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    Mixed Bags
    Mixed Bags
    Mixed Bags
    Audiobook5 hours

    Mixed Bags

    Written by Melody Carlson

    Narrated by Tavia Gilbert

    3.5/5

    ()

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    About this audiobook

    Mix six teenaged girls and one ’60s fashion icon (retired, of course) in an old Victorian-era boarding home. Add boys and dating, a little high-school angst, and throw in a Kate Spade bag or two … and you’ve got The Carter House Girls, Melody Carlson’s chick lit series for young adults!When her mom died, DJ had to move in with her grandmother, internationally famous ’60s fashion model Katherine Carter. Now Mrs. Carter’s opened a boarding home for young ladies, and DJ—who would rather wear her basketball team uniform than haute couture—is sure they’ll all be unbearable fashion snobs. One by one, the girls arrive and begin to figure out how to fit into this new family, getting to know each other. Sure, there’s an aspiring diva or two, but before long, the Carter House girls are dating, fighting, laughing, shopping, sharing clothes, purses, shoes … and their deepest secrets. DJ may not turn into the perfect little lady her grandmother has in mind, but one thing’s for certain—with all these new “sisters,” her life will never be the same!
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherZondervan
    Release dateJan 4, 2011
    ISBN9780310875581
    Author

    Melody Carlson

    Melody Carlson has written more than 200 books for teens, women, and children. Before publishing, Melody traveled around the world, volunteered in teen ministry, taught preschool, raised two sons, and worked briefly in interior design and later in international adoption. "I think real-life experiences inspire the best fiction," she says. Her wide variety of books seems to prove this theory.

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    Reviews for Mixed Bags

    3.5/5

    39 ratings5 reviews

    What did you think?

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    • 4/5
      This was a very nice, clean coming of age book. It talks about first love, peer pressure, and six girls getting along. I enjoyed it very much.
    • 4/5
      DJ is in high school and jsut trying to fit in. Her recent loss of her mother has made her father move her into her grandmothers house. Here her grandmother has started a house to hold girls that she wishes to transform in to debutantes. With already having trouble fitting in being forced to live with already beautiful and popular girls is just going to make DJ's life that much harder. You watch as she adjusts to living with these 5 new girls who're just as different from her as they are from each other. They have many differences and many similarities.

      The book is light and an easy read. The characters are very believable and anyone who went ot high school anywhere can relate to one or more of them. I liked the flow of the book because it really gave you a chance in this first one to get to know the characters. My only problem is that when it came to DJ being really upset and her christian friend Rhiannon came to talk to her it was like she magically became a christian herself. It wasn't too forced but it did seem to be thrown in there like the scene was created for just that purpose and didn't really evolve well. Still it is a good read and has some great morals and lessons to teach girls who are still in school.
    • 5/5
      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!
    • 3/5
      Rating: CApparently, when it comes to Christian YA fiction, it's a toss-up. You either get good writing and a some-what interesting storyline (see the Sweet Seasons novels) or you get a book that's not too preachy-preachy (like this series), but you can't have your cake and eat it too. What's unfortunate, in my opinion, is that Melody Carlson is a prolific writer--she's got literally tons of books in the Christian fiction genre. What does that say about tastes?Some of the characters in these books are interesting--mostly the guy that DJ gets a crush/quasi-romance with, and the cliff-hanger at the end of the book is probably enough to keep me reading these books. (I've bought the next three in the series, there will be eight in total.) Don't really read too much into that, I need something to read while I'm on the theoretical toilet. It's something you can read while you're watching TV or riding the stationary bike... not too many brain cells required.I gave it a C because Carlson sells so many books some people must like them, just not me.
    • 4/5
      I am a late bloomer in discovering Melody Carlson. I recently read and reviewed a chick lit novel she wrote and felt that her style of writing would probably best be suited to the YA variety.I have just finished reading Mixed Bags, the first in the series of Carter House. The premise is actually fun – an aging model/socialite needs money so that she can continue to live ‘in the manner in which she is accustomed’ so she decides to offer her services as a ‘etiquette coach’ and forms a kind of ‘boarding school for future debutantes’. As it so happens, one of the ‘debutante students’ is grandmother Carter’s own granddaughter DJ and DJ is in serious need of a makeover – not to mention an attitude adjustment! DJ is having serious issues with this whole arrangement and becomes even more skeptical when she meets the other girls.As DJ tries to figure out who is friend and who is foe – the usual high school, teenager stuff happens – lots of hanging out at the beach and lots of boyfriend stealing. What I really like about the book is that each girl is distinctly their own and have, in some cases, completely different personalities from each other. Of course, there is the ‘usual’ rich girl and the ‘usual’ mad at the world girl – but the mixture of personalities is very interesting and is the basis of this novel – and it works quite well. I like this series Carlson works better as a YA author. Carlson is obviously very religious and seems to find the need to incorporate religion in her novels – and this one is no exception, but, as I said, it works much better in a YA novel, although I would not classify this as a Christian novel.Mixed Bags is number 1 in this series. I have already started on number 2, but in true, Montreal bookstore fashion, I can only find number 4 – for some reason, Chapters and Indigo have decided they don’t actually have to sell number 3!!!!So, while I quest for number 3, stay tuned for my review of number 2.