Guide to Categories : YA Review – review of books for teens

Links in this post may be affiliate links. Purchases made using these links will not cost you more but may pay me an affiliate fee.

We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and related sites. Thank you for using my links.

About the Book

Book: The Samaritan’s Patient

Author: Chevron Ross

Genre: Contemporary Fiction / Teen Christian Fiction

Release Date: January 25, 2024

Teenager Paige Abernathy awakens after a severe beating to find that she suffers from amnesia, and that everyone seems to hate her.

She has only flashes of memory until the night a grieving parent attacks her in her hospital room. Paige then remembers her role as creator of an online group where members talk about ways to commit suicide.

After recovering from the beating, Paige embarks on a journey of penance to atone for a disaster born of good intentions. Her odyssey launches her on a mission of mercy and into new danger.

The Samaritan’s Patient is a thought-provoking novel about navigating the treacherous waters of social media.

Click here to get your copy!

My YA Review

Ross, Chevron. The Samaritan’s Patient. Australia: AIA Publishing, 2023.

The Internet has both good and bad. Chevron Ross explores how good intentions online can be used for bad purposes. Paige sees the darkness in the world and wants to combat it. She starts a website to encourage those who are feeling discouraged. The users soon turn the site into a place where they can talk about suicide. Paige does her best to delete the comments and users but they keep coming. Then reports start coming in of people who supposedly committed suicide because of her website. Faith is also having some problems with her mom – a high-powered individual who wants what’s best for Faith but doesn’t always go about it in the best way.  

Because of an incident, Faith develops amnesia. The Samaritan’s Patient is a well-written story of how she regains her memory and what she does once she recovers her memory. The story is a good lesson that doing penance will not relieve our feelings of guilt. We meet many good people in this story – from homeless individuals to wealthy, caring people – all of whom help Faith along her way.

I admit when I read the opening pages of the book, I wasn’t sure how far I’d be able to read as it starts in a very dark place. Fortunately, the book does take a turn to a better place and I found I really enjoyed the book. It quickly became a “can’t put it down” story.

The Samaritan’s Patient is appropriate for a K-12 Christian school library. Librarians and parents should read the book as well, and learn a bit about the dark side of the Internet. I would label the book for high school only due to the topic of the book. 

I received a complimentary copy of The Samaritan’s Patient. This is my honest review. 

About the Author – Chevron Ross

Chevron Ross is a pseudonym for someone unimportant. He is not a writer, but God keeps putting ideas into his head that somehow turn into stories. If you like them, be sure to offer God a prayer of thanks.

More from Chevron Ross

Behind the Scenes

This novel might never have been born had I not seen an interview on PBS with two New York Times writers, Megan Twohey and Gabriel Dance, on December 16, 2021.

These reporters did an extensive investigation into a website on which subscribers discussed committing suicide and shared methods for doing so. Most visitors to the site were thirty or younger. There were 1.2 million messages. At least forty-five suicides in multiple countries were linked to the site.

At the time of this broadcast, I had just completed my second novel, The Seven-Day Resurrection, and was wondering what to do next. The PBS interview was so shocking that I could not stop thinking about it. What motive could a person have for encouraging strangers to kill themselves? What could one possibly gain from such an endeavor? And what could provoke someone to throw away the gift of life at such a youthful age?

Each of my novels has been the result of an inspiration from God. Once He puts an idea into my head, it consumes my imagination until I cannot stop working. As you might imagine from the title, The Samaritan’s Patient is a blend of two stories: the famous parable of Jesus in the Bible, and a young person with good intentions who gets caught up in a social media nightmare.

God did all the work on this book. He created the character of Paige Abernathy and told me how to build the novel around the circumstances of her personal life—her parents, her friends, and most of all, her Christian faith. He also created the crisis that launches her on a journey of new experiences and personal growth.

I am amazed and grateful that God would choose someone so ordinary and unaccomplished as myself to do this work. Each novel God has written through me has been a great personal gift, and a reaffirmation that God has a plan for each of us. I pray that The Samaritan’s Patient will be as great a blessing to its readers as it has been to me.

Blog Stops

The Lofty Pages, March 9

By The Book, March 10 (Author Interview)

Debbie’s Dusty Deliberations, March 11

For the Love of Literature, March 12 (Author Interview)

Texas Book-aholic, March 13

Tell Tale Book Reviews, March 14 (Author Interview)

Inspired by Fiction, March 14

Locks, Hooks and Books, March 15

Splashes of Joy, March 16 (Author Interview)

Becca Hope: Book Obsessed, March 16

Pause for Tales, March 17

Guild Master, March 18 (Author Interview)

Library Lady’s Kid Lit, March 19

A Reader’s Brain, March 20 (Author Interview)

Truth and Grace Homeschool Academy, March 21

Artistic Nobody, March 22 (Author Interview)

Giveaway

To celebrate his tour, Chevron is giving away the grand prize package of a $50 Amazon gift card and a copy of the book!

Be sure to comment on the blog stops for nine extra entries into the giveaway! Click the link below to enter.

https://promosimple.com/ps/2a555/the-samaritan-s-patient-celebration-tour-giveaway

Read more YA Review posts