Review: Faking Faith by Josie Bloss

Bookish Details:
Pages: 231
Publisher: Flux
Release Date: Novermber 8th 2011

Synopsis:
Dylan Mahoney is living one big unholy lie.

Thanks to a humiliating and painfully public sexting incident, Dylan has become the social pariah at her suburban Chicago high school. She's ignored by everyone--when she's not being taunted--and estranged from her two best friends. So when Dylan discovers the blogs of homeschooled fundamentalist Christian girls, she's immediately drawn into their fascinating world of hope chests, chaperoned courtships, and wifely submission.

Blogging as Faith, her devout and wholesome alter ego, Dylan befriends Abigail, the online group's queen bee. After staying with Abigail and her family for a few days, Dylan begins to grow closer to Abigail (and her intriguingly complicated older brother). Soon, Dylan is forced to choose: keep living a lie . . . or come clean and face the consequences.

My Review:

I was drawn to Faking Faith from the moment I read the blurb. I thought it was such a unique idea for a story. I picked it up not really knowing what to expect from it and what I got was a beautiful, eye opening story with a range of amazing characters. 

Dylan has made a few mistakes, one of them being her ex-boyfriend, Blake. When her relationship with Blake turns sour, naked pictures of Dylan find their way onto the internet for everyone to see. What follows is the chaotic aftermath that comes with a scandal such as hers. Dylan falls out with her friends, argues with her family and ends up the laughing stock of the school. 

Since her social life is in tatters, she starts spending all of her spare time at home. Whilst browsing the web, she starts reading the blogs of girls in highly religious families. Fascinated by their completely different lifestyle to her own, Dylan creates a fake blog under the name Faith. Writing as Faith, she creates a whole different life for herself online and gains the trust of hugely popular blogger, Abigail Dean. 

As their friendship grows through the exchanging of regular emails, Dylan decides to stay with Abigail and her family over the summer. Pretending to be Faith, Dylan heads to the farm of the Dean family, where she learns just how different their lives really are. 

I fell in love with this book, I really did. I’d never read anything like it before and it’s so difficult to find a story that is unique and different from the same old clichés. Dylan was a truly brilliant character. She was far from perfect and made many mistakes, but she learnt how to overcome and grow from them. She was a strong personality and I like the humour in her narration of the story. 

The other characters in this book were just as great. I loved the look we got into Abigail’s lifestyle. I was fascinated and shocked by what was expected of her because although she is a fictional character, there are a lot of girls who live just like Abigail. I also loved Abigail’s brother, Asher. His character development throughout the story shows the courage and strength he needed to break away from a life he no longer wanted. 

This is a thoroughly entertaining story that will keep you fascinated until the very end. It’s also heart-warming to read, with a focus on family, friendships and forgiveness. I’d highly recommend this to everyone, even if you don’t usually read contemporary stories, you won’t regret it!

Royal Rating: