Come Back by Claire and Mia Fontaine

I'm not too far from my teenage years so I remember some of what it was like, but I have matured enough to recognize my sometimes crazy decisions and behavior during that time. Come Back: A Mother and Daughter's Journey Through Hell and Back brought back some of those memories. It is the story of a mother trying her hardest to protect her daughter from herself as she goes through a painful and difficult time in her life.

The book is alternates narrating from the mother's perspective and the daughter's perspective. Mia, the daughter is going through a tough emotional time and trying to find her own way in life. She runs away from home and gets caught up in drugs. All the while this seems like a nightmare for her mother Claire as she tries to find her daughter and get back the Mia she knows.

I could relate to both the mother and the daughter's thoughts. When Claire does find Mia, she sends her to a "boot camp" type of school two continents away. Mia and Claire go through a rigorous program to find out how they wound up at this point and how to fix it.

It was a good story and one any mother or daughter should read.

I give it 4 out of 5 stars.

The Cinderella Pact by Sarah Strohmeyer

A friend had recommended Sarah Strohmeyer to me a few months ago. I went on PaperbackSwap and added some of her books to my wishlist. The first one I got in the mail was The Cinderella Pact.

When Nola Devlin is passed over for a position at the magazine she works for because she doesn't fit the "image" they are going for (i.e. thin, glamorous, etc.) she creates an alter ego- Belinda who does land the job. Around the same time another event prompts her and two friends to start following "The Cinderella Pact" written about by her alter ego- Belinda Apple. The three start on their own path towards becoming their most fabulous self.

Meanwhile Nola's double life starts to get her in all kinds a trouble. The magazine suspects something fishy about Belinda and launches a full on investigation. Her sister becomes fascinated with Belinda and give her the Maid of Honor position in her upcoming wedding.

Mix all of this in with a budding romance with the mysterious Chip, who she just can't seem to figure out and it makes for a very interesting story. Throughout the story you can't help but pulling for Nola and hoping that everything works out in her favor. I'd consider this first introduction to Sarah Strohmeyer a success and I look forward to reading her other books as well. Great chic lit author!

I give this 4 out of 5 stars.

Churched by Matthew Paul Turner

If you've ever thought some Christians can be a little crazy, this book will have you laughing out loud. Churched: One Kid's Journey Towards God Despite a Holy Mess is the story of a young boy growing up in a fundamentalist Christian household.

I discovered this book through Matthew Paul Turner's blog. I don't remember how I discovered the blog. I think it was in my Google Reader recommendations. I read almost every post and liked his writing style and wit and saw that he had this new book out, so I put it on my wish list at Paperback Swap.

Here are a few random quotes from the book to give you an idea what it's like:

"When I got older, I decided that upon arriving in heaven, I would ask God to do me a favor and not put my mansion close to Ally's."

"I was going to the barbershop because Jesus hated little boys who had long hair."

"But not even the ingredients in my mother's travel-sized hairspray could keep me from passing out on the pew."

"By the end of the evening it seemed that everybody in the music industry either worshiped Satan, was a prostitute, or their brand of hairspay supported a woman's right to choose."

"My biggest fear about the end was that Jesus would come back before I had the chance to have sex."

He tells so many hilarious stories from Barbie burnings to the annual Pastor Nolan vs. Satan boxing match, that the look at the events through a child's eye make it all sound that much more absurd. After five baptisms and asking Jesus in to his heart more times than you can count, he does find God, just not in the way everyone else seemed to want him to.

I give it 4 out of 5 stars.

The Beach House by Jane Green

The Beach House by Jane Green has a lot going on. It may also make you want to move to the beach. It is the story of Nan who opens her beach house one summer to boarders in an effort to raise enough money to save her house. The people who stay there are all random with their own issues going on in their lives but over the course of the book their stories and lives become intertwined.

This book has so many issues it is perfect if you love lots of drama. It has a divorced couple dealing with a moody teenage daughter, a wife whose marriage falls apart when her husband reveals a lifelong secret, a guy who has an affair with his married boss, and a shocker at the end that you probably won't see coming.

The story is set in beautiful Nantucket and the characters are all pretty well developed and likable. All the drama and story lines keep you coming back for more. Even though I read this a little too early for the beach or pool, it is the perfect waterside read.

I give it 4 out of 5 stars.

Jane Green is a good chick lit author. Check out her website and other books here.

Night by Elie Wiesel

As I discussed on my 30 Before 30 blog, I have become obsessed with the Holocaust. I saw this book discussed when it was featured as one of Oprah's book club picks. I knew it was about the Holocaust and Oprah liked it a lot so what did I have to lose?

Nightis a small book packed with emotion. It is Elie Wiesel's memoir of what he experienced during the Holocaust. His words really bring to life what the Jews in the concentration camps felt. I would almost shiver at his descriptions of the unbearable cold. My stomach would feel empty just reading about their starvation. I could feel their desperation and at times I was thinking there was no way I could have survived that. I would have just given up.

His driving force for staying alive is to be there for his father. Also they had made it so far, how could they just give in to death? Then it would have all been for nothing.

He also finds himself questioning his faith. How could God allow this to happen? I have those same questions. It seems unreal that this was something very real. Not some Hollywood plot line. These were real people that did this. Real people that had to experience it. There are no easy answers to those questions.

If you really want to understand what day to day life was like in the Nazi concentration camps, I highly reccommend this book. Even if you don't want to know, you should. So read it anyway. It will make you appreciate your life even more and instill in you a sense to watch out for evil like this in today's world.

I give it 5 out of 5 stars.

Little Beauties by Kim Addonizio

This book was very interesting! Little Beauties by Kim Addonizio is written from the perspective of three characters- Diana, a childhood beauty queen now in her thirties suffering from OCD and her husband just left her, Jamie a seventeen year old girl who gives birth to Stella the third perspective we see. The first chapter I read from Stella's perspective made me cry and I am NOT a crier. But it was so sweet. Jamie was planning on giving Stella up for adoption and thinking bad thoughts about the baby so she won't get attached and then you read Stella's thoughts about how much she already loves Jamie.

These three characters lives become intertwined throughout the book and they each support and learn from each other. Diana has really bad OCD and sees contamination everywhere so it was really interesting to take a peek inside an OCD brain. Jamie is just a kid when she has Stella so it is interesting to peek inside a teenage mother's brain. And Stella inside Jamie and as a newborn baby was a very interesting perspective.

The overlying theme of the book though is motherhood. You see the relationships of various mothers and daughters- Jamie and Stella, Jamie and her mother, Diana and her mother, and even Diana and Jamie and Stella.

I really enjoyed this book and it took me no time at all to get through.

I give it 4 out of 5 stars.

Questioning Evangelism by Randy Newman

I borrowed this book from my Bible study leader because she said it really helped her when talking about the Gospel with people. I have never been comfortable in that area. I think it is such a personal thing and it makes it very awkward to talk about it.

Questioning Evangelism by Randy Newman takes you through a lot of the common questions that non-believers might have and gives you examples of how to engage them with questions of your own to get to the deeper issues and share your beliefs while learning about theirs. Engaging people in a personal dialogue instead of preaching at them can be a much more effective way to talk about these deep issues.

He shares with you real life examples and sample conversations. He advocates active listening and trying to really understand the emotions and feelings behind people's questions and comments.

I didn't agree with everything in the book. But overall it was a very useful book. It helped me think of "sharing the Gospel" differently and it even gave me more confidence in that area. Hopefully I can put what I learned from the book into practice.

I give it 3.5 out of 5 stars.