Praying For Your Future Husband by Robin Jones Gunn & Tricia Goyer

Praying For Your Future Husband (Preparing Your Heart for His) by Robin Jones Gunn and Tricia Goyer is a wonderful tool for young women who are earnestly seeking after God and waiting for Him to bring the right man into their lives. Each chapter addresses one specific things for young women to pray for, for the young man that (though they may not have met yet) they will one day marry. Trust, Loyalty and that he be a God Lover are just a couple of the suggested things to pray for. Each chapter gives real life examples of why each topic is suggested. Both Robin & Tricia share from their lives as well.

This book would be a great mother-daughter devotional or also good to use for a girls-only Bible study.

I'm so thankful that they took the time to write this. I remember late-night prayers for the man I would *sigh* someday marry. It's my hope that this book will help other young women to wait for the kind of man that I got.

This is published by Multnomah and was provided for review purposes only.

Shattered by Melody Carlson

Shattered is the newest book my novelist Melody Carlson. Melody has written over 200 books for children, teens and adults. This is book two in her SECRETS series for young adults. In this volume we meet Cleo, who is dreading the current week because her best friend Lola is moving away. Cleo wants nothing more than to spend one last night having fun with her BFF, and that involves a concert in the city that Lola won tickets to, the eve before she moves away. Trying to convince her mother into letting her drive into the city isn't working so Cleo makes her own plans. Plans that end up costing far more than she could have ever imagined. Plans that change her life forever.

Once again Melody Carlson writes a book that's so intense that it grabs you from the first page. She takes topics that teens deal with on a daily basis and weaves stories of people who struggle and overcome. I recommend her books wholeheartedly. Clean reads with good lessons.

Thanks Melody, for this CLEAN READ.

Thanks to Glass Road Public Relations for this review copy.

This book is new and is available from NavPress.

Pitch Black by Melody Carlson

The TRUE COLORS series by Melody Carlson is a set of ten novels written for teenagers. Each one deals with a different subject that hits home with kids today. Pitch Black is the fourth in the series and it introduces us to Morgan, a teen who lives in a single parent home. Morgan's mom takes a spur-of-the-moment trip to Vegas where she intends to marry her half-her-age boyfriend. Leaving Morgan home alone for several days. During this time Morgan's lifelong friend, Jason, commits suicide. This act sends Morgan and several classmates into despair and they decide to have a suicide pact, they'll kill themselves together after Jason's memorial service. After all, if Jason, a kid who had it all, can't get through life then why should they?

Melody Carlson grabs your attention from the first page of this 193 page book and doesn't let it go until the end. There is a link in the back for anyone considering suicide. This is a gripping novel that was so real and heartbreaking that I had to put it down several times and clear my head for a while.

If you have a teen who is dealing with depression or having suicidal thoughts you may want to read this before giving it to them. It explains in detail how Jason did what he did, which may not be something that a desperate kid should read.

I applaud Melody for tackling this tough subject and NavPress for printing it. Thanks, Melody, for this CLEAN READ.

Thanks, NavPress, for providing this book to review.

You can purchase this book here.

Found in Translation by Roger Bruner with Kristi Rae Bruner

Released this week from Barbour's THRIVE line is Found in Translation by Roger Bruner with Kristi Rae Bruner (a father-daughter team!) This is a fictional account of a spoiled teenage girl and her first missions trip. It's loosely based on Kristi's own experience (very loosely! I'm sure Kristi is nowhere as spoiled as the character created for this story). If you've got teens who are interested in joining a missions team to another country then this would be a great book for them to read. It's filled with spiritual truths along with real life struggles that we all deal with from time to time. I think we can all see a little of ourselves in Kim Hartlinger.

From the back cover:

When Kim Hartlinger—eighteen and spoiled—arrives on a mission trip to Mexico and discovers, to her chagrin, that she’ll be doing construction in a remote village without plumbing and electricity, rather than evangelism in a medium-sized town with a fast food joint . . she has only two choices. “Rough it” (which isn’t exactly what Kim had in mind when she signed up for this trip) or turn around and head home.

Will Kim be able to touch the villagers’ hearts with the Gospel? Or will her time in Mexico be up before she gets the chance?

About the authors:

Roger Bruner worked as a teacher, job counselor, and programmer analyst before retiring to pursue his dream of writing Christian fiction full time.

Kristi Rae Bruner lives in the Orlando area and enjoys reading, hanging out with friends, and cooking. During her teen years she went on a life-changing missions trip to Mexico.

You can purchase this book here.

Driven by Shellie Neumeier

From the back cover:

Robyn can’t help but notice the handsome new guy at her school. She ignores, however, the arrival of another being at Brookfield Central High School—a demon assigned to destroy her…

Robyn loves her friends, enjoys her youth group, and looks forward to meeting cute Caleb Montague. But when a caustic news reporter challenges her school’s prayer team, Robyn must choose: defend their right to meet on campus and pray for whomever they wish or back down at the principal’s request.

Now she must learn what God wants her to do. And she had better learn fast, because there’s a supernatural enemy in town whose sole mission is to stop her—no matter the cost.

Watch a trailer for this book here. Get to know Shellie and DRIVEN here.

This book will be released in the spring of 2011. Watch for it! It's perfect for the teen book lovers in your life.

Shellie Neumeier is a debut author with twenty-one years of experience in youth and children's ministries. She lives in Jackson, Wisconsin.