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Review: Purity by Jackson Pearce

Title:  Purity
Author:  Jackson Pearce
Genre:  YA, Contemporary
Pages:  218
Published:  April 2012
Publisher:  Little Brown
Source:  via Publisher
Where to buy:  Amazon

Synopsis:

A novel about love, loss, and sex -- but not necessarily in that order.


Before her mother died, Shelby promised three things: to listen to her father, to love as much as possible, and to live without restraint. Those Promises become harder to keep when Shelby's father joins the planning committee for the Princess Ball, an annual dance that ends with a ceremonial vow to live pure lives -- in other words, no "bad behaviour," no breaking the rules, and definitely no sex.

Torn between Promises One and Three, Shelby makes a decision -- to exploit a loophole and lose her virginity before taking the vow. But somewhere between failed hook-up attempts and helping her dad plan the ball, Shelby starts to understand what her mother really meant, what her father really needs, and who really has the right to her purity. 
I sat down several times to write a review for this book.  It wasn't like I didn't enjoy the book, because I did.  I just couldn't find the right words to describe this book and how I felt about it.  It wasn't what I expected from author Jackson Pearce.  If you watch her videos and follow her on twitter - she's funny and a bit off the wall.  Which is one of the reasons I was really looking forward to reading this book.

Purity has some humor, but not as much as I had anticipated.  The story of Shelby follows a young woman who is learning the real lessons behind the promises she made to her mother all those years before.  When the Princess Ball comes around, and her father wants her to participate, she wants to honor the promises, but wants to live her life and have fun.

Shelby and her friends come up with all sorts of lists and schemes to help Shelby to find loopholes in the promises before the Ball rolls around.  This is where the story gets funny, and I really enjoyed the interaction between Shelby, her friends, her father and the guys she's hoping to hook up with.

After several disastrous dates, she almost gives up and is resigned to the fact that she's going to have to make a promise to stay pure until marriage.  Is she willing to just pick anyone to hook up with?  Or will she make the promise?

Will I recommend this to anyone?  Yes, this was a great story!  I loved how Shelby grew through out the story and really learned about herself, her relationship with her father and who she really was meant to be with.  Will I read more by this author?  Most definitely.  This is very different from Jackson's Sisters Red series - and I quite enjoyed it.  It was very unexpected.

Also by Jackson:

Comments

  1. I still need to read this one. Sounds interesting enough, but I think I'll like her other books just a little more (Sisters Red really appeals to me and it's sitting on my shelf calling my name).

    ReplyDelete

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