Reviewed by Randstostipher "tallnlankyrn" Nguyen for TeensReadToo.com

Was it just bad luck for Ana Dominguez to call out the most popular girl in school, Riley, for cheating on a quiz in front of her crush, resulting in both of them getting detention? Or was it fate?

Ana just came to Half Moon Bay from San Jose, and starting a new school definitely isn't easy, especially since she doesn't know anyone there and still hasn't made any friends.

Her first time in detention (ever), Ana is a little relieved that her favorite teacher is the one overlooking the class. That is until she gives the students an assignment which involves getting into groups of four, writing an essay, and sharing it with the group. What makes the situation even worse is that Riley is in her group.

Each girl begins to read her story on the one moment that changed her life forever. Turns out all four had survived accidents that could have cost them their lives. Automatically, Ana and Zoey see something special between them and they know it wasn't just a coincidence that the four girls were grouped together. Starting a new friendship will be easy - getting the other two to join them is the hard part.

Four completely opposite girls will journey into a friendship that may just last forever. From faith to family to guys and school, each will battle them all, but they have each other to help them get through it.

A promising beginning to a new series, THE MIRACLE GIRLS will entice all readers who enjoy a well-written and thoughtful novel. The characters are well-developed, each girls' story is extremely heartbreaking, and their blossoming friendship is just heartwarming.

Dayton and Vanderbilt have outdone themselves this time, and the best part is, there will be more books being released. ( )

The Review

Being a HUGE fan of Shelley Adina’s It’s All About Us Series, Miriam at Hachette recommended that I try out The Miracle Girls. I was excited to read it and, now in the aftermath, am so glad that I did! Like Adina’s series, The Miracle Girls is a book are about Christian girls navigating their way through high school.

The Miracle Girlsis the story of Ana, a 14-going-on-15 year old high school freshman. She has recently moved from San Jose to Half Moon Bay and needs to start all over again in making friends. By the way, if you’ve never visited Half Moon Bay or Santa Cruz, you’re missing out! It’s absolutely gorgeous! You look to the east and there are redwoods and pines forming amazing forests and parks and then you turn to the west and you are facing the ocean. Northern California is just so “earthy” and the trends and culture there is really cool. It’s fabulous!

Ana is being prepared for her quince by her EXTREMELY strict parents. Although she’s not excited about it, her nanny/housekeeper Maria encourages her to be find enthusiasm for it and explains how special it is. The wonderful thing about Ana is that she is very smart. Ana truly cares about being a good Christian, studying hard to get great grades, and generally doing the right thing. She even recognizes that having mean thoughts about others is considered sinful. Like most other teenage girls, she has a crush on that gorgeous, popular boy.

“The Miracle Girls” are formed via a writing assignment in detention one afternoon. Four girls, who are very unlikely friends, discover that they all have been in a “life or death” experience in which God spared their lives. This common thread eventually draws 3 of the 4 of them together. The 4th girl is the popular cheerleader who most likely would never join their small group. But, eventually God brings them all together just in time for the quince. Together the unlikely foursome build an incredible friendship.

What I really like about this book is that our heroine, Ana, is actively involved with community service, church and school. And, she does it in such a way that it’s COOL to be that way. She doesn’t get discouraged when she is teased and called “God Girl.” She truly does care about what her parents think and she takes responsibility for her actions. All of these things, I feel, are a great influence on today’s teens. These are the types of characteristics that we want our daughters to own. This book is something that I would definitely recommend to my daughters and other girls of a similar age or older. POSITIVE YA Fiction is so “in” in my book!

On Sher’s “Out of Ten Scale:”

I was curious about how two authors on separate coasts write a book together. I found on their website a recent “blog radio” webcast in which Miriam of Hachette (if you don’t know her… she’s just AWESOME) interviews Anne, May and also Shelley Adina. I wish I had known when this was taking place because I would have loved to have called in! The link to the webcast is below if you are interested in listening to it. I played it while I wrote up some reviews and read posts in my Google Reader. I thoroughly enjoyed it!

If you can’t tell by now, I really loved this book. I am looking forward to reading and reviewing Breaking Up Is Hard to Do, the next installment in The Miracle Girls Series. For the genre Fiction:YA/Christian, I am going to rate this book a 9 OUT OF 10. ( )

I gotta say first of all that I loved the photo on the book cover. I know that you should't judge a book by its cover, but when it's nice to look at, well it doesn't hurt. haha. Anyways, the book was a good read for a number reasons. It explored the relationships between parents and their children. It shows the way that God plays miracles in people's lives. It shows first love isn't the same as having a crush. All in all, I can believe in the characters in the book. It is rewarding to watch them grow and learn to become friends despite all their problems and troubles in life. The end of the book leaves it open for the authors to keep writing about the girls as they grow up. ( )

Really Good Book Which I Suggest To Any YA Reader

Miracle Girls by Anne Dayton and May Vanderbilt*
Publication Date: September 2008
4 out of 5 stars

Ana Dominguez thinks her life has hit an all time low. Her family has just moved to a new town, her new school is extremely lenitant towards jocks and cheerleaders, she has no friends, she accidentally gets herself dubbed “God Girl”, her parents are really strict, Maria who is like a second mom to Ana has just been diagnosed with Lupus, her crush Tyler doesn’t know she exists, the most popular girl in school has picked her as her #1 enemy, AND… she has just been given detention for the first time.

At least she isn’t the only one, Riley and two other classmates - Christine and Zoe - are also in detention. When they are made to share their papers, no of them are prepared for what they discover. Ana and Zoe are now determined to befriend Riley and Christine. But these potentially friends aren’t making it easy…

From the beginning you liked Ana and felt bad and/or embarrassed with her from that point on. She was realistic, not to dramatic, she could feel embarrassment and shame, and she was just another human being like us.

I found myself really wishing Ana would figure out that Dave was the right guy, not Tyler. The authors made Dave a great character, who totally embraced his own quirkiness and his ability to have fun. A completely awesome guy who I was happy to read ended up with the right girl (won’t tell you which girl, you have to read the book!).

This book was a little confusing in places. Some of the sentences felt like they were written backwards, not quite making sense. And also, the book only skimmed the top layer of the thoughts, matters, and relationships instead of going in depth with some of these really important events. I believe this book would have benefited greatly if these deep matters were dealt with, instead of ending abruptly with only the wrapper peeled off.

Even though the book could have been deeper, easier to understand, and described a little more thoroughly, I really enjoyed reading this book and I suggest it to any YA reader.

Date Reviewed: September 24th, 2008 ( )

I am always a little weary of christian based novels. Miracle Girls is a great mixture of teen chick lit, christian novel, humour and inspirational genres all mixed in together.

We get to meet our main character Ana - who is an absolute over-achiever in everything she does. Best grades in school, part of every group in school, etc. Except that she does a very idiotic thing on page 4 of this book - she actually reports another student for cheating - and does so in front of the whole class, including the cheating student. This will set the scene for the entire rest of the novel.

As I was reading this passage, I kept thinking "I don't believe she did that". I was not sure whether I admire her or thought she was the stupidest person alive! No matter, what ensues is a great read detailing how 4 girls get together at detention and have to work on a project that will make them really look at their lives and their faith.

The writing is quite witty and there is alot of humour here. The girls are, for the most part, charming and entertaining and more importantly, this novel does not come across as preachy or too unrealistic. I like that the author incorporates everyday teenage issues and angst into the storyline.

While I usually prefer my chick lit with a little more edge - I liked this book and recommend it to all teens looking for a good chick lit read. ( )