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now_booking's review
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
sad
medium-paced
4.25
This book was fabulous in that it wasn’t perfectly-written, or edited, but it was raw and real and heartfelt. Taking non the painful and traumatic theme of being a pk (pastor’s kid) in a church/family that is anything but Christ-like and is borderline abusive, the author wrote Jaymi and Marshall’s story with a lot of heart and a lot of realness that showed a familiarity with her theme.
The premise is that Jaymi is the black ship of her mega-church pastoring family and in constant rebellion against the toxic control her pastor father tries to exert on her. Having put her as a housemate to one of his deacons, Marshall, when no one else will have her, sparks fly between the two even though they are separated by a fairly large age gap. But Marshall is battling family demons of his own that makes it difficult to standby and watch Jaymi go through all that she does without getting involved. Their controlling and manipulative parents however, have other plans.
I thought that the situations portrayed in this book felt incredibly real. Admittedly, many of the processes for getting to the main plot point were a little plot-holey and unrealistic (e.g. Marshall’s mother’s death) but the overall message and the story and the sexiness and heart were really well done. The characters are realistic and imperfect and have faults and are eminently human, yet you can’t help but root for them in a way that made this incredibly hard to put down.
This is definitely not at all Christian romance. But as a Christian myself, I think this tackles a really important theme of what happens when the pastor becomes the god of the church, rather that the servant of God and those who seek him. There was a lot of toxicity and abuse of power that was certainly not in the spirit of being Christ-like but that has marked many people’s exist from the faith and that aspect of the book was incredibly sad, but incredibly pertinent. Even though I was suitably mad at the villains, I thought the resolution of this book was pretty poignant and definitely not how I thought it would be.
This book is potentially highly triggering for anyone who has felt abuse or toxicity or gaslighting or judgement rather than love from a religious establishment but I also think it is a hopeful rendition of the fact that healing is possible. This is my second book by this author and much like the first, emotionally, I’m blown away by the mix of drama, sexiness, messiness and pertinent real estate this author brings and I’m obsessed. Can’t put her books down and can’t wait to check out something else from her.
The premise is that Jaymi is the black ship of her mega-church pastoring family and in constant rebellion against the toxic control her pastor father tries to exert on her. Having put her as a housemate to one of his deacons, Marshall, when no one else will have her, sparks fly between the two even though they are separated by a fairly large age gap. But Marshall is battling family demons of his own that makes it difficult to standby and watch Jaymi go through all that she does without getting involved. Their controlling and manipulative parents however, have other plans.
I thought that the situations portrayed in this book felt incredibly real. Admittedly, many of the processes for getting to the main plot point were a little plot-holey and unrealistic (e.g. Marshall’s mother’s death) but the overall message and the story and the sexiness and heart were really well done. The characters are realistic and imperfect and have faults and are eminently human, yet you can’t help but root for them in a way that made this incredibly hard to put down.
This is definitely not at all Christian romance. But as a Christian myself, I think this tackles a really important theme of what happens when the pastor becomes the god of the church, rather that the servant of God and those who seek him. There was a lot of toxicity and abuse of power that was certainly not in the spirit of being Christ-like but that has marked many people’s exist from the faith and that aspect of the book was incredibly sad, but incredibly pertinent. Even though I was suitably mad at the villains, I thought the resolution of this book was pretty poignant and definitely not how I thought it would be.
This book is potentially highly triggering for anyone who has felt abuse or toxicity or gaslighting or judgement rather than love from a religious establishment but I also think it is a hopeful rendition of the fact that healing is possible. This is my second book by this author and much like the first, emotionally, I’m blown away by the mix of drama, sexiness, messiness and pertinent real estate this author brings and I’m obsessed. Can’t put her books down and can’t wait to check out something else from her.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Bullying, Child abuse, Death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Gaslighting, and Abandonment
Moderate: Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Vomit, Abortion, Toxic friendship, and Sexual harassment
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