A Book Review: Scenarios Series by Nicole O'Dell

Nicole O’Dell’s Scenarios series were really great books. Though it is one series, in each book there are new characters in new situations. The characters were lovable and very well described to a point where I grew to love them. They were written so realistically! Even though the majority of the books are about high schoolers I would reccommend it to anyone 12 and over. 

One thing I really loved about the whole series was the Christian theme. It takes true talent to do a Christian book—if you do it wrong it can come off cheesy—and Nicole O’Dell did it really well. It was realistic and well written. I really liked the way the main character always was (somewhat) willing to put church first, while still worrying about what their friends would think. I enjoyed the way the main character was able to (in some situations) turn her friends to Christ and how praying was a regular thing for their families. I loved how the Christian message was written into the books as part of the story, but also as an outreach as well. 

And, of course, I loved the two ending options. The scenarios the characters get themselves into are scary yet real and both endings are written naturally, as if there was no other ending. It was fun to read the two ways the character could have gone and see the results of both! Nobody can not like the ending because if a reader doesn’t like one ending there’s the other one!

My personal favorite of these books was Truth or Dare. In it, a girl named Lindsay and her friends start playing a game at their sleepovers called (you guessed it) Truth or Dare. For a while it’s fun, but then the dares get worse and worse. Then the absolute worst happens: Lindsay’s friend Kelly gives her a dare she knows she can never do, and Kelly says she’ll be kicked out of the group of friends if she doesn’t do it. Which will she pick? This one was my favorite because the book centers around friends, not boyfriends, and it’s something I can relate better to. It was so real and captivating; I loved it! 

The next few books were really well done, too, though I couldn’t quite relate as well as Truth or Dare. All that Glitters focuses more on boyfriends. I’m not a fan of those type of books, but I still found All that Glitters a great read. Making Waves was about a girl who swims on the swim team and her teammates tell her to use an illegal drug to get her through the final race. Like the previous book, I couldn’t quite relate to that sort of thing, but it was written so well I felt I could. Overall, the whole series is a definite 5-star rating and a series I’ll definitely reread again.