I typically only give out 5-star reviews for books that are knock-my-socks-off amazing, the kind that I would stay up reading until midnight or later or the ones that I have read again and again. While this book isn't quite THAT good, in the Christian fiction genre I think it totally deserves 5 stars. It shies away from the pretty God that seems to only hang out in suburban upper-middle class habitats and asks what it means to radically follow Jesus. It ponders a salvation that does more than just save us so that we can be 'good, decent church people'.

But don't let that fool you...this is not a preachy book. It's snarky, funny, a little bit suspenseful, and yes...even had me crying into my Kindle at one point. (Tear stains on the Kindle = not the same as tear stains on book pages, just saying.)

As some other readers mentioned, there are some slow points, but keep going because it picks back up and once I got to that point I couldn't put it back down. (And couldn't wait to review.)

It's a shame that in Christian fiction the popular writers are the ones mostly dealing in fluff. The ones dealing in the grittier, more painful parts of the world seem to struggle to get the readership they deserve. I'll be requesting that my local library pick up this series and I plan on looking into some of her teen/YA fiction for friends of mine who want books for their daughters that find a middle place between 'sexy zombie vampires' and 'Squee! Isn't God all good and sparkly?!!'