Peculiar Treasures by Robin Jones Gunn

This may be the most peculiar review you've ever read here...but hopefully, you'll treasure it, as I did this most amazing book!

I've never, ever read a teen book by Robin Jones Gunn. I've been a fan of her Glenbrooke series and devour every Sisterchick novel I can get my hands on. But, by the time Christy Miller and Sierra Jensen hit the scene, I was a married woman with one child and another on the way.

So, I missed that wave of books. And, because I listened to 'other mothers' and trusted their opinions, I forbid my daughters from reading 'those books' that encouraged dating and the like.

NOTE TO SELF: Only listen to God and your common sense. Avoid fanatical moms who try to tell you what to do.

Thus, I was a bit lost as I began Katie Weldon's tale, "Peculiar Treasures". Felt a bit like someone who was late to the movie and had trouble catching up to where she jumped in.

Once I grasped who everyone was and how they all fit into Katie's life, I fell in love. Katie is my girl. She is who I've always felt I am, and she does the things I do that make me question myself. And she is valued for the very things others tend to value you me for--being painfully real and straight to the point.

People are drawn to the real because they are so tired of the fake; did you know that?

And yet Katie continues to walk on shaky ground. Our backgrounds were different, and yet so similar. By the time I went to college, my parents were in their late fifties...I could SO relate to Katie!

And her on again, off again with Rick...I had one of those! But I lacked Katie's adventurous spirit, and her group of solid, Christian friendships. Oh, how my life would have been edified by such a group!

I cried, thinking of all I missed out on. I really did. And I'm having my now 18 year old daughter read this series, hoping and praying it will steer her to find a group like Katie has found.

This truly is a new chapter in the story begun so long ago with Christy Miller...and it is SO worth reading! Will Katie take the job as Resident Assistant? Can she connect with an entirely new group of friends as her old group moves on in their lives to new levels?

And what will come of her relationship with Rick? Will Christy and Todd's new relationship spur her deeper into her commitment to purity, or will temptation derail her?

And just who is "Goatee Guy" and why does he keep popping up?

These are just a few of the questions you'll find answers for in this wonderful beginning to Katie's story. Don't miss out on "Peculiar Treasures"...and don't let your daughters miss out either.

I'm giving "Peculiar Treasures" the golden bookmark for YA Fiction, and voting it "Best YA Fiction of 2008"! Now, I've got to go wash away the tears for what I missed out on, and focus on what's ahead. You do the same, okay?

Happy Reading!

Deena