From the publisher:

A weird family, one messed-up guy, and an angry coyote transform Griffin Smith's rite-of-passage road trip to his freshman year of college into an attitude-changing adventure! As their journey takes random detours and the states blur by, Griffin, his best friend, father, and kid brother learn life lessons about forgiveness, integrity, and character.

My review:

I'll admit I feel a bit conflicted about this book. I've worked with troubled kids for over twenty years so I know where the authors are coming from. The book was compulsively readable. The wit, sarcasm, and analogies were the most original and creative I've ever read. The authors clearly had insight into a troubled kid's head as well. I'm not sure I agree that the content is for kids as young as twelve, though, despite what the recommended age level is. For one thing, Griffin does a lot of dangerous stuff in this book including self-mutilation and drinking secretively through the majority of the book. My concern would be that a troubled kid would read about something they'd never done before (like burn themselves) and try it because they read about it as a way of coping for Griffin and if they thinks he's cool...

I dunno. I remember being 12 and 13 and reading a book about girls who were anorexic and trying to imitate their behavior when I was upset because I thought they were cool. That's what I'm getting at here. I liked how the authors gave incredible insight via the first person point of view into Griffin's inner heart attitude and his extreme pain over his mother's abandonment and how that played out in his life. I also liked how they showed the lessons Griffin learned over time, though they were slow at coming out and then the book was over. I'm also a bit conflicted on the spiritual element because from reading this book you sort of get the impression that Griffin sees himself as a Christian, yet his thoughts don't seem to match up with how a truly spiritually regenerated person would view things. He seemed to have no hope at all so that didn't sit right with me. However, he did seem to understand grace more in the end, so something obviously happened to his heart to change his impression of what a relationship with Christ means.

Some of the stuff in Bad Idea is truly LOL funny, but even when reading snippets to my two teenage sons, I could not get them interested in reading this book and they are the target audience! Some of the stuff seemed too thirty-something sounding in Griffin's thoughts. What 18 year-old knows what Billy Idol's fish hook snarl looks like? Or am I just out of touch with the pop culture of today? At any rate, I still recommend this book for a snappy read to someone who loves angst and works with troubled youth. I'm just not so sure I'd recommend it to troubled teens as a resource. Sure, they might also self-mutilate and can identify with Griffin's thought process, however, if they don't already self-mutilate I'd hate to think they had now just discovered a whole new way to hurt themselves via a Christian book. Make sense?

I love edgy stuff, so I had to really sleep on this one before I put my thoughts down to be fair to the authors. I still want to read the sequel.

Bad Idea was published by NavPress THINK and released in August 2006.

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From the Publisher:

Lady Isabel Ashton, scorned by society after the birth of her illegitimate child, longs to regain wealth and position-despite Christ's call on her heart. But when her son is kidnapped, she's forced to seek the aid of the man who pirated her purity. How far will Isabel go to save her child and redeem her honor?

Captain Kent Carlton, desperate to win the heart of the woman he once ravished, finds himself battling jealousy as well as the sea. Can a penniless pirate capture the love he so urgently desires, or will the lady seek her safe harbor in another man's arms?

My review:

All of the books in the Legacy of the King's Pirates series have been awesome, but this story was probably the best of them all. It's a difficult task to take someone who was so unlikeable in previous books - Captain Carlton - and make him someone you want to see Lady Ashton choose to love and spend the rest of her life with. The author has such rich, emotional characters and so much depth to her stories that it's hard to not feel sad when the story ends. I enjoyed this novel to the last page, because when it comes to torturing her characters, M.L. Tyndall is the queen of tension. The Restitution was riveting.

I also loved how Tyndall created pirate cuss words without having the characters actually swear. Her skill with the English language and her ability to describe things is incredible. This is an author who puts you in every scene--from the stench of the filth inside the ship to the hair-raising fear experienced by the characters. And the faith element was once again believable. There is no easy faith on pirate ships, but God shows His love in impossible, but true-to-life situations. This is an author I will not miss. Every book she writes is a treasure and I highly recommend them all.

The Restitution was published by Barbour and released in August 2007.

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Book Description:

Dinah Mayhew takes on more than just a job at the Chicago World's Fair when she sets her cap for Seth Howell. As Dinah and Seth team up to help Chicago's unfortunates, romance fairly blossoms. But matters take a turn for the worse when Cousin Gladys appears on the scene and starts looking for love in all the wrong places. Upon Gladdie's sudden and mysterious disappearance, Dinah and Seth begin searching for answers, only to find themselves trapped in a maze of secrecy and deception. Will they live to expose the truth or find themselves facing the point of no return?

