seventeen and homeless.

I have read dozens of Melody Carlson books. She is one of my favorite authors, I just love how real she is. I know for a fact that she does her research, and even though her novels may be fiction, a lot of the time they are based on a real person. It's scary to think about, because Melody Carlson writes about a lot of tough issues - mental illness, drug abuse, rape, being homeless, and so on.

Forgotten is Carlson's latest young adult fiction novel about a 17-year-old girl named Adele Porter who lives with her very unpredictable mother, Carlene. Carlene does not have the best track record keeping jobs, or keeping sane. She is bipolar, and Adele never knows when she is going to snap. One day she comes home and her mother tells her they are moving to a new town because she got a new job. No questions asked, off they go.

Carlene uses her pay advance to get things for their new apartment, buys Adele new clothes, and Adele thinks that maybe her life will actually be normal. She starts her new school, falls in with a popular group, and things start looking up. After a few weeks Adele notices that her mother is late for work, and comes home early. She is a smart girl, she knows what her mother is capable of, so she gets a part-time job working at a nursing home, just in case.

After a fight, her mother leaves her with a note saying she needs some space. Adele goes on living her life as normal as possible, lying to her new friends about her mothers whereabouts. After a few days, she is kicked out of the apartment for not paying the rent, and is forced to live in an old black van (which was left by her mothers new boyfriend). Adele doesn't want to tell anyone that she's homeless because she is still a minor, and doesn't want to be put into foster care.

The lies she tells to get by keep adding up, and it's only a matter of time before that ticking time bomb blows. Just when you think Adele's life couldn't get any worse, it does. Just when Adele has a little hope, it's lost. She doesn't know a lot about God, but she is sure he doesn't care much about her if he's letting all these terrible things happen. But as always, God has a plan.

mysterious book of maps.

Mercy Land (yes, that is her name) is not your typical 1930's young woman. She leaves her family and her rural community all by herself, for bigger opportunities in Bay City, Alabama. In this new city, she acquires a job at the local newspaper and spends a happy seven years working for the publisher and editor, Doc Williams being is girl friday.

Doc comes into possession of a mysterious book of maps. These are not ordinary maps however: they map the life choices made and results recorded of every person in Bay City. What roads were taken, what ones were abandoned. Once Doc shares the book with Mercy, she is overwhelmed by the information and its purpose. We all know that the choices we make affect the lives we lead, but what if you can look back and see how your life would have been if you had made a different choice? Would you want to?

Doc wants to use the book to right a wrong, but Mercy wants to follow its predictions through. In The Miracle of Mercy Land, will this information be shared with the rest of the community?

old school reformation turned new school?

Can't say that I like to make a habit out of reading books that challenge me. I lean more towards the light and fluffy - the simple mind type, really. Religion is not simple, it is not light or fluffy, so why did I start reading James R. Payton Jr.'s Getting the Reformation Wrong? I have no idea - but I'm not mad about it.

First off, our friend Payton is not trying to tell us that the Reformation was wrong, he would just like to take this opportunity to clear up a few things. The Reformation was pretty messy - it was pretty sweet too, but the Reformers disagreed a lot, so it was more messy than sweet at the time. Payton wants to clear up some misunderstandings of the time period, and show us how the Reformation can positively affect our churches today - if used correctly of course.

This topic would easily bore me to tears, but Payton doesn't. It's all about perspective, and Payton gave me a bit of a different view.

plane prayers.

I recently traveled to Europe this summer. By recently, I mean I returned about a week ago, so very recently. It was my first time on an international flight. I do not typically get nervous on planes, because I travel by air so often, but being on a plane for over eight hours at a time is rather nerve-wracking.

Okay, I can't lie to you and say I was actually nervous, because I wasn't. Not about the plane ride anyway. They had me all hooked up with TV/Movie on demand. But for those of you who DO get nervous traveling by plane, or traveling in general, I highly recommend Traveling Graces to ease your troubled minds.

Agnes Cunningham created a handy little book of prayers. There is a prayer for the take-off, one for the flight attendants and the cock pit. This book will make a lovely gift if you know someone who is traveling for the first time, there is a prayer specifically for them. If you get freaked out easily, or even if you handle planes rides perfectly fine, saying a little prayer will only make you and those around you, more relaxed.

So sit back and enjoy your flight.

your body is a wonderland.

We like women who are real. We like hearing the good, bad and ugly of their lives. Even better than that? A Christian woman who is real. Insert Margot Starbuck, author of the hilarious paperback, Unsqueezed. A book about accepting the body and the beauty that God gave you and letting go of society's (and your) obsession to be perfect.

I do believe that Christian women have a real difficulty with perfection. They want to be good influences on others, and they assume this means that they're lives and bodies need to appear to be perfect. Wrong. Non-Christians can relate in more ways to a woman who seems real; with relationships and a body that is realistic, rather than a woman who appears to have everything in place.

Margot's book revolves around our body issues. What are bodies for? They were not designed by God to be on the covers of magazines. She reiterates that our bodies were create to love and be loved, by a Heavenly Father who adored us enough to take on a human form - in all its glory and unglory. Think about it.

**To win a copy of this book e-mail your name, address and this book title to: jenileerose@yahoo.com!

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.