Mixed Bags (Carter House Girls, Book 1) | 
 enlarge | Author: Melody Carlson
Publisher: Zondervan
Category: Book
List Price: $9.99
Buy New: $2.51
You Save: $7.48 (75%)
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Avg. Customer Rating:  34 reviews
Sales Rank: 122057
Media: Paperback
Reading Level: Young Adult
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 224
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.5
Dimensions (in): 8.3 x 5.4 x 0.7
ISBN: 0310714885
EAN: 9780310714880
ASIN: 0310714885
Publication Date: May 1, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Shipping: Expedited shipping available
Condition: Brand new book, may contain a publishers closeout mark across the edge of the page. ships next business day. We are a Christian family owned ministry. If it doesn't glorify Jesus Christ, we don't sell it! We value each and every order we get because we know each item can change a life and a changed life can change the world!
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Product Description
The Carter House residents of high school aged girls arrive shortly before school starts. With a crazy mix of personalities, pocketbooks, and problems, the girls get acquainted, sharing secrets and shoes and a variety of squabbles.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 29 more reviews...
 Disappointing July 27, 2008
I am a big fan of Melody Carlson, so when I saw her new series I quickly bought this book. I was very disappointed when this story did not measure up. It seems to me that Melody Carlson is trying to draw in a new crowd of readers. This book was about many of the same things that the popular secular series Gossip Girl is about. This book is Not for young girls, I was sadly surprised to find that this book was filled with secular themes and almost nothing about God. Oh God is mentioned, in the last 5 pages . It almost looked like the author wrote this entire book and stuck a Christian message as an afterthought. I will not be finishing the rest of this series. If you want to read a truly well written series read the Christy Miller series by Robin Jones Gunn.
Fun Christian teen lit July 24, 2008
Prolific author Melody Carlson has successfully jump-started another real-to-life teen series, this time featuring tomboyish DJ Lane (aka Desiree), who has to figure out how to fit in at her grandmother's boarding house for teen fashion plates. Katherine Carter, once an international fashion model herself, has now retired. To supplement her income, she has opened a home for the wealthy, fashion-oriented young teenage girls to be groomed in culture and the finer ways of life. Too bad DJ has no use for such things as designer clothes, makeup and hair highlights. She would rather be outdoors playing sports than indoors playing dress-up.
Since her mother's death, DJ tried living with her dad, his new wife and their infant twins, only to feel like she was being used as a full-time babysitter. So she jumped at the chance to live with her maternal grandmother, even though the two are as different as night and day. Still, DJ is semi-excited to find out that two old friends are coming to board at Mrs. Carter's with her.
Rhiannon, a former neighbor girl with little funds, is taken in by Mrs. Carter and is a different person from who DJ remembered. The change? God. Rhiannon's home life was no picnic and she had discovered Christ to be her source of strength and hope. Then there is Casey, her one-time best friend forever turned Goth with her spiky, jet-black hair and the electric blue center piece, assorted facial piercings and thick black eyeliner. DJ almost doesn't recognize Casey, but her looks aren't the only alterations. Attitude --- lots of angry, bitter, in-your-face attitude --- now pours out of Casey as well. Like Rhiannon, Casey has a story of hard times, and her current outward appearance is her way of protecting herself. DJ just doesn't know what to think.
Then there are the "other" boarders --- Eliza, Taylor and Kriti --- three girls with money, individual egos and minds of their own. With the six young ladies sharing bedrooms and closet space, there are soon arguments, tantrums, backbiting and power plays --- all of which DJ is no match for. Especially difficult for her is the interplay between the girls and boys in town. One particular boy, Connor, is soon caught between DJ and their blossoming friendship, and the conniving Taylor, who is set on destroying DJ's chances with Connor as well as her reputation. Are there any winners here? DJ soon realizes that she is out of her depth and makes external and internal changes that have Connor and the girls noticing.
MIXED BAGS is an excellent beginning to a fun-filled, teen angst-driven lifestyle storyline that highlights the rich and famous...with all their peculiar habits, biases and prejudices. Melody Carlson's books always promise an emotional (and educational) ride to her readers --- and the first installment of the Carter House Girls series is no exception.
