Mistaken Identity, by K. Dawn Byrd

Eden and Lexi have been good friends nearly all their lives, even when their friendship does not always make sense.  When Eden makes a list of 6 goals to accomplish, Lexi even helps get some of the goals accomplished.  But when the goal of getting a boyfriend leads Eden and Lexi to unknowingly fall for the same boy, the only think likely to get accomplished is a lot of hurt.

What do you get when you join a fantastic Christian author with the increasingly popular genre of young adult fiction?  You get a book with unbelievably wide readership appeal.  Such is the case with Mistaken Identity.  Once again, Byrd shows her ability to write Christian fiction in a way promotes a godly story, complete with great characters and a solid plot, in a way that is not too pushy or evangelistic.

I really liked the characters of Eden and Lexi.  I think that these are girls to which a lot of teen readers will relate.  While Eden is a Christian, she is human and flawed, and I think Christian teens need to see that in books, that it is normal to make mistakes at this age, but you can still hold on to your faith.  The character of Lexi appeals to more mainstream teen readers, and I think that is the key to this book having such wide appeal, beyond a Christian market.  After all, what teen reader would not relate to the idea of competing for a  guy?  I particularly liked the fact that Byrd does not stoop to gimmicks, such as ridiculous slang or pop culture references, in order to make the book more teen appropriate.  The story stands on its own.

While Christian fiction is a popular genre, I think there is a bit of a hole in the Christian young adult genre, and Mistaken Identity does a great job of filling it.  Not all teens want to be reading about the kind of romance you seen in books like Twilight, so this is a nice way of not only providing them with an appropriate type of romance, but really giving them something to read about the sounds a lot like the lives they live, and the struggles they face.  Bravo for Mistaken Identity, and I hope we see more like this from Byrd.

I received a review copy courtesy of the author.
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