Being Sixteen

Being Sixteen by Allie Condie, author of Matched, is a young adult novel about life as a teenager and struggles that they have to go through. The main theme of the book is relationships (especially with family)
Juliet Kendall is having her sixteenth birthday party, which in the Mormon religion, is a very big deal. Not only does she get to start driving in a car that she has already received, or get a cell phone, she finally gets to start dating the boy of her dreams, Nate. Juliet seems to have the perfect life. A dream boyfriend, a great car, a spot starring on her basketball team, a great spirit, and a happy family. Or so she thinks. Juliet's 14 year old sister, Carly, has always been a happy, fun loving girl, but lately things are starting to change. Juliet starts finding things that worry her. She notices how Carly avoids eating with the family and is starting to look skinnier. Later, Juliet discovers hundreds of boxes of laxatives that Carly has kept hidden, and discovers that her little sister is bulimic. Juliet confronts her mother and together as a family, they try to work to cure Carly's illness. After this scary discovery, Juliet has to learn how to deal with change and hardtimes along with keeping her faith and helping her sister overcome an eating disorder.
Honestly, I read the back summary of the book and I didn't think much of it. I'm not a huge fan of the Matched series. However, as soon as I started reading, I fell in love with this book. It is probably one of the best books I have ever read. It had a great storyline and great characters. I personally find eating disorders and mental illnesses rather interesting and I am also Mormon so I can relate well to the religious things they talk about in this book. This book is very appropriate. There were no swear words or parts that were bad. The only bad thing about this book, is that after a while, the story kind of started to drag on. I mean, Carly's eating disorder was discovered before the halfway point of the book, so it took her more than half of a book to talk about her recovery. Also, if you are not Mormon or do not know the standards and beliefs of the religion, you would probably have a hard time understanding some parts of the book, as Juliet makes a lot of references to the religion and it's teachings.
All in all, I think this book deserved an A+. It was AMAZING. As soon as I started reading, I couldn't stop! The story and plot line was great and I loved the characters. I didn't xpect much out of this book and I was suprised by how good it was. I loved it!

The Secret Journal of  Brett Colton

By Kay Lynn Mangum

          

      Kathy Colton is the youngest of a non-religious family, who doesn’t care much for Mormons. Her older brother Brett Colton died of Leukemia when he was 17 and she was 2.

Kathy Colton has never been keen on the idea of her older brother Brett. All she ever heard was stories of how amazing Brett was. “He was the star athlete, and the star actor of Once upon a Mattress, and he did it all while fighting leukemia during his last two years here.” She just never heard the end of her “great” brother. Kathy didn’t remember anything about Brett, all she knew relating to Brett is that he died and she was two at the time. No relationship what so ever, or so she thought…

                When Kathy starts her first year at Central High, she feels she is ready for anything. Well anything that is until she finds out she has to tutor the star quarterback Jason West.  This is her biggest challenge yet. It’s not because he’s the star quarter back, or that he’s the most popular kid in school. No, it’s the fact that he’s MORMON!

On her 16^th birthday she is given one of the most surprising birthday gifts ever. A journal from her brother Brett, taking place during the two years he had leukemia.  This journal was life changing.

                As the year progresses she tutors Jason and he shares more about his religion.  She is also reading Brett’s journal entries at the same time. She comes to understand how Brett feels towards the LDS church and how it affected him. This sparks an interest in the LDS Faith. The journal and these tutoring sessions have a great effect on Kathy and cause her to change her views, and how she relates to her friends, family and herself.

                This book hits on a very sensitive topic, religion. It’s hard enough when you have to choose a religion, but when you have to choose between family and friends because of a belief, its way tougher. And that’s exactly what this book shows. She is introduced to a faith that’s different from what she has been taught. Her family feels that the LDS faith is completely wrong, but she feels that it’s right. Soon in the end she feels like she has to make a choice and she has to decide what is truly right and what is wrong. Consequently this happens to many teens and adults; they are put in this decision just like the main character is in this book. When they have to choose too.

