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TECHNICALLY 3.5 ROUNDED TO 4

I was really torn as to how to rate this book, but it ended up squeaking out a four. The book felt torn in two as well. One minute it was well developed fiction and then the next minute it was the typical "cookie cutter" Christian fiction. (I'll explain that in a minute.) There was dynamic and rich relati More...

Have your Kleenex box ready if you pick up this Christian novel for teens. The main character is going through a lot: her mom died of cancer, the medical bills forced her father to sell his business and the bank foreclosed on their house, and now she's living with her wealthy aunt, uncle, and cousin who mean well but constantly make her feel inferior. Her former boyfriend broke up with her and now she is unwilling to open up to the cute boy next door, even though she finds they have a lot in com More...

I'm torn between giving this book 2 and 3 stars. Because the beginning pulled me in hard. (I read the sample on the Kindle and then bought the book, which goes to show that samples are useful.)

However, the narrative starts to fall apart into cliches and a God-plot that doesn't work. Aside from the somewhat dishonesty of a book that only becomes Christian fiction after the free sample, I'm happy enough to read religious fiction of all ilks. If it's done well.

This one isn't.

Almost all of the God p More...

Biggest complaint:

" 'I've missed you,' he murmured against my ear.
" 'I've missed you too,' I said, looking up into his eyes. 'Let's never get into a fight like that again.' " (p. 242)

I have three comments on that: gag, cliché, and no freakin' way.

Other complaints: Jesus. A lot the characters come off as Jesus freaks. If you aren't a Christian and you read this book, it may feel like the author is trying to convert you. However, I appreciate the lost-my-faith aspect of the story, since it happen More...

Emily Curtis is a teen whose world was totally turned upside down. A tomboy who is most comfortable under the hood of a car, the last year has been one of the hardest of her young life. Her mother died of cancer, and then her fathers repair business goes belly up, so because of the staggering medical bills and the loss the business they lose their house. Her dad, Brad, looks at it as a way to make a fresh start so they move in with his sister and her family who lives in an affluent neighborhood, More...

I don't have much experience with YA Fiction, but I liked the idea of the lighthearted nature of this, and although the topics in this one aren't weightless, it's still a very easy read.

Overall it was a nice little story that I enjoyed. The only time I sighed from the Young Adult slant was ~3/4 of the way through the book. Emily, the main character, is having an extremely juvenile fight with her pseudo-boyfriend that I could barely tolerate to read; then I remembered that she was a teenager and More...

I'd never heard of this book when I selected it, which I admit I did based mainly on the cover. I'd been reading a lot of YA paranormal-types series lately and wanted something more from the realistic genre this time around. I also wasn't aware it was Christian fiction, although I clearly wasn't paying attention since I recognize the publisher (Zondervan) from titles I've read in the past. I have absolutely no issue whatsoever with Christian fiction as long as it, like any other genre, is done w More...

Roadside Assistance is a book about dealing with the loss of a loved one and a drastic change in one's environment. This is a book for anyone to read who feel that God has abandoned them or why God allowed a loved one to passed away. There are also examples of being a good Christian.

This is how the character Emily felt. She felt that God has abandoned her and her dad,Brad by letting her Mom died of cancer and allowing her Dad and her to lose the auto repair business, their house and their life More...

This book leads the reader on a very spiritual and meaningful journey about finding one's way in life as well as finding the path back to God. I picked up this book expecting a typical run-of-the-mill young adult contemporary read...how very wrong I was. This book weaves the realistic story of a high school teenager coping with the loss of her mother and the idea of finding one's way back to God after a fairly difficult event together nicely.

That's all I can honestly say about the book though. More...

Disclosure: I received an Advance Reading Copy of this book for free through Goodreads First Reads.

Summary:

At the beginning of the novel, Emily Curtis, a tomboy who loves working on cars with her dad, has suffered some terrible losses: her mother has died after a long illness, her father has lost the family repair business and their home, and Emily has to sell her beloved fixer-upper Camaro. Her boyfriend has broken off their relationship, and Emily has lost her faith in God, which she learned f More...

I really enjoyed this book. It wasn't cheesy, and the main character wasn't a pain to listen to. The only thing i didn't really like about this book was that it seemed that everyone was shoving religion down the girls throat, like she had no choice. Including Zander. But i liked Zander, he seemed like a sweetheart :)

Title: ROADSIDE ASSISTANCE
Author: Amy Clipston
Publisher: Zondervan
April 2011
ISBN: 978-0-310-71981-6
Genre: Inspirational/youth

Emily Curtis is struggling. Her mother has recently died from cancer, wiping the family out financially. Her dad was forced to lose both his home and his business, leaving them homeless. So, Emily and her dad moves in with his sister, Aunt Darlene and her perfect, rich family.

But Aunt Darlene seems to be unhappy with Emily. Em likes working on cars, and her aunt believes More...

I won the book in a giveaway and i absolutley loved the book! at first i was sort of turned off by the idea of the book because it's not anything like the ones i usually prefer to read, but i read it and honstley didn't put it down. I found it very easy to read and the stroy line simple to follow and entirley entertaining. The charecters in the novel were easy to relate to and simply adore, the main charecter Emily Curtis was easy to sympathize for but at times i thought she was a bit self cente More...