My review:

Fair Game is an intriguing tale. While it had some slow spots, overall it was a fascinating story and I enjoyed it. Though labeled a romantic mystery, Fair Game contained quite a bit of suspense--especially toward the end. I knew who the creepy man was and what he was doing and I wanted to protect Dinah from him. The romance between Dinah and Seth was sweet, and at times rather emotionally intense. The subplot of her father's rejection of her really drew their hearts together and touched mine.

I loved Seth from the beginning, but as I got to know him better I loved him even more for being so heroic. Great romance, riveting suspense. Wonderful historical fiction. I enjoyed it almost as much as the first book in the series. If not for the slow spots I would have enjoyed it even more, but they weren't significant enough to keep me from finishing the story.

Fair Game was published by Barbour and released in April 2007.

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Product Details
# ISBN: 0736919201
ISBN-13: 9780736919203
# Format: Paperback, 144pp
# Publisher: Harvest House Publishers
# Sales Rank: 342,078
# Age Range: Young Adult

From the Publisher:

The second Faith Thomas Novelzine sparkles with the trend—setting features of the first—a fascinating fiction tale for teens in a dynamic magazine layout, full—color photos, and faith—building sidebars, prayers, Scriptures, and blog quotes from teens around the world.

Author Stephanie Perry Moore weaves another great tale with 14—year old Faith Thomas, daughter of a popular Christian musician. She and friends Nellie, Hope, and Kendal face struggles that test their beliefs and their sense of worth. Through it all, Faith learns to trust God with everything from the trials of friendship to feelings for boys to the pressure of a beauty pageant. This unforgettable journey through a calendar year leads Faith and teen readers to discover the unique way God wants them to shine!

My review:

God Want You to Shine is the first Novelzine for Young Adults that I've ever read and it was FABULOUS! The author may be an adult, but she has the perfect teen voice in this story. Very convincing inner dialog and situations. I loved it! Faith is a new Christian and battling the temptations kids face today. Her friends are having serious problems, many of which affect her. Everything in her life ebbs and flows with the tide of life until an occasional emotional hurricane blows through and disrupts her world. But Faith ends up growing closer to God in the process and her friends all watch everything she does. Because of her attitude and relationship with God through the hard times, she makes an impact on the people around her and essentially shines her light in this dark world. Beautifully written, while this novelzine is for young adults, I think anyone would benefit from reading it. You will feel uplifted and encouraged. I guarantee it.

God Wants You to Shine was published by Harvest House and released July 1, 2007.

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Product Description:

Gold Medallion finalist Jeannie St. John Taylor returns with her engaging character, Erik. Erik is afraid that he has lost his best friend when Chuck ignores him and plays in the snow with Todd. To make things worse, Erik breaks his arm when his sled swerves into a tree after trying to avoid their snowballs. Even though Erik thinks he will never forgive them, he learns that forgiving feels better than trying to get even . . . and it makes his friends feel better, too.

My review:

While geared toward children ages 4-8, Am I Forgiving? is an engaging story with an important lesson for kids of any age. It deals with emotional reactions to teasing and the games kids play (like ignoring you when they are with other kids) that hurt feelings. I remember having two friends when I was five and six. We could never all three be friends at the same time, but it was me with one of them or them leaving me out. Must be things kids do at that age. I would've loved to have learned a similar lesson about forgiving or I wouldn't have spent so much time being mad at them for not including me.

Developmentally this is a perfect story to read to any child before they start school or to prepare them regarding friendship problems and how to deal with rejection and teasing. The core lesson in the story is about what true forgiveness is and what it isn't. Having worked with abused kids for many years, I found this particularly beneficial.

There is a parents' guide at the end that gives parents suggestions on how to explain the lesson to their children. It says this... Forgiveness does not require that you to trust or become good friends with the person who you. Excellent advice! This should prevent victimization due to ignorance of the meaning of true forgiveness. And some of the words are hard enough that the story will expand the kids vocabulary, too. But beyond the storyline, the best part of the book is the adorable pictures. The author has inserted random cute animals throughout the pages and some illustrations are downright hilarious!

Am I Forgiving? was published by Kregel Kidzone and is being released August 2007.

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From the Publisher:

Author Siri L. Mitchell (The Cubicle Next Door) invites readers to an exotic and mysterious land on a tender journey of self?discovery.

