A queer teen forced to attend Bible camp decides she will commit seven deadly sins in seven days--finding romance with the pastor's daughter along the way--in this humorous, sincere contemporary YA novel.
Seventeen-year-old Riley Ackerman came out as bisexual, got very tired of Pastor Young's sermons about "the dangers of homosexuality," and stopped going to church. Her family continued to attend until Pastor Young shunned Riley's older sister, Hannah, for having an abortion; now the Ackermans are pariahs in their small town. Green-eyed, brown-haired Riley gets into a fight at school defending Hannah's reputation and is given a choice: suspension or spend a week at church camp "reflecting on [her] actions." The only upside is that Riley gets to room with her best friend, Julia, the pastor's daughter--though the girls' friendship has not been the same since Riley left church. At camp, Riley chafes at Pastor Young's sanctimonious "condemnation of sin." She hatches a plan: commit each of the seven deadly sins and "spin them into something positive and useful" to expose the pastor's hypocrisy and spark a rebellion in the congregation.
Say a Little Prayer by Jenna Voris (Made of Stars) is a joyfully irreverent, sharply comedic YA contemporary novel that tackles weighty issues like religious trauma and purity culture with nuance and heart. Riley's sarcastic (often laden with pop-culture references) and reflective first-person POV is authentic and endearing, the budding romance between her and Julia is heady and sweet, and the relationships she forges with her fellow campers are surprising and complex. Voris's unapologetic, community-minded queer teen should find fans in readers of Becky Albertalli and Julie Murphy. --Alanna Felton, freelance reviewer