Customer Reviews

Fool's Gold: Color Me Consumed (TrueColors Series #6)

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Though meant for young adults, Fool's Gold is a pleasurable read even for people over twenty. I liked the way the author contrasted the world of a missionary kid who was raised on donations and taught to be thrifty, with the world of the rich and vain relatives she spent the summer with. I like how she showed the innocent being sucked into the mindset of her peers and how her present lack of communication with God allowed for her judgment to be poor (since she didn't pray about anything and had left her Bible back home.) If you have a young person in your life who struggles with always having to have the latest fashion and going into heavy credit card debt over ridiculously high priced clothing, this book is a must read. I highly recommend it.

Many people think that it would be awesome to be rich and go shopping when ever you want. Wouldn't you? Well Hannah, whose parents are missionaries, is going to live with her aunt, uncle, and her cousin in California. Hannah doesn't have the best sense of fashion, and she doesn't care if she gets her clothes at Goodwill. Vanessa, her cousin, used to be a normal kid just like Hannah, but now she only wears the best clothing. Vanessa gets Hannah to go shopping to get some more fashionable clothes. Hannah ends up loving to shop, but will she stay like Vanessa and continue to buy clothing at the best places and stay in debt?
I would recommend this book to anyone who likes Laguna Beach and The O.C. I would also recommend this book who likes the series of Diary of a Teenage Girl, and if you like shopping.
I liked this book because I love to go shopping and it has a lot of drama in it. One thing I didn't like about this book was that they made fun of Hannah for dressing different when she first arrived in California.

This is a topic that almost any high school girl can totally relate to. Clothes are almost the biggest factor of what makes you part of the in crowd and what leave you on the outskirts. These days especially, labels are the ticket to popularity. Having lots of money almost guarantees being in the in crowd. Why are we so fascinated with having lots of money? Melody Carlson perfectly translates the feelings of a teen girl struggling with not having the money to buy everything and having to face those who do.

I was a bit worried at first that Hannah would be a total goody two shoe because of her background. She is a bit naive about somethings because she hasn't been in the country that long and isn't up to the pop culture. However she acts pretty normal which is good because it's more relatable to reader. Ikept getting really annoyed with Vanessa throughout the book. The same with her mother as well. I cannot stand being around those type of people and it just made me want to scream throughout the entire book. I can accept this type of behavior if you earned the money you were spending. However, teens who spend credit cards using their parents money "just cause" really annoys me. I wish all parents realized that giving your kids everything they want does not make them love you more or make you a better parent. That being said, I rather enjoyed the ending and what happened to Vanessa and her mom. Almost like justice was finally served.

Something I found a bit weird and annoying after awhile was the continued calling of Ross Dress for Less. Let me say, I love the store. I get stuff there all the time. They have great deals and a really good selection. I just have never heard anyone keep calling it by it's full name. I could understand the first time it was mentioned but repeatedly calling it that way? At that point, it seemed like an ad for them, and that Ross Dress for Less had paid for product placement.

Other than this, I really enjoyed this book. The subject matter is one that many teen girls will be able to relate to and even women in their 20s and 30s can get advice out of this book. Sadly we live in a material world and when you don't share that lifestyle it can be incredibly hard. Again another great YA book from Melody Carlson.

This book is about Vanessa who moves from Pau Pau New Guinie. She is staying the summer with her cousin Hannah and her uncle. She gets a job working for her uncle, and she finds herself in debt. She pays it off and tries to be like all the other California kids. she gets into drinking and forgets about God,but then after alll the tempation she finds God again! I would recomend this book to all my friends.

Melody Carlson is one of the BEST fiction authors for teen girls, I've read a couple dozen books by her and they never cease to be great!

This is the first book I've read in the TrueColors series, and it's the 6th in the series. Although it might seem like an odd place to start the series, these books don't have to be read in any particular order.
Hannah Anderson, a young MK (missionary kid) from Papua New Guinea, is visiting her extremely fashionable cousin and family in the states. What seems like an innocent teen thing to do, shopping, turns into a major stumbling block for her. Whatever she seems to purchase needs to have something else it need to complete the "look". And although she's spending more money than she ever though was possible ($300 for a pair of jeans?) it never seems to be good enough for the people around her. As she's falling more and more into debt (eek!) she comes to realize that all the clothes she's purchasing are never going to fill the empty space in her heart. It's only Fool's Gold after all.

I, at first, shied away from these books. It thought they might be a little too "Edgy" for me. Many of them include topics like a friend's suicide, cutting, teen drinking and similar issues. Well, i am hooked on these books, this is not going to be the last book I'm reading in this series!!

