A young adult novel by Grace College graduate and former GraceConnect intern, Lindsay Schuster, is featured on the website, BookTrib. A portion of the review appears below. Click here to read the complete review.
Faith and Friendship Take the Wheel in Lindsay Schuster’s YA Novel “Prosper”
There is a well-known saying that you can’t choose your family, but you can choose your friends. This certainly rings true in the YA novel, Prosper by Lindsay Schuster (book one of the Prosper Series, which includes the subsequent books Redeemed and Journey).
Kaila, Amy, Jenny and Stephanie are longtime best friends. Now 16 and in high school, they are each dealing with very adult problems.
Kaila’s parents have died in a car accident, and her older brother, who was in the military, died not long after. She and her little sister, Karol, are now being taken care of by their aunt. Amy’s father is brutally abusive and his beatings send her to the hospital. Jenny’s mother left her and her father and brothers several years ago, leaving Jenny as the “woman of the house” and to bear the brunt of her father’s hurt and anger. Stephanie’s mother is an alcoholic, a drug addict and sexually promiscuous, and Stephanie has been repeatedly raped while in her mother’s care.
EMPHASIZING FRIENDSHIP AND FAITH
While each girl struggles with her own realities, they have each other to lean on. This is a story of true female friendship and its importance.
Prosper contains a Christian element as well, as Kaila turns to God and His love to help her deal with the loss of her parents and brother. Kaila tries to extend this same salvation to her friends, who are grasping for ways to deal with their own situations. Slowly, one by one, each girl comes to realize the part that God can play in her life.
Click here to read the complete review.