Receive Your Copy Summer Promise (Christy Miller, #1) Composed By Robin Jones Gunn Offered In Printable Format

was browsing through my old bookshelf looking for a specific book when I came across this one.
I remember reading this serires a long time ago, wehn I was aboutorand I really enjoyed it.
Other than it being a Christian book, I didn't remember anything else from it as it's been aboutyears since I've read it.
It's a bit preachy, but it was a cute story despite that, i love this book especially because it is christian and i dont see anything bad about the book.
Another fantastic book by Robin Jones Gunn, The settings for her books are always just right for her storys, It seems a fairly common question to ask someone what book changed their life, Whenever I hear this, I immediately go to the Christy Miller series and then feel like a bad English major because it's far from literature.
But it's the truth. It's certainly not everyone's cup of tea, but for young teen girls confused about God and life as they fully transition into adolescence, it's perfect.
It shows that there is more to romance than what is currently marketed to teens and that taking it slow has its rewards.
It's certainly not as brutally honest as sitelinkBecoming Me and the rest of the Diary of a Teenage Girl series by Carlson, but they make a nice pairing.


As for unrealistic expectations about how being goodgetting the perfect guy, . . I'm going onand still waiting on my Todd but don't seem too damaged by these novels, The broader theme of waiting on God's timing is one that remains applicable throughout our lives, not just when we're super young.
And yes, the Bible does tell us that we will be rewarded for our faithfulness, Those rewards don't necessarily manifest in a husband, but I'm not sure that's the message this book is sending.
I first read this series when I wasyears old, I was absolutely in love with Todd and I adored the lessons that I learned in this book.
I am now seventeen and I still am such a huge fan of Christy Miller, The first book, this book, is my least favorite book in the series but I still enjoy it.
I just have trouble getting through it because Christy is such a whiny little baby!! I am not an emotional person and I have trouble trying to be patient with Christy because all she does it cry.
. . She does mature later on though and love watching her grow!! If you're a Christian lady and want to grow spiritually while enjoying a cute romantic series, I suggest you pick up Christy Miller!! : I received an electronic copy of this book from Librarything's Early program in exchange for an honest review.


Book Summary from Amazon:

"Asyearold Christy leaves her family's Wisconisn farm to spend the summer at her wealthy aunt and uncle's beach home in Newport, she realizes this could be the best season of her life.
She's full of hope that surfer Todd will like her the beach crowd will accept her and she can become like her gorgeous new friend, Alissa.


But the summer doesn't unfold as Christy hoped she discovers this season also holds heartache, Todd wavers between Christy and another girlyearold Shawn dies in a drugrelated surfing accidentand the police want to know how Christy was involved Alissa discloses that her sophistication hides a painful past.


Through it all, will Christy keep her promise to her parents not to do anything she'll regret Or will she do anything to get Todd, to be accepted, to force her summer to give her everything it promised"


What I liked about this book: The message.
Gunn's story provides a positive message for teens, Even as an adult Christian I found passages that spoke to me, Though the book touches on several serious issues, it has a light tone, It doesn't weigh the reader down,

What I didn't like about the book: The writing was all over the place, Some passages were beautifully written with great depth, Other passages were rather flat, Sometimes, I wasn't sure if the writer knew where she was going with the story, Christy is a mostly likable character, but she seems rather immature for her age,

The series has great potential and I'm interested to see where she goes with the series.
The first time I heard about the Christy Miller series I was only ten or eleven years old.
I had won them in a Focus on the Family reading contest, I barely understood the choices that Christy faced and many of the concepts were a little over my head at the time.
But when I reread the firstor so books again after turning, they made a big impact on me.
I love Christy. If she were real she would be the closest of my "book" friends except for maybe Mallory from the Babysitter's Club or Kate O'Connell from the Northwoods Series.
She is so sweet and when she doesn't understand something she sits and listens rather than reacting,

