Book Review: "Flirting With Disaster" by Sandra Byrd

In a shocking turn of events, all writers for the Wexburg Academy Times will cast their votes for next year's editor—and it looks like Savvy's vote will be the tie breaker! She must choose between a nasty-girl-turned-nice, with a sudden interest in letting Savvy get what she wants, and the prickly Hazelle, who promises nothing at all. Savvy then finds herself wrapped up in a new, seemingly innocent but potentially dangerous activity. It's all at risk in this book: her position on the paper, the boy she likes, the ministry she wants to go well. At a critical moment, Savvy must figure out how to rely on God rather than luck and to overcome temptation before it is too late.

One of the things I remembered about my early high school days was those darn email forwards. EVERYONE was doing it at the time as we passed around all those quizzes and wishes and just seeing who was your best friend. It's that time in your life when you desperately want to fit in with all the cool folks because, well it's the cool thing to do. This book shows that even in a different country or even though if you're an adult, that feeling of wanting to fit in is still there.

Savvy is just at that stage where she wants to be in and being in means being with the Aristocrats. Even though she's friends with them, she's still on the fringe so when those email forward and texts become all the rage she keeps up her part by sending them back and passing them on. Meanwhile her mom wants to be in too, with the local book club and flower groups. It's interesting seeing how they just want to have friends and how that feeling never goes away. The newspaper aspect is always interesting as well as Savvy's work with the fashion store.

While I enjoyed this book, it was probably my least favorite out of the whole series. I just felt that Savvy acted rather young in this book compared to the other books in the series. I totally get that she's 15 and I remember being that age. It's a time when you get clueless about things when you're trying to fit in. Therefore I can excuse her for her lack of judgment at times throughout the story. It just didn't fit with how she acted in the other books where I thought she was quite mature for her age. This one also seemed to be a bit more religious than the other books but not too over the top.

Overall though, I have thoroughly enjoyed this entire series. There aren't many YA books that take place in England so I hope that this is a new trend in the industry. As a semi-Anglophile I loved learning more about the culture and from a different perspective of the eyes of a young teen. Sandra Byrd's books are always enjoyable so I think that readers of all ages will enjoy this series and Savvy's adventures. I think this is the end of them but I hope that one day we can visit her again in the future.

Flirting With Disaster by Sandra Byrd is published by Tyndale (2010)

This review copy was provided by the publisher