Last Mango In Texas
by Ray Blackston
New York: Faith Words, 2009, 247 pp., paperback.

Kyle Mango is a little lost as a freshman at Texas Tech until he meets the unpredicable Gretchen. Within an hour she's helped him escape a difficult situation, but soon the relationship he hopes for appears to have slipped away.

A strange uncle, a bookie, unexpected oil wealth, environmental activism and trips overseas keep the action moving along as author Ray Blackston's typically flippant first-person narration recounts the adventure of Kyle getting back into Gretchen's life. Last Mango In Texas is fun, and certainly more amusing than deep, yet it still conveys a Christian worldview and morality.

The Reading Group Guide at the end is humorous as well, with questions like, "If you were planning an escape (from wherever), what song would you want for your background music?" If you need a summer vacation novel to read on a plane or beach, this one won't disappoint you--unless you're a fast reader and it's a long flight. Then you should get the Flabbergasted trilogy as well.

Visit Ray Blackson.

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