In Between - Jenny B. Jones

[goodreads]

Title: In Between
Author: Jenny B. Jones
Genre: Christian fiction, YA
Rating: 4.5/5
# pages: 343 pages
Date read: August 2011

Unlike most kids, teenage Katie Parker never got a fair shot at a normal life. With a mother in jail and a missing-in-action dad, she's never known what it's like to truly be loved. Low on options and family members, she's soon shipped off to a foster home. Now in an unfamiliar town, Katie's rebellious attitude is at odds with her new family, school, and classmates. And after falling in with all the wrong people at school, things go from bad to really bad after she takes the blame for vandalizing the local performing arts theater. But in the midst of a dark situation, Katie finds light in the most unexpected places: through her new friendship with an eccentric senior, the commitment of her foster family, and a tragic secret that changed them forever. And as she inches closer to acceptance and forgiveness, she finds that God has been there all along.

This is one of those treasures that I picked up more or less on a whim, and ended up loving. I read it in two sittings and while I can see its flaws, I was mostly so charmed by it, that I think it deserves a 4.5 rating. This is YA at its best, with a troubled teen who makes mistakes, but who learns from her mistakes, and doesn't end up repeating them. It had a realistic depiction of a youth church (which actually came very close to my own experiences), and of Christian teens in general. It was rather interesting to discover that it was Christian fiction though, as I hadn't picked that up from the book blurb (not the one above), and only discovered it a couple of chapters into the book.

The end was perhaps a bit too perfect, but I thought it fit the style of the book quite nicely, and now I'd really like to read the next two books in the series.