Self-help ✦ Penny’s Take
A Novel Idea
Kathryn S. Olson · 2009
46/100
👎 Skip It
Heads up — this isn't a novel at all. It's a nonfiction how-to-write-Christian-fiction anthology with a genuinely impressive contributor list (Jerry Jenkins, Karen Kingsbury, Francine Rivers among them), and proceeds go to training international writers. As a craft guide it's solid, but it doesn't belong in a fiction review slot, and a reader expecting a story will just be confused. This one needs to be pulled or re-categorized rather than reviewed as a novel.
✦ Penny’s Take — this is The Review Group’s own editorial assessment. Penny’s analytical review line researched this book from real sources and scored it across the lenses shown below. It’s an honest first-party read — not a page-by-page personal one. The gold ✓ Penny Tested mark is reserved for books Penny reads cover to cover herself.
⚠ Parent note — our reviewers flagged: Catalogue mismatch: nonfiction writing-craft anthology, not a novel — should not run in a fiction slot. We still scored it 46; these are context for your family, not an automatic skip.
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Show the math
Verdict receipt0–100
Faith & family safety70
Substance / usefulness60
Craft & writing55
Originality45
Evidence & accuracy25
Hype vs delivers35
Age-fit65
Human-eye read45
Penny’s verdict46
Cross-pollinate