Second Choices

Nikki Sheridan #6

by Shirley Brinkerhoff

Having given her baby up for adoption, Nikki tries to explain her feelings about abortion to her classmates, while struggling with a relationship that may be leading her away from God and while being exposed to dangerous vandalism at school.

Genres: Young Adult, Christian, Christian Fiction

156 pages, Paperback

First published October 1, 2000

Reviews

[Sarah]

Wow, what a blindingly offensive book. I was horrified. Nikki got pregnant, and never told the father, just gave the baby up without his consent. Then when he wants to see his kid and have his thoughts about the adoption considered, he compares wanting to be a responsible father and raising his own kid with being an alcoholic! Apparently single parents are not real families, they are just selfish. Real Christians give their children up to real good white upper-middle class Christian homes. Bullshit! Not that I should expect more from books published by Focus on the Family - they clearly only have one definition of family and all other families are just inferior. This book is an insult to all single and unmarried parents and the truly wonderful families they create.

[Kathryn · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was an odd conclusion to the Nikki Sheridan series. This was published the same year as Tangled Web (2000) but feels as if it was written at a different time or by someone else. Nikki reads like a different character for most of the book. The opening scene has her mouthing off to TJ when she runs into him unexpectedly, which isn’t in line with her character from the previous five books. Her relationship with Keesha is completely different than the last book, which supposedly took place less than a month ago, with Keesha complaining that Nikki never makes any time for her or shows any real interest in her life, when in the previous book Keesha was essentially using Nikki to get a date. The “special episode” plot of school violence and shootings makes sense for a book published shortly after Columbine but the timeline felt very rushed and had an unrealistic resolution.

Nikki’s anger at TJ was realistic, as was her and Jeff’s fast moving relationship, though his actions towards the end felt very idealistic and “Christian romance-y.”

There were also two instances in the book that stood out when slang was used inauthentically. “She could be pretty awesome when she got upset,” while technically correct, reads awkwardly in the scene it’s used in. And earlier in the book when Nikki is upset about Chad making fun of Jeff she says, “It really freaks me out when you make fun of him that way.” In context she means that it angers her, which is not how one used the phrase “freak out” in 2000. Just little things that read like someone was ghostwriting this one.

Believe it or not, I did enjoy my nostalgic reread and completion of this series, I just feel that this volume was pretty weak compared to the others. I also did not like that they changed cover artists and Nikki looks nothing like herself on the cover – though that’s a pretty good indicator of the content as well.

[Hope · Rating 5 out of 5]

I gave this book five stars because this book was very exciting. Niki started going out with Jeff, her best friend since they were babies. Then one day she walked into a gas station and saw T.J. the guy who got her pregnant and he won't stop trying to talk to her. But Niki gave him a chance and realized he had changed, but for the better. I defiantly would recommended this book to teen girls, but first read the whole series before the last book.

[Tobia Cochran · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book series!