Front Porch News Review

Honolulu Advertiser Review

Readers who enjoyed Honoluluan Brad Whittington's gently humorous evocation of adolescence, Welcome to Fred, have probably already gobbled up this sequel, in which teenage PK (preacher's kid) Mark Cloud finds God - and then has to figure out what to do with him. Whittington's skill with dialogue - both the external conversations and Cloud's internal musings - pulls you into and through this book with the ease of fishing line on a new reel. A good read.

InFuze Magazine Review

Free registration may be required. It's a great site, worth registering for. Hear's a teaser to talk you into it: "I had no preconceived notions about Living with Fred before reading it, other than hearing that Brad Whittington was a fantastic up and coming author. After finishing the book, I'm now planning to read Welcome to Fred, (the first of apparently three books dedicated to the subject) as soon as I can find it. That should let you know that Brad Whittington is a good author. But is he great?"

Christian Fiction Review

Contend 4 The Faith

Publishers Weekly -- January 2005

In this sequel to the Christy Award-winning Welcome to Fred, Whittington improves on his earlier novel with a more cohesive, confidently written story set in the early 1970s, in which 16-year-old preacher's kid Mark Cloud finds a book in his church library that asks the now cliched but then fresh question, "What would Jesus do?" From that point on, via Mark's first-person narration, Whittington entertainingly and poignantly takes readers on a tour of Mark's last two years of high school. During that time, Mark and several other residents of the titular East Texas town attempt, in their own difficult situations, to do what they believe Jesus would do. Parker Walker, for example, whose alcoholism and abusiveness led to unspeakable tragedy in the first Fred novel, endeavors to emulate Jesus in a desperate search for redemption. Vernon Crowley, an alcoholic and a bootlegger, does as he believes Jesus would do when he stands trial for a murder he did not commit. And Mark, the enormously appealing, literate, self-deprecating young hero, also makes his own repeated attempts to be Christlike, often in situations that are simultaneously humorous and deadly. Whittington does an impressive job of focusing the novel thematically while letting its plot meander delightfully, and in doing so paints a satisfying, authentic portrait of late adolescence. --Publishers Weekly - January 2005