Mackenzie, Lost and Found by Deborah Kerbel

Title: Mackenzie, Lost and Found
Author: Deborah Kerbel
Publisher: Dundurn Group
Reading Level: Yound Adult
Publication Date: November 17, 2008
Pages: 249

Rating: A-
Plot - 18/20
Characters - 17/20
Writing - 18/20
Originality - 20/20
Entertainment - 9/10
Recommendation - 9/10
Total: 91/100

Summary:
Still mourning the sudden loss of her mother, fifteen-year old Mackenzie Hill feels like she’s drowning in a sea of pain and loneliness. To make matters worse, her eccentric father is forcing her to leave behind the only home she’s ever known and move with him to Israel.

Coming of age in the ancient city of Jerusalem, Mackenzie quickly becomes caught up in a forbidden romance and an unwitting involvement in a shadowy ring of black-market bandits. Can she solve the mystery of the stolen artifacts without betraying her first love? And will she finally come to terms with the grief that had been slowly eating away at her heart…here in the last place in the world she ever wanted to be?

Review:
I was a little hesitant about starting this book because I wasn't so sure that it would be really my type of book. But once I started it, I couldn't stop reading. The book starts if Mackenzie and her dad in the Israeli Airport, and them discover firsthand what Israel will be like. Which is insane. Getting a look at what Jerusalem is like was just crazy. You wouldn't expect what it's like there unless you've been there or study it or something. But it shocked me, to tell you the least.

Mackenzie is a young innocent girl before she moved to Jerusalem, and when reading this book, she changed, and you could see it. This book really is a poignant coming of age story with a twist.
The fact the Mackenzie's and Nasir's relationship was a forbidden one is Nasir's family's eyes because of their Muslim religion, made the book even more addicting.

The outcome of the novel was semi-satisfying. I thought it was a good ending, but, from my love of the characters, was hoping for something else to go down. But, I was happy with it.

Kerbel is a great writer. With a writing style that is familiar but distinctive at once. She gives a taste of what's there but keeps you wanting more and more. Overall, this novel was a very well done and extremely original. I hope to read more of Kerbel soon enough.