From Bad to Worse: A Novel with Girls

by Todd Hafer, Jedd Hafer

It's a dangerous mix of freedom, confusion, joy, and attraction as Griffin Smith and his high school crush, Amanda Mac, make their way home from her college in Oregon. Along the way, they implement Amanda's "Five Minutes of Truth" rule, and Griffin's true feelings about God, his parents' divorce, and, especially, his feelings for Amanda begin to surface.

But fumbling their way back across the country isn't the hardest part of the journey, despite a near-death experience and more than a few detours. Griffin's homecoming isn't quite what he expected, as he is forced to confront his fractured family. And when a secret from his less-than-perfect life is revealed, Griffin finds himself doing damage control in more ways than one.

Genres: Christian Fiction, Young Adult

272 pages, Paperback

First published June 26, 2007

Reviews

[Melissa (Post-vacation Catch-Up) · Rating 2 out of 5]

Very odd book about a guy driving cross country with a girl he has loved secretly for year. Maybe I needed to have read the first book in the series, but I just didn't get this one.

Griffin Smith has had a messed-up life. He wants to do the right thing, but he keeps making wrong choices. His first year of college has been a good experience, but now he has the opportunity to drive cross-country - from Oregon to Kansas - with Amanda Mackenzie, the girl he has been in love with for years. But Griff and Amanda are on completely opposite ends of the spectrum. Where Griffin has made poor decisions (and continues to make them), Amanda has been a Christian and followed a fairly straight and narrow course. She is completely out of his league.

A few days in the car together in such close quarters makes for some soul searching and truth-telling on both Griffin and Amanda's parts. Life is complicated; can the two of them discover a way to meet the challenges together?

From Bad to Worse is an odd book. It is full of the real issues that teens face in today's world. Things aren't whitewashed and the solutions are not presented as pat answers. The writing and dialogue are filled with humor and tongue-in-cheek comments. Readers will warm to Griffin and Amanda, each for different reasons, even though each is flawed in their own way. Those are the good parts of the story.

On the other hand, From Bad to Worse is the sequel to Bad Idea, and it's crucial you read that novel first, in order to get the full impact of where Griffin is coming from. Things happen in Bad Idea, and the emotional and spiritual impact carries over into the sequel. Also, the redemption in the story isn't very clear cut. And maybe, it isn't supposed to be. My critique comes from my thirty-something conservative viewpoint, but it just feels unfinished. Overall though, From Bad to Worse is a worthwhile read, especially for older teens.

[Heather · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm not even sure I can properly explain why I loved this book so much, even more than "Bad Idea". I would say to anyone wanting to read this that reading "Bad Idea" first would be recommended. But this book was witty, intelligent, relevant, poignant, sometimes laugh-out-loud funny. It explored very difficult subjects with such finesse and humor and insight, even some of the most difficult emotional passages were deftly handled in a way that made them both powerful and yet gentle. I found myself in tears once again when I finished this book, reading it in just two days as I did not want to put it down. I loved it.

[Beth · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very rarely do I find a Christian fiction novel that’s actually funny. From Bad to Worse takes the reader through the mindset of college guy Griffin Smith. The story is written in first person which allows us direct access to Griffin’s inner-most sacred thoughts, which I usually find annoying in most first person narratives but in From Bad to Worse I felt that this point-of-view discussion was what made the book so powerful. Griffin’s thoughts are as honest as any woman can get to being inside a man’s head. In fact, several times I found myself finding Griffin’s dialogue familiar with dialogue I have had with my husband, only the difference is I can read Griffin’s thoughts too. I finally had to ask if these thoughts were even realistic and turns out they are mostly spot on. I suppose it helps that the authors are men themselves and have most likely experienced thoughts like these. Overall, the strong point of the book is Griffin’s character and the dialogue.

As far as the plot goes, toward the end of the book I found myself exhausted. It seems Griffin has gone through everything, from drug and alcohol problems, relationship problems, family divorce, self harming, angry siblings, experiencing a close family member experience suicide, and to top it all off a pregnancy gets thrown in there (I won’t tell you who). After a while I just wanted Griffin to get a break. I wanted this so bad that I gave up on the book for almost three weeks because I couldn’t take anymore of it, I wanted it to end well so badly. In fact, the exact moment that I stopped reading the book was Chapter 16, July 9th. I’m anxious to see if anyone else felt that the book could have ended a few chapters back and would have been a great book.

I was determined to finish this book though and after a lot of thinking I realized that one of the best explanations I can think of for this book being such a roller coaster ride is it’s honest. Realistically, these sort of things are happening in many people’s every day lives. It’s not very often that one bad thing happens to us and that’s it. Realistically when something bad happens, everything bad happens. That’s exactly what happens to Griffin and his only way of keeping himself up and going is Amanda Mac; or at least that’s what we think until the toward the end of the book we realize how much his faith in God has grown. This is a great inspirational message to any person struggling with their faith; especially when they are in the darkest part of their life. Griffin shows how important it is to continue to hang on to that faith and stay true to yourself. Things will eventually get better.

Overall, I really enjoyed this book. I found it to be one of the few books to make me actually laugh out loud and I applaud the Hafer brothers for that. They are excellent writers and make a great team. I hope to read more of their books in the future.

Disclaimer: I received this book from TyndaleRewards.com in return for this review and participation in several surveys.

[Marika · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow! This is one of the best Christian fiction books I’ve ever read. I had no idea it was a sequel until I came here to post a review; it read well as a standalone novel. I was hooked form the beginning and had the hardest time putting it down. The maturity of the writing style, the character development, and the story arc were impressive, and while I typically find cheesy moments in Christian fiction, there was none of that here.

Griff is such a well-crafted character; he’s realistic, funny, witty, and I especially appreciated his tough questions and doubts about God and faith. His journey was honest, raw, painful, and refreshingly realistic. There was so much depth and honest searching in this book with an ending that was convincing and rewarding.

There were some serious topics that were handled exquisitely well including but not limited to: suicide, substance abuse, divorce, infidelity, and premarital sex, with help resources listed in the back. The main character is 19/20 years old, but I think a range of teens, young adults, and above could all genuinely benefit from this novel.

[Ingrid · Rating 3 out of 5]

Just like in Bad Idea there was some definitely fantastic writing. The character of Griff was still relatable, clear, and amazingly well voiced. Issues were still discussed, aspects of faith that people seem too scared to bring up, questions that are usually most comfortably ignored... It was all here.

Yet I didn't like it quite as much as the first book. As much as I loved the wittiness and the humour, I found it falling a bit flat in this sequel. A lot of what was dealt with seemed like a re-hash of what the Hafers had already gone over in the first book.

Don't get me wrong, this book was still great and I'd still recommend it to older teens/early twenties. I just... didn't adore it like Bad Idea.

[Mark · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a good little read following the travels of two young people. I could tell that I was missing something in the story since this book is a sequel so I plan to go back & read the first book.

I received this book free through the Tyndale Rewards program (even though the book wasn't published by Tyndale). With the Tyndale Rewards program you receive points for submitting reviews on Tyndale books & you can cash your points in on free books. If you are interested in joining the program follow the link below & you will automatically start out with 25 points & by the time you complete a few of the joining surveys you will have enough points to get one of many the Tyndale authored books for free!!

www.tyndalerewards.com/signup/?pc=8bb...

[Ricki · Rating 4 out of 5]

A wonderful sequel to a book that was truly fantastic.

[Jt]

a book i read for youth ministry