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4.0 AVERAGE
4.0 AVERAGE
This book was a sweet, fast read that brought in some After School Special™ vibes that teens today need to hear.
The name "CeCe" aggravated me, as did her entitled and disrespectful behaviour at times. I don't think she was ever open to Christianity, despite the thoughtful efforts of her peers. I think the story would have been more impactful if she was more open to listening (e.g. at devotion), and still chose that Christianity wasn't for her afterwards. I think it's fair to say that her cabin mates were so welcoming and forgiving in part due to their upbringing, and I wish this book acknowledged that instead of ridiculing a lot of Christian culture (the canned scripture quotes? Come on!).
This book explored virginity and premarital sex thoughtfully, and that gives it some points to me. You can definitely tell Sonia Hartl aimed to shoe-horn many Life Lessons into this book. Sometimes it felt out of place, but ultimately I'm satisfied with the sex-positive and tasteful way the topic was handled here.
The name "CeCe" aggravated me, as did her entitled and disrespectful behaviour at times. I don't think she was ever open to Christianity, despite the thoughtful efforts of her peers. I think the story would have been more impactful if she was more open to listening (e.g. at devotion), and still chose that Christianity wasn't for her afterwards. I think it's fair to say that her cabin mates were so welcoming and forgiving in part due to their upbringing, and I wish this book acknowledged that instead of ridiculing a lot of Christian culture (the canned scripture quotes? Come on!).
This book explored virginity and premarital sex thoughtfully, and that gives it some points to me. You can definitely tell Sonia Hartl aimed to shoe-horn many Life Lessons into this book. Sometimes it felt out of place, but ultimately I'm satisfied with the sex-positive and tasteful way the topic was handled here.
That was fun. CeCe sends herself to Jesus camp in a bid to get her ex-boyfriend (who pressured her to have sex and then broke up with her once she gave in)...and not surprisingly, things do not go to plan.
Things I particularly liked: the camp is way more conservative than CeCe's family (and way, way more conservative than my own upbringing or current life), but they're not portrayed as evil or abusive. I've read a number of 'Christian camp' books with various premises in which the people running the camp are basically slimy abusers; here, while there are some people on power trips and a lot of religion-as-justification, they're basically just...people. With a different perspective. Which sounds a whole lot more like real life than 'all the conservative religious people are secretly terrible terrible people'. I also loved that there was just about no girl drama; CeCe gets to Jesus camp only to find that her ex has a 'camp girlfriend', and one who is sharing her cabin at that...but even when the truth comes out, although there's some awkwardness, there's not hair-pulling or back-stabbing. The girls in her cabin are basically just, again, nice girls who have different upbringings than CeCe.
What didn't work as well for me: There's a really heavy emphasis on sex, enough to get in the way of character development in places. I had a hard time believing that CeCe's cabinmates, who have very conservative backgrounds and have definitely never ever been encouraged to talk about or think about sex (especially, oh the horror, sex outside marriage), would suddenly be so forthright, and comfortable being forthright, about their new experiences.
I can't complain too much, mind, because it's clear that one of the major goals of the book is to provide some information about consent and the like to teens who might not be getting that info elsewhere. But I'm a little sorry that some of that space didn't go instead to developing the stories (the non-sex stories) of CeCe's cabinmates a bit more thoroughly.
Things I particularly liked: the camp is way more conservative than CeCe's family (and way, way more conservative than my own upbringing or current life), but they're not portrayed as evil or abusive. I've read a number of 'Christian camp' books with various premises in which the people running the camp are basically slimy abusers; here, while there are some people on power trips and a lot of religion-as-justification, they're basically just...people. With a different perspective. Which sounds a whole lot more like real life than 'all the conservative religious people are secretly terrible terrible people'. I also loved that there was just about no girl drama; CeCe gets to Jesus camp only to find that her ex has a 'camp girlfriend', and one who is sharing her cabin at that...but even when the truth comes out, although there's some awkwardness, there's not hair-pulling or back-stabbing. The girls in her cabin are basically just, again, nice girls who have different upbringings than CeCe.
What didn't work as well for me: There's a really heavy emphasis on sex, enough to get in the way of character development in places. I had a hard time believing that CeCe's cabinmates, who have very conservative backgrounds and have definitely never ever been encouraged to talk about or think about sex (especially, oh the horror, sex outside marriage), would suddenly be so forthright, and comfortable being forthright, about their new experiences.
Spoiler
I also think it a little ridiculous that when CeCe and Paul decide to do the deed, they don't even consider that in a few days they'll be back home, next-door neighbours with much less supervision—no, obviously the answer is to take a comforter out into the woods in broad daylight at a conservative Christian camp. Guys. Come on now. (Although for a camp obsessed with metaphoric chastity belts, it does a pretty terrible job of keeping teenagers from getting it on.)I can't complain too much, mind, because it's clear that one of the major goals of the book is to provide some information about consent and the like to teens who might not be getting that info elsewhere. But I'm a little sorry that some of that space didn't go instead to developing the stories (the non-sex stories) of CeCe's cabinmates a bit more thoroughly.
