"Peculiar Treasures" by Robin Jones Gunn - Katie Weldon is just finishing her junior year at Bible College. As she juggles finals, maid-of-honor duties at her best friend's wedding, work and an almost-romance with her boss, she finds herself contemplating other big questions, such as whether to take a resident advisor position her senior year, and what to do about her undeclared major. Gunn has been writing about Katie and her friends for years, most notably in the popular Christy Miller series, and this is first in Gunn's Katie Weldon series. f Katie's dilemmas may seem like the stuff of unabashedly light fiction, but they aren't without gravity and intrigue. Gunn is adept at denuding light fiction of its usual tics-mediocre prose, clichéd characters and predictable plots-and imbuing it with the hallmarks of literary fiction. The characters are multidimensional and ring true at nearly every turn. The dialogue that ensues is at once heartbreaking and utterly familiar to anyone who has ever been in Katie's shoes. Moreover, Katie's religious faith never feels sentimentalized or tacked on, but is integrated beautifully into the charming plot.
"Daisy Chain: A Novel" by Mary E. DeMuth - Adult/High School—Fourteen-year-old Jed is the son of an admired and respected preacher in Defiance, TX. His younger sister, Sissy, soulfully longs for a dog and, with a timid lisp, references Anne of Green Gables and The Velveteen Rabbit. His artistic mother writes daily notes and affirmations on the petals of stolen flowers. What the congregation doesn't realize, however, is that Jed's father is a violent, abusive, and controlling force who permeates his family's sense of self and safety. To further complicate Jed's formidable hardships, his friend Daisy Marie Chance has just disappeared from their small town after he neglected to walk her home. What follows are Jed's Sisyphean struggles to set things straight: protect his mother and Sissy, stand up to his tyrannical father, and find Daisy. His only—and possibly dishonest—companions are Daisy's "loose" and hardened mother, a quirky prophet, and an ex-cult member dying of cancer. Slightly troublesome here is the use of colloquialisms that start to sound too quaint in their frequent overuse. Further, there are a plethora of loose ends and a few awkward time lapses—but this is the first book in a proposed trilogy. Despite these challenges, the intrigue of Daisy Chain will have definite appeal to teen readers of Christian fiction, especially to boys who will appreciate Jed's perspective and attempts to rectify his faith with real life.
"Velvet Elvis" by Rob Bell - Bell, pastor of Mars Hill Bible Church in Grand Rapids, Mich., offers an innovative and intriguing, if uneven, first book. This introduction to the Christian faith is definitely outside the usual evangelical box. Bell wants to offer "a fresh take on Jesus"—a riff that begins with the assertion that Jesus wanted to "call people to live in tune with reality" and that he "had no use for religion." Bell invites seekers into a Christianity that has room for doubts (his church recently hosted an evening where doubters were invited to ask their hardest, most challenging questions). He mocks literalists whose faith seems to depend on a six-day creation, and one of his favorite people is a woman who turned up repeatedly at his church, only to tell him that she totally disagreed with his teachings. He cites his church as a place of forgiveness, mystery, community and transformation. Bell is well-versed in Jewish teachings and draws from rabbinic wisdom and stories freely. His casual, hip tone can grate at times, and his footnotes, instructing readers to drop everything and read the books that have influenced him, grow old. Still, this is faithful, creative Christianity, and Gen-Xers especially will find Bell a welcome guide to the Christian faith.
"Talk of the Town" by Lisa Wingate - The show American Megastar is the hottest thing on television but its associate producer, Mandalay Florentino, is worried. She's just arrived in the tiny town of Daily, Texas, to arrange a surprise "reunion concert" for hometown finalist Amber Amberson. Only it turns out everyone in town seems to know the secret. And paparazzi are arriving. Word from Hollywood is that Amber has disappeared with a "bad boy" actor. Can anything go right in this tumbleweed town? Imagene Doll loves her town of Daily, Texas, but things are lonely without her beloved husband. Life seems dull. At least until that fancy-dressed woman pulls into town, looking terrified and glamorous all at once. Soon life's not the least bit boring as Imagene and the rest of Daily find themselves at the center of a media maelstrom--with a young girl's future on the line.
"Never Say Never" by Lisa Wingate - Kai Miller floats through life like driftwood tossed by waves. She's never put down roots in any one place--and she doesn't plan to. But when a chaotic hurricane evacuation lands her in Daily, Texas, she begins to think twice about her wayfaring existence. And when she meets hometown-boy Kemp Eldridge, she can almost picture settling down in Daily--until she discovers he may be promised to someone else. Daily has always been a place of refuge for those the wind blows in, but for Kai, it looks like it will be just another place to leave behind. Then again, Daily always has a few surprises in store--especially when Aunt Donetta has cooked up a scheme.
"John Newton: From Disgrace to Amazing Grace" by Jonathan Aitken - "A new life of John Newton is a fitting celebration of the bicentennial both of Newton's death and of the abolition of the slave trade, Wilberforce's triumph in which Newton played a key role. Master biographer Jonathan Aitken is in fine form, sympathetic, insightful, scholarly, and vivid, and his book, like its subject, must be rated spectacular."J. I. Packer, Board of Governors' Professor of Theology, Regent College "A riveting historical account of the life of this notorious eighteenth-century sinner who was dramatically saved by God's grace. This book should be required reading for any person who loves history, loves the song, and is serious about following Christ."The Honorable Jack Kemp, former Secretary of Housing and Urban Development; former U.S. Congressman.
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