littlefoot10's review against another edition
4.0
I'm going to preface this post with Religion is a very touchy subject, so any of my opinions or thoughts are not meant to belittle anyone, or sway anyone to believe one way or another.. just my thoughts :)!
Growing up I was raise Protestant, went to Church every Sunday. Joined Sunday school, got older joined the choir, got even more older joined the bells performance group. Religion wasn't a main part of my childhood, but it was important to my parents to have this be in our upbringing. Flash forward to like 20 some years later and here I am..I wouldn't say I'm religious or not religious...I feel more Agnostic. I believe in something.. I'm just not sure if it's God, or something else.
Anyways that out of the way, this book really surprised me. Some characters were pushy with their opinions, a lot of characters have questions and pose them to the reader to think, and feel. A lot took place within this short novel; sin, temptation, and a lot of doubt. BUT this book portrayed it beautifully. Everyone makes choices that aren't always the most wise; but it shows how those decisions change us, and allow us to make better choices in the future. It also shows that we learn from mistakes, we are only human.
It also got my thinking, if I have children would I raise them in the Church like my parents did.. and my answer is Yes.. does that makes me a hypocrite because I'm unsure of God.. probably.. but that's okay with me. I would want them to make their own choices and question things like my parents did with me. I look back on going to church and I loved the community, the choir practices, the people. I don't think I'd be the loving, tolerant, respectful, happy person I am today without the upbringing I had.
I feel like everyone from all walks of life should read this book, talk about choices, consequences of actions, and opening your heart up to love and being kind to everyone. Life is hard enough, we don't need people judging you for what you believe in or what you think about religion in general. This is the only life we have to live (depending on what you believe)...Make a positive influence on those around you.
Be kind to people.
Growing up I was raise Protestant, went to Church every Sunday. Joined Sunday school, got older joined the choir, got even more older joined the bells performance group. Religion wasn't a main part of my childhood, but it was important to my parents to have this be in our upbringing. Flash forward to like 20 some years later and here I am..I wouldn't say I'm religious or not religious...I feel more Agnostic. I believe in something.. I'm just not sure if it's God, or something else.
Anyways that out of the way, this book really surprised me. Some characters were pushy with their opinions, a lot of characters have questions and pose them to the reader to think, and feel. A lot took place within this short novel; sin, temptation, and a lot of doubt. BUT this book portrayed it beautifully. Everyone makes choices that aren't always the most wise; but it shows how those decisions change us, and allow us to make better choices in the future. It also shows that we learn from mistakes, we are only human.
It also got my thinking, if I have children would I raise them in the Church like my parents did.. and my answer is Yes.. does that makes me a hypocrite because I'm unsure of God.. probably.. but that's okay with me. I would want them to make their own choices and question things like my parents did with me. I look back on going to church and I loved the community, the choir practices, the people. I don't think I'd be the loving, tolerant, respectful, happy person I am today without the upbringing I had.
I feel like everyone from all walks of life should read this book, talk about choices, consequences of actions, and opening your heart up to love and being kind to everyone. Life is hard enough, we don't need people judging you for what you believe in or what you think about religion in general. This is the only life we have to live (depending on what you believe)...Make a positive influence on those around you.
Be kind to people.
emjrasmussen's review against another edition
I tend to enjoy books about a person who is questioning his or her religion, so I had high hopes for Small Town Sinners. Although it started out a bit slow, it eventually drew me in and overall didn't disappoint me one bit.
The romance between Lacey Ann and Ty was quite well done. They have their inevitable arguments, but their disagreements about faith and what is right or wrong went a little deeper than the "You were cheating on me this whole time!" kind of fights that you often see. The dynamic of their relationship was a refreshing break from others that I have read about.
This book is not just a romance novel, though. The most interesting part of the plot was Lacey Anne's search to find out if she really believed in everything her religion had taught her. The story started before Ty came to town and before Lacey Anne started reevaluating her faith, so I got a clear view of the events leading up to her beginning to question her beliefs. I loved that she became more and more open minded, but never denounced the House of Enlightenment.
Small Town Sinners does a fabulous job portraying religion, and is more recommendable than other books about this topic, as it doesn't seem to be pro-religion or anti-religion. The message is not that having faith in a certain church is evil, but it doesn't give the vibe that you have to believe in order to be a good person. It is simply a story about one girl finding herself and falling in love along the way.
This review originally appeared at www.foreverliterary.blogspot.com.
The romance between Lacey Ann and Ty was quite well done. They have their inevitable arguments, but their disagreements about faith and what is right or wrong went a little deeper than the "You were cheating on me this whole time!" kind of fights that you often see. The dynamic of their relationship was a refreshing break from others that I have read about.
This book is not just a romance novel, though. The most interesting part of the plot was Lacey Anne's search to find out if she really believed in everything her religion had taught her. The story started before Ty came to town and before Lacey Anne started reevaluating her faith, so I got a clear view of the events leading up to her beginning to question her beliefs. I loved that she became more and more open minded, but never denounced the House of Enlightenment.