--- Reviewed by Michele Howe
Great Introduction to the Series July 8, 2008
Mixed Bags is the first book in Melody's Carlson's new teen fiction series featuring the Carter House girls.
Katherine Carter, an internationally famous, 60's fashion model started Carter House Boarding School with the hopes to instill fashion sense, culture, etiquette and poise in her young charges, especially in her granddaughter Desiree. But Desiree Jeannette, a.k.a. D.J. wants nothing of it, after all she's an athlete. She'd rather throw a ball than dance at one.
As the other girls begin to move in, D.J. realizes that her grandmother may have more than she bargained for with these girls. There's Taylor, the manipulative, double-talking, fashion plate who sets her sights on making D. J.'s life miserable; Kriti, the exotic overachiever who has fashion sensibilities but seeks academics as her means to success; Eliza, the well-to-do Southern beauty; Rhiannon, the new Christian, whose drug-addicted mother used to be a Carter House housekeeper, and Cassie, the loner who finds it easier to act out and do wrong as doing the right thing may have harmful consequences.
When all these young ladies mix their emotional baggage together, tempers and jealousies flair and some friendships are forged. Melody Carlson has set the stage for a lot to happen at The Carter House: from the grandmother's obsession with appearances to the girls triumphs and challenges of coming of age.
I couldn't totally identify with the fashion references from this story because I never put much emphasis on labels, but I can identify with the D.J.'s struggle to find herself. I remember being a teen! I look forward to reading how the girl's different personalities force D.J. to question who she really wants to be.
 Carter House, home to half a dozen fashionably unique teens July 2, 2008
Melody Carlson strikes gold with Mixed Bags, her first book in the Carter House Girls teen fiction series. With a refreshing twist she weaves classic teen pressures and predicaments into a contemporary storyline. When six girls, each carrying their own "designer" bag and signature personality live under the same roof, you've got a catwalk showcasing outrageous colour and style. No carbon copies here, but there are preconceived labels that need to be torn off and investigated. All six girls represent a stereotype that resides in every high school. We have Taylor the rich, spoiled, mean diva, the trendy but good-natured Eliza, Asian princess Kriti, angry nice girl turned rebel Casey, Rhiannon the sugar-sweet, goody-good Christian, and DJ the wholesome tomboy.
Carter House, the boarding school run by DJ's fashion icon grandmother is where they meet, share, fight and grow. Stitched between lessons in social grace and eye-catching loveliness are the life-threads that clothe young ladies with character and integrity. Spun together they make more than a fashion statement. Where to draw the line, and take a stand when it comes to drinking, gossiping, envy, revenge, and sex take on real life drama with believable characters and common tempting situations.
What would appear on the surface as a superficial obsession with appearance, Mixed Bags sensitively deals with the teenage paradox of forging one's own identity while desperately longing to fit it. With romance as the key, Mixed Bags unlocks the shackles that immobilize a healthy self-image. Looking your best is not selling out. But being trapped by what you see in the mirror as the measure of your worth comes with an exorbitant price tag. The pay-off for the reader is revealed in the gorgeous truth: true beauty is a reflection of the real you.
This book begs you to keep reading at the turn of every page. The writing is captivating and the characters have depth and dimension. I thoroughly enjoyed it and can't wait to start Book 2, Stealing Bradford and check in with the custom-made girls growing up together at Carter House.
A Must read for EVERY girl June 19, 2008
When I first started this book, I was not too sure of how I would like it. But then as I left it and went to do some other things, I realized that I kept thinking about the story, and could not get it out of my head! This is the first, I think, of Melody Carlson that I've been able to read.. meaning get my hands on. It is a great little story that should be read by all mid-high school girls. It is so real to life and it does meet up with every type of girl. You can see yourself and remember you...more When I first started this book, I was not too sure of how I would like it. But then as I left it and went to do some other things, I realized that I kept thinking about the story, and could not get it out of my head! This is the first, I think, of Melody Carlson that I've been able to read.. meaning get my hands on. It is a great little story that should be read by all mid-high school girls. It is so real to life and it does meet up with every type of girl. You can see yourself and remember your painful history within each individual girl. I was shocked when it ended, because it is one of those wonderful books that has previews of the sequel in the back, so I had though there was much more. But it was really a great story!
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