Small Town Sinners by Melissa Walker

Publisher: Bloomsbury
Age Group: YA
Rating: 4/5
Source: Publisher

Lacey Anne Byer is a perennial good girl and lifelong member of the House of Enlightenment, the Evangelical church in her small town. With her driver's license in hand and the chance to try out for a lead role in Hell House, her church's annual haunted house of sin, Lacey's junior year is looking promising. But when a cute new stranger comes to town, something begins to stir inside her. Ty Davis doesn't know the sweet, shy Lacey Anne Byer everyone else does. With Ty, Lacey could reinvent herself. As her feelings for Ty make Lacey test her boundaries, events surrounding Hell House make her question her religion.

Melissa Walker has crafted the perfect balance of engrossing, thought-provoking topics and relatable, likable characters. Set against the backdrop of extreme religion, Small Town Sinners is foremost a universal story of first love and finding yourself, and it will stay with readers long after the last page.

One word for this book - Amazing! Never before have I read a book with religion incorporated in it, but somehow this book took my breath away. There was something about Lacey that made me want to continue reading and seeing what was going to happen.

Lacey has grown up in a very religious home and town. Her father is a pastor and every year, her church does the annual Hell House and Lacey is dying to get the role of Abortion girl, even though she's a junior and mostly seniors get that role. To her disappointment, she does not land the role, but her best friend's, Starla Joy, sister does, Tessa. But later on, Tessa abandon's the role because she's pregnant. Everything around Lacey's life changes. And when a childhood friend returns to town, Ty, she begins to question her own faith.

Melissa Walker has a natural way of expressing feelings and those feelings pop out of a page and come to the reader. I found myself not wanting to stop reading this book and when I did stop, I was still thinking of it. Everything was amazing about this book.

I loved the cover. It captured the book in just one snapshot. My favorite shot is the apple bitten into a heart shape.

I congratulate Melissa Walker for taking a sensetive subject and turning it to a breathless read and lingers after you're done reading.