The Storyteller Squad
Book ReviewFaithYoung Adult

Real Stories

Victoria Kimble
April 21, 2023
4 comments
2 min read

As a parent of a teen and two pre-teens, I’ve noticed a trend: young people want real. They are drawn toward authentic representations of life and are repelled by glossed, painted-over versions. They know they have flaws and want to be loved despite them. They also want to know that others have faults too.

My preferred genre to write is contemporary fiction, so I’ve paid close attention to this. I’m always interested in stories that show teens in real-life situations, with the good, the bad, and the ugly that come with it. My goal is to point them toward Jesus in all this; He knows about their flaws, and He loves them anyway too.

The good news is, I’m not the only author with this goal! If you have a teen in your life that is looking for authentic stories, I highly recommend Real, Not Perfect by Stephanie Coleman.

Tessa has a great life on paper – excellent grades, active in her church youth group, and success on her competitive swimming team. But then her best friend moves out of state, and her parents announce the unthinkable: they’re getting divorced. Tessa then has to navigate a world that is less-than perfect, and decide how much she wants to share with the world.

I’d love to know how your teens share and seek out authenticity! Drop a comment, and let me know!

Victoria Kimble

Victoria is a wife, a mom to three girls, a full-fledged homebody, a so-so housekeeper, a mediocre musician and has dreamed of writing her whole life. She lives at the foot of the Rockies in Littleton, Colorado and she will never take that for granted. She has spent most of her life living in Colorado, with a brief six-year hiatus to live in Nebraska to attend college and get married. She is mostly a stay-at-home mom, but dabbles in a variety of other odd jobs, such as doing admin work and crocheting beard hats in the winter. She loves meat and potatoes, superhero TV shows and movies, and when the weather stays between 70 and 80 degrees. She could probably love the beach if she ever spent any time there.

Victoria spent her childhood reading and making friends with the characters in her favorite books. She never grew out of that. After many years of wondering, she decided it was time to write the stories she had always dreamed of writing. She hopes that her stories model an active Christian lifestyle, while feeding the insatiable sense of wonder and adventure that everyone has deep inside.

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4 comments

  • Victoria: I want to add that your book Main Dish, is an excellent REAL teen book. For others who haven’t read it: Main Dish explores the tug and pull of popularity and family dynamics. A teen has to give up a hard-earned chair in an honor orchestra because her younger sister has the opportunity to be on a reality show. It’s a great read!

  • Yes! Real and raw is what my teen boys want to read. Lately, they have been drawn to fictional re-tellings from a teen’s POV of what it was like to live through historical events and the ramifications of those events on every day life. This book sounds excellent and so relatable! Thanks for sharing!

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