Waiting on Wednesday (1)

Waiting on Wednesday is a meme hosted by Breaking the Spine where we share books we are anticipating!

Rapunzel Let Down: A Fairy Tale Retold
By Regina Doman

Series: Fairy Tale Novels #6
Publisher: Chesterton Press
Projected Release: Easter 2013

Summary: I have yet to see an official summary, but Doman's announcement states that this retelling of "Rapunzel" deals with   premarital unchastity and an out-of-wedlock pregnancy.  She recommends it for an older audience, about fourteen and up.

Thoughts: I don't know of many books that portray Catholic characters, much less ones who actively live out their faith.  I think many young Catholics find it difficult to relate to the characters in contemporary novels--characters who party hard, sleep around, and abuse various substances.  While I have seen reviewers who criticize Doman's young Catholic heroes and heroines as unrealistic, that was my reality growing up--I was surrounded by people who wanted to serve God and to live moral lives. I appreciate a series that acknowledges my own experience and that illustrates the possibility that young people can make good choices.

Furthermore, Doman does not shy away from difficult topics such as date rape, drugs, and abortion.  She recognizes that young people deal with these issues and that pretending they do not exist can do more harm than good.  She always presents these issues in a Catholic light, showing that temptation need not turn into sin--or that, when it does, God is always ready to forgive.  I'm looking forward to Rapunzel Let Down because I'm tired of reading books that treat premarital sex lightly, as if it it merely a recreational pastime and can never have life-altering consequences.  I think young people deserve better than that--they deserve the truth.