With Friends Like These (Good Girlz) [Paperback]

ReShonda Tate Billingsley (Author)

Book Description

Series: Good Girlz | Publication Date: April 10, 2007

The third book in an exciting and inspiring new series from national bestselling author ReShonda Tate Billingsley

Only one girl will be chosen....

In the year since Camille, Alexis, Jasmine, and Angel joined Rachel Jackson's church youth group, the four best friends have bonded over boys, pitched in on community projects, and shared their deepest secrets. There's nothing they don't know about each other -- or is there? When a special guest arrives at Rachel's group and announces auditions for a television talk show, the girls will come to know a side of each other they never knew existed. And they may not like what they see.

Will the four friends become enemies?

The race to find the perfect host for KRCP's Teen Talks is heating up -- the competition is fierce, and so are the lies the girlfriends tell about each other in order to win the coveted spot. But more painful than any lies they can concoct is the cold, hard truth: none of them will reach their ultimate dreams if cutting each other down is how they choose to get ahead. Is winning a place in the spotlight worth losing their friendship?

Includes a reader's group guide!

Be sure to read the previous novels in ReShonda Tate Billingsley's fresh and fun series that looks at the Ten Commandments in a whole new light: Nothing But Drama and Blessings in Disguise -- now available!

ReShonda Tate Billingsley is a general assignment reporter for KRIV-TV, the Fox affiliate in Houston, Texas. She is the author of the nonfiction book Help! I've Turned Into My Mother! and three previous adult novels: My Brother's Keeper, for which she received the prestigious Gold Pen Award for Best New Author from the Black Writer's Alliance and the Nova Lee Nation Award from the Greater Dallas Writing Association; the national bestseller Let the Church Say Amen, chosen for Library Journal's Best of 2004 list for Christian fiction; and I Know I've Been Changed, a Main Selection of the Black Expressions Book Club. Her previous Christian teen novels are Nothing But Drama and Blessings in Disguise, both available from Pocket Books. She is also a contributor to the story anthology Have a Little Faith. Visit her website at www.reshondatatebillingsley.com.

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

The third in Billingsley's 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 one's "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. Hazel Rochman
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

About the Author

ReShonda Tate Billingsley is the #1 national bestselling author of eight previous novels for adults, as well as the Good Girlz teen series. She has won numerous awards for her journalism and fiction, including the Nova Lee Nation Award from the Greater Dallas Writing Association and the prestigious Gold Pen Award for Best New Author for her first novel, My Brother’s Keeper. Her short fiction appears in the story anthology Have a Little Faith. She is also the author of the nonfiction book Help! I’ve Turned Into My Mother. ReShonda welcomes readers to her websites at www.reshondatatebillingsley.com.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 256 pages
• Publisher: Gallery Books (April 10, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1416525629
• ISBN-13: 978-1416525622
• Product Dimensions: 8.1 x 6.8 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #378,674 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

I am a former news reporter in Houston. But I recently left to pursue my true passion full time - writing. I'm the author of twenty books and a mother to three young children. Two of my books are currently being made into movies. I'm also a proud University of Texas at Austin graduate. Not only do I love writing, I love reading almost as much!

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars What About Your Friends?, July 10, 2007

By 

The RAWSISTAZ Reviewers (RAWSISTAZ.com and BlackBookReviews.net) - See all my reviews

This review is from: With Friends Like These (Good Girlz) (Paperback)

WITH FRIENDS LIKE THESE is the third installment in Reshonda Tate Billingsley's young adult series featuring Camille, Jasmine, Alexis, and Angel. This time around the girls are also joined by Tameka, Rachel's niece. In the novel, the girls are all trying to win a position as the hostess of a new show called Teen Talks. The competition amongst them is fierce and some are willing to do whatever it takes to get the job; even if it means double-crossing their friends. Lying and stealing are only part of the plan to make sure the position belongs to them. Along the way, they are forced to question whether or not the bond they share is real and will last once the contest is over.

Not only does Billingsley address friendship in this novel, she also explores dating relationships. Camille meets a young man with whom she quickly becomes involved. Yet, just when she thinks things are going great she receives opposition from his mother and surprisingly from another source who she thought would always support her. Not only that, someone from Camille's past returns only to escalate the drama in her relationship. Alexis is also involved in a relationship with an unlikely character. When her relationship ends, there is a chance that one of her friendships might come to an end too.

The third installment in Billingsley's series is another well-written novel meant to teach lessons about friendship and loyalty. Once again she brings her characters to life, placing them in situations that allow her to use the Ten Commandments and a biblical background to teach without being preachy. Teens are not the only ones who will enjoy this novel though; it's entertaining for readers of all ages. WITH FRIENDS LIKE THESE has a well-developed plot with intriguing twists and turns the reader will not expect. If you enjoy novels that make you laugh, pull you into the characters' lives, make you shake your head in disgust, and teach you a lesson all at the same time, this is the book for you. Also, if you're looking for a book to read with your child, then pick this one up. You might even want to check out the first two books in the series, Nothing But Drama and Blessings in Disguise.

Reviewed by Criss Coles
for The RAWSISTAZ Reviewers

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The New and Improved Babysitters Club or SweetValley High, July 23, 2007

By 

Donnica Carter "AKA DCSquared" (Marietta, GA United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: With Friends Like These (Good Girlz) (Paperback)

APOOO Rating: 4

With Friends Like These is the third book in a series of young adult books by ReShonda Tate Billingsley. Billingsley presents characters Alexis, Camille, Jessica, and Angel that have joined together to create the church youth group, the Good Girlz. When Rachel, the group's founder, introduces a new member to the group, as well as presents the girls with an opportunity for one of them to host the new talk show Teen Talks, trouble is definitely in the future for the girls.

In the midst of the competition for the spot as talk show host, the girls start to realize that they do not know as much about each other as they thought. Issues such as interracial relationships, teenage boosters, and divorce are addressed in this compelling book.

Billingsley does a great job bringing the characters to life. She creates a storyline that is full of insight into what the youth of today are really going through. It is the new and improved Babysitters Club or SweetValley High. I highly recommend this for young girls of today.

Donnica Copeland
APOOO BookClub