Reviewed by Jaglvr for TeensReadToo.com

Meet Lissa Mansfield. She's about to start her junior year at Spencer Academy. The daughter of a well-known director (yes, he's worked with THAT Lucas) and a fundraising dynamo, the family is relocating to San Francisco for the next two years. Lissa has agreed to become a boarding student at Spencer during that time to be closer to her father's work location. Lissa is confident that the move from Santa Barbara to Spencer Academy will be easy enough. After all, she's outgoing and popular at her old high school.

Lissa is determined to befriend Vanessa Talbot, the It Girl of the Academy. If she can become friends with Vanessa, then it's a sure thing that Callum McCloud, the absolute hottest guy on campus, will take notice of her. But from the start, things don't go as smoothly as Lissa would hope. To add insult to injury, Lissa is getting a new roommate, Gillian Chang.

Lissa is a Christian with strong values. However, Lissa keeps her religion to herself. That becomes harder to do when Gillian shows up. Gillian is outspoken, very Christian in her beliefs, and a bit pushy. Lissa and Gillian form a tentative friendship, but as Lissa's desires to get into the popular crowd start to happen, Gillian is negative and derogatory of everything Lissa does.

Lissa is soon tested to her limits. She is forced to weigh her religious convictions against her desires to have a gorgeous boyfriend and popularity. When things go horribly wrong one night with Callum, Lissa agrees to let God guide her on the path she was meant to lead.

This new series by Shelley Adina is a breath of fresh air. It has all the excitement and drama that teens have come to love. It takes the drama and turmoil found in THE IT GIRL and PRIVATE series', but it gives teens a look at God's guiding love through the situations that face everyone as they grow up. Ms. Adina is a wonderful addition to this addicting genre of teen fiction.

Now, I'm off to find out Gillian's story in the second book of the series, THE FRUIT OF MY LIPSTICK. ( )

The Review

Having just read Who Made You A Princess?, I was curious about the prior 3 books in the series. So were the twins… “Mom! We want to read the others!” It’s encouraging for me, as a mother, to see my girls excited about books that aren’t about vampires, dragons, or other such fantasy (although, there is nothing wrong with that!). These are books that are about girls who are facing issues at school with their peers, parents, and boys. What these books communicate are for girls to maintain their dignity and chastity. But they are written in a way that makes it “cool.” Anything better for young teens? I think… NOTHING!

In All About Us, the main character (Lissa) struggles with the pressures put in front of her by not only her boyfriend, but the popular girls’ desire to sabotage her in wanting to preserve her dignity and virginity. Lissa struggles with peer pressure and, as a result, is faced with consequences with both the student body, her parents, and her peers. This book gives the perfect example of what may happen if you make the wrong choice in attempts to hold onto a boy. But, the thing that I appreciate most about this story is that it is written in a way that being a girl with self-respect and love for God is COOL, thus being worthy of trying to aspire to.

I am a Christian and am raising my daughters under the same those religious teachings and beliefs. One of the things that I appreciate most about Shelley Adina’s series is the concept of chastity and promising God that you will wait until you are married to share that very special moment with your husband. I don’t think that, as a young girl, that I received enough of that influence in my life. There was nothing “cool” about being a virgin and saving yourself for marriage. If there was that thought process, my parents didn’t communicate about it with me. This series really puts the focus on tweens/teens putting God and Jesus at the center of their lives and hearts. Thus, boys and their physical desires take a 2nd seat to what’s more important: self respect, love for God, and love for self.

I’ve heard so much lately on Oprah and 17 Magazine about the statistics about girls and sex: how they are hearing about it, how many are doing it, the outcomes of it, etc. From what the statistics are saying, parents aren’t discussing sex and boys with their daughters as much as they should. In addition, they aren’t furnishing girls with the information that they need to make informed choices. I want my girls not to make some of the poor choices that I made. I want them to love themselves first. I don’t want them to ever feel that they have to do something with a boy because that will make him love her. The right boy will love her for the right reasons and not due to physical actions she performs. But, what I’ve learned is that a lecture from MOM about what not to do just doesn’t have the same impact as discussing a story that we’ve all witnessed (via tv or book). What Shelley Adina’s books do is provide a story that we can read and discuss. It works great for us because I don’t come across as the boring, lecturing mother. I can talk about what I think the characters should have done and why. The girls then get their opportunity to tell me their opinions.

Now, I’m not saying that the content is easy to discuss. But the statistics are showing that girls in middle school are facing what I faced in high school. It’s happening earlier. I want my children to trust me and talk to me about what pressures they are facing as much as they can. I realize there will be that day when they don’t want to discuss their private lives with me, I want to make sure that they have the foundation to make better choices and have God at the center of their lives.

On Sher’s “Out of Ten Scale:”

Having two more books to read to get “caught up” with the entire series, I must admit that I’m hooked. For my review of this Fiction: YA-Christian, I am going to rate this book an 8 OUT OF 10. ( )

This book (and the other books in this series) has got to be the hippest and most fun Christian YA book I have ever read. I read a lot of YA fiction, both Christian and mainstream, and it's interesting to see the different parallels between the two. Only recently has Christian YA fiction begin to branch out to reach the mainstream YA audience. This book definitely succeeds in being able to merge the two together.

The setting of the book takes place in a boarding school, which is the "in thing" for all current YA stories. The characters all act their age, there's pop culture references that are fresh, and just enough label dropping that teen girls will love but not feel like they are bombarded with. The book is written in a style that fans of Gossip Girl and the A-List will recognize. The IM chats at the end of the chapter are reminiscent of these books and give a shout out to all the teens that use this service. The main attraction of this series is that Adina is fully able to write in a modern teen's voice. She does not include over the top slang that shows she's trying to hard, but neither does she make the girls act like miniature adults. She shows the in crowd and how mean girls really can be. I also appreciated the multi racial cast of characters. I still cannot understand why YA seems to be the only genre in Christian fiction that regularly has multicultural characters that don't happen to be either adopted or immigrants. It's wonderful to read about different cultures and see a truly real cast of characters but it baffles me as to why this hasn't caught on in the rest of the Christian fiction world.

There may be critics of this book that say that teens girls (especially Christian girls) shouldn't be focusing that much on boys. However I will disagree because, being a former teen girl, boys are a part of a regular teen girls life and this book shows what really happens in relationships. While it is a Christian book, the book is not preachy at all. If a non Christian were to read this book, they were neither be offended or feel like they are getting a sermon preached at them. On the other hand, Christian teens who do read this book will enjoy having characters who are Christians but act just like they do.

This is probably the best YA series I've read this year and I'm really glad that it's having such a positive reaction to it. If you are a big fan of YA and would like to read a book that has all the drama, fashion and fun of Gossip Girl but without the sex, language and alcohol use, this book is for you. It's a wonderful edge step for Christian YA lit. VERY HIGHLY recommended. ( )