Thanks to Navpress for providing this book for me to review!

I haven't read any books by Melody Carlson before, but was intrigued by the summary I read of this book and thought I'd give it a try.

Once I got past all of the Australian slang that the character uses and figured out what she was saying, I really liked this book. Hannah is very well written, and she's a very believable character. I have a number of friends who grew up as missionary kids, and I know they often felt like Hannah does in this book- that they are the product of a different culture, even if their passports say they are American.

The book moves quickly and deals with the topics of materialism and shopping. I know this is a problem for women all over the world- we often shop to make ourselves feel better on a bad day. I like how the book shows how easy it is to fall into the trap of buying "just a little something" here and there, and how quickly that can get out of control. It also addresses the very important topic of focusing more on what's on the inside than how we look on the outside- another universal topic for women!

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from NavPress Publishers as part of their Blogger Review program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission's 16 CFR, Part 255: "Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising."

This book does a great job of portraying the temptations and situations common to many teenage girls. The lure of popularity. The enticement of credit cards, checking accounts, and sales. The attitude of the "haves" toward the "have nots" and the insecurity and lack of self-worth that often results - on both sides. And the spiritual numbness that results when one "takes a vacation" from Bible-reading and prayer. The reader is privy to Hannah's struggles and thoughts each step along the way, and her eventual disillusionment, while predictable, was still painful. This should be required reading of every teen girl who lives within driving distance of a mall!

In Fool's Gold, Hannah Johnson was perfectly content as a missionary kid until she spent the summer with her rich relatives. High style and a skimpy budget didn't mix very well, and Hannah finds out how fast money can slip through her fingers when she tries to keep up with Cousin Vanessa and her rich friends. Through her misadventures, Hannah learns a valuable lesson about who brings true peace and happiness into her life.
Melody Carlson speaks to girls in their language. Her books communicate truth through situations real girls face everyday. I have appreciated her edgy style and look forward to reading more of Carlson's books as well as adding them to our church library. As an added bonus, Melody Carlson's books are AR books (if you have school children, you know what this means). So my kids can read her books for credit at school. I love the fact that my children can read good Christian fiction for school.

I am a Blogger Reviewer for NavPress.

After seeing Melody Carlson's books all over and having read some excerpts, I was eager to read one. Fool's Gold: Color Me Consumed, wasn't quite what I had expected.

The premise was decent, missionary girl, Hannah Johnson, gets caught up in the American way of consumerism. But I wasn't statisfied with the way it was carried out. Some of Hannah's thoughts didn't seem quite rationalized and the conclusion was very sudden, a blanket answer being provided. Sure she had to pay for the mess she got herself into, but it had a 'and they all lived happily ever after' feel about it.

Another thing I disliked was that the book at times had a very conservative tone to it, which I didn't mind, and at others, not such a conservative tone, as if it couldn't make up it's mind which it was going to be. In fact, a few of situations, especially where Hannah told the urban legend to her uncle, were quite uncalled for, in my opinion, and didn't even have any purpose in the story.

The book wasn't entirely bad, for it did leave me with some complexities to ponder over and study my own life, but I'm not sure I'd recommend it for others to read.

Hannah is a missionary kid (otherwise known as MK) from the island of Papua New Guinea north of Australia. She is visiting her Uncle's family in America for the summer while her parents crisscross the country raising money to return to New Guinea. Her cousin Vanessa and Aunt Lori are shopaholics - obsessed with the latest fashion, designers and brand names. They are embarrassed by Hannah's 'Aussie' clothes. Hannah feels lost and out of place with Vanessa's friends and the whole shopping scene.

Hannah takes a job with her Uncle's company supposedly to earn money for her continued education in New Guinea. Soon her coworkers have her spending more money than she has, getting a credit card, and buying expensive clothes she neither needs or can afford. She becomes obsessed with fitting in with the crowd. She seems to have left her faith as well as her Bible behind in New Guinea as she strives to fit in with the other wealthy kids - living for the moment. Hannah is soon finds herself head over heels in debt and doesn't know how to cope with her situation.

A must read to learn how Hannah solves her debt problem and returns to her faith. Did she come to recognize what she valued most? Did she learn that all that glitters is not gold? Melody Carlson has a excellent command of the minds of teenagers, especially the rich, and what influence peers have on each other.

Highly recommended for teenagers and parents. You will become a fan of Ms. Carlson.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from NavPress Publishers as part of their Blogger Review Program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commision's 16 CFR, Part 255: "Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising."