Review: Faking Faith by Josie Bloss

Title: Faking Faith

Author: Josie Bloss

Publisher:  Flux

Publication Date: 11.8.2011

Pages: 240

Genre: Contemporary

Series: No

Source: Purchased paperback

Rating: B

Summary (from Goodreads):

After a humiliating "sexting" incident involving a hot and popular senior, seventeen-year-old Dylan has become a social outcast—harassed, ignored, and estranged from her two best friends.

When Dylan discovers the blogs of homeschooled fundamentalist Christian girls, she's fascinated by their old-fashioned conversation themes, like practicing submission to one's future husband. Blogging as Faith, her devout alter ego, Dylan befriends Abigail, the group's queen bee. But growing closer to Abigail (and her intriguing older brother) forces Dylan to choose: keep living a lie or come clean and face the consequences.

Review:

I have to give kudos to Josie Bloss for this fun, fast, and amusing read. I consumed it in a little over three hours, thoroughly enjoying the vast majority of it. Bloss weaves a lot of subtle storylines in here that could easily seem glossed over in the summary. This novel isn’t just about a girl who royally screwed up (on more than one occasion), but it’s about a girl figuring out who she is, and how she will react and recover when faced with problems.

Dylan is a frustrating main character. I like her, I really do, but I vacillated between wanting to hug her and wanting to shake her. I wasn’t sure there was a limit to how many bad decisions one person could make in a single novel. I’m fairly certain she has the record, though, but there is something about her that I really just like. She has this effervescent soul that made me cheer for her, even when she was digging herself an even deeper hole.

I wasn’t crazy about the way this book ended. It just felt too … open. Maybe I’m just a spoiled girl who likes her happily ever after tied up with a neat, pretty bow, and I felt like I was cheated out of that. The ending was, by far, the low point in an otherwise fun book.

This is a book that doesn’t take itself too seriously. It’s not meant to be a hugely philosophical novel, but it is something entertaining to curl up with on a lazy afternoon with the sun streaming in the windows. I recommend checking this book out for yourself. I doubt you’ll be disappointed.

Buy: Amazon