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A review by tobyyy
Bad Connection by Melody Carlson
2.0
So I've said before that I like Melody Carlson's books, since she's one of the few Christian YA authors who dares to tackle tough subjects. I'm still going to stick with that statement, but Bad Connection was a little over the top in some ways.
It deals with drugs, rape, abduction, and has a "graphic" scene or two involving death and bondage (more related to the abduction than it was to the sexual stuff).
Samantha MacGregor is a girl who has the gift of visions from God. Carlson did say in a forward that she was including more Scripture and stuff in Bad Connection than she has in previous books of hers, due to the nature of the subject. She also encouraged the kids/teens who read this book (or any of the books in the series) to not try to "create" a gift like Sam has (sadly, this makes sense to me, since I grew up in a very conservative Christian environment and I can see that happening).
Anyway. Sam was hard to relate to. The dialogue was very preachy, and honestly it was also so... similar? in a lot of ways, that it got annoying (e.g., she'd use the same phrase for multiple conversations with different people within the span of a few pages). And stuff like how Sam judged (but tried not to because it's not Christian to judge!) and said that Kayla (who is the focus of this story - she's the one who went missing) was a "normal girl" until her parents started struggling in their relationship, and then *gasp* she suddenly because boy crazy!!!!! No, no, NOT BOY CRAZY OH NO WHAT ARE WE GOING TO DO???
(When I read that I facepalmed.)
But I can't give this book 1/5 stars, because I did enjoy it and the 1/5 star rating is what I reserve for shitty books that I didn't enjoy at all, DNF'd, etc. In terms of enjoyment for myself personally, perhaps it was closer to a 2.5/5 or maybe even a 3/5 in some sections... but I did get annoyed enough that overall I'm keeping the rating at a 2/5.
(Note: I'm reading the third book in the series now, and it appears to be much "better" in some ways... slightly less preachy, a little less focused on "here, let's show the readers just HOW GOOD A CHRISTIAN Sam is." So yay.)
It deals with drugs, rape, abduction, and has a "graphic" scene or two involving death and bondage (more related to the abduction than it was to the sexual stuff).
Samantha MacGregor is a girl who has the gift of visions from God. Carlson did say in a forward that she was including more Scripture and stuff in Bad Connection than she has in previous books of hers, due to the nature of the subject. She also encouraged the kids/teens who read this book (or any of the books in the series) to not try to "create" a gift like Sam has (sadly, this makes sense to me, since I grew up in a very conservative Christian environment and I can see that happening).
Anyway. Sam was hard to relate to. The dialogue was very preachy, and honestly it was also so... similar? in a lot of ways, that it got annoying (e.g., she'd use the same phrase for multiple conversations with different people within the span of a few pages). And stuff like how Sam judged (but tried not to because it's not Christian to judge!) and said that Kayla (who is the focus of this story - she's the one who went missing) was a "normal girl" until her parents started struggling in their relationship, and then *gasp* she suddenly because boy crazy!!!!! No, no, NOT BOY CRAZY OH NO WHAT ARE WE GOING TO DO???
(When I read that I facepalmed.)
But I can't give this book 1/5 stars, because I did enjoy it and the 1/5 star rating is what I reserve for shitty books that I didn't enjoy at all, DNF'd, etc. In terms of enjoyment for myself personally, perhaps it was closer to a 2.5/5 or maybe even a 3/5 in some sections... but I did get annoyed enough that overall I'm keeping the rating at a 2/5.
(Note: I'm reading the third book in the series now, and it appears to be much "better" in some ways... slightly less preachy, a little less focused on "here, let's show the readers just HOW GOOD A CHRISTIAN Sam is." So yay.)