While The Crush (The Ballad of Emery Brooks, #1) is a clean and Christian romance for young adult readers and does not contain any language or spice (sexual content), the book features several tough topics that may be triggering to read. Below are spoiler-free and spoiler versions of content warnings for this book so that you can make an informed decision on whether you or your teen should read this book:

Book Cave Rating:

I consider The Crush as Mild+ according to the Book Cave rating system, for the following reasons:

• This book contains mild violence (pushing, shoving).
• This book contains a mention of teens drinking, but it is shown in a negative light.

Note on Language Before the 2024 Update: Before I updated the content in the book in 2024, The Crush contained some uses of the words “crap”, “piss”, and “freaking”, but those have been edited out in the current version.

Spoiler-Free Content Warnings:

The Crush contains tough topics tackled from a Christian perspective, including the following:

• Mentions of an extramarital affair (mentioned in passing and is depicted in a negative light)
• Bullying (Shown in a negative light)
• Church hurt (The reasons behind the church hurt are depicted as un-Christlike behavior)
• Mentions of teens drinking (Shown in a negative light)
• Manipulative and toxic family members (Not the main character’s family and these behaviors are shown in a negative light)
• Depression (Combatted from a Christian perspective)
• Suicidal thoughts and wishes (These are not glorified nor said by the main character)
• A non-successful suicide attempt (This act is not glorified/romanticized and is not shown on page. The main character learns about it from overhearing someone else talk about it)
• Death and grief (Please see the Spoiler Content Warning section for more details)
• Sad ending (The main character ends up getting her happy ending by the end of the trilogy)

Please Scroll Down if you would like to read the Content Warnings Containing Spoilers

Content Warnings Containing Spoilers:

• Slight age gap romance (The main character, who is a sophomore in high school at the time, dates a boy who is a college freshman. Their relationship is innocent, parental consent is given before they start dating, and they only kiss)
• Death of a pet (Not shown, the main character is told about it by their parent)
• Death of a grandparent (Due to a stroke. There are non-detailed hospital scenes leading up to this and the death is off-page)
• Bullying (A bully tells a character that they should’ve k!lled themselves. This, obviously, is shown in a negative light)
• Church hurt (The main character’s family finds another church to attend after leaving the toxic one)
• Death by car wreck (The main character, who at the time is 16 years old, witnesses a love one’s vehicle crash. Later, the character learns their loved one has died. No gore is involved, but the main character deals with trauma from this experience that is tackled in books 2 and 3 of the trilogy from a Christian perspective)