Small Town Sinners does a fabulous job portraying religion, and is more recommendable than other books about this topic, as it doesn't seem to be pro-religion or anti-religion. The message is not that having faith in a certain church is evil, but it doesn't give the vibe that you have to believe in order to be a good person. It is simply a story about one girl finding herself and falling in love along the way.
This review originally appeared at www.foreverliterary.blogspot.com.
readingundertheradar's review against another edition
4.0
lacey anne byer is a perennial good girl. but with her driver’s license in hand, lacey’s ready for a “movie moment” this year — something that will make her stand out. as a junior, she’s finally eligible to try out for a lead role in Hell House, her church’s annual haunted house of sin. but it turns out lacey doesn’t need to play a role to have her moment. what she needs is ty davis, the smart, cute, new guy in town. ty doesn’t know sweet, shy, good girl lacey anne. with ty, lacey could reinvent herself and maybe get her first boyfriend. as lacey’s feelings for ty grow and conflicts surrounding Hell House intensify, lacey finds a reason to test her own boundaries — to question the faith she’s always known to be absolute.
i’m not going to lie — it was rough going at first. i was so taken aback at so many things, i cannot even begin to describe them. first, i had no idea Hell Houses were a thing, and i was SHOCKED. these are horrible, unrealistic depictions of life as a giant bowl of sin and terribleness. i disagree with so much that was in it. in addition, i HATED lacey anne at the beginning. she was irritating, arrogant, snobby, and she hated everything and everyone and judged people way too quickly. i was just so angry that she didn’t have her own opinions, but spit out everyone else’s.
it’s a wonder i finished the book actually, but i’m VERY glad i did. lacey morphs starting about halfway through, and once she and her friends began to see more sides of things than just the black and white, it began to get real, and it began to get good.
lacey began to bring up very real questions in her faith. ty began to discuss real-life situations, and how he dealt with things he’d done. each of the characters had their own battles, and i really began to enjoy reading about how they dealt with their personal situations in this small religious town.
i had a hard time believing the characters were realistic, but now i think it’s because this sort of belief system is so far from what i believe that i never thought anyone could possibly think these things. and i’m religious. but i’m a jesus-loves-anyone-and-everyone-even-raccoons sort of religious person. not a Hell House person. and i loved tessa, lacey’s best friend’s sister. there is a major event that takes place in her life, and she starts to change her beliefs, too. she struggled with thoughts that i, myself, have had, and decided she became anti-abortion, but pro-choice. which i was so glad happened. because so many people think there are only two sides to that argument, and i — though my life is VASTLY different, and you’ll see why — identified very well with tessa.
by the end, i was so astounded by what melissa walker has done. she has taken very real, pertinent subjects to our time period, arguments of our generation, and has actually talked about them. she didn’t skirt around the ideas so they were vaguely there. she made them the focus of the novel, and i loved this book for that. it wasn’t a wondrous read, but it was definitely worth my time, just to have faith that the world is changing, and that people, one day, might be able to accept that everyone is human, and no matter what, we all deserve to be respected and treated equally.
i hated everything at the beginning, but it’s supposed to be that way. turns out, it worked extremely well. so thank you, madame walker, for bringing these subjects much more in the spotlight in the world of YA books.
i’m not going to lie — it was rough going at first. i was so taken aback at so many things, i cannot even begin to describe them. first, i had no idea Hell Houses were a thing, and i was SHOCKED. these are horrible, unrealistic depictions of life as a giant bowl of sin and terribleness. i disagree with so much that was in it. in addition, i HATED lacey anne at the beginning. she was irritating, arrogant, snobby, and she hated everything and everyone and judged people way too quickly. i was just so angry that she didn’t have her own opinions, but spit out everyone else’s.
it’s a wonder i finished the book actually, but i’m VERY glad i did. lacey morphs starting about halfway through, and once she and her friends began to see more sides of things than just the black and white, it began to get real, and it began to get good.
lacey began to bring up very real questions in her faith. ty began to discuss real-life situations, and how he dealt with things he’d done. each of the characters had their own battles, and i really began to enjoy reading about how they dealt with their personal situations in this small religious town.
i had a hard time believing the characters were realistic, but now i think it’s because this sort of belief system is so far from what i believe that i never thought anyone could possibly think these things. and i’m religious. but i’m a jesus-loves-anyone-and-everyone-even-raccoons sort of religious person. not a Hell House person. and i loved tessa, lacey’s best friend’s sister. there is a major event that takes place in her life, and she starts to change her beliefs, too. she struggled with thoughts that i, myself, have had, and decided she became anti-abortion, but pro-choice. which i was so glad happened. because so many people think there are only two sides to that argument, and i — though my life is VASTLY different, and you’ll see why — identified very well with tessa.
by the end, i was so astounded by what melissa walker has done. she has taken very real, pertinent subjects to our time period, arguments of our generation, and has actually talked about them. she didn’t skirt around the ideas so they were vaguely there. she made them the focus of the novel, and i loved this book for that. it wasn’t a wondrous read, but it was definitely worth my time, just to have faith that the world is changing, and that people, one day, might be able to accept that everyone is human, and no matter what, we all deserve to be respected and treated equally.
