The Christy Miller series

The Christy Miller Series is a Christian series of books for teenage girls by Robin Jones Gunn. It is about Wisconsin teen Christy Miller who is shy until she goes to California to visit her wealthy Aunt Marti and Uncle Bob. There she meets a surfer named Todd Spencer, with whom she eventually falls in love. As the series progresses, it deals with many hard issues teenagers face (these include: teenage pregnancy, drug abuse, anorexia, etc.) from a Christian perspective. It was also during this series that the author coined the term "God-lover" which is still used by many of her fans today.

Plot Summary

The Christy Miller series begins with the title character visiting her aunt and uncle out in California for the summer. While there, she becomes friends with a group of people that will have a profound effect on the rest of her life. These friends include a cute surfer named Todd Spencer (her love interest for the majority of the series and a true “God-lover”), a beautiful girl named Alissa Benson (who later deals with a teenage pregnancy), and a host of other characters who will continue to play major roles throughout the series. Christy eventually becomes a Christian during her summer on the beach, and the first book ends as Christy and Todd share a kiss in “their” intersection before she goes home to Wisconsin. When Christy returns home, she finds that her parents have decided to move the entire family out to California. Where she leaves her life-long friend, Paula. However, her family is moving inland, about an hour away from where her friends from the summer reside, and Todd has gone to live with his mom in Florida for the winter. While she continues to keep in touch with her beach friends, she finds herself having to start all over again in a new high school. There, she makes friends with a group of semi-popular girls. She also happens to catch the eye of the school’s star football player, Rick Doyle.

The series continues to follow Christy through the rest of her high school career. She tries out for the cheerleading team in "Surprise Endings". She goes on a ski trip with her best friend, Katie Weldon, in "True Friends". And she even becomes a camp counselor in "Seventeen Wishes". Todd eventually comes back in "Yours Forever". Todd and Christy have a tumultuous early relationship due to the long-distance aspect, but he ultimately wins out over disgruntled Rick and kind-hearted Doug in the battle for Christy’s heart. The couple has their ups and downs throughout the rest of the series. They go to Hawaii together in the fifth book "Island Dreamer". They breakup, so that Todd can follow his call to be a missionary in "Sweet Dreams" ,and are finally reunited in "A Promise is Forever".

Books in the series

#"Summer Promise" (1988)
#"A Whisper and A Wish" (1989)
#"Yours Forever" (1990)
#"Surprise Endings" (1991)
#"Island Dreamer" (1992)
#"A Heart Full of Hope" (1992)
#"True Friends" (1993)
#"Starry Night" (1993)
#"Seventeen Wishes" (1993)
#"A Time to Cherish" (1993)
#"Sweet Dreams" (1993)
#"A Promise is Forever" (1994)

Related series

A sequel series Christy and Todd: The College Years has three books, including "Until Tomorrow" (2000), "As You Wish" (2000), and "I Promise" (2001).

The companion series The Sierra Jensen Series also currently has 12 books.

Gunn has also realeased the Katie Weldon series 2 books are currently out 1) Peculiar Treasures 2) On a Whim.

External links

* [http://www.robingunn.com/html/christymiller.html The Christy Miller Series by Robin Jones Gunn]
* [http://www.christymillerandfriends.com Official Christy Miller and Sierra Jensen Series Website]