Christy Miller Collection, Vol. 2: Surprise Endings / Island Dreamer / A Heart Full of Hope (Books 4-6) [Hardcover]

Robin Jones Gunn (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 1, 2006

The first nine books in the popular Christy Miller series are now available in three treasured volumes!

Bestselling author Robin Jones Gunn packs each one with enough action, romance, and drama to keep you reading and wanting more. It all starts the summer Christy vacations on a California beach and meets two friends who change her life forever. But after moving across the country with her family, Christy must begin her sophomore year of high school uncertain where she’ll fit in. A red-headed new best friend, a try at cheerleading, a job at a pet store, and expectations for the prom fill Christy’s high school years with a string of laughter-and-tears moments. Fireball Katie keeps everyone guessing what she’ll do next, and surfer Todd keeps showing up while popular Rick has determined to get her full attention! As these memorable years unfold, Christy and her God-loving friends find out what it means to be a “peculiar treasure.” Follow Christy Miller as she stays true to her identity in Christ, drawing closer to God for help in realizing her dreams and dealing with her disappointments.

Whether you’re meeting her for the first time or have known her for years—

Christy Is a Forever Friend

Surprise Endings

Cheerleading tryouts are coming up, and Christy Miller is giving it all she’s got. The competition is tough and some of the girls are just rude, but Christy thinks she has a good chance to make the squad. Meanwhile prom is just around the corner, and Christy hopes her parents will make an exception to their “no dating until sixteen” rule. She’d love to go with Todd to his prom! But nothing turns out as Christy had planned. As the surprises keep coming, can Christy respond with grace...and maybe even spring a surprise of her own?

Island Dreamer

Christy Miller is spending her sixteenth birthday on Maui with her family, Todd, and Paula, her best friend from Wisconsin! What could be better? But Christy soon finds that she and Paula don’t have as much in common anymore. Paula’s obsessed with having a boyfriend...even if it means stealing Todd from Christy! Will he choose Paula over her? Or will the islands send Christy dreaming in new directions?

A Heart Full of Hope

Christy Miller is sixteen, and that means she can finally date! Rick has waited months for this, and he has a whole list of dates planned. He’s not happy about her early curfews and weekend job, but Christy knows her parents aren’t about to negotiate on those points. Really, she’s dazzled to be pursued by such a thoughtful guy. So why does she feel overwhelmed? Where does Todd fit into her life now? And can any guy really fulfill all her hopes?

Story Behind the Book

“The Christy Miller series was actually born when a group of thirteen-year-olds challenged me to write a novel. I’d been questioning the content of their favorite books when they said, ‘Why don’t you write a book for us?’ I told them no, I only wrote picture books. But they persisted: ‘How hard could it be? We’ll even tell you what to write! We want a love story with teenagers at the beach.’ And there you go. Summer Promise first released seventeen years ago and is now translated into five languages. I continue to hear from readers all over the world, many girls saying that they gave their life to Christ after reading Summer Promise. I love that!”

—Robin Jones Gunn

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Robin Jones Gunn is the bestselling, award-winning author of sixty books with 2.75 million copies sold worldwide. She began writing novels for teens, including the Christy Miller series, after serving in full-time youth ministry for over twenty years with her husband, Ross. She has taught at writers’ conferences and been a guest speaker for a variety of groups in settings from Hawaii to Helsinki. Robin and Ross have been married for twenty-eight years and have a grown son and daughter. They live near Portland, Oregon.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

1

Oh yeah! We’ve got the spirit
Oh yeah! That cougar spirit
Say, hey! Get outta our way
Cougars are on the prowl TODAY!

Christy Miller ended the cheer with a long, leggy leap. The other girls watched her land just slightly off balance.

“Good, but try to keep your arms straighter next time,” the cheerleading adviser said.

Christy nodded at Mrs. James and tried not to feel self conscious, even though so many girls were standing around watching her.

“And be sure you stretch out after practice today.” Mrs. James turned her attention to the next girl in line.

Stepping away from the critical stares of the varsity cheerleaders, Christy took a deep breath and silently mouthed the cheer. Keeping her arms straight, she began going through the motions again.

It seemed to Christy that the first few days of practice hadn’t been very hard or very competitive. Now that it was getting closer to tryouts, fewer girls were showing up every
day. And the ones who did show up were, in Christy’s opinion, all much better at jumps than she’d ever be.

“Give it a rest, Miller!” one of the varsity girls said, coming in her direction. It was Renee, a junior with short dark hair and eyes like a raven.

Christy tried to ignore Renee and finished the cheer with a solid jump.

“Give it up. You’re not cheerleader material, and you know it. Besides, you’re only a sophomore.”

