Armando's Treasure (Carlson, Melody) [Paperback]

Melody Carlson (Author)

Book Description

Series: Carlson, Melody | Publication Date: January 1, 2004

Dora Chase is an eighty-year-old widow whose family finds her frustratingly independent. Armando Garcia is a young man who has a propensity for taking the easy way--even if it means flirting with crime. When they meet, neither realizes how much their lives will be changed. Together this unlikely pair journeys toward hope and healing.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In this sweet, competent happily-ever-after story for the evangelical Christian market, Carlson tells how forgiveness can heal the deepest wounds families inflict on one another. Armando Garcia flees Los Angeles and a past that threatens to destroy him and journeys to Treasure, Ore., a place that seems full of promise. He finds shelter with Dora Chase, an 81-year-old woman recovering from a broken arm who needs help on her neglected farm, and finds he has an aptitude for landscaping and agriculture. Armando creates a beautiful garden in memory of Dora's dead husband, and the two make plans to grow sunflowers for florists. But Dora's son Charles bears a grudge against his mother, and has other ideas for the land-and for her. The wild card in the family feud is Charles's lovely daughter, Olivia, who spirals downward in her addictions. Armando wonders, "Why did life have to be so messy? Why did people with everything going for them throw it all away for nothing? And why did people with nothing throw away what little they had to get what really amounted to nothing?" The story is padded in places, slowing down the pacing, and some characters (such as the one-dimensional Charles) are undeveloped, which lessens the impact of the novel's resolution. Readers will see the romance coming from the earliest pages. Yet Carlson's competent writing, the spiritual journey of Armando and the feisty character of Dora should endear this novel to fans of contemporary Christian novels.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

Carlson's Armando's Treasure is about Armando Garcia, a young Latino who is inadvertently sucked into his uncle's drug deal. When the deal goes sour, Armando flees from L.A. to little Treasure, Oregon, where he meets Dora, an old woman desperately trying to hold onto her farm against the machinations of her wheeler-dealer son. Armando demonstrates the seemingly innate instincts of a farmer; he's a straight-arrow, too, turning around not only the farm but also Dora's pretty granddaughter, who has substance-abuse problems. If only the world were like this, but Carlson is a veteran writer who builds in enough reversals to make her hopeful, pleasant tale plausible. John Mort
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Product Details

• Paperback: 432 pages
• Publisher: Tyndale House Publishers (January 1, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0842368485
• ISBN-13: 978-0842368483
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.6 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,940,840 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Melody Carlson has written around 200 books for teens, women and children. That's a lot of books, but mostly she considers herself a "storyteller." Her books range from serious issues like schizophrenia (Finding Alice) to lighter topics like house-flipping (A Mile in My Flip-Flops) but most of the inspiration behind her fiction comes right out of real life. Her young adult novels (Diary of a Teenage Girl, TrueColors etc.) appeal to teenage girls around the world. Her annual Christmas novellas become more popular each year. She's won a number of awards (including the Rita and Gold Medallion) and some of her books have been optioned for film/TV. Carlson has two grown sons and makes her home in the Pacific Northwest with her husband and yellow Lab dog. To find out more about Melody Carlson, visit her website at http://www.melodycarlson.com/

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A must read book that will keep you wondering...., May 16, 2005

By 

a student (Versailles, OH USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Armando's Treasure (Carlson, Melody) (Paperback)

For the Amazon Reading project I read the book Armando's Treasure by Melody Carlson. This book is a very good book if you're into slight mystery. I would rate this book four stars, it was interesting but not totally mind blowing. It's about a Hispanic boy named Armando Garcia who has ran away from his home in L.A. He arrives in a little town called Treasure and is attracted by an old pick up truck that was a little rusty but it was better than his own two feet. As he was checking out the car the little old lady named Dora Chase that owns the truck and the property he was on came out with a shot gun threatening to shot. Armando gently calmed down the lady convincing her that he met no harm. Dora has a broken arm and was in very much pain so Armando took her into her own house and gave her a pain reliever pill. As him and Dora were talking Dora's son came over and started yelling at Armando to get out of their house. Charlie (Dora's son) wanted Dora to sell her land to a factory, but Dora wouldn't because it used to be her husbands before he died and he gave everything to get the little farm working. Throughout, the story Armando meets Dora's grandchild Olivia, who is a very pretty girl, that Armando instantly falls in love with, but Olivia has a bad habit of smoking and drinking and also has a boyfriend that is an artist. Armando stays around the house to help out Dora incase her son tried to steal the property again. While helping out he makes himself at home and starts getting the farm running again, piece by piece. He builds Dora a pond and puts fish and plants all around and in it. Charlie was so furious at Armando that he looked up history on him and found out that he was wanted for possession of half a million pounds of cocaine which is the reason he ran away from home. Before Armando can get into trouble he takes off and starts heading back home but Olivia chases him down. Did Armando really commit a crime? What happens to him and Olivia? And then again what happens to the little farm that Armando was trying to get started again? You'll just have to read the book to get the answer.
Some things I liked about this story was that it was an easy to read book even though it was a thicker one, also it I also liked how it had such a good moral and it really made you think about things in your life and how much you take for granted. Some things I didn't like about this book was how it took so long to actually get going, in the beginning it got into really great detail that wasn't to interesting to read about.
Armando treasure wasn't like any other book I've read it had it's own little version of life and the way things work which is another thing I liked about it , how it didn't base itself off any other book.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Pure entertainment!, December 9, 2008

By 

Brenda Cobb Murphy (Kentucky) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Armando's Treasure (Hardcover)

by Brenda Murphy, author of The Wild Romancer: Uncovering the Romance Jesus Longs to Lavish on You. I found this book refreshing and laugh-out-loud funny. The characters are real-to-life and colorful, and this remains one of my favorites.

3.0 out of 5 stars Story of beginnings, September 27, 2010

By 

Michelle Rayburn (Wisconsin) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Armando's Treasure (Carlson, Melody) (Paperback)

I liked this book, but not quite as much as some other Melody Carlson books I've read. I thought a few too many details worked out just a little too perfect,and too many characters experienced life-changing decisions unrealistically close to one another. But, it's a sweet story of starting over, forgiveness and redemption. Carlson knows how to write in a way that keeps the reader hanging in there right to the end.