out of this world.

Schemes. They are the basis for many novels. The scheming- the schemed - those who are trying to catch the schemers. In Tim Downs' latest novel, Wonders Never Cease the scheme comes in the form of main character Kemp McAvoy.

Kemp is a night nurse to a once happening celeberty named Olivia Hayden. The beautiful actress was in a car accident and is now in a drug induced coma. Kemp's scheme - or as he would call it, brilliant plan? To go to Olivia as an angel giving her messages, while little by little waking her from her comotuse slumber. Her agent is in on it as well. They want her to wake up not only believing that angels are real, but that they spoke to her. Her story will become a bestseller, and Kemp will make millions.

Meanwhile, Kemp's girlfriend Natalie (who is also a night nurse at the hospital) is dealing with her daughter Leah's crazy claims that she's been seeing angels. Odd right? Odd enough to make you pick up a copy of this book? That's what Downs' is counting on. It gets even more odd when the "angel messages" Olivia tells begin to differ from Kemp's script.

not your typical christian fiction.

No one has a perfect past. Everyone has skeletons in their closets, some scarier than others, but they're still there, haunting us. Our heroine, Jasmine Bush, in the novel Sins of the Mother, is a stripper turned preachers wife. Making your past look pretty innocent, hm? You may already know Jasmine's story, author Victoria Christopher Murray has written four other novels about her life. There are many facets of this character - but in a lot of ways she is relate able. It's her temptations that bring her down, we all have a few of those hanging around.

In this story Jasmine has appeared to really have her act together. She hasn't done anything terrible or slutty in a long time. She is married to Rev. Hosea Bush, pastor of one of the largest churches in NYC. Things are looking up for our girl Jasmine, right? Think again. Her daughter Jacqueline is kidnapped on Black Friday and the search goes on for weeks. Jasmine starts to wonder why? Why? Because, getting your life together does not take you off the tragedy list.

Murray definitely leaves you questioning Jasmine throughout the book. It's a really good story - filled with just enough drama to keep you interested until the last page.

romantic, thrilling, & fast paced.

Boy meets girl, boy marries girl, girl dies and her look-a-like returns to boy three years later. It may sound kind of crazy, but if this doesn't spark your interest, then you are simply uninteresting.

Forget Me Not, by Vicki Hinze is a suspenseful Christan fiction novel that will not disappoint. The boy is Benjamin Brandt, the girl - Susan, his wife who died three years ago. The look-a-like? She awakes in the woods, beaten from a car jacking with no memory. After she is found and taken to Crossroads Crisis Center she notices a picture of the founder, a woman, named Susan Brandt. I am assuming you know why I call her look-a-like; it's because she looks exactly like Susan - enough alike that she actually thinks that she actually IS Susan. But that's impossible, because Susan was murdered.

Who is this mysterious woman? What will Benjamin think when he meets her? You will devour these pages, and be left extremely satisfied. Promise.

teenage christian fiction.

Daisy Crispin is a pretty typical seventeen-year-old girl. She goes to a Christian high school, is quite the perfectionist, and more than anything, she wants the boy she likes to ask her to prom. She is typical until you see her homemade clothes, designed by her old fashioned mother and meet her over protective father dressed in his pirate costume.

Let me explain, Daisy's parents are hardcore Jesus freaks. They do not believe in dating, (which they call courting - pretty 1900 if you ask me) until you are at marrying age, which they do not believe Daisy is, of course. The pirate costume is the result of her dad's job as an entertainer. The kid's birthday party type of entertainer - nothing about Daisy's life is cool.

Daisy wants so badly to go to prom. She has made a list of the boys she would like to be asked by. Number one on her list is Chase, who she has known since kindergarten. Throughout the story from the beginning of the school year until prom, Daisy makes some major changes in her status at school, and her relationship with her parents. Some good, some bad, okay...mostly bad. You cannot help but be entertained by Daisy's sarcastic narrating, and her crazy best friend Claire.

Perfectly Dateless, by Kristen Billerbeck (one of my favorite authors), is a great book for you soon-to-be seniors in high school who are desperately trying to fit in.