Eight Is Enough

Holly's Heart #13

by Beverly Lewis

Book 13 of Holly’s Heart. Holly just found out that her mother is expecting a baby! Everyone in the family is excited—except for Holly. There’s no room in their tiny house for another person. Should she move to California to live with her dad, or can Holly make room in her heart for a new baby brother or sister?

Genres: Young Adult, Middle Grade, Christian Fiction

160 pages, Paperback

First published May 1, 1997

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.

Beverly Lewis, raised in Pennsylvania Amish country and both a schoolteacher and an accomplished musician, has been an award-winning author for over a dozen years. Her acclaimed novel, The Preacher's Daughter, was a 2006 Quill Book Award finalist in the romance category. Her books have appeared on numerous bestseller lists, including USA Today and The New York Times. She and her husband, David, live in Colorado."

Reviews

[Elise · Rating 2 out of 5]

Holly returns in this 13th book in the series! And so, unfortunately, does her attitude. Seriously, in every single book, she finds some minute detail in her life she is unsatisfied with and rants about for the whole book! This book was a major disappointment.

[T. R. · Rating 3 out of 5]

So my rating is between a 3 to 4 because I think there is a lot that can discussed from the book. However, the book on its own is a 3. But my rating for how I enjoyed the book would be about a 2.

Holly is definitely a brat through most of the book, and especially if this is your first time getting to know her (which it is for me) she isn’t really that likable. She’s annoying. She struggles with her mother being pregnant, after already having a very large family.

Her best friend annoys me more than Holly though, in fact, most people in how they answer Holly annoy me. Now, what I mean by this is while Holly’s behavior is unacceptable, as this is a story meant to help teens, I think a lot of opportunities were missed.

I think the book COULD have explored the fact Holly is a child of divorce. Holly’s mom married someone, who is also her uncle. When a new baby becomes part of the picture, there’s a lot to process. But the book does not touch on any of this. Holly could be struggling with feeling replaced. Her dad was “replaced.” Maybe the baby would make her feel “replaced.” The closest the book gets is there is brief mention of possible jealousy, and that’s it.

Going back to the best friend, no one is helping Holly really thinking through her thoughts. It appears they seem to RESPOND more than actually listen to her. Good listening skills could help Holly break down what she is feeling and how there could be problems with how she feels. But we do not see this in the story. Instead, Holly complains (I get it, annoying) and then everyone else basically tells her to get over it. Well, I agree she should, but telling her so, in this manner, helps absolutely no one, especially not the reader. It’s not edifying.

It seems the Christian aspect of the story just feels thrown in. It’s kinda awkward when it gets brought up because clearly Christ is not the focus. I think if the story had explored Holly’s feelings, confusion, struggles more deeply, instead of treating them so lightly, maybe the reader could connect better.

That being said, I think if the reader was angry like Holly and faced a similar situation, perhaps the reader would connect a lot better to Holly. It appears the author did talk to teens for inspiration for the book.

I think… the book could have been a lot better. Also, Jared acts kinda creepy and can’t take a hint. And Jared claiming God was basically telling him what Holly should do because he prayed and he just “felt” God was telling him something… no. John 16:08, the Holy Spirit points to sin, righteousness, and the judgment to come. We do not need feelings to tell us what is of God and what is not. We need the truth of Jesus Christ. Now, if Jared explained to Holly with multiple scriptures how he believes God would not want her to continue with her “plan,” then I think that would make a lot more sense. (It would also, again, be extremely helpful for the reader.)

[Jerry (Rebel With a Massive Media Library) · Rating 4 out of 5]

A Quickie Review

In this penultimate volume of Holly-Heart's life, her mom and stepdad/uncle have big news: they're expecting a baby! Holly is not too thrilled with the news, and upsets her parents with her reaction. Will Holly realize the error of her ways before it is too late? Pretty much more of the same for this series!

