Sunday, August 8, 2010

Book Review: Forgotten: Seventeen and Homeless by Melody Carlson

About the book:

With MIA parents, overdue rent, and no one to turn to, Adele is forced out of her home. She strives to maintain the pretense of a “normal” life while struggling to finish high school, all the while concealing that she is homeless. But is she strong enough to keep up the act?

Every teenage girl has a secret. And every teenage girl loves hearing someone else’s secret. But some secrets are big enough to detour, derail, or even destroy a young person’s life.

Each of Melody Carlson’s Secrets novels will propel readers into a world where promises are broken, life is not fair, and challenges can make or break them, while ultimately helping readers discover that solid faith, loyal friends, and a persistent spirit will see them through.

My thoughts:

This novel shares a heartwrenching story about a teenager with a loser mom and a runaway dad.  While most of us don't have to deal with the drama of deadbeat parents, we probably even less have thoughts of having to live on the street or out of our cars.  I cannot imagine what it must be like to be totally alone and homeless, I really give Adele a lot of credit for sticking it out as long as she did before turning to the only One who would be able to change her life. 

The biggest lesson that I took away from this book was that lies always find you out in the end.  In Adele's case, one of her "so-called" friends discovered the truth on her own, leaving Adele to fess up to her lies and the consequences.  And poor girl, just when she decided to start being honest, she got another realization of just how unfair life sometimes is.

The only thing I didn't like about this book was the ending.  I didn't like that it ended up "several months later," and instead, would've liked some of the first portion of the book to have been shortened just a bit to allow for a more fleshed out conclusion.

Other than that, I thought this was another excellent book perfect for teenagers that's got a lot of lessons on honesty and genuineness.  I'm anxious to see what the rest of the Secrets series has in store.

4 Stars

**Many thanks to NavPress for providing a copy for review in exchange for my honest opinion.

2 comments:

  1. Sounds like a really great book. Thanks for the awesome review.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Wow, what a heartbreaking situation. Sounds like a good book.

    ReplyDelete

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