Well, that was big waste of time.
NOVELLA 1: NOW BOARDING AT GATE 10
Post-break-up with Todd, Christy Miller travels back 'home' to the North Woods of Wisconsin for her grandparents' 50th anniversary party. There, she reconnects with her childhood crush, Matthew. I'm telling you, for a Christian girl who didn't start dating 'til she was 16, and never moves past “light kissing,” Christy has had more boyfriends in her high school years than anyone I've ever known. o.O Boys just pop up out of the woodwork for her left and right. She's never single.
This novella didn't annoy me as much as the full-length Christy books did. Why? Because Todd and Doug are not in this book. As you may or may not remember, Todd and Doug tend to be preachy and bossy. Finally, in this small vignette, Christy is the one who makes her own decisions and choices.
It's true that Matthew is a Christian, a year “younger” in his Christianity than Christy, but he doesn't seem to have inherited the “I get to tell you what to do because I have a penis” attitude that Todd and Doug have.
Now, leaving Christy on her own to make her own decisions and come to her own conclusions is a bit frustrating. She's very insecure, wishy-washy, and self-doubting. But she always pulls through in the end.
This novella was especially good because I think Christy makes a smart decision in it. She goes back to her hometown and is slammed with all these intense feelings of seeing her childhood crush again. And it seems as if he's single and interested, too.
Things are complicated because Melissa, another childhood friend, seems to have a crush on Matthew, and is always around him. When Christy directly asks Matthew if he and Melissa are/were dating (good for you, Christy), Matthew basically tells her “it's complicated” and doesn't elaborate. Um, warning! Boys won't give you a straight answer about their dating past/present = shady.
Christy ends up in the uncomfortable position of feeling as if she's “competing” with Melissa for Matthew's affections. Awkward. I wanted to tell her, “Don't compete for a boy's attention. If he likes you, he will pay attention to you and not other girls. Just ¡cálmate!” It's just my personal opinion that you shouldn't let a guy come between you and your friends just because he flirts with both of you. I know this is going to fall on deaf ears, because teenagers (and adults!) can't really help how they feel, but I feel like this was a dick move on Matthew's part. I know he didn't mean to, but riling up two girls to fight over you is wrong and cruel.
In the end, Christy is like, “This was just a crush. It's been fun catching up, bye.” Good for her. Perhaps Matthew and Melissa will end up together, perhaps not. o.O
Things I liked:
1.) Christy and her little brother David, who have shown only annoyance and animosity towards each other throughout the series, play a secret midnight game of Monopoly. It was sweet and I liked getting that hit of sibling-love that I crave. Your sibling can be your closest friend, and I liked seeing them get along for once.
2.) This scene, in which Christy's grandma tells her the secret to knowing who to marry.
It's a choice, you know,” Grandma said, peering through her bifocal glasses and looking steadily at Christy. “You get to know someone and then you ask yourself, 'Would I like to spend the rest of my life with this person?' If the answer is yes, then you wait until you have a big argument. Or until something goes wrong, or he does something you don't like. And when things are at their lowest, you ask yourself again, 'Would I like to spend the rest of my life with this person?' If the answer's still yes, then you know you're in love.”
Then we have to discuss this “practice dating” thing. When Christy reappears in Matthew's life, he thinks that she's still with her ex-boyfriend, Todd. But he believes that this is the perfect time to get in some “practice dating” (he thinks he's inexperienced.) He soon finds out that Christy is single but still keeps treating her as if he's interested in her romantically. Is he actually romantically interested in her, or is he just using her for “practice?”
The fact that he's hiding her status as a “practice girlfriend” is what really disturbs me. The idea of “practice dating” is not new to me, however, all the boys I knew who wanted to do it told the girl upfront about what was going on and what was going to happen and what their intentions were. Of course, “practice dating” itself is problematic, because even if both parties go into it with eyes open, fake relationships lead to real feelings. Just like adults who say “friends with benefits” or “we'll just be sex buddies” - oftentimes this leads to messy confusion and hurt feelings eventually. I think Matthew was a jerk for a.) playing Melissa and Christy off each other, and b.) setting up Christy as his “practice girlfriend” without her knowledge or consent.
NOVELLA 2: IN THE EVENT OF A WATER LANDING
Perhaps this novella annoyed me more because I don't know Sierra Jensen as well as I know Christy Miller. I finished this story thinking it was completely pointless.
It has almost no plot. Sierra and her best friend, Jana, go up to the cabin for a long weekend. With them are Jana's 19-year-old brother Gregg and his best friend Tim. To add even more flirting options, Danny (Jana's childhood crush) is at the resort, too.
Things I Liked:
1.) Sierra wears a skirt made out of men's ties that she designed herself. Super-cool.
2.) Sierra is a lot more forceful and decisive than Christy. She actually knocks a man out with a soda can because he grabbed her. I like this more dynamic personality of hers.
Things I Didn't Like:
1.) The utter lack of plot. It's just a big flirting fest. Sierra flirts with Gregg, Danny, and Tim. Jana flirts with Danny and Tim (Gregg's her brother.) Nothing ever "happens" because this is a Robin Jones Gunn book. Also, Gregg and Tim are 19. I'm sure they see the girls (aged 15) as more "little sister types" than "hottie-types" - at least I HOPE so.
2.) The fact that even though Sierra and Jana are supposed to be "best friends," they just fight a lot and compete for boys a lot. Doesn't sound like a good best friend relationship to me.
3.) The scene in the mall where Tim and Gregg are checking out some girls. Sierra notices, and Gregg basically tells her, "One day you'll be a knockout, too. Then you'll be thrilled that guys like us are looking at you." Um, ew. I totally understand and don't mind the boys checking out girls at the mall. Fine. But then turning to your little sister's best friend and saying, "If you're lucky, you too will get to be ogled at the mall!?" This seemed ... wrong to me. I didn't like it.
I'll leave you with an unintentionally hilarious part:
"I'm going in now," Sierra said, picking up her Bible and tucking it under her arm. She had heard people refer to their Bibles as their "sword," and as soon as she picked it up, she felt armed and ready for this night stalker. If he so much dared to take one step out of that kayak and up the ladder, Sierra would knock him on the head with her Bible and send him sprawling into the cold water.
LOL Insert gif here of Mandy Moore throwing a Bible at Mary in Saved while yelling, "I am FILLED with Christ's love!"
MARY: "This is not a weapon, you idiot." LOL