loveleareads's review
4.0
Small Town Sinners is one of the more real books that I've read in a while. And I really enjoyed it. I loved the real characters and problems it had. How it made me think. The questions it brought up.
I really liked the characters in this book. Lacey's friends, Starla Joy and Dean. They were fun, but they had their own problems, which I liked. I loved Ty. And I liked Lacey Ann. As the book goes on, she learns how to question and make up her own mind about things.
I was intrigued the whole time I was reading this book. There was drama, but it was real issues, not just like a soap opera.
This is not a book for closed-minded people, in either direction. But I liked it. Like I said, I liked how it made me think. This book is not one sided. It allows you to draw your own opinion.
I found this to be a fantastic contemporary. I would recommend this to anyone who is willing to listen with and open mind.
I really liked the characters in this book. Lacey's friends, Starla Joy and Dean. They were fun, but they had their own problems, which I liked. I loved Ty. And I liked Lacey Ann. As the book goes on, she learns how to question and make up her own mind about things.
I was intrigued the whole time I was reading this book. There was drama, but it was real issues, not just like a soap opera.
This is not a book for closed-minded people, in either direction. But I liked it. Like I said, I liked how it made me think. This book is not one sided. It allows you to draw your own opinion.
I found this to be a fantastic contemporary. I would recommend this to anyone who is willing to listen with and open mind.
aqtbenz's review
3.0
A-
This book was alright. It brought up important arguments about faith and being a "Follower". I hated her father ("Boys have desires girls can't understand. Girls need to have more self-control." Gag me). I've read worse, but it didn't wow me.
This book was alright. It brought up important arguments about faith and being a "Follower". I hated her father ("Boys have desires girls can't understand. Girls need to have more self-control." Gag me). I've read worse, but it didn't wow me.
xoxoannareads's review
5.0
Melissa Walker did it again. Small Town Sinners was amazing. I recommend this book to everyone, as I do all of her books.
annie139d7's review
2.0
Small Town Sinners is the tale of Lacey Anne Byer who lives in the small town of West River. Lacey’s Christian upbringing and pastor father have cemented her as the good girl in town. Then she meets the new guy, Ty Davis. Ty is perfect boyfriend material in Lacey’s mind. The only thing standing in the way is Ty’s persistence of making Lacey think with her own words. Ty, and other events, are making Lacey question her faith. Suddenly Lacey has changed from seeing the world in black and white (right and wrong) to varying shades of gray. What will this church girl do when forced to think about abortion, teen pregnancy, bullying and drunk driving without the input of faith?
I don’t know if I’m right but I keep coming back to the fact in my mind that I wasn’t raised in a faith driven house hold. I have no idea what Lacey is going through, I can’t relate. Therefore, I want to read about extremes. I want to be told that growing up Christian is worse than growing up like I did. I want to see the problems and I found the normalcy in Small Town Sinners tedious and boring. I wanted Lacey to fight back and rebel because I would have found it interesting, not because it would help her character grow. I don’t know if this is a hurtle I’ll ever be able to overcome but it definitely stopped me from enjoying Small Town Sinners.
Even with my own mental road block I still found Small Town Sinners okay. I loved the exploration of Hell Houses. Before I’d read this book I had no idea what a Hell House was. (A Hell House is like a haunted house but they scare you with grossly hyperbolized images the church believes are wrong. For example in Small Town Sinners one scene in the Hell House is a Gay Marriage where after getting married one of the husbands dies of AIDS and it is implied that only gay sex results in AIDS.) I found the whole idea of a Hell House shocking and at times unbelievable. I wish the topic and the rights and wrongs of it had been explored in more depth.
Overall, I found Small Town Sinners to be an okay read. I wish I could say it was fantastic and made me question my own morals but it really didn’t. If you’ve read Small Town Sinners and were left with a different opinion, let me know! I want to know what others thought about this book.
www.anibelle.blogspot.com
I don’t know if I’m right but I keep coming back to the fact in my mind that I wasn’t raised in a faith driven house hold. I have no idea what Lacey is going through, I can’t relate. Therefore, I want to read about extremes. I want to be told that growing up Christian is worse than growing up like I did. I want to see the problems and I found the normalcy in Small Town Sinners tedious and boring. I wanted Lacey to fight back and rebel because I would have found it interesting, not because it would help her character grow. I don’t know if this is a hurtle I’ll ever be able to overcome but it definitely stopped me from enjoying Small Town Sinners.
