Review: You Were there by Melissa Knight

 

I write this for Clean Fiction Magazine Winter 2025 edition and gave it an  A rating. Purchase here: Clean Fiction Magazine   

Back of the Book:

True love? What a fantasy!

Reese has plenty of reasons for being a skeptic. The Owens women, despite their thriving wedding planner business, have a sad history when it comes to matters of the heart!

And yet, there’s this guy…

Tall, athletic Daniel Dixon is full of contradictions. Super-competitive yet gentle, his bold stance on what love really means affects Reese deeply.

Complications arise when she discovers a not-so-secret figure from her past. Add a troubled ex-friend to the mix, and Reese questions not just her judgment, but her physical safety.

Reese’s journey to faith, and to a love that is joyful and enduring, is told with humor, honesty and a healthy dose of grandma advice!

You Were There is a Christian YA Romance, Book One in The Rayburn High Romance Series.

 

First impression: You Were There is a well-written, heartwarming romance full of innocent charm. I expected a teenybopper type tale, but was rewarded with a sophisticated novel of spirit, grit, love, and depth. The sprinkle of elder wisdom is like chocolate and butterscotch syrup on the perfect banana split.

Action: Melissa Knight did a great job taking the reader into a high school drama of crushes, texting, finals, lunch crowds, friendships, and jealousy.

Adventure: This story is packed with events in the normal high school teen’s life that mark growth in relationships with the other students, friends, and family. I love the relationship Reese has with her mother and grandmother. They all live together and work together in the business owned by her grandmother. Real to life conflicts, emotions, and love bring these women together, and trials and tragedy strengthen their bond. These women are not only related, but they like and help each other through difficult circumstances while giving each other needed space.

Romance: At the beginning, a teen crush turns into a broken heart. Then, a new friendship develops into more through tender moments of care and respect. Fist bumps turn into hand holding, hugging and a sweet kiss on the cheek. Trust is won through faithfulness, where promises and secrets are kept.   

Religion: Reese’s friends take her to youth group at church. She slowly learns that God is real, and He wants to be included in her life.

Art: The grandmother owns a wedding planner and event organizing business. The reader is privy to the inner workings of one such event and gets in on the code words for the temperaments of the bride and her family. Those made me smile. I may need to adopt them into my life to describe types of people I engage with.  

Final Thoughts: Warning about a social media bullying and a stalker that goes after our main character Reese. Also, a fistfight that is not graphic, but understood with black eyes and description. There was infidelity on the part of the grandfather now passed and an unwed pregnancy but all done in the past and written tastefully. This is a clean teen romance with true to life problems, attitudes, family drama of three generation women living in the same home, and lessons learned. The heartwarming and soul awakening moments made me cry. I loved this moving story and highly recommend it for teens through one hundred and twenty years or more. 5 stars

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