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3.5 AVERAGE
3.5 AVERAGE
Sitting here wondering why I finished it. No connection to the characters. Don't recommend.
I read this book in the span of one extremely hot summer day, so I was definitely feeling the heat wave in the book. It was good, though the book was short Samara's character was very developed as were the others around her. It was a good journey and I got very caught up in the book's emotions, wanting to scream when Samara remained silent to the subtle abuses of those close to her. Overall, a great book about finding yourself when everyone expects you to already have.
Growing up as a preacher's grandkid, I could relate to her life as the preacher's kid, in a small town, it's not much different if you're the kid or grandkid of the preacher. ;) Much more directed at a younger teen audience.
It was a really interesting book and I resonated with it in a way. So many things are going wrong in the main characters life and kind of questioning God and everything hits home. The little plot twist in the side conflict being resolved was fun too.
I really liked this book, and went thru it pretty fast. The ending was ok but it wasn't anything special. Still pretty good tho
You know This is he second Sara Zarr book I have read, and I have to say she is a wonderful voice in current YA fiction. I feel like her characters are real, relate-able, and she doesn't shy away from content, nor go over the top with emotional content. I'd also like to note that though this book has some "religious" content, it is not trying to sell Christianity or God, if anything it is not at the forefront of the novel, so don' let this make you not read it. Overall, a very well done book, I recommend Zarr heartily.
I very nearly gave this book five stars. As I was finishing up, I thought about it, but honestly if I have to think about it, that book probably isn't five stars. But this one was close. It's genuinely the first book I've read this year that I've loved (excluding rereads).
A lot of this book is about religion and I think it's important to state right off the bat that I'm not religious. Sam is a pastor's kid and this book deals with a combination of her family issues, a missing girl from her church, and her struggles with faith. It makes up a large section of the book. But despite the faith focus, it's not a book I would shelve in the religious fiction section. It's a book about a girl who is religious, not a religious book. Like the point of the book isn't her finding faith, even if it is a big part of the story. The point of the book is just Sam's character. It's a subtle distinction, but one that I think makes the book readable for people like me who aren't religious.
I would also highly recommend this if you're looking for a YA book that handles religious well. It's never preachy or pushy. Religion is just a part of Sam's life which makes it a part of the book and it's really well done. I think it's easily become one of my favorite contemporaries dealing with religion.
The missing girl storyline was such a weird subplot. It's strange to say, but I almost feel like this book would have been stronger without it. It does have an effect on Sam perspective and life, but I don't feel like it truly changed the story in any consequential way. If it had been removed, I think it largely could have been the same story with a few tweaked details. And I think a little less drama would have helped, if the focus had been solely on Sam's life instead of Sam's life and also this huge hunt for a kidnapped kid. That may have been the main thing keeping this book from being five stars.
I'm not sure how I felt about the ending. I wasn't sure while reading it and now, the next day, it's still a question in my mind. I think it wrapped up too many things and had too much closure. This is a book I could have seen with a more open ending, letting the readers draw their own conclusions. It could have just ended right after the climax. But it kept going and going and there was still a decent amount of book left. I did feel a little negative toward that, but also I liked seeing Sam's life wrap itself up. I liked having answers to all my questions, at least on a surface level. I guess I just think it was too much in such a short period of time and maybe we didn't need all of it.
The list of other things I loved is too long because it was very nearly the rest of the book. I loved Sam's relationship with the youth group leader at her church and how that changed over the course of the book. I loved her overall struggle with being the pastor's kid, and how it was mirrored by her mother's struggle being the pastor's wife. I loved how she didn't feel allowed to question her faith out loud for fear of reflecting badly on her father. I loved her mother's growing role in the book, starting out as completely absent until she's even more present that Sam's physically present father.
I'm sure there were many more, but I thought this book was just spectacular. It's a really wonderful story and I was completely invested the whole time. I'd highly recommend this if you're interested in ya contemporaries that focus heavily on coming of age, family issues, or societal expectation. I wouldn't recommend picking this up based on the fact that it includes a kidnapped girl because it's not a huge focus of the story, and I think that could throw a lot of people off. But for what it is, it's fantastic.