This book was cute and the banter between the two main characters was so adorable! Not to mention the CeCe was such an awesome headstrong individual !! Loved her !
Only thing that made me dock a star was that in the early stages the buildup to the romance seemed slightly disjointed . The author could’ve for a better job at making it more known about the growing feelings!
Other than that super cute and fun read !!
Only thing that made me dock a star was that in the early stages the buildup to the romance seemed slightly disjointed . The author could’ve for a better job at making it more known about the growing feelings!
Other than that super cute and fun read !!
Friends to lovers for the WIN. I love a soft, promiscuous and charming boy who respects women. I also love unlikely friendship stories. This book was all sorts of wonderful all the way around!
This book hurt my heart. It was sweet, funny, incredibly insightful, and took me right back to old feelings of crushing on people who don't treat you right. All the characters felt very real, the prose was actually properly funny, and the character growth and friendships warmed me.
My one criticism is that for a book whose chief theme was sex and teenage sex in particular, there was no explicit mention of asexuality. A lot of the exploration rested on the assumption that people want to or will have sex, and I felt the conversation could've been rounded out a bit more with acknowledgement that that isn't the case for everyone. The existence of asexuality should be as much a part of sex ed as everything else in the book.
Overall I loved the book and it'll probably be one I reread over and over.
My one criticism is that for a book whose chief theme was sex and teenage sex in particular, there was no explicit mention of asexuality. A lot of the exploration rested on the assumption that people want to or will have sex, and I felt the conversation could've been rounded out a bit more with acknowledgement that that isn't the case for everyone. The existence of asexuality should be as much a part of sex ed as everything else in the book.
Overall I loved the book and it'll probably be one I reread over and over.
I LOVED THIS BOOK! It's too cute, and sweet, and lovely, and amazing, and a lot of other adjectives that I don't think anyone will appreciate me listing--but know they all apply. Trust me when I say this book is one everyone should read. It read as incredibly authentic, funny, and beautiful. CeCe is fantastic. The setting of church camp . . . as a person who grew up Catholic I can't even handle it. Perfectly hilarious and sweet. Read it. That's my recommendation, and my advice. Read this one. Like right now.
Full review on: Flipping Through the Pages
Have a Little Faith In Me follows the story of CeCe, who decides to attend Camp ThreeSixTeen in the hopes of winning back her ex-boyfriend, Ethan, who dumped her days after having sex with her. He wanted to get close to Jesus and CeCe wanted to get closer to him. But she knows nothing about Jesus or the Bible. But her best friend Paul, though warning her this was a bad idea, decides to go with her where ultimately CeCe introduced him as her boyfriend(fake) to make Ethan jealous. But Ethan already had another girlfriend and over the time CeCe realises that her feelings for Paul are more than just for a friend.
This book was a super fun summer novel. It has two of my favourite tropes- fake dating and friends to lovers, and both the tropes have been done so beautifully. I was laughing so hard in a few places. CeCe and Paul’s friendship was awesome. Cece never thought of Paul as anything more until the camp. And this camp changes their relationship forever. Paul was a guy who deserves everything. He was funny and lovely. He was a kind of friend who would go to any length to make his best friend smile. He was certainly a king among men.
I loved CeCe bunkmates- Mandy, Astrid and Sarina. Those were known as the girls of Cabin 8. Cece was initially afraid of living with all Christian girls as she was not sure if she would be able to keep her cover as a fake Christian. But soon their friendship grew stronger and they formed a strong group depicting girl power. All these girls had some talent and were fierce and were trying to find their place within their faith.
I didn’t like CeCe’s character in the beginning. She was a little annoying and took stupid decisions. But as the story progressed, we see an incredible transformation in her character. She realises what she actually wanted to be. She came out as a strong, determined and fierce girl and she was never afraid of putting out her bold opinions, even though she was in a Jesus camp. She learned how to fit in with the people where she was least expected to be.
Apart from being a book about summer romance and finding your place, there is one very much important topic, and that is the concept of CONSENT. This book heavily explores the topic of consent and I am glad it did because this topic is so less talked about in YA and this certainly needs to be improved. This book is framed beautifully around this topic.
I am not a Christian so I don’t know much about all the beliefs and stuff. But I was so glad this book talked about sex education. This book also talks about how your opinions can be different from the others but you need to respect those. It highlighted what needs to be changed in the community but it can’t be done by blaming and shaming others who think differently than you.
