Losing Faith by Denise Jaden
September 2010 by Simon Pulse
Paperback, 400 Pages
Review Copy
Book Synopsis
A terrible secret. A terrible fate.........When Brie's sister, Faith, dies suddenly, Brie's world falls apart. As she goes through the bizarre and devastating process of mourning the sister she never understood and barely even liked, everything in her life seems to spiral farther and farther off course. Her parents are a mess, her friends don't know how to treat her, and her perfect boyfriend suddenly seems anything but. As Brie settles into her new normal, she encounters more questions than closure: Certain facts about the way Faith died just don't line up. Brie soon uncovers a dark and twisted secret about Faith's final night...a secret that puts her own life in danger.(Goodreads)
Review
Brie and Faith are different as night and day, Faith being the oldest is responsible, mature and strong in her faith as a Christian. Brie is void of faith in her life and doesn’t much care about the ramblings of scripture or Faiths youth group. While the two aren’t close, Brie has an unspoken admiration of Faith and her strong sense of assurance and confidence. On the night that Faith died, Brie was sneaking off to be with her boyfriend, the least of her concerns were her sisters ordeal or problems for that matter, but that fatal night changes everything in her family and everything in Brie breaks.
Brie’s parents are shocked, the police are ruling the “accident” as a suicide and her upstanding boyfriend is more worried about getting sex than he is understanding that Brie just lost her sister. Going through the motions of grief, Brie realizes she hasn’t accepted Faiths death and begins looking into the life Faith led. When an unusual friendship blooms with Tessa a social outcast at school and a mysterious boy named Alis, the three uncover a secret about Faith. They begin piecing together the events leading up to that night and discover that Faiths youth group was a small religious cult. Not only will the three travel into the unknown road of danger but will come face to face and willing participants in Faiths own fatal end.
A very fast moving plot with believable characters, relationships and outcomes. Jaden did a fantastic job weaving the reader into Brie and Faith’s mystery, while delivering seriousness, humor and a touch of romance. While I found Brie’s grief swept under the rug a bit and the cult world left unexamined, I found the simple use of taking a few scriptures out of the Bible and turning it into a solid foundation for a the beginnings of a cult type group fit well within this particular story. Its so easy to take anything basically and make it your religion, the warnings and ramifications are defiantly touched on in the story and I found the overall writing very well done.
Rating
Brie and Faith are different as night and day, Faith being the oldest is responsible, mature and strong in her faith as a Christian. Brie is void of faith in her life and doesn’t much care about the ramblings of scripture or Faiths youth group. While the two aren’t close, Brie has an unspoken admiration of Faith and her strong sense of assurance and confidence. On the night that Faith died, Brie was sneaking off to be with her boyfriend, the least of her concerns were her sisters ordeal or problems for that matter, but that fatal night changes everything in her family and everything in Brie breaks.
Brie’s parents are shocked, the police are ruling the “accident” as a suicide and her upstanding boyfriend is more worried about getting sex than he is understanding that Brie just lost her sister. Going through the motions of grief, Brie realizes she hasn’t accepted Faiths death and begins looking into the life Faith led. When an unusual friendship blooms with Tessa a social outcast at school and a mysterious boy named Alis, the three uncover a secret about Faith. They begin piecing together the events leading up to that night and discover that Faiths youth group was a small religious cult. Not only will the three travel into the unknown road of danger but will come face to face and willing participants in Faiths own fatal end.
A very fast moving plot with believable characters, relationships and outcomes. Jaden did a fantastic job weaving the reader into Brie and Faith’s mystery, while delivering seriousness, humor and a touch of romance. While I found Brie’s grief swept under the rug a bit and the cult world left unexamined, I found the simple use of taking a few scriptures out of the Bible and turning it into a solid foundation for a the beginnings of a cult type group fit well within this particular story. Its so easy to take anything basically and make it your religion, the warnings and ramifications are defiantly touched on in the story and I found the overall writing very well done.
Rating
Losing Faith is recommended to the mature teen and adult, contains: Religious factors including Christian and cult themes, violence, death, grief, mild sensuality and child abandonment.
4.5/5- YA, Thriller, Cults
Review Copy provided by Around the World Tours
Not a norm read for me but one I would try
ReplyDeleteSounds really good. Thanks for the review!
ReplyDeleteYou just made me want to read Losing Faith so badly. :D I'm gonna have to persuade my parents into buying me the book. :)
ReplyDeleteThanks so much for the review :) I can't wait to read this.
ReplyDelete