“Sophomores can try out like anyone else,” Christy said quietly, lifting her damp nutmeg brown hair off the nape of her neck. She shaded her blue-green eyes from the afternoon
sun and tilted her head. “Tryouts are only two weeks away, Renee. And I’m not going to drop out.”

Christy meant the statement to sound firm and threatening, but it affected Renee as much as a harmless kitten batting at a thread.

“You only made it this far because of Rick Doyle.” Renee flung the words at Christy. Two of her friends now stood beside her. “So don’t look so innocent. We know what’s going on between you and Rick.”

“Between me and Rick?” Christy couldn’t stand the way the three girls were staring at her. She wasn’t sure what Renee was trying to prove. “Rick and I are just friends.”

“Oh, right. Friends. Buddies. That explains why the most popular guy in school hangs out with a little sophomore who thinks she’s going to be next year’s star cheerleader.”

Christy felt her heart pounding and her throat swelling.Why is Renee all over me like this?

“Come on, Renee,” said one of the other girls, who walked over toward Christy. “Leave her alone. It’s not Christy’s fault Rick turned you down.”

Renee spun around. “Who asked for your opinion, Teresa?”

“It’s Teri. Only my grandmother calls me Teresa. ‘Teresa Angelina Raquel Moreno,’” Teri mimicked in a high-pitched voice with a heavy Spanish accent. “But you’re not my grandmother, Renee. So you can call me Teri, like the rest of my friends.”

Christy admired Teri’s friendly spunk. She obviously wasn’t threatened by Renee. Christy wished she could appear as confident as Teri. But then Teri was a junior like Renee, so that had to count for something.

Renee turned to glare at Christy with a hard, pinched expression. “You’re not good enough, Miller. Okay? You’re not good enough to be a cheerleader, and you’re definitely not good enough for Rick Doyle.” Renee turned with a flashy cheerleading swish and marched off the field with her two friends beside her.

“What was that all about?” Christy asked Teri. Her hands were shaking. “What did I ever do to her?”

“It’s not you.” Teri wrapped her long, wavy brown hair up in a knot and tried to secure it with a scrunchie. “She’s mad at Rick, and she’s just taking it out on you. Don’t let her get to you. You’re doing great, Christy. By the time tryouts get here, you’ll be ready. Don’t worry.”

But Christy did worry. She worried all the way home. As soon as she was in the front door, the first thing she did was call her closest friend, Katie, to tell her about the incident.

“Oh come on, Christy,” Katie said in her bubbly, self-assured voice. “You know what Renee’s problem is. It’s Rick. She likes Rick. Didn’t you know that? Everybody
knows that.”

“Katie, almost all the girls at Kelley High like Rick. He and I are good friends. You know that.”

“Sure I do. But Renee doesn’t. She thinks he’s taking you to the prom.”

“The prom? Why in the world would she think that? My parents would never let me go to the prom. You know how strict they are.”

“Well, get this,” Katie said. “I heard that Renee asked Rick to the prom, and he turned her down.”

“You’re kidding! Why?”

“That’s what she’s so upset about. He didn’t give her a reason, but from what she heard from one of his friends, Renee thought he was taking you.”

“No way! He’d never ask me. He could choose from a dozen girls, all seniors. Besides, I think a senior guy should take a senior girl. I mean, it’s their last year of high school
and everything.”

“Christy, get a clue! He wants to take you. The problem is, he thinks you won’t go with him since you’re not supposed to date until you’re sixteen.”

Christy twisted the phone cord around her finger. “But Katie, I’m the kind of girl Rick teases and calls when he’s bored. I’m not the popular rah-rah type he’d take to the prom. He’s probably waiting to find out who’s got the best chance of winning prom queen. That’s who he’ll take.”

“Wake up, girl! Don’t you see what’s happening? Rick is turning you into the rah-rah prom-queen type. You’re like putty in his hands. He’s making you into the perfect girlfriend.”

“Katie, that has to be the most ridiculous thing you’ve ever said!”

“Ridiculous or not, it’s the truth.”

A frustrating silence hung between them.

“I didn’t mean to hurt your feelings,” Katie said, all the fire doused from her voice. “But if you don’t think I’m right, then just ask yourself to honestly answer one question.”Katie paused.

“Yes?” Christy knew that although Katie often went overboard with her exuberance, she also could be right sometimes.

“Ask yourself, Would I have tried out for cheerleading if Rick hadn’t talked me into it and gone with me to practice the first day?”

“Yes,” Christy answered immediately. “I would’ve gone on my own.”

“Don’t answer me. Answer yourself. Honestly. And if you’re honest, I think you’ll see what I’m saying. Rick has more control in your life than you realize.”

For at least twenty minutes after they hung up, Christy remained sitting on the hallway floor with her back against one wall and her stocking feet against the other, searching her heart for an honest answer to Katie’s question.

