Reviews

The familiarity and recognition of Southern Evangelicalism kept me reading despite having qualms with the story and/or the writing. These characters are people I grew up with and love dearly, the language and culture a kind of old favorite sweatshirt that doesn’t fit anymore. Is this a *great* book? Arguably not. Is the ending satisfying? Absolutely not. I am not even sure I love the characters. But their world felt so lived in, so much a version of home, that I couldn’t put it down. It was almost cathartic to read.

cdjdhj's review

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3.0

Made me glad I don’t live in Texas

This is the story of two sisters trying to deal with the revelation that their father, the head pastor of a Texas Evangelical Mega Church has committed adultery and that he has not really repented and changed. One sister loses her faith as a result and the other does exactly what has always been expected of her. She marries and takes up the mantle of a good, Christian, subservient wife. There is some good writing and description in the book,ultimately, the plot seemed slow and the theme unclear. What became clear to me as I read this book is that I am extremely grateful that I don’t belong to an Evangelical Mega Church in Texas.

faithemt's review

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3.0

Quite a look at legalism in the southern churches!

Great story about 2 daughters and their faith ...or lack of it.....and the betrayal they feel when their pastor dad is found out from having an affair.

recommend!!

dkadastra's review

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3.0

This one grew on me. I really enjoy Kelsey's writing at defector.com (the last good website), so I was excited to dig into this as a break from my usual diet of Fantasy. As someone who also grew up, at the very least, evangelical-adjacent (and who still considers myself a christian), I think this book did a great job of capturing the attitudes and decisions that infect those communities, and don't allow them to hold charismatic leaders accountable for actions that are clearly at odds with the standards christian leaders are (rightly) held to (and then using the whole "it's god's will for us to reconcile" etc when it's clear there hasn't even been true repentance). I agree with some of the criticisms that the book was a little slow, and the for me the conflicts were a bit repetitive, but I think that was just the nature of these types of family conflicts. The book kinda just ends without anything really being resolved, beyond the main characters feelings on a few matters around faith, and it was clearly not a happy ending for her sister, but, again, these types of family conflicts rarely get a zipped up resolution. So, I actually felt like the ending fit the overall tone and arc of the story, which is really all you can ask

Spoiler

even if you really wish the dad was fired from his position and Abby got a true happy ending, and not something she was settling for <\spoiler>

usualjellyfish's review

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sad slow-paced

2.5

kathleensandys's review

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challenging sad medium-paced

3.75

intensebeet's review

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emotional reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

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