Even with my own mental road block I still found Small Town Sinners okay. I loved the exploration of Hell Houses. Before I’d read this book I had no idea what a Hell House was. (A Hell House is like a haunted house but they scare you with grossly hyperbolized images the church believes are wrong. For example in Small Town Sinners one scene in the Hell House is a Gay Marriage where after getting married one of the husbands dies of AIDS and it is implied that only gay sex results in AIDS.) I found the whole idea of a Hell House shocking and at times unbelievable. I wish the topic and the rights and wrongs of it had been explored in more depth.
Overall, I found Small Town Sinners to be an okay read. I wish I could say it was fantastic and made me question my own morals but it really didn’t. If you’ve read Small Town Sinners and were left with a different opinion, let me know! I want to know what others thought about this book.
www.anibelle.blogspot.com
lisagray68's review
3.0
I can't really decide if I liked this YA book. On the one hand, your basic love story. But the novel revolves around "Hell Houses", which is apparently something that really happens among some evangelical churches. I liked how the author respected the struggle of faith even though this girl obviously belonged to an over the top group. But I confess I did worry that people would think this kind of stuff represents the evangelical church. Which it certainly does not.
themaddiest's review
4.0
Lacey Anne Byers has always had faith and has always been active in her church. This year, she’s finally old enough to take a crucial, active role in her church’s annual Hell House: an event which uses dramatic enactments of sins to scare people into (re)committing themselves to Jesus. When Lacey’s childhood friend Ty shows up and the two feel a connection, he also forces her to ask some hard questions about her religion, her beliefs, and her faith in people.
I’ll admit it: Melissa Walker’s thorough examination of one girl’s faith caught me by surprise. I always go into books that focus heavily on religion with a bit of trepidation. I’m not always sure how message-happy the author is going to get, and I worry about how that will impact my opinion of the book. Luckily, Walker’s book walks the line between sincere and preachy and balances it beautifully. This is a challenging book, but it is also very respectful.
Lacey and her friends are interesting, rare characters in YA these days: modern teenagers living in a small town, they are also very sheltered and innocent. In a world where seven-year-olds are performing sexual acts when the teacher’s back is turned and teens are being arrested for sexting, it’s this innocence that seems almost archaic, but it never feels false or inauthentic. In fact, Walker’s sensitivity and attention to detail with regard to these characters is the driving force behind much of the novel. As Lacey discusses her beliefs with Ty and begins to question the purpose of Hell House more and more, she also learns to find her own voice and articulate her thoughts. There are moments where these conversations are in danger of becoming too didactic, but Walker’s focus on Lacey’s journey ensures that the line is never completely crossed.
The story is also quite atmospheric, as Walker takes care with creating the sense of a small town. Lacey and her friends are products of their environment, kept away from outside influences and protected from the world’s messier aspects. When Lacey’s best friend Starla Joy goes through a family crisis, the shock the other characters feel is genuine. So too are the complicated feelings Lacey feels for Ty, whose past is a little shadowy and whose signals are mixed. All of this–especially the tentative teen romance–is done very well.
The book is not without its problems, though. I struggled with one thing in particular, relating to Lacey and her relationship with her father. Lacey’s father, a youth pastor, is described as being the one person she could always talk to about her life and about her faith. But the second she starts questioning some of the church’s beliefs, her father shuts down completely. His unwillingness to communicate or engage in any form of dialogue didn’t jive with his previous characterization. While I understand that people can change, especially when confronted with difficult questions, it didn’t make sense for a character who would have had extensive training in talking with teens about issues and faith. It felt too much like a plot point to create conflict than it did actual character development.
Overall, this is a tender, thoughtful read. Although I wonder a little about the intended audience (and whether or not it will ever be read by them), I think it’s a book that can be enjoyed by people of all faiths and belief systems (or lack thereof). Recommended for fans of contemporary YA.
Small Town Sinners by Melissa Walker. Bloomsbury: 2011. Library copy.