I am not sure about this but I think this book can be a little problematic for some, especially Christians?? This book takes place at a very conservative Evangelical Christian Bible camp. There are some opinions expressed by some of the side characters in the book that certain people can find a bit troubling. So read this book with CAUTION if this is something that can trigger you.
Overall, I really enjoyed this book and would definitely recommend this. This is a fun summer book which you can finish quickly. Besides having a lot of humor and fun, this book is packed with important topics of consent and sex ed. It also talks about finding your beliefs and going down the path which you find suitable for you.
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Have a Little Faith In Me follows the story of CeCe, who decides to attend Camp ThreeSixTeen in the hopes of winning back her ex-boyfriend, Ethan, who dumped her days after having sex with her. He wanted to get close to Jesus and CeCe wanted to get closer to him. But she knows nothing about Jesus or the Bible. But her best friend Paul, though warning her this was a bad idea, decides to go with her where ultimately CeCe introduced him as her boyfriend(fake) to make Ethan jealous. But Ethan already had another girlfriend and over the time CeCe realises that her feelings for Paul are more than just for a friend.
This book was a super fun summer novel. It has two of my favourite tropes- fake dating and friends to lovers, and both the tropes have been done so beautifully. I was laughing so hard in a few places. CeCe and Paul’s friendship was awesome. Cece never thought of Paul as anything more until the camp. And this camp changes their relationship forever. Paul was a guy who deserves everything. He was funny and lovely. He was a kind of friend who would go to any length to make his best friend smile. He was certainly a king among men.
I loved CeCe bunkmates- Mandy, Astrid and Sarina. Those were known as the girls of Cabin 8. Cece was initially afraid of living with all Christian girls as she was not sure if she would be able to keep her cover as a fake Christian. But soon their friendship grew stronger and they formed a strong group depicting girl power. All these girls had some talent and were fierce and were trying to find their place within their faith.
I didn’t like CeCe’s character in the beginning. She was a little annoying and took stupid decisions. But as the story progressed, we see an incredible transformation in her character. She realises what she actually wanted to be. She came out as a strong, determined and fierce girl and she was never afraid of putting out her bold opinions, even though she was in a Jesus camp. She learned how to fit in with the people where she was least expected to be.
Apart from being a book about summer romance and finding your place, there is one very much important topic, and that is the concept of CONSENT. This book heavily explores the topic of consent and I am glad it did because this topic is so less talked about in YA and this certainly needs to be improved. This book is framed beautifully around this topic.
I am not a Christian so I don’t know much about all the beliefs and stuff. But I was so glad this book talked about sex education. This book also talks about how your opinions can be different from the others but you need to respect those. It highlighted what needs to be changed in the community but it can’t be done by blaming and shaming others who think differently than you.
I am not sure about this but I think this book can be a little problematic for some, especially Christians?? This book takes place at a very conservative Evangelical Christian Bible camp. There are some opinions expressed by some of the side characters in the book that certain people can find a bit troubling. So read this book with CAUTION if this is something that can trigger you.
Overall, I really enjoyed this book and would definitely recommend this. This is a fun summer book which you can finish quickly. Besides having a lot of humor and fun, this book is packed with important topics of consent and sex ed. It also talks about finding your beliefs and going down the path which you find suitable for you.
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This was a fun book that also covered some very serious topics. The best part of the book, for me, was the discussions centered around consent and what it means. But there's also a strong theme of girls supporting girls and believing each other and standing behind them. And it could have been presented so differently. And the fact that it stands out so much that these girls support each other is a little bit sad. Even while reading it, I kept expecting something to happen that would cause a big fight or blowout but it didn't and I loved that. Friendships are so important to teen girls and we need to start showing them that women aren't always out to get other women. I also appreciated the way the religious camp was presented and that while some people are skeptical of those who call themselves Christians, not everyone within that religion uses that status for the same thing. Just like in all facets of life, there are good people and bad people. I'm not religious myself but I really liked all the different Christians and non-Christians that were shown in this book. I also liked the relationship between CeCe and Paul and I liked that she was so clueless about him for such a long time. CeCe makes a lot of mistakes like most people and that makes her real. Some of the topics discussed in this book were difficult but it was still kept light, for the most part. Sex is discussed a lot and one scene was almost like a lesson in Sex Ed 101, which made it less romantic but also a good example of consent and respect, so I understand why it was done the way it was. Overall, this was a very quick read that was fun and not heavy, even considering the topics. It was fun and informative and probably better for the 14+ YA readers, just because of the sex and swearing.
Thank you to the publisher for providing an ARC in exchange for an honest review!
Thank you to the publisher for providing an ARC in exchange for an honest review!
This book was so fun! I was a little skeptical at first, since CeCe knew SO LITTLE about the Bible before heading to bible camp, but it turned into something hilarious and wholesome and heartwarming. And it’s got so much consent education in it that I feel like it should be taught at schools. So good! Highly recommend!