Contact: Stephen Webb, 323-422-6634

LOS ANGELES, Jan. 8, 2014 /Christian Newswire/ -- Christian parents are often rightly suspicious of American pop culture, but in the new novel for teen girls, GLITTER GIRL, authors Stephen Webb and Toni Runkle manage to sneak in a solid biblical message among the glitz and glamour of their story of middle school popularity. Published by Sourcebooks Jabberwocky on December 3, Glitter Girl has been greeted by positive reviews for the first-time novelists. Kirkus reviews called it "an empowering message about being true to oneself for middle school readers."

But what is that message? The novel's main character Kat Connors is a 14-year-old blogger in love with the world of high fashion. Her flair for style catches the attention of large cosmetics corporation, which dispatches a glamorous but ambitious representative to Kat's hometown with a Faustian bargain: Kat uses her blog to push a new line of cosmetics and style products in exchange for a chance to be the "face" of the entire advertising campaign. There's only one catch: in order to be considered, Kat would have to hurt her down-to-earth best friend.

It's a story that Christians familiar with Mathew 4:1-11 will recognize right away. Just as Jesus in the Gospel was tempted with great things if he would worship Satan, Kat is also tempted to reject longtime friend and values in exchange for fame and fortune. According to co-writer Stephen Webb, this is not coincidental. "I was raised in the Catholic Church, and ever since I was a little boy I was fascinated by the phrase 'the glamour of evil' in the baptismal promises. The more I thought about it, the more obvious it became to me. The reason temptation to evil is so powerful is precisely because it does look so outwardly glamorous. So when we started to write this story, it organically became this fashion company that represented 'the glamour of evil' in our book. What could be more glamorous to a 14-year-old girl than having this beautiful young woman drop into her midst with promises of lots of acclaim and a chance to be on magazine covers? Once I had that idea in my head, the rest of the book flowed nicely from that foundation."

Though it can be enjoyed on an entire secular level, Webb said that he hopes that the book's message will resonate with Christian audiences as well.

More Information and reviews of the book can be found at www.runklewebb.com.