Image yourself as a teenager who has just lost her mother. What would happen if suddenly your father lost his job and you lose your home, your boyfriend, your faith in God and then have to give up your car. Then, you were forced to move in with your aunt and her family who has a daughter that is the same age as you but they are wealthy. Life is not the same for you but somehow you must find something good about this situation. That is what happens to Emily and as you read her story your heart wi More...

When I started off this book, I was really enjoying the story...until the preaching began. I have no problem when people believe in God, seeing as I do, but it was a bit excessive in this book. Nothing in the summary said anything about faith, yet a lot of the book had to do with Emily finding comfort in fixing cars and trying to talk to God. I could connect with Emily in her personality and I really enjoyed reading about her, but I was tired of all the talk of God always being there and finding More...

When I read the summary of Roadside Assistance, I was fairly excited about the book. A girl working with cars, maybe a bit of romance but overall, a teenage drama. How bad can it be?
The answer is not too bad. This is a good book, if you ignore how much Ms. Clipston preaches during the course of it. I didn't realize that it would be about religion, but on every other page the main character, Emily, was complaining about how she couldn't "find god" or have "faith."
The major two things that I didn More...

Roadside Assistance is about a teenage girl named Emily Curtis. Her mother has passed away not too long ago and now she has to move with her dad to his sister’s house due to money problems. During this move to a new place, Emily feels as if no one understands her. The usual young adult book scenario. But different because she loves cars more than she likes to dress up like other girls and because of the importance of religion in her life. She has trouble praying after losing her mom. A lot of ti More...

This book was a goodreads.com first read contest win.

While I will admit that I did not like the title to this book. I found this a wonderful read.

Emily has lost her mom. She and her dad, Brad, are now living with his sister, Darlene, who is married to a banker. Uncle Chuck, the banker, and Darlene live in an upper class neighbor hood. Emily feels so out of place. She wonderful if anything in her life will ever be straightened out again.

Losing a parent at an young age is hard. Losing a parent wh More...

Roadside Assistance was a very different than what I thought it was going to be. I have never read a Christian book before. When I checked out the book from the library I didn't know that it contained these elements.

Over all I don't know how I felt about the book. The characters were well developed I thought. To me though I thought that it was lacking in some parts. I think that towrds the end it became predictable, and it just sort of ended. There seemed to be on summing up of the book.

In the More...

A teen novel about a girl who is having trouble about finding God in her life after her mother's bout with cancer and subsequent death. Emily has a great support system that will help her when she needs it most.

What I thought: There are many times when all of us having trouble reconnecting with God. He is still there for us, but we must make ourselves assessible to him. Doesn't matter whether you're a teen or an adult, it happens, sometimes more than once. It doesn't mean your faith is weak; it More...

Amy, a junior, has had a lot happen to her in the past couple of years. Her mother died of cancer, and her father's buisness went down. They lost everything, and was going to start their lives over again. Amy's aunt was very happy to let her and her father move in with them. Amy then found herself in a new town, in a new house, and with people that she hasn't had many fond memories with. But when she's living there, she ends up meeting thier neighbor, and he just happens to have a lot in common More...

Roadside Assistance by Amy Clipston is a Young Adult novel that touches on the issues of grief, faith in God, trust, friendship and love. Emily Curtis has had her world turned upside down. Her mother's illness and subsequent death have left her father in a financial bind so tough that they must move in with his sister's family. As a self-professed motor head and tomboy, Emily struggles with comparing herself to her ultra-feminine, cheerleader cousin Whitney. Like most teens, she wants to fit in, More...

I recently won this as an ARC through Goodreads. Had I ever heard of Amy Clipston before...honestly no. As I was going through the giveaway list on Goodreads I noticed the cover/name of the book first. Yes. I know they say, "Never judge a book by it's cover" but that is exactly what I did. I then read the description and thought it sounded like something I'd enjoy.

Of course as everyone knows when you "enter to win" they encourage you to add the book to your "to-read" shelf. Well, I've been a lit More...

I was almost freaky how it corresponded to my life. I myself love cars beyond anything else... the main character and i share the same first name, and her last name happens to be my dads fist name... the main character has a cousin named whitney, and so do i. I am a huge fan of mopar (dodge, chryseler...) and her boyfriend is a mopar fanatic. She likes chevy, i so happen to be stuck with a chevy at the moment. Really good book for someone who doesn't get freaked out at similarities such as the o More...

I struggled to get into this book initially as it just wasn't grabbing my attention, hence why GoodReads states that I started this book in December 2011 and didn't finish it until June 2012. It ended up being my "in-between" book on mu Kindle, and I would read a couple of pages here and there when I'd finished my current book. I finally decided to finish this book this week, and I was glad that I went back to it as I ended up quite enjoying it. As cautious as I am of YA romances, I really did l More...

Okay. I won this book from Goodreads in a giveaway, and looking at the description again, I'm not really sure why I thought I would like it. I generally do like YA fiction (Hunger Games etc.) and actually I'm sure this book does well among it's target demographic, if hopefully, the target demographic is young, well-off, white, Evangelical teenagers.

Otherwise the story was full of cliche. The gist of the story is the main character Emily's mom dies and she is forced to move to the south and live More...

*** I won this ARC from Goodreads First Reads ***

First off, this book made me laugh and it made me cry. I felt for Emily as she dealt with the loss of her mother and how she felt like her aunt and her grandmother couldn't accept her for who she is. She didn't understand why they wanted to change her, make her more like her cousin Whitney. And how she was confused and angered by her father's lack of wanting to talk to her about her mother's death. I even enjoyed the relationship that developed be More...