mentioned very often. I was a little confused at times, but it just showed into Emily's love of cars.

~*~

Star rating:

The only reasons why I didn't give this book 5 stars are for all of the breakups and kissing and the talk of building cars and car parts. But other wise, I LOVED this read, and I was sad when it ended! Check for my review of the next book in the series, Destination Unknown, which I will have up soon.

Age Appropriate:

I would recommend this read for ages 12-13+ (as long as you are okay with hearing about all the relationships and breakups.)

Characters (in order of importance):