Though reporter Allie O'Connor has lived in Japan for two years, she still barely copes as a foreigner. After an office romance ends badly, she prays in her loneliness one moonlit night for a friend. Just a friend.

Soon after this prayer she runs into Eric Larson at church, an old classmate from high school. Eric has been assigned to the U.S. embassy and lives in Allie's district. In school he had been a young Republican. Allie had been a liberal Democrat. He is not the friend she was looking for. And yet...here she is. Here he is.

Will Allie risk their fledgling friendship to find out if it can become something more?

My review:

Once again Siri Mitchell has taken me as a reader to a foreign culture. An exotic place. Tokyo, Japan. And with that excursion came site seeing, food, religion, economics, and a fascinating interpretation of things in nature as seen through Japanese culture. Siri has a gift for making the reader transport to another location somewhere in the world. Whether it's Paris, like in Kissing Adrien, or Colorado, like in The Cubicle Next Door, or traveling Europe as in Chateau of Echoes and Something Beyond the Sky. That is one of the things I enjoy the most about her books. And she always has strong heroines with passion and convictions about something whether it's the use of drinking straws, or the perils of politics.

What I enjoy most about Siri's books as evidenced in Moon Over Tokyo as well as her other novels, is her amazing ability to draw out the tension in a first person POV romance. I always feel like I know the heroes even though they are only known through the heroine's perspective and the actions she sees. She also takes friendship between a man and a woman and draws it out until they fall in love. Her novels are always so romantic and charming that way. She also shows the heroine growing through her experiences and ending up deciding to trust, to risk her heart, to try love. I've yet to read a book Siri has written that I haven't thoroughly enjoyed. While this one had more detail than the others, I didn't find it annoying at all, but it did distract a bit from the tension in the story. She has her own brand, distinctly Siri. It's always exotic, fun, deep, and littered with every possible food unique to the culture. I'll never need to travel Europe or Japan because I've fully experienced them already through Siri's novels.

Moon Over Tokyo was published by Harvest House and released in July 2007.

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From the Publisher:

Emma Giesy, a strong-willed German-American, believes her young family will thrive in the light of their newfound freedom, after she and her husband branch off from their close-knit and repressive religious community in the spring of 1856.

Determined to raise her children on her own terms, Emma suddenly finds herself alone and pregnant with her third child, struggling to keep her family secure in the remote coastal forest of the Washington Territory. With loss and disappointment as her fuel, she kindles a fire that soon threatens to consume her, making a series of poor choices that take her into dangerous relationships.

As clouds of despair close in, she must decide whether to continue in her own waning strength or to humble herself and accept help from the very people she once so eagerly left behind.

Based on a True Story

My review:

A Tendering in the Storm is a must-read for historical fiction lovers. If you want insight into the hardships from the 19th century pioneers who left everything to move west hoping for a better life, then you'll love this story. If you find oppressive religious groups intriguing, you'll want to check this story out. If you'd like to reflect on how few rights women had in the mid-1860s then this is the book for you! To quote a cliche, We've come a long way, baby!

After finding the author's bio and reading that she is a certified social worker, I now see where she got her insight for this book. No dysfunction is easy to understand. All people are complex. But there are certain truths that exist in human nature and the author insightfully captured them all. Her illumination of the human heart and certain domestic issues is superb. I can't say what those issues are or I'll blow part of the storyline, but I will say that the subtly of how people are lured from their good senses--because of sometimes desperate situations--is expertly shown in this novel.

I loved this story. It's real. It's deep. It's edgy...and it's not at all boring.

A Tendering in the Storm was published by Waterbrook and released in April 2007.

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Book Description:

The lovable and adventurous donkey introduced in the best-selling Clopper the Christmas Donkey returns to continue the marvelous story surrounding Jesus' birth.

My review:

Clopper is an adorable storyteller. He includes scriptures on many pages as he describes his experiences during his time with Jesus. The pictures also show accurately that Jesus wasn't a newborn when the wise men came to visit the Lord. The story follows a progression of events including the time Mary and Joseph stayed in Egypt with Jesus until they were told it was safe to return. But because of the reputation of Herod's evil son, they took no chances and decided to continue on to Nazareth. A map shows the route their journey took. I enjoyed the detailed illustrations and the story given from the donkey's point of view. This book could be read any time of the year even though it's geared toward Christmas time.

Clopper and the Night Travelers by Emily King and illustrated by Ed Olson was published by Kregel and released in July 2007.

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