Fiction Review

Indiscreetly Yours
by Frank King
ISBN-10: 1597811572
Review by Heather Froeschl

Lisa Miley is seventeen years old, a junior in high school and has the same desires as most teens. She wants to have friends, be happy and enjoy life. Lisa goes to church every Sunday and listens intently to her pastor's words. But it is only recently that she truly understands them and relates them to her life.

Lisa develops a relationship with a senior, a boy who takes her to the prom and encourages her to dance. After the prom things go wrong and Lisa finds herself in a place she is sure she doesn't want to be. She discusses things with her mother and her friend, and then with the boy himself, and for a while things seem to be okay again.

Lisa pays more attention to her spiritual upbringing and finds answers there that she had overlooked before. Temptation is a powerful thing though and Lisa finds herself once more being led to do things she isn't sure she is ready for. Will she find the power to help herself?

This work of Christian Fiction is a look at an age-old temptation, and typical reaction to it. Unfortunately it takes a near disaster for the character to learn a lesson. The story is relevant to today's youth as much as it was to three generations ago. I did feel though that the plot did not run as smoothly as it could have. I also had trouble with the reality of teens speaking in the manner that Lisa spoke to her friends and the boy involved. Conversations did not have a natural flow and included too much detail to be just conversation. It felt as though the author were trying too hard to make a point or share information through the mouth's of his characters. The feel of the words came across as what an adult would hope a teen would say, and not what would truly be said in today's day and age.

The point of the book seems to be an outreach to youth. I think though that just as Lisa's parents hoped to shield her from a hard lesson the author may be disappointed in the fact that the reader's of the book will likely have to learn their own lessons the old fashioned way, and not through what they read in a work of fiction. It is a valiant effort though and the book is one that likely many Christian teens will be able to relate to.