Uggh, this is obviously a young adult book (which I typically enjoy). I'd give it 2.5 stars because it was very easy to read. I found it all too predictable and cliche. Teenage pregnancy, an affair with a minister, kids struggling with their sexuality, and teenagers going on secret road trips. Parents don't let your teens/tween's read this book!!

Five stars are not enough. This beautiful story will stay with me for a long time. Esther’s journey is heart wrenching at times but the friends she makes along the way piece her back together.

I felt like the beginning of the book was trying too hard to be profound, and it didn't really get better throughout the book. I finished to find out what happened, but in the end, I just didn't care for the entire thing.

2.5 Stars. This book has it's cute moments - Esther getting Moss to Mexico, Color fixing up the car and the road trip to California, but there were too many things in this book that made me cringe - the way Tom controls his family, Esther not having a say in her pregnancy, the pastor with Hannah, Esther's mom pretending to be someone else in her relationship. The characters don't seem to be fully fleshed out either. For example, Esther has to tell Beth that she had a baby in order to be friends with her and Beth tells Esther she's gay. Do they ever learn anything else about the other's personality? Why does Tom have a tattoo if he spends all his time hiding it and making his family appear to be good Christians?

Also, the math references seem to be forced and aren't very clever like I had hoped they would be after reading the synopsis of the book.

Thanks to Skyscape for the advance copy through Netgalley in exchange for my honest review.

Entertaining but not stellar

Quick read, story doesn't lag, but not off-the-charts amazing. I didn't find it endearing that the main character's personality was centered almost entirely around those embarrassing math jokes. I found it more annoying than anything. Also, not that it's impossible for a non-Jewish family to choose these names, but I thought it was a bit off that Esther and Hannah both had traditional Jewish names when it seemed like their family didn't adhere to any particular religion until after the parents divorced. In a book that's partially about slowly uncovering the family's history, it seemed at first like their names were supposed to be a subtle but deliberate clue for the audience, but it didn't materialize into anything.
I liked the setting of the story and the types of characters the author introduced. The personalities were fun and unexpected. The story seemed to skim the surface of each of their lives, never focusing for very long or diving deeply into the depressing realities of their respective situations. This is probably appropriate for a younger reader who is not ready to be exposed to all the gritty details of dysfunctional families. It kept the book lighthearted and prevented the story from staying in one place for too long.

Esther is 16 and has a secret that her family moved across the country to hide. They end of in Truth or Consequences, New Mexico. Esther finds solace in brother and sister Moss and Color along with their friend Jesus and a girl from church choir named Beth. Each of them have issues that they are working through that could be impossible to confront alone but are manageable bc they confront them together. I liked this book, but if I were to recommend Rebekah Crane novel, it would be The Odds of Loving Grover Cleveland. But maybe that's just b/c that one took place at summer camp

Poignant and lyrical young adult novel.

I loved all the characters in this book. They were unique and felt real. How all the characters talked about religion and spirituality, the way they questioned, felt real too. A bit slow moving in parts but I liked the ending.

This was a good, light read! I was looking for something easy to read that I didn't have to think really hard about while nursing my baby for the umpteenth time in the middle of the night and this fit the bill. It was interesting, there were some great lines, and it was a feel-good read for the most part. I'm glad I read it!