Content Concerns: Though completely innocent, Holly acts in a improper way throughout the book. (Spoiler: She repents of it by the book's end.)

Score: 3.75/5

[Penelope Payne · Rating 2 out of 5]

I remember reading this book when I was a kid and thought it was okay. Rereading now as an adult... was difficult. I cringed through a lot of it. Holly is quite the selfish brat, and I get why she made some choices she made, but she annoyed me so much. I kept forgetting that she was fifteen. She acted more like ten or so to me.

Plot: Her mom and her uncle/stepfather are having a baby of their own! There are already eight people living under one roof; Holly says eight is enough! Her parents waited until the baby was six months in the womb before announcing the baby was coming. This has an understandable reason. But instead of asking questions and explaining that having the secret kept from her had hurt her, Holly instantly held a grudge and acted immature and vengeful throughout most of the book. Breaking rules and lashing out. Then she decides instead of facing her problems, maybe she could do what the character in a book she is reading is doing: Go behind her mom's back and see if her dad will fight for joint custody! 🤪 Because leaving Colorado for California would solve everything>, she could write her novella in peace, and she wouldn't lose her room to a half-sibling. (I found myself siding with the parents for most of the book. 😅)

One thing I did like, were her friends. She has very sensible friends, who try to steer her in the right direction. I'm veeeeeeeeeery iffy about Jared though. Holly and Jared used to date in previous books it looks like (haven't read them), but he flirts with her through part of the book. And then randomly in chapter eighteen, and I quote: "I think God's telling me that you shouldn't continue to pursue the joint custody thing." Jared is going to youth classes and church, so that's good. Once figures out Holly's plan, he keeps telling her he doesn't want to leave, which seems innocent enough. Here's my main problem though: I wondered if he was about to try to ask to get back together (Holly has another guy now from California, so she's taken, what are you doing, Jared?) and then this comes up. It's like he is saying this just to get Holly to stay... even Holly admits this at the end in a journal entry: "I doubt whether Jared heard God telling him I should drop the custody issue. But his comments got me thinking more about prayer, and I'm happy to say that I'm keeping the heavenly lines of communication open again." Yay, I'm glad that she is praying again. But I also doubted right off if Jared really thought he heard God say that. My first impression was, he is manipulating Holly into staying because he still likes her. 😳 If that's the case, it ain't cool dude! The book never clarifies which it is, but putting words in God's mouth isn't something I'd take lightly.

Beyond these things (ending spoilers): Holy goes from "I HATE MY LIFE I HATE MY FAMILY I HATE EVERYTHING AND WANT TO MOVE OUT AND LIVE WITH DADDY IN CALIFORNIA WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH" for 18 chapters of the book until chapter nineteen, in which she is forced to watch the ultrasound video with her family. Even at the end of chapter 18 when Jared inquired about her praying about her circumstances, she was not very open to it because she didn't need God's leading, she wanted what she wanted. She did pray in chapter thirteen, but it was pretty much a "God make my family understand why what I want is a good thing and justify my behavior." 🙄 I was kinda banging my head against my desk. I expected her to finally pray about it in a more mature way and then enter another circumstance with a more open heart, which would lead to her repenting of her behavior. But no. In this next to the last chapter, she does a complete 180-degree turn and "OH MY GOODNESS I HAVE BEEN A HORRIBLE BIG SISTER." Uh. That was a shock. It happened so fast. It was cool that the reason for her turn around was Psalm 139, but it happened so fast.

"For You formed my inward parts;
You covered me in my mother’s womb.
I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
Marvelous are Your works,
And that my soul knows very well."

She even went from "I'm not giving up my room, my daddy planned for me to have this room" to volunteering to let the baby stay in her room with her because, in three years, she'll be leaving for college anyway. I understand repentance can happen this quickly, but Holly was so headstrong for the whole book that it felt weird to have this at the very end.

[The Third Place A Teen Library]

F LEW hh bk.13

[Sheila Samuelson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read in 2004