Book Review: Scenarios 1: Truth or Dare by Nicole O’Dell

Truth or Dare by Nicole O’Dell is the first Scenarios book in what is a new Christian fiction series for tween girls. It is fantastic!

What the book does is give us a scenario with a young teenage girl and then the decision she has to face to either go the good way, the way her parents and God would want her to and quite possibly the way she wants to go herself or to submit to peer pressure and go the way her friends want her to instead. The book then gives us the story from both angles and we can see the consequences of both actions. I actually read both endings because I think both are important for any young girl reading the story; there are valuable lessons to learn on both sides.

Truth or Dare is about Lindsay just starting eighth grade with her friends Macy, Sam and Kelly. The girls are best friends and inseparable. They decide it might be fun to have sleepovers at one of their houses every weekend. It is during one of these sleepovers that they begin playing the game Truth or Dare. It starts out harmless enough with some fairly cute pranks but then seems to escalate until Lindsay is faced with a dare that compromises everything she believes in.

Lindsay’s friends, although a few are uncomfortable with the decision, inform Lindsay that she either completes the dare or stands to lose their friendship. What will Lindsay do? Will she compromise her faith and her parent’s trust in her? Will she go along with what her friends want her to do because she’s scared to lose their friendship? Will she realize that true friends should never ask you to disregard your beliefs or be someone you’re not if they are indeed your friends?

It was really refreshing to read a book that shows the importance of making good decisions, listening to your parents and being proud of your faith. This series is great because it shows the outcome of both decisions. How many young people are conflicted these days? They struggle with some of the same decisions that are portrayed in this book and by reading the book, it may just make their own decision to possibly do the right thing a lot easier. The important lesson to be learned is that it’s ok to be your own person and stand up for what you believe to be right!

My thanks to Nicole O’Dell for my copy of Truth or Dare. You can pick this book up here in the US and here in Canada. Be sure to check out Nicole’s website here and her blog here. There is also a website devoted to the Scenarios books here that looks like a lot of fun for girls.

Stay tuned later this week for my review of the second Scenarios book called All That Glitters.

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