Hope offered for real-life situations

Looking for contemporary YA fiction? I recommend Real, Not Perfect by Stephanie Coleman and Searching for Normal by C.J. Darlington, which are in the four-book Riverbend Friends series.

Real, Not Perfect

In Real, Not Perfect, 15-year-old Tessa experiences some major life crises—her best friend moves states away and her father leaves her and her mother for another woman. This in addition to normal teen woes—she is pushed out of her comfort zone into an acting class, all her friends have a different lunch period, and her crush likes someone else—notches up Tessa’s stress levels. She also is a competitive swimmer who helps her coach with younger swimmers. Like most teens, Tessa’s life is jam-packed.

Through it all, Tessa stays active in her youth group, hangs out with her drama classmates at lunch, and pretends life is perfect. Tessa hates drama class even though she’s acting her way through her days.

During class, the teacher tries to get Tessa to tap into her emotions, to feel so her acting would become more real to the audience, but Tessa keeps her hard mask in place because to give her emotions a tiny crack for expression will destroy her façade. Each day this gets tougher.

Addresses perfectionism, loneliness

Many people try to maintain the appearance that they have life together even if it is crumbling around them. Through the story, Tessa learns that she is accepted and loved even if her life isn’t perfect. Her hurts are real, and if she will only let others see her vulnerability, she won’t feel so alone and lost.

At the climax, I cried. I related to the characters and appreciated that her life was presented as real and messy. While everything doesn’t end perfectly because life isn’t perfect, the book ends with hope, and some happy conclusions are made reminding us that sadness and joy mingle in our lives, and that’s okay.

Tough topics covered include divorce and suicide.

Searching for Normal

In Searching for Normal, the tough topics covered include adoption and the search of a birth parent, loss of parents to death, anger issues, grief, and bullying. Shay keeps to herself because she has a secret of shame and doesn’t think anyone will like her if they know her sins. Unfortunately, the bullies know. This time bomb ticks as the reader hopes she’ll just reveal the secret before the bullies do. We don’t know what the secret is until the end like her friends.

I like how each character dresses to her unique tastes. Shay wears a Carhartt coat and Wrangler jeans because she loves horses, riding, and horse clinics. Her friends have their own styles and interests and accept hers, unlike the bullies, who need to cut her down for her tastes because they are unlike theirs.

Shay doesn’t like drama class any more than Tessa, but she gained her friends through this class so she wrestles with whether to drop it or not. Shay’s unresolved anger and feelings of not belonging anywhere leap to the surface sometimes causing her to feel even worse about herself because she doesn’t know how to handle these feelings. It would help to talk with someone about her buried feelings and fears, but she doesn’t know who to trust. The school bullies compound the issues with their taunts and threats.

Addresses careless words

Shay feels unloved in many ways. One group involves her grandparents, who don’t want her living with them because of the secret sin. They made it clear she’s not a “blood” relative and continue to say thoughtless and rude comments in front of her like she isn’t there. She feels that she is a burden to her aunt, but she loves the dog her aunt fosters. Of course, even that might get taken away.

Searching for Normal is about the losses one girl struggles through and her search to be accepted because (in her mind) the one person who loved her is gone. It’s a touching story that addresses real emotional issues. I like that her friends and aunt really do care and show her they care in ways that matter.

As in life, the story isn’t neatly wrapped in a happy bow, but it ends with hope, which is something I think we all need, especially our teens.

For teens 12+

These well-developed storylines are written for teens 12-16, but I think older readers will find them interesting and thought-provoking, as well. I think it’s great that different authors write the novels in this series, yet the novels feel the same continuity and realism. Through their collaboration, the characters continue to be the same in each book, growing as we all do, day by day.

Both were published in 2021 by Tyndale House.

I hope you’ll check these out! What are you reading?