I remember my copy of the book, Summer Promise, it looked like an adult romance novel not at all like the nice updated versions.
I learned about drugs for the first time, Not up to this point can I recall hearing the expression "stoned", The Guess teddybear tshirt she wears to the party I had one of those, I can relate to the way Christy picks out her clothes underdressed for one event, overdressed for the next.
I am rereading this book for I would say fourth or fifth time, Christy's innocences and the simplicity of the story are what I love about Robin Jones Gunn, As I reread the chapter Questions and Answers, I am a lot more emotional about Shawn's funeral, I barely knew Jared Nagel he was a Christian praise God! when he died at ageor, The youngest person's funeral I have ever attended, Todd is an amazing and to use Doug's word "awesome" young man, Every girl needs a Todd or Gilbert if you are an Anne of Green Gables fan!!!

I grew up in California so I knew about many of the places in this book.
Especially when they go to San Francisco, Makes you want some RiceaRoni, When I go to San Francisco again I am going to find that music box and an Alcatraz sweatshirt for my husband.


Here is one of my favorite quotes from the book, . . Christy is responding to her Uncle Bob about being true to herself,
"I'm not sure I want to live on the edge like that, I mean, what about God Where does He fit in Does He just let me go my merry way, and if I don't happen to 'pull myself in' in time, then splat splat, that's that, too bad Christy".


heavy sigh i think I'll definitely need to review this Asyear old Christy leaves her family's Wisconsin farm to spend the summer at her wealthy aunt and uncle's beach home in Newport, she realizes this could be the best season of her life.
. Through it all, will Christy keep her promise to her parents not to do anything she'll regret I think it's safe to say that I am not the intended audience for this book.


The best thing about this book is that my edition was written in blue ink!!! I love when authors/publishers take the extra money to do this.
My favorite is Cherie Priest's BONESHAKER, published in brown ink,

Christy is a farm girl from Wisconsin who goes to spend the summer with her aunt and uncle in California.
They are rich and spoil her rotten, They buy her new wardrobes, get her hair styled, buy her tons of makeup, swimsuits, etc,

At the beginning, Christy is moaning about how unattractive she is, She thinks she's unattractive because she is "too thin" and has bluegreen eyes, OH, THE HORROR! rolls eyes

Even after her extensive makeover from her shallow, materialistic and looksoriented aunt, she still spends the whole book calling herself ugly, stupid, and clumsy.
Selfhate much I understand she's, but it's painful to read,

Boys. Christy meets a cute boy on the beach! His name is Todd, He's Christian. Not like Christy is Christian, but a "real Christian" who was "bornagain, " Even though Christy was born and raised in the church and was baptized as a baby and her parents are strict Christians and she is a "goodgirl" that's NOT GOOD ENOUGH.
Todd informs her that she's still a sinner and needs to "ask Jesus into her heart" otherwise she is not really Christian, she's not really "saved" no, she's going to HELL.


And that's the love interest,

I thought he was a lousy love interest, For one thing, I felt like he only really pays attention to Christy when she's asking him about his faith and what it means to be a Christian.
He also listens to her and encourages her when she makes noise about being saved herself, Otherwise, he's a big flake, He shows up late for dates, sometimes tells her he'll be at a party and doesn't show, blah blah blah.
Not worth all the angst and prettifying that Christy goes through for him, in my opinion,

Also, there's this girl named Tracy who hangs around him all the time and he is constantly driving her to work and etc.
etc. Christy is jealous and acts like a brat around Tracy, Tracy seems like a great person, but I understand Christy it's her first date, first boyfriend/sortof boyfriend etc.
and she's insecure. Unfortunately, she NEVER ASKS WHAT'S GOING ON, I mean, she should straightup ask Tracy, or Todd whichever one she's more comfortable with what's going on.
I mean, are you guys together Just friends Used to date I fully expected Gunn to reveal Tracy was Todd's cousin, or something.
NOTHING. They never explain why Tracy and Todd are together all the time, Instead, we're supposed to be judging Christy for being too insecure, or not trusting Todd enough, or something.
GEEZ. It's her first boyfriend sortof boyfriend! Give her a break, Todd and Tracy give her a joint gift of A BIBLE for her birthday, o. O I don't even know what to make of that,