A lot of this book is about religion and I think it's important to state right off the bat that I'm not religious. Sam is a pastor's kid and this book deals with a combination of her family issues, a missing girl from her church, and her struggles with faith. It makes up a large section of the book. But despite the faith focus, it's not a book I would shelve in the religious fiction section. It's a book about a girl who is religious, not a religious book. Like the point of the book isn't her finding faith, even if it is a big part of the story. The point of the book is just Sam's character. It's a subtle distinction, but one that I think makes the book readable for people like me who aren't religious.
I would also highly recommend this if you're looking for a YA book that handles religious well. It's never preachy or pushy. Religion is just a part of Sam's life which makes it a part of the book and it's really well done. I think it's easily become one of my favorite contemporaries dealing with religion.
The missing girl storyline was such a weird subplot. It's strange to say, but I almost feel like this book would have been stronger without it. It does have an effect on Sam perspective and life, but I don't feel like it truly changed the story in any consequential way. If it had been removed, I think it largely could have been the same story with a few tweaked details. And I think a little less drama would have helped, if the focus had been solely on Sam's life instead of Sam's life and also this huge hunt for a kidnapped kid. That may have been the main thing keeping this book from being five stars.
I'm not sure how I felt about the ending. I wasn't sure while reading it and now, the next day, it's still a question in my mind. I think it wrapped up too many things and had too much closure. This is a book I could have seen with a more open ending, letting the readers draw their own conclusions. It could have just ended right after the climax. But it kept going and going and there was still a decent amount of book left. I did feel a little negative toward that, but also I liked seeing Sam's life wrap itself up. I liked having answers to all my questions, at least on a surface level. I guess I just think it was too much in such a short period of time and maybe we didn't need all of it.
The list of other things I loved is too long because it was very nearly the rest of the book. I loved Sam's relationship with the youth group leader at her church and how that changed over the course of the book. I loved her overall struggle with being the pastor's kid, and how it was mirrored by her mother's struggle being the pastor's wife. I loved how she didn't feel allowed to question her faith out loud for fear of reflecting badly on her father. I loved her mother's growing role in the book, starting out as completely absent until she's even more present that Sam's physically present father.
I'm sure there were many more, but I thought this book was just spectacular. It's a really wonderful story and I was completely invested the whole time. I'd highly recommend this if you're interested in ya contemporaries that focus heavily on coming of age, family issues, or societal expectation. I wouldn't recommend picking this up based on the fact that it includes a kidnapped girl because it's not a huge focus of the story, and I think that could throw a lot of people off. But for what it is, it's fantastic.
This is well written. I enjoyed Sam and her emotions, but I wasn't particularly invested in any of the plotting.
When a 13-year-old disappears from Sam's small town the entire community is plunged into the mystery of what happened. Sam is the pastor's kid and that's always made her feel apart from the other kids, even at the church. Jodie's disappearance, Sam's mom disappearing in Rehab after a DUI and Sam's growing anxiety over having to switch schools in the fall all combine to create a perfect storm where Sam struggles with her faith in God and other people.
Once again, I really ought to leave the general teen lit alone. Not my cup of tea. Sam's actions feel random and distant. Her character is murky for me and wrapped in cotton wool. She freaks out and acts erratically. She angsts with the best of them. The ending is fitting for the book and the characters are interesting if a bit flat and the plot moves along even if it's occasionally slow. The writing isn't bad, the story is overall just not my thing.
Once again, I really ought to leave the general teen lit alone. Not my cup of tea. Sam's actions feel random and distant. Her character is murky for me and wrapped in cotton wool. She freaks out and acts erratically. She angsts with the best of them. The ending is fitting for the book and the characters are interesting if a bit flat and the plot moves along even if it's occasionally slow. The writing isn't bad, the story is overall just not my thing.
Short, sad story of a teen girl's struggle with family problems that get further complicated by the disappearance of a young family acquaintance.