Broken Promises

Cedar River Daydreams #5

by Judy Baer

Lexi Leighton's friend Peggy has become deeply involved with Chad, and when the fun ends and the trouble takes over, Lexi must try to help her deal with the consequences.

Genres: Young Adult, Fiction, Christian, Christian Fiction

127 pages, Paperback

First published September 1, 1989

About the author

aka Judy Kaye

Judy Baer was born and grew up on a farm on the prairies of North Dakota, USA. An only child, she spent most of her days with imaginary people-either those she read about or those she made up in her head. Her most ambitious conjuring did not succeed, however. She kept a clean stall with hay and oats for the horse she imagined would come but unfortunately, it never did. As an adult, however, she managed to make that dream come true and raised foundation quarter horses and buffalo for some years. A voracious reader, Judy learned to read with comic books, anything from Little Lulu and Superman to the Rawhide Kid. She sold her first story for $10.00 to a farm magazine. She still has the $10.00.

She graduated from Concordia College, Moorhead, Minnesota with a major in English and education and a minor in religion. At the time, she was simply studying what interested her, but now realizes that she was educating herself for her future career as an inspirational christian romance writer.

Judy wanted to write for Harlequin even in high school but it wasn't until her youngest child learned to say "No" that she realized that she'd better consider a second career to fall back on when mothering was done. Her first book was written with her little girl on her lap. Judy would type a few words, say "Now, Jennifer," at which time her daughter would hit the space bar before Judy continued typing. It wasn't the fastest way to work, but it offered a lot of mother-daughter time together. An over-achiever, she's written 71 books for various publishers. The mother of two and step-mother of three, she now has lots of family to enjoy.

In 2001, she went back to school and became a certified professional life coach. Currently she is working on her Master's in Human Development in the areas of writing, coaching and spirituality and writing inspirational Chick Lit which, she says, is the most fun she's ever had writing.

Reviews

[Katt Hansen · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is another of those titles in the series that reads like an After School Special. Peggy and Chad are spending too much time alone together - and of course bad things happen.

The thing I liked, is how the other kids view the relationship - as in, it's embarrassing to be around people who are all over each other all the time. They worry about their friend's reputation as well. This is better than the typical Christian preachiness which hits so many other books in the world of Christian young adult. When the mistakes are made, those around are very loving about it. I like how things were kept private.

But I'm very strongly irked by the ending and the solution that comes to all of this. Being forced to move away for a year to hide the unfortunate incident is very shaming, and I dislike it strongly. Also, we've also restricted Peggy's ability to have support from those who love her. And also have denied her the ability to be with her family so it kind of screams 'punishment' to me when she'd been very mature (eventually) in owning up to the pregnancy and wanting to do the right thing.

I'd read this book to keep up with the rest of the series, but I was disappointed by it on many levels. It's not quite what I'd expected.

[Lydia Rose · Rating 2 out of 5]

I didn't enjoy this book. It was full of unhappiness, upset people, and problems.

Lexi Leighton, being a good friend to Peggy, is astonished when Peggy suddenly drops everything and everyone to be with Chad. They're smitten with each other and it doesn't end well. Peggy ends up scared and in trouble and she turns to Lexi for help. Lexi turns to the one place that she knows will help her: her bible. Peggy doesn't want to hear the advice Lexi had gotten from it, though. Her one thought is to get rid of the mess she and Chad created. Sixteen years old is too young to have a baby! She's even too scared to talk to her parents, though Lexi keeps trying to get her to. Peggy thinks her life will be ruined if she keeps the baby... What will she decide?

[Brooke · Rating 2 out of 5]

I really like how they don’t sugar coat what happens when you don’t wait. I always thought abortion was murder until Lexi read my favorite Bible verse. I think abortion is like ripping up a sweater knitted by God. There were also great scriptures about God’s forgiveness. Unfortunately, this book wasn’t very interesting to me. I’m going to read another Cedar River Daydreams tomorrow.
P.S. Minda has lost all my sympathy after her little gossip column.

[Rebecca White · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am enjoying rereading this series from my teen years. In this story Lexi helps her friend deal with an unplanned pregnancy including figuring out she is pregnant, talking to parents about it, and decisions about keeping the Bible. I really like having a teen series that uses a Biblical world view as its basis.

[Alexis Mahler · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was really good and it had a lot of different things going on throughout Lexi's friends. It was a very fun book to read, and it had a lot of life lessons built into it.

[Hannah Dahlstrøm]

Veldig spennende bok. Gøy

[Bookworm · Rating 5 out of 5]

Christian Teen Highschool Series
Very good!
VERY 80’s!
She, her family, and friends all love her brother with Downs Syndrome.

[Kꌗꓘ]

I read this a long time ago in middle school and I love this series. It's like a Christian version of Sweet Valley High. But this book was especially sad because after Peggy gets prego, she leaves town to have the baby. And when she comes back Chad tries too get back together with her but she won't have it so he commits suicide. I just feel so bad for all of them. That baby. Chad. Peggy. All in all though, its a good book. But its kind of outdated now and days because girls don't leave town for a "visit" if they get pregnant so they can give it up in "secrecy". Now and days they can still go to school and not have to leave and keep it or whatever. It's not as much of a big deal as back then.

[Laura · Rating 4 out of 5]

A book about teen pregnancy and I think it does a great job showing many sides of the issue, and also pointing out there are some things too big for teens to handle alone. It is important to get caring adults involved.

[Samantha Rinaldo · Rating 3 out of 5]

I hated it when she gets pregnate

[Ginnie Grant · Rating 2 out of 5]

this book was more over the top preachy than the others I've read in this series and the end had no real resolution.

[Ellen]

amazing