Then, there's this other girl named Alissa, She's seventeen and dates ayearold! She's on birth control! We are supposed to be shocked and appalled to learn she's sexually active, but I give her major props for being safe.
Hopefully she uses condoms, too! She tells Christy that there is no God, You have to enjoy life here on Earth while you've got it, because there is no afterlife, We are supposed to feel extreme pity for this woman because her dad's dead and her mom's an alcoholic.
Which is why she's "so messedup, " Whatever. Being on the pill and dating slightly older guys is not "messedup" in my opinion, There's a scene late in the book where Christy witnesses a fight between Alissa and her boyfriend in which it sounds like Alissa's bf wants sex and is having a.
. . difficult time with Alissa saying "no, " But I want to stress that Alissa DID say no and the guy leaves in a huff, I don't know what Gunn is trying to say with that, Alissa can be redeemed because she refused to give in to this guy's demands for sex Or is she saying "loose" women like Alissa end up in dangerous situations where guys might pressure them to have sex and they might give in/get raped This last one is the kind of bullshit victimblaming that I HATE.
GRRRRRR. Hopefully it's the former and not the latter,

There's one hilarious scene that made me laugh out loud, Christy gets invited to a beach party and she keeps asking people for Coke because, of course, she doesn't drink beer, and everyone she asks thinks she's looking for COCAINE.
This was hilarious to me and I laughed out loud when picturing this little innocent Christian girl asking random guys if they have coke.
:

Oh, yeah, the antidrug message in this book, A character in the book who will remain anonymous smokes pot and dies, That's right, he DIES. From smoking pot. How, you ask Well, he decides to surf stoned and this

results in him drowning, or bashing his head on some rocks or something.
Gunn's antidrug message was a little, . . forceful in my opinion. The most hilarious part to me was when Todd uses his funeral as a platform to try and turn everyone to Jesus.
Seriously. His eulogy is basically slamming his dead friend for not accepting Jesus into his heart and then begging everyone, while crying, to please accept Jesus into their hearts before it's too late.
He doesn't scream, "YOU'RE ALL GOING TO HELL!" but he might as well have, o. O Very uncomfortable for everyone involved,

In short, I have read Gunn's Gardenias for Breakfast and liked that it was a little more subtle with the Christianity.
This one is very forceful and brutal with it's "BE A CHRISTIAN OR BURN IN HELL" message, and I didn't appreciate it.
Especially since the book was blatantly saying, "Even though you think you're Christian, you're not really, You're not really Christian until you're MY KIND OF CHRISTIAN, Even Christians who aren't bornagain are going to hell, " This is very depressing and isolating and selfdefeating, I can't understand why Christians insist on dividing each other so much, When I was young, I was shocked to learn about all the animosity between Catholics and Protestants, You'd think people would have some sense of reality, but I guess not,

Christy, the main character, was also unlikeable, Whiny, selfhating, manipulative, insecure, bratlike throwing temper tantrums a few times, and judging other females and hating on them just because they are "prettier than her".
Fail.

P. S. The Dieting. Christy's image obsessed aunt is always a, lecturing Christy about how much fat is in food, b, urging her to eat salad, c, urging her to eat less, d, shaming her for ordering chocolate cake in a restaurant, If Christy lived with this woman fulltime she would end up either a, morbidly obese or b. anorexic. She's already hiding food from her aunt, sneaking food when she thinks her aunt can't see her, and eating even when she's not hungry to spite her aunt.
Horrible, horrible childcare on the aunt's part, Way to screw up Christy's eating habits and selfimage, Aunt Marti, .