This book has been written by Melody Carlson, an award-winning author of more than ninety books for teens, women, and children (http://melodycarlson.com/diary.shtml)
On her website you find all of her books, as well as this summary of the book I picked from her:
What's a girl to do when caught between a rock and a hard place? The "hard place" — losing her car; the "rock" — her immovable dad. In order to regain driving privileges, Kim Peterson's dad talks her into writing an advice column for teens in his newspaper. Kim reluctantly agrees. She answers letters about stuff that's everyday and stuff that's not: parents, piercings, dating, drugs, depression, and people who are just users. Nothing Kim can't handle.
But when a classmate is killed, the letters turn to questions about life, death, and what it all means. And Kim starts to wonder if she really does have all the answers — and if not, where to find them. The Christian faith of her adoptive family? The Buddhism of her Korean heritage? Who can she turn to — to just ask?
I loved this book a lot and I got drawn into it so fast and read it at once - in one day (very rare for me).
I got to know Kim and her friends very well, and I loved her transformation from being more of a Non-Believer, her struggle to make sense out of Buddhism (since she was adopted from a Christian family from the US, but she was born in and came from Korea), before finally turning to God and experiencing inner peace by becoming a (better) Christian.
A very inspiring book, with many interesting characters.
I do not want to reveal the end, but it was not `the biggest surprise`, in a way - even though it was sad - it was still filled with the hope that Kim had found throughout the book.
This book is for young adults, but I have to say it still got my attention as a 26 year old - sometimes we all have to find someone who goes through the same thing and then we see how they turn out before we give it our (best) shot.
I have to admit that I did get hooked by Melody`s writing style that I now have the first two parts of the Chloe series, and I did start the first one already...
Stay tuned
