Review: Faking Faith by Josie Bloss

Title: Faking Faith
Author: Josie Bloss
Publisher: Flux
Release date: November 8th 2011
Pages: 240
Genre: Contemporary YA
Source: Bought
Find out more: Amazon | Goodreads

Goodreads description:

After a humiliating "sexting" incident involving a hot and popular senior, seventeen-year-old Dylan has become a social outcast—harassed, ignored, and estranged from her two best friends. When Dylan discovers the blogs of homeschooled fundamentalist Christian girls, she's fascinated by their old-fashioned conversation themes, like practicing submission to one's future husband. Blogging as Faith, her devout alter ego, Dylan befriends Abigail, the group's queen bee. But growing closer to Abigail (and her intriguing older brother) forces Dylan to choose: keep living a lie or come clean and face the consequences.

First sentence:

School was the same sort of hell every day.

My rating: 4 out of 5 stars

I was kind of wary of reading Faking Faith, like I always am when it comes to books dealing with religion. No matter what direction you're going, it's always a tricky topic. Books dealing with religion can go either way - I either love them or hate them. And while I didn't love how religion is handled in Faking Faith, it turned out to be a really fun read!

I was immediately pulled in by Faking Faith. Just like Dylan, I was intrigued by the blogs of these Christian fundamentalist girls. Before reading this one, I thought it was kind of weird that she turns to these blogs, and I didn't get how she would even come across something like that. But while reading, it made sense, and it turned out I was just as pulled in by that world as Dylan is - I wanted to know everything Abigail's life.

Dylan is a good character, easy to relate to, even in the beginning. Reading how she describes how she went out with Blake, the guy who ended up posting naked pictures of her online, it should have been easy for the reader to think of Dylan as some stupid girl who trusted a guy who acted like he cared for her. But somehow, the story works - she knows she was stupid and freely admits it, and that made me feel for her instead of roll my eyes at her stupidity.

Abigail's character is conflicting. My feelings towards her are similar to Dylan's - in the beginning, I thought she was completely crazy and didn't understand her at all, but after we get to know her more, I ended up really feeling for her. Asher, Abigail's older brother, is, well, okay. What we do know about him I liked, but I would have liked to know a lot more about him and his history.

Now comes the part of this review I've been dreading - the religion-part. For the most part, the topic is handled well in Faking Faith, and luckily, the author's not trying to shove her opinion down our throats, which I can't stand. But at times I think the book is a little too against Christianity - I don't agree with Abigail's belief, but Christianity itself is not a bad thing, and I would have liked to see some more of that in the book. The way it is, it felt a little too much like the author or narrator was condemning Christianity altogether.

I found the ending a little too happy, and I don't think it's realistic how much suddenly changes for the better.

Even though I feel like some aspects in Faking Faith are lacking, this is a really fun book. The topics are fascinating, and the whole concept is different from anything I've read before. I recommend Faking Faith if you're looking for a quick, fun read!