Melody Carlson

Dear Reader, 

Melody Carlson Christmas books are a tradition in many families.  Readers eagerly wait to see what delightful tale she is going to share with us.  One grandmother shared with me that she gets her hands on a copy as soon as possible so she can get it read more than once and then when her family gathers together for a Christmas weekend, she reads a bit each night.  The year she thought she would try something new, there was so many protest she never did that again.  

I love Christmas books for that reason alone, they have a way of bringing people together. 

Happy Reading, 

The Christmas Angel Project - Melody Carlson

Abby Wentworth is the glue that holds her book club together. So when she unexpectedly passes away on the cusp of the Christmas season, the rest of the women in the group are stunned, saddened, and sure that, without her, the group can't continue.

They gather "one last time" to open gifts Abby left behind, little knowing how it will change each of their lives--forever.

Melody Carlson

Dear Readers,

As Young as You Feel by Melody Carlson has a bit of a different feel to it than some of her other books. It isn't overly gritty like some, but it is not a little read like others. It takes on 4 different women who have gone through four very different life experiences and yet they are all friends.

The four Linda club started in 1st grade. When the girls found out that they all had the first name, they started a club, started using their middle names and hanging out together. By high school they had grown apart because of different interests and focuses.

When they are all reunited at their 35th class reunion they find it fun to laugh together again. Until Cathy, one of their fellow classmated, dies at the class reunion. They all start rethinking where they are in their lives and those things that maybe need changes.

Marley is still recovering from a bitter divorce, Abby and her husband look like their marriage is perfect, Janie lost her husband and both parents within a few short months of each other, and Caroline has become disillusioned with life in Hollywood. Can these four very different friends help each other? What will make each of them happy again?

I have always loved Melody's books. They are each so unique and yet they all have something to tell or teach. Whether it is her teen books or her adult books, they are good stories. This one is no different. If you have a weekend while everyone is busy and you want a good story to disappear in... this is a great choice.
Happy Reading

Melody Carlson

Dear Readers,

Limelight by Melody Carlson is a bit different for her. It isn't one of her serious gritty novels and yet there were several different spots where I stopped to think about what she had written

Claudette Fiore' had it all. She was rich and beautiful. She had fame and a wonderful husband who took care of her in life and after he passed. Well except the part about a crooked accountant who didn't pay the IRS and now she has lost everything. When she realizes that it is all gone, she tries to kill herself.

When we pick up her story she is about to be released from the hospital and isn't sure she really cares. Her step son Michael helps her set up home in her mother's house that was left to her at her mother's death. Claudette on the other hand isn't quite as excited as he is. But live there she must. It isn't a house with happy memories for her. She plotted and planned to leave town as fast as she could when she was a teen and now she is back again.

I wasn't sure I liked Claudette at first, but I felt sorry for her in many ways. Of course her learning to do the wash and cleaning etc... was amusing. I can also imagine that grocery shopping was not the easiest thing to learn either.

Claudette learned that sometimes God has different plans for us that we have for ourselves. He wants to get our attention and sometimes that means our plans for our future will not be what really happens. This is a story that is funny, sad and triumphant.

Happy Reading

Melody Carlson

Dear Readers,
Melody Carlson is one of my favorite authors. I love the "realness" of her stories. It is just amazing. I know several of you have heard me say that the grittiness of stories make them hard to read, but so helpful to life.

In The Otherside of Darkness she takes on the story of Ruth. She is what seems to be a normal wife and mother on the outside, but she suffers from OCD. As the symtoms of her illness become worse she finds herself wrapped up in a church that is not teaching the true word of God. They are more focused on the "bigness" of Satan. They are more worried about what he is doing than what God is doing.

As Ruth's slide becomes stanger and stranger, it effects every aspect of her life. Her children suffer because they are lead down the path with her by the church. Her husband is falsely accused of many things and her spiritual life is always under attack and so she struggles to get the demons out of her house and life by getting rid of things.

This is a dark look at a subject that not many of us experience first hand. As her spiritual struggles and her OCD feed on each other, Ruth looses more and more control. She can't keep on top of it all...

Ok that is where I should stop or I will give the whole book away and there would be no need to read it. This is not a light read by any stretch of the imagination. It is not a quick read either. It is one that actually makes you want to stop reading it, but I know personally I needed to know how everything turned out.

I feel like this is one of those books that is a must read so we can be better prepared to help families or friends that maybe dealing with this. It is a subject I didn't know much about, but had heard a bit about it. I did have a co-worker that suffered from OCD to a smaller degree than Ruth does and she knew it, so was able to control it, but it doesn't go away either.

I can't say this was a great book as it was uncomfortable to read at times, but it is a interesting read. I did learn a lot from it.

Happy Reading

"A Mile in My Flip-Flops" by Melody Carlson

Dear Readers,
Melody Carlson's newest, A Mile in my Flip-flops, is a great read. It is perfect for summer and is just a nice relaxing book. It is centered around the house flipping phenomenon that is sweeping cable TV.

Gretchen Hanover needs money and needs it fast. She also needs more room for her rather large and enthusiastic lab. She is sick of her small apt. What's a girl to do? Well, buy a house to flip of course. With little experience, and only happy thoughts, Gretchen desides this is where God wants her to go.

I don't want you to think that this is just a "silly" book. It is a lighter book than some of us are use to from Melody, but I also seem to be saying that a lot about her books lately. I know she is writing some heavy duty teen books for girls, so maybe she needs the break.

This book is a look at what we hear God saying, and what we think he is saying. With many errors and starts and stops, Gretchen finds what she is looking for, only she didn't know she was looking for what she found. Does that make any sense? To figure it out you will have to read the book. :-)

I so enjoy Melody's books. Her characters are real and fun, they make you want to hang out with them. In fact Gretchen reminds me of what I would be like if I decide to fix up a house. Of course she has more experience and get-go to do something like that than I ever would. This was just a fun book to read, though it did not make me want to flip a house. That is too much work.

Happy Reading