It's All about Us

Are you looking for a realistic view of teen life in a fictional setting? Do you have a teen girl who enjoys Christian fiction? Then Shelley's series about three friends is the perfect choice. We are introduced to Lissa as she begins life at a high end boarding school where nearly everyone comes from families with money. We see the ins and outs of dorm life and how teens struggle with their faith. I honestly felt like I was snooping into a real teen's world. Shelley is able to capture the language and life of teens everywhere and makes these character's lives believable. Lissa has been a believer for several years, but her desire to remain at the top with the popular kids has her making very poor choices. Thankfully, her roommate, Gillian is straight with her and tries to challenge Lissa's choices. Lissa on the other hand thinks Gillian doesn't understand that what she's going through and tries to convince Gillian as well as herself that she is praying and seeking God's will. This book will help teen girls see that when boys are involved they may think they're making good choices and that going "a little way" isn't too bad because at least they're not having sex. Shelley is fantastic at showing that compromising isn't part of God's will for any of us. I really think teens will "get" this book and it will minister to those who have made poor choices while being a Christian.

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. TheIM 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 modernteen'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.

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. Reviewed by: Jaglvr

Reviewed by Rachael Stein (age 15) for Reader Views (6/08) Lissa Mansfield has never had trouble fitting in with the popular crowd until she attends Spencer Academy, an upscale boarding school in San Francisco. And with a recent breakup with her boyfriend from her previous school, Lissa's determined to snag the hottest guy at Spencer Academy, Callum McCloud. But once she does, Callum starts pressuring Lissa to go farther than she wants to in their relationship. Lissa must find strength among her friends, both new and old, within herself, and also from her beliefs in Christianity to resolve her quickly multiplying problems. When I first picked up "It's All About Us," I did not expect it to have a religious twist. I thought it would be another overdramatized story about a bad teen scene similar to "Gossip Girl," but I was very wrong, and that was definitely a relief. "It's All About Us" is about a girl struggling between following her beliefs or sacrificing them for popularity. I thought that Lissa's struggles were very realistic, and I found it very easy to relate to her even though her situation is completely different from mine. After all, everybody slips up sometimes and has to find a way to fix what they've done wrong. Though I did get a general idea of most the minor characters, they were not particularly developed, which I was mildly disappointed in. However, Lissa's wonderfully-developed character more than made up for the lack of characterization otherwise. I enjoyed Adina's writing style, even though the name-dropping did get annoying sometimes. The plot was never too high action, but it did turn a little scandalous at times, although it was nothing more than rumors, which was as exciting as it got. I was glad that "It's All About Us" didn't somehow morph into a "Gossip Girl" style novel, because that would've ruined the message. Also, I liked how Adina didn't make all the characters into spoiled and unsupervised rich brats who like to mess around with drugs, alcohol, and members of the opposite sex all the time. It gave Adina's characters more credibility in my opinion. "It's All About Us" appeals particularly to teen girls, though I'm sure older readers will still enjoy this novel. You don't need to be a believe in Christianity to enjoy this book; "It's All About Us" doesn't necessarily promote Christianity, but a message to follow your principles. Adina successfully incorporated a great message into an enjoyable story. I most definitely recommend "It's All About Us," by Shelley Adina, because of its fun characters and the sincere meaning behind the story.

This book reminds me of the A-list ,and Gossip Girl books for Chirstian girls. I am very happy that the author kept the book fun and interesting without having to be for ages 15 and up. The main character lissa is struggling going to a new boarding school. After she goes to boarding school the most popular guy in school falls for her. But he wants to take their relationship all the way. What will she choose? Find out and read! ******************Spoiler*********************** I thought the ending was very good and a huge suprise and yes the guy is such a jerk.