‘The 12 Dares of Christa’ by Marissa Burt is a sweet story of friendship, determination, strength, and forgiveness. Main character Christa is taken aback when, as she starts with her yearly Christmas preparations, she finds that her parents are throwing her a pretty large curveball – they’re divorcing, and Christa’s holiday plans are changing for the worse. Now she is forced to travel to Europe for her mother’s play performances without her dad. She blames her mom for the divorce, and this is made all the more of an issue when Christa sees her mother kissing one of her co-stars on the trip.

Christa takes little solace in the fact that she’s in Europe. However, life starts to change a bit for the better when her father takes it upon himself to continue one of the Christmas traditions Christa loves most – their annual scavenger hunt. Since he’s a travel agent and has planned out the itinerary for the kids’ tour during the trip, Christa finds herself smack in the middle of tons of action as she joins forces with friends and frenemies alike, realizing that surprises come in each scavenger hunt package. She starts to see the world more as her father would like her to – as a place capable of providing wonder and happiness, rather than the anger and upset she feels she is warranted to have due to her parents’ divorce.

Friends like Kylie, Colby, Sasha, and others create a truly memorable experience for Christa as she discovers what it means to be herself, despite everyone seemingly throwing their own opinions into the mix. Marissa Burt has crafted a cute and engaging story that showcases some beautiful European sites as well as the courage of a young girl trying to make sense of the world around her when everything seems thrown off its axis.

You can find ‘The 12 Dares of Christa’ by Marissa Burt here.

*Review originally posted at YABooksCentral.com*