                The Secret Journal of Brett Colton is an exhilarating book. I could never put it down; I really loved it that much. Also it was great because it made me see things in a whole new perspective. It showed me how hard it is when you are put in difficult decisions and how the consequences aren’t always how you expect them to be. Truly a very fun book always keeps you on your toes and really surprises you in the end. Kay Lynn Mangum is a really great author and she is really enjoyable.  Right now I’m reading her next novel “When the Bough Breaks”.  And it’s even better and you should check it out!

Heaven Is Here By Stephanie Nielson

(warning! There may be a few spoilers...!)

  Heaven is Here is a book about incredible true story of faith, hope, and love. This entire book was so incredible, and sometimes (although I tried to fake it) I even caught myself crying while reading it in class! The book is about a woman named Stephanie Nielson, a strong Mormon woman with four children who was currently living in Mesa, Arizona. In 2005, she started a blog known at the NieNie Dialogues, which became widely popular with many readers. She begins the story when she was young teen, telling her fairy tale romance story of her and her husband and him learning to fly planes. She tells a beautiful story of marriage and starting a family and her life seems absolutely perfect. 

  People envy Stephanie until she begins the next part of her story. Her accident. On August 16th, 2008, Stephanie was in a horrifying plane crash with her husband that burned forty percent of his body and hers eighty percent, sending her into a coma for three months. When she wakes up, she is horrifyingly depressed and unsure of herself. She couldn't walk, but that wasn't the worst. Stephanie's face had changed drastically. The change was so awful in fact, her daughter Jane, would not even look at her and her son whom was still a baby during the accident, thinks her sister is "Mommy".

  While I read this book I couldn't believe how incredible this woman is. She faced an unspeakable tragedy and still built back her happiness. Her relationships grew stronger, her hope grew more, and her faith was changed dramatically. I absolutely LOVED this book and recommend it to anyone who needs a lift up and good spirit. Easy A. 

Of Grace and Chocolate By: Krista Lynn Jensen

Of Grace and Chocolate by: Krista Lynn Jensen is an amazing LDS fiction novel that includes mystery and a little bit of romance. This book teaches the importance of family and safety. In order to understand my summary, you need to know that Jill's younger sister has been a drug user since high school. You also need to know that Jill's mother died of an infected liver caused by alcohol.

Jill Parrish is an author and editor at a local publishing company. One day, an old friend, who Jill hasn't seen since her trip to Costa Rica in high school, tries to get her attention by stealing her cell phone and her car keys. However, Jill is anything but impressed but this will not be the last time she sees Scott Gentry over the next few days. That night, Jill's long lost sister, Evie, arrives at Jill's apartment asking for Jill to take care of her and her baby girl, Shiloh. Evie makes Jill promise that Shiloh is safe with Jill. The next morning, Jill wakes up and hears Shiloh crying. When Jill goes to get her, she realizes that Evie is gone. Jill was immediately panicked and called her singles ward bishop and the police.

Her bishop and his wife arrive with plenty of baby supplies and began taking care of Shiloh while Jill is talking to the police. The police begin to search for Shiloh's mother. Jill begins to relax and have fun with Shiloh. The next day, when Jill returns home from church, someone has broken into her home and destroyed it. Over the next few days, Jill gets to know her bishop's family and Scott Gentry at her bishop's cabin on the beach. However, the person who broke into her apartment continues to search for her. He tells her that he wants to get back at Evie. Eventually, He is captured by the police without hurting anybody. However, Jill never returning Shiloh to Evie.

This book shows exactly how drugs and alcohol can tear a family apart and hurt relationships. This is through Evie's story. She ran away to be with another drug addict who Caused her many griefs and gave her a child. This is also shown through Jill's mother. Because her mother chose to drink alcohol, she passed away of liver disease. Before reading this book, I didn't realize how damaging drugs were to families.

This book also talks about the principles of the LDS church. They appear often in this book so if you don't know them but are wanting to read this book, you may want to learn at least the basic principles and facts.

This book was an amazing novel that I could not put down. This book was a quick read and is very suspenseful. If you are going to read it, I would recommend reading it when you have a lot of free time for reading because once you put it down in a suspenseful part,you can't wait to pick it back up. I would rate this book an A+.