Review by Booklist Review
It started out with a kiss--how it ended up with Daya Keane being invited to the Purity Prom run by the local megachurch, Grace Redeemer, is beyond her. Between Daya's volatile mother's evangelism, a crush on über-Christian Beckett Wild, and sermons at Grace Redeemer that preach counter to Daya's own Christian values, her feelings about the church vacillate. This nuance in Christian representation allows Daya's own queerness and spirituality to coexist. It also reveals the insidiousness of Grace Redeemer as Daya is tugged into the megachurch's orbit through fun youth events. The complexity and relatability of Daya's character as she struggles to stay true to herself while pursuing Beckett is immense, in part because the remainder of the cast fits neatly, if somewhat shallowly, into the archetypes firmly established in the queer young adult canon by the likes of Julie Anne Peters. But it's that relatability, combined with clear prose and an enjoyable story, that allows space for nuance in topics that are typically presented as clear-cut for queer youth, despite an inconclusive ending.
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
When aspiring artist Daya Keane falls for "the most unavailable girl in school," there's nowhere to hide in her small, fundamentalist Christian Arizona town. Beckett Wild, a vision of vibrantly dyed hair and promised purity, glows like the sun in the oppressive shadows of Grace Redeemer Church. In no universe can Daya imagine she has a chance with a "super-Christian, über-straight" girl, but their worlds collide at a house party where neither of them belongs. As a school project and pressure from her single mom to join the church push Daya into Beckett's orbit, she discovers a side of her crush the rest of the world doesn't see. Heartbreaking and hopeful all at once, this contemporary queer coming-of-age story treads deeply into heavy topics, particularly intertwined grief, abuse, and religious trauma. Even as Daya recognizes the wrongness of the discriminatory messages spread by her mother's church, she reckons with feelings of guilt that she might be abandoning her mom the same way her dad abandoned them. Gordon's debut captures the full tapestry of Daya's emotions in prose rich with vivid imagery and metaphor. The resolution (neither a fairy tale nor a fiery car crash) chooses honesty over complete closure. Self-care and learning to release misplaced personal blame are significant aspects of Daya's growth. All the central characters develop with realistic complexity. Daya and Beckett are cued white; the world around them contains racial diversity. Raw and achingly truthful. (Fiction. 14-18) Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