The tricky part was, Christy had always wanted to be a cheerleader. She had thought about it a lot when tryouts were announced. But maybe Katie had a point. Deep down, Christy wasn’t sure if she ever would have worked up the nerve to try out if Rick hadn’t coaxed her into going to the first practice.

However, Todd had a lot to do with it too. If Katie wanted to talk about Todd’s influence on Christy, well, that was another story. She would gladly admit that Todd had a unique way of challenging her and directing her decisions. He had ever since the day they met on the beach last summer. She remembered looking up into the screaming silver-blue eyes of this tall, blond surfer and thinking how he fit her description of the perfect guy. Then she got to
know him, and Todd became an important part of her life. He strongly influenced her when it came to things that mattered in her heart.

Even though Todd lived two hours away, when it came right down to it, if she had to define their relationship, she would consider Todd much closer to one day being her boyfriend than Rick. Christy and Todd saw each other only a couple times a month, but Todd was in her heart. Forever. Nothing could ever change that. And what mattered to Todd mattered deeply to Christy.

She tugged at her socks, cuffing them and uncuffing them, remembering when she had scrunched in the hallway last week, the night before the first cheerleading practice, and talked on the phone with Todd for an hour. Christy had told him all about how she was thinking of going out for cheerleading and eagerly waited for his opinion and
encouragement.

But all Todd had said was, “I think if you’re going to do it, you should do it for the Lord.”

“You mean I should pray about it?” Christy asked.

“That’s part of it. But you need to think about how you can take some risks on your campus. If you become a cheerleader, you’ll have an audience.”

“An audience?”

“There will be lots of people who suddenly know who you are, and they’ll watch your life a lot more closely. You can’t just blend in with the crowd anymore. Being a cheerleader might put you in a good position to let people know who you really are and what your life is all about.”

“I hadn’t thought about tha...

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 12 and up
  
• Hardcover: 496 pages
• Publisher: Multnomah Publishers (March 1, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 159052585X
• ISBN-13: 978-1590525852
• Product Dimensions: 5.4 x 1.5 x 8.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #128,448 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

You are warmly invited to visit Robin's website at www.robingunn.com. Be sure to sign up for the Robin's Nest Newsletter and have a browse in the Online Shop.

Over the past 25 years Robin has written 70 books with over 4 million copies sold.

She started writing for teens when the girls in her church youth group challenged her to write stories for them. It took 2 years and 10 rejections before the first Christy Miller novel was published in 1988. Since then the tales of these Forever Friends have continued. The Christy Miller series was followed by the Sierra Jensen series, Christy and Todd the College Years and the Katie Weldon series.

As Robin's readers grew older they asked for more stories about characters their age. The 8 book Glenbrooke series was launched followed by the Sisterchicks(R) series and a variety of standalone destination novels including "Under a Maui Moon" and "Canary Island Song".

Join Robin Jones Gunn on her facebook public figure page where she frequently posts updates on her latest travel or writing adventure.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Christy is a delightful character, January 3, 2007

By 

Elizabeth B. Dickey (Chicago, IL United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Christy Miller Collection, Vol. 2: Surprise Endings / Island Dreamer / A Heart Full of Hope (Books 4-6) (Hardcover)

Although I am an adult, I've enjoyed all the Christy Miller stories. Christy is the sort of person I would have loved to have had for a friend durin high school, and I think many girls can relate to her. The pacing of the stories is sometimes a little slow, and the supporting characters, especially Christy's parents, should have been much better developed. Still, the stories are so enjoyable they are well worth reading.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Don't you want a Todd?, March 27, 2007

A Kid's Review

This review is from: Christy Miller Collection, Vol. 2: Surprise Endings / Island Dreamer / A Heart Full of Hope (Books 4-6) (Hardcover)

I love when Todd kissed Christy! It's so sweet! You want them together so so so much! I've read this one twice, and I love the Island Dreamer. Her relationship with the Lord grows. Sometimes I just want to scream at Paula from trying to steal Todd, though.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Hey Juliet, Rick isn't your Romeo, December 29, 2006

By 

Bridget Bierman - See all my reviews

This review is from: Christy Miller Collection, Vol. 2: Surprise Endings / Island Dreamer / A Heart Full of Hope (Books 4-6) (Hardcover)

Christy Miller is amazing. I adore every book in the series and even in the Sierra Jensen series. "Awesome" young women on fire for God are inspirational. In Volume 2, Christy is different though. Issues occur and the world isn't completely sugarcoated. It is a nice change from the picture perfect world of Newport and Todd. Life isn't always easy, but Christy's struggles reflect that God is always. The moral of this collection is God is there, patience pays, and guys like Rick aren't worthy of "peculiar treasures". Don't hate the Rick's of the world. Pray for them because love and God are the only two things that can change a heart.