I’ll admit it: Melissa Walker’s thorough examination of one girl’s faith caught me by surprise. I always go into books that focus heavily on religion with a bit of trepidation. I’m not always sure how message-happy the author is going to get, and I worry about how that will impact my opinion of the book. Luckily, Walker’s book walks the line between sincere and preachy and balances it beautifully. This is a challenging book, but it is also very respectful.
Lacey and her friends are interesting, rare characters in YA these days: modern teenagers living in a small town, they are also very sheltered and innocent. In a world where seven-year-olds are performing sexual acts when the teacher’s back is turned and teens are being arrested for sexting, it’s this innocence that seems almost archaic, but it never feels false or inauthentic. In fact, Walker’s sensitivity and attention to detail with regard to these characters is the driving force behind much of the novel. As Lacey discusses her beliefs with Ty and begins to question the purpose of Hell House more and more, she also learns to find her own voice and articulate her thoughts. There are moments where these conversations are in danger of becoming too didactic, but Walker’s focus on Lacey’s journey ensures that the line is never completely crossed.
The story is also quite atmospheric, as Walker takes care with creating the sense of a small town. Lacey and her friends are products of their environment, kept away from outside influences and protected from the world’s messier aspects. When Lacey’s best friend Starla Joy goes through a family crisis, the shock the other characters feel is genuine. So too are the complicated feelings Lacey feels for Ty, whose past is a little shadowy and whose signals are mixed. All of this–especially the tentative teen romance–is done very well.
The book is not without its problems, though. I struggled with one thing in particular, relating to Lacey and her relationship with her father. Lacey’s father, a youth pastor, is described as being the one person she could always talk to about her life and about her faith. But the second she starts questioning some of the church’s beliefs, her father shuts down completely. His unwillingness to communicate or engage in any form of dialogue didn’t jive with his previous characterization. While I understand that people can change, especially when confronted with difficult questions, it didn’t make sense for a character who would have had extensive training in talking with teens about issues and faith. It felt too much like a plot point to create conflict than it did actual character development.
Overall, this is a tender, thoughtful read. Although I wonder a little about the intended audience (and whether or not it will ever be read by them), I think it’s a book that can be enjoyed by people of all faiths and belief systems (or lack thereof). Recommended for fans of contemporary YA.
Small Town Sinners by Melissa Walker. Bloomsbury: 2011. Library copy.
kellyhager's review
4.0
Lacey Ann Byer is the kind of kid every parent would want. She's sweet, smart, respectful and active in church. (But it's genuine; she's not like Katherine in Cruel Intentions.) She's so committed to the Lord that she wants a lead role in her church's Hell House. But not just any role---she wants to be Abortion Girl, one of the most powerful scenes in the house. (Hell Houses are designed to get people saved by scaring the crap out of them.) And then things change. She meets this guy and things happen with her friends and everything's not as black and white anymore.
I really liked this book. I liked how Lacey was able to separate her feelings for God from her feelings for religion, and I loved Lacey and her friends. It reminded me of a cross between Saved (but less hostile) and Footloose (that comparison was from my fellow book blogger, Sarah) and with a pedigree like that, how can you NOT want to read it?
I'm a Christian (but Methodist. We are warm and fuzzy and believe that Jesus loves you; we do NOT do that Hell House thing) and have been fascinated/repelled by hell houses (see previous parenthetical note about Methodists) since I found out what they were. As a Christian, it's nice to read a book that doesn't portray Christians as weird/freakish/mean. And while yes, Lacey does have her small-minded moments, she also grows out of them (like in Saved!). This book also reminded me of the novel Pure by Terra Elan McVoy, which I completely loved.
Recommended.
I really liked this book. I liked how Lacey was able to separate her feelings for God from her feelings for religion, and I loved Lacey and her friends. It reminded me of a cross between Saved (but less hostile) and Footloose (that comparison was from my fellow book blogger, Sarah) and with a pedigree like that, how can you NOT want to read it?
I'm a Christian (but Methodist. We are warm and fuzzy and believe that Jesus loves you; we do NOT do that Hell House thing) and have been fascinated/repelled by hell houses (see previous parenthetical note about Methodists) since I found out what they were. As a Christian, it's nice to read a book that doesn't portray Christians as weird/freakish/mean. And while yes, Lacey does have her small-minded moments, she also grows out of them (like in Saved!). This book also reminded me of the novel Pure by Terra Elan McVoy, which I completely loved.
Recommended.
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