Book Review: Marked by PC Cast

I missed last week's book review, so here it is.

Once I finished the Twilight Saga, I went looking for another book that would be comparable and I found that their was another vampire series out there geared towards Young Adults. It is called Marked and it is written by PC Cast and her daughter Kristin Cast.

At first glance, the series seems pretty harmless, it's another version of teenage vampires. This tends to be symbolic with the teenagers as none of them feel they fit in. I guess that's why it's so popular with them. PC Cast called on her daughter Kristin to give the book a decidedly more teenage feel.

Though the story flows easily and keeps your attention, there were several red flags for me.

First, after reading Stephanie Meyer's books I was struck by how she could keep your attention without all the crude and vulgar cursing and language that the Casts' chose to include in their book. I find it irresponsible that a Mother wrote a book and geared it toward teens and included the "F" word more times than my kids have probably heard the word in their entire life. Stephanie Meyer wrote an incredible book series, whose mania is sweeping the nation, actually the whole world, right now.......why could the Casts' have not written their story and gotten street credit the same way with out the foul language?

Second, I have a major problem with the Casts' portrayal of the faith "Believers". She uses every chance she can find in the book to cast a negative light on those of us who believe in God or claim to be Christians. She casts them as hypocritical, judgemental witch-hunters.

Third, there are way too many teens out there treating sex as a casual thing and giving it all away way too soon. This book goes into a little too much detail and talks about a girl giving a guy a blow job in the first few chapters.

In lieu of these things, I think the book should have a Parental Warning on it, and I don't recommend it for teens. At least I know I don't want my girls reading it.