Have a Little Faith in Me // New Fave

Author: Sonia Hartl
Published On: Sept. 3, 2019
Publisher: Page Street Kids
Genre: YA, Contemporary, Romance, Religion
Add to Goodreads

Synopsis:

When CeCe’s born-again ex-boyfriend dumps her after they have sex, she follows him to Jesus camp in order to win him back. Problem: She knows nothing about Jesus. But her best friend Paul does. He accompanies CeCe to camp, and the plan—God’s or CeCe’s—goes immediately awry when her ex shows up with a new girlfriend, a True Believer at that.

Scrambling to save face, CeCe ropes Paul into faking a relationship. But as deceptions stack up, she questions whether her ex is really the nice guy he seemed. And what about her strange new feelings for Paul—is this love, lust, or an illusion born of heartbreak? To figure it out, she’ll have to confront the reasons she chased her ex to camp in the first place, including the truth about the night she lost her virginity.

When I tell you that I am shocked, bamboozled, and confused, I am not lying.

Let me preface this post (and give a bit of a trigger warning) by saying that I’m not religious. If you are triggered by or sensitive of themes of religion and heavy mention of faith, this book might not be for you. I, however, do not really identify strongly with a religion and was absolutely stunned that I enjoyed this book so much!

The preface, if you read above, is hilarious. I knew after reading the phrase “Jesus camp” that I had to get my hands on this book. Once I did, I read it in a night. I can’t believe that at age 22 I’m still finding YA contemporary books that I adore, and this one is definitely a new favorite.

• CeCe was absolutely hilarious. I cried laughing, and I don’t do that with books (I’m the epitome of someone who types “lol” with a straight face). She’s so adorable but also so clueless sometimes and the things she says just made me crack up. She ran her bible over with her mom’s car a few times to make it look well used. Her one-liners carried this story and I want SO much more of her.
• She also doesn’t compromise what she believes in: She goes to “Jesus camp” to chase an ex, which we all know is a tragedy in the making. But along the way, she never loses herself or her values and is 100% willing to stand up for them. I admired this so much and I thought it made her journey there just that much better.
• PAUL!!!! Where do they make boys like this? Can I have one? Oh my gosh, he is the. best. Him and CeCe have been friends and neighbors forever and love each other so much. He’s always there for her, can keep up with her wild sense of humor, and is just overall the greatest. The ~feelings~ between them made me squeal and I would read 100 more books if they were the main characters.
• The girls of Cabin 8: Let me just quote here, really quick: “In the dining hall, I got in line with my tray, next to Paul. ‘Tell me if you see anything you could put a condom on. Something long and hard enough.’ ‘What the hell is going on in cabin eight?’ he asked.” The girls of Cabin 8 were so sweet and the friendship dynamic between them is ultimate goals.
• The ways that this book discusses traditional Christian values and femininity: I’m not Christian, so take this with a grain of salt, but I really admired the way that this book examines and discusses religious values such as dressing modestly, waiting for marriage, consent, etc. Even though CeCe is surrounded by people who don’t have the same beliefs as her on these topics, she still uses her time at camp to have genuine conversations about this and tries to make young girls and women feel more confident about sex. She publicly admonishes a counselor who tells girls that they should dress modestly as to not attract the wrong attention, and her and her cabinmates run a “secret sex workshop” to educate the girls of the camp on things they haven’t been able to talk about anywhere else. I loved the girl-power in this, and I found myself understanding and relating to people who I didn’t think I had much in common with!
• Camp settings are just…so much fun?

• That it ended.

Guys, I loved this. I really, really did. I read it in four hours and bought a physical copy for myself immediately after. I can’t wait to see what Hartl puts out in the future, because she might just have achieved auto-buy status with me.

My rating: