Magna & Making Waves by Nicole O’Dell are a wonderful resource for young teen girls and even adults like me. I’ve really enjoyed the Scenarios books for girls – these latest two being the third and fourth book. The first two: Truth or Dare (my review) and All that Glitters (my review) were great as well! These are Christian based books that portray the main character in a story and then give the reader two directions that the main character can take when she’s forced to face a tough situation. You can of course read both routes as I do. The reader gets to see what happens to the main character based on which decision she makes. These books carry many good messages for young girls as they address the pressures that young girls feel in this world today. I absolutely recommend these books!
Magna by N
icole O’Dell follows Molly Jacobs as she is navigating the normal life of a teen girl. Molly and her best friends decide that they need to get jobs so they’ll have some extra money for some cool clothes and all the other things important to a teen girl. After getting permission from their parents to look for part time jobs the girls put their heads together to see what would be the best place for them to apply. They come up with the popular clothing store Magna and apply. Much to their excitement they secure interviews but the only one hired ends up being Molly. Molly seems to really have a knack for putting outfits together for people and in short order is doing very well at the store and receives a promotion.
But along with the great job comes the peer pressure as well. All of a sudden girls at school who never paid any attention to her are asking her for favors and if that isn’t bad enough her best friends start pressuring her too. What will Molly do? Will she stand up for what she believes is right and refuse her friends or will she fall under the pressure of wanting to please her friends instead? One of these choices can have dire consequences for Molly but is her faith and belief in herself strong enough to hold up against her best friends and the need to be popular?
This fourth 
book in the Scenarios series follows Kate as she and her mother are trying to rebuild their lives after the passing of her father and not only that but Kate is also dealing with her sister recently getting married and her best friend Olivia moving away. So Kate decides to join the swim team, not only to make friends but because she loves to swim. Swimming is one thing that can make her feel somewhat better.
Of course being the strong swimmer that she is, Kate makes the team and quickly finds herself somewhat in the spotlight. It turns out that Kate is a really good swimmer; really better than most on her team. But with all this new attention also comes the pressure to do better all the time and some of the girls on the team ask Kate if she’d like to try these energy drinks and later some pills that would give her more energy and enable her to perform better. So what will Kate do? Will she fall under the pressure and the need to be better and break those records that she really wants to break? Will she put aside her faith and do what she knows is wrong and disappoint her mother or will she hold true to her beliefs and be strong knowing she can make it on her own?
As I’ve said these are great books for teen girls. So many are faced with hard decisions especially in this day and age and I think being able to read about a lot of these situations portrayed in the books and seeing what happens depending on which route you take would really help them to maybe make the right decisions at some point in their own lives. Again these books are Christian based and that isn’t to everyone’s liking. For me, I think that’s part of the charm of these books – it’s ok to have faith in God and it’s ok to live your life believing in doing what’s right. I think wherever young people can find support nowadays is a good thing!
You can buy Magna here in the US and here in Canada and Making Waves here in the US and here in Canada. Be sure to visit Nicole O’Dell’s website as well!
My thanks…to Nicole and the publisher for my review copies of Magna and Making Waves by Nicole O’Dell.
I think that these would be great books for my daughter. She has just been confirmed, and I think it's important for her to know that there is good Christian literature out there for someone her age. Great review, Dar!!
These sound like great books for teen girls. I think you're definitely right about young people needing support to make the right choices.
I do like what they have to say, but personally not for me, it depends, if they are too preachy or not
this does sound like a nice series for teen girls.
http://thebookworm07.blogspot.com/
Sounds like they would be a great addition for my library!!!