i hated everything at the beginning, but it’s supposed to be that way. turns out, it worked extremely well. so thank you, madame walker, for bringing these subjects much more in the spotlight in the world of YA books.
bibliophile_booklover's review against another edition
5.0
i love it. don't under stand why leah didn't. maybe just b/c of religion. if that is the case then she shouldn't have read it. it about a girl who is struggling with what is right and wrong while finding love.
lazygal's review against another edition
3.0
Very well written, and makes an important point, but completely predictable. Lacey's grown up within an evangelical church community in a small, Southern town. Her father is the children's pastor and her friends are all church members. At the start of her junior year, a mysterious boy, Ty, arrives at the school - he seems to know things about her and he's really cute; turns out, he's Tyson, who left after Kindergarden and thus remembers her from before.
Lacey's feelings are a little confused, and her confusion spreads to include her feelings about church and God. Ty is one of the chief instigators, but events in her life also conspire to start the process. One of her main goals this year is to be cast as Abortion Girl in the church's Hell House production - she loses out to Tessa, the older sister of her best friend Stacy Jo. Then Tessa gets pregnant, and Lacey has to take over. Lacey's parents start to suggest that perhaps this isn't the best friendship, and she questions both why they feel that way and why the church's response seems to be mostly in the area of casseroles, not emotional support.
That's only one example of how her parents lay down the law, expecting unquestioning obedience, but it runs counter what Lacey thinks might (or should) be the Christian response. Yet her relationship with her father is initially portrayed as one in which she is able to talk to him - why he morphs into an uncommunicative, my-way-only parent isn't quite clear. It also seemed as though there were too many moments and events that led to Lacey's questioning, and they weren't small things either. Why there was the need to include so many Big Thing is unclear - smaller things might have resonated more.
I also wonder what the audience for this. My guess is that those that might benefit - those needing support in their questioning, who need to know it's ok to ask and not blindly follow - will not readily find this book on their library or bookstore shelves. It will be good for anyone who has been there, as it will support their questioning, and it can also serve as a way for those in more liberal environments to start to understand what those like Lacey's upbringing was like.
Lacey's feelings are a little confused, and her confusion spreads to include her feelings about church and God. Ty is one of the chief instigators, but events in her life also conspire to start the process. One of her main goals this year is to be cast as Abortion Girl in the church's Hell House production - she loses out to Tessa, the older sister of her best friend Stacy Jo. Then Tessa gets pregnant, and Lacey has to take over. Lacey's parents start to suggest that perhaps this isn't the best friendship, and she questions both why they feel that way and why the church's response seems to be mostly in the area of casseroles, not emotional support.
That's only one example of how her parents lay down the law, expecting unquestioning obedience, but it runs counter what Lacey thinks might (or should) be the Christian response. Yet her relationship with her father is initially portrayed as one in which she is able to talk to him - why he morphs into an uncommunicative, my-way-only parent isn't quite clear. It also seemed as though there were too many moments and events that led to Lacey's questioning, and they weren't small things either. Why there was the need to include so many Big Thing is unclear - smaller things might have resonated more.
I also wonder what the audience for this. My guess is that those that might benefit - those needing support in their questioning, who need to know it's ok to ask and not blindly follow - will not readily find this book on their library or bookstore shelves. It will be good for anyone who has been there, as it will support their questioning, and it can also serve as a way for those in more liberal environments to start to understand what those like Lacey's upbringing was like.
lovelyjanelle13's review
2.0
I finished this book within two hours, mostly because I just wanted certain parts of it to be over. I understand that it’s a realistic depiction of real life, but that doesn’t make it any easier to read. Lacey starts to question the things she’s been taught in life, as anyone and everyone should because nothing should be taken as said just because someone important or older said it, and the things she questions or that her new boyfriend Ty prompts her to think about are topics all to popular in current times. The book was overall well written and handled fairly decently, but perhaps a bit to graphic in certain parts for a young adult novel, I certainly would never let a teenager questioning their place in the world or their sexuality read such negative points of view for something they have no control over.
books_plan_create's review against another edition
I keep going back and forth on how to rate this book. I honestly do not know. I had a difficult time with this book because it has so much of what I dislike reading about. But, I think Melissa Walker did a fantastic job of writing it.
It is very preachy, judgmental, single-minded, etc. A pregnant girl shoulders all of the blame, while her boyfriend gets off scott-free. These things just don't sit well. I'm not even happy with the bowtie that the ending was wrapped up in.
It is very preachy, judgmental, single-minded, etc. A pregnant girl shoulders all of the blame, while her boyfriend gets off scott-free. These things just don't sit well. I'm not even happy with the bowtie that the ending was wrapped up in.
lisagray68's review against another edition
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.
buuboobaby's review against another edition
4.0
Not sure what rating to give this coming of age novel yet. It made me think of things in a different way, and made me realize that, for good or for bad, I am set in my convictions. Lacey's transformation from blindly following her parents' faith to questioning her own is very compelling.