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Welcome to Read This Book, a newsletter where I recommend one book that I think you absolutely must read. The books will vary across genre and age category to include new releases, backlist titles, and classics. If you’re ready to explode your TBR, buckle up!
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This week’s pick is one of the funniest books I’ve read on a very serious topic, and one that had me laughing and thinking deeply in equal measure. Just a heads up, this book does contain depictions of toxic masculinity and toxic purity culture as well as gaslighting, and discussions of homophobia and sexual assault (although no explicit details).
Not So Pure and Simple by Lamar Giles
Del likes Kiera—a lot. But she’s been dating someone else for most of high school, so he’s never had a shot with her…until now. She’s just broken up with her boyfriend, and Del has an in: She goes to the same church he and his mom have recently started attending. But when Del stands up for what he thinks is a youth volunteer opportunity to get closer to her, he’s horrified to realize that what he’s actually signed up for is a Purity Pledge. Unwilling to miss his chance with Kiera, he decides to go through with it in the hopes of winning her over, with some help from his new friend Jameer. But Jameer’s help comes at a price: He wants Del to find answers about sex from their school’s healthy living classes, which none of the Purity Pledgers are allowed to take. And when the church’s pastor catches wind of Del’s enrollment in that class, Del finds that navigating romance and sexuality isn’t so pure or simple.
This is a hilarious book with so many wonderful characters and fully developed friend groups. I felt like every character was a teen that I could have worked with or actually met, and I thought that Giles did such a great job showing the many facets of teen life: school, family, friendships, romantic relationships, work life, and church life. Del isn’t exactly joining the Purity Pledge on very noble grounds, and readers can anticipate that his plan isn’t going to work out the way he hopes, but his journey is a really compelling one as Del evolves from a person who pursues his own interests to opening his eyes to the way the world unfairly treats women, and how toxic purity culture can be when it prohibits access to information about sexual health and contraceptives.
I also thought that Giles did an amazing job at writing a character who deeply frustrated me (because Del doesn’t initially realize how entitled and wrong he is in trying to get in with Kiera, and many of his actions are the result of toxic masculinity in society) but at the same time, I wanted to keep reading. I wanted to know what Del would do next, and I wanted to see him grow and really think about his world and his actions. And that character growth was really gratifying. This is a messy novel, and you won’t really find any perfect solutions, but it’s a very real, heartfelt, and hilarious story with top-notch writing.
Bonus: The audiobook narrated by Korey Jackson was great!
Don’t forget you can get three free audiobooks at Audiobooks.com with a free trial!
Happy reading!
Tirzah
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