With Friends Like These

April 1, 2007
In their third outing (after "Nothing but Drama" and "Blessings in Disguise"), best friends Camille, Alexis, Angel, and Jasmine compete for the hosting job on a television talk show, "Teen Talks". In the process, they discover things they don't like about themselves. Although aimed at teenagers, this novel will also appeal to young women who can relate to the questions it poses, e.g., What is more important, winning at all costs or staying true to your friends? Billingsley's approachable writing style makes her books a delight to read. Recommended for public libraries, young adult collections, and where there is demand for African American fiction.

Copyright 2007 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

April 1, 2007
The third in Billingsleys African American Christian Teen Fiction series that began with Nothing but Drama (2006), this continues the story of four high-school juniors who become close friends in an after-school Baptist church youth group called the Good Girlz. The girls discover they are "not good at all" when they compete to host a Teen Talks TV show. Desperate to be on the air, they cheat, lie, and betray each other, and they become bitter enemies. Each book in the series has one of the Ten Commandments as its theme, and this ones "Thou shalt not bear false witness." But there is no heavy preaching. Even readers new to the series will be caught up in the fast, funny contemporary talk and in the alternating first-person viewpoints about boyfriends, family, class ("those people who live in public housing"), and color. Quarrels, smart-mouthing, and payback make great drama, and then, so does saying sorry.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2007, American Library Association.)