#janci patterson

[inolienkiki]

biblically accurate wob

[hinumaycommissionsopen]

Heres a kitsen knight riding a taynix into battle cause i told people i would draw it but im quite busy so its just a sketch

[thatsastepladder]

[wyndlerunner]

Dammit Brandon, a spoiler warning in the State of the Sanderson would have been helpful. I’m only halfway through Defiant and I was reading Janci’s update

[mormonbooks]

The Bollywood Lovers' Club Review

This book absolutely wrecked me (affectionate)

4/5 Stars!!!!!!!

Amrita Sidhu moves away from her home in California, leaving behind a community and extended family where she knows who she is. Her new home in Ohio is cold and lonely but at least she has a couple of classes with Dave Gill, who is sweet and funny and awkward and Mormon. Amrita is Sihk and is not supposed to be dating anybody, certainly not a Mormon kid that her family doesn't even know. Dave is already struggling with how to tell his parents he won't be going to college like they expected, and he's still undecided on a mission. Falling for a girl outside his religion just adds another secret into his life.

This book centers around religion, faith, family expectation, and personal goals. I wish I'd had this kind of book to read growing up. For once I felt like my high school experience was accurately portrayed.

Spoilers under the cut

1. Well written - 5 Stars

Admittedly, you could probably find flaws in the plot if you looked. It's a High School Romance. Some things are cheesy or happen too fast or whatever, but personally I found the story and writing style engaging, realistic, relatable, and anxiety inducing at time.

2. Fun level - 5 Stars!

I love to read, but it's not often a book can hold my undivided attention for 4 hours straight. This book did. Every time I picked it up I felt myself sucked into Dave and Amrita's world. It might not be everyone's cup of tea (it IS a high school realistic fiction novel. No magic or spaceships) but I was entertained the whole way through.

3. Complex faith - 5 Stars

This is my favorite representation of Mormon life that I have EVER seen. It is exactly the kind of book I am looking for in this project. Dave is Mormon. He goes to early morning seminary and helps out in his ward. He loves his faith but he's also not afraid to ask questions about how things pertain to him personally. He grapples with his faith, and with what people have told him to do, before coming to his own conclusions.

Importantly, Amrita's religion is portrayed just as complexly throughout the book. And neither Dave nor Amrita ever consider giving up their faiths or converting or anything. I appreciated that they included Dave's grandfather, who converted to Mormonism from Sihkism, and explored how Dave feels this disconnect when he visits the gurdwara, like it's a place he should belong, but doesn't.

This book treats religion as a mixture of personal beliefs, family tradition, and community belonging, which is how I feel about my religion.

4. Homophobia scale - 2.5

Absolutely no mention of queerness at all. So it just gets the most medium score. There was no preaching but no gay people.

5. Mormon weird - 2

We had Dave explaining his green jello video project at one point, and a portrayal of Mormon wedding reception in the church gym (someone in Dave's ward at the beginning of the book). But overall it was light on the things that make Mormonism unique. Which I think worked for the story it was telling but does get it a low score in this area. It made me feel all the more represented for that I think.

6. Diversity of characters - 4

There are only like, two white girls in the whole story. Everybody else is Punjabi/Indian. Although that's really just one demographic, I am giving it a high score here because of how much it showed of Punjabi culture, and how much respect and honor those traditions were shown by the narrative. It wasn't just a ton of token characters, it was genuinely working to share a kind of story that doesn't always get told.

7. Other problematic stuff - 5

Didn't notice anything more of note.

Conclusion:

This is the kind of story I wish I had been able to read in high school. This is the kind of book I could recommend to someone as just, genuinely a good story and also it includes mormons. And Mormons done well! I feel like a lot of Mormon media I've seen focused a lot at making fun of ourselves, and I love that this book doesn't do that at all.

The end was heartbreaking. But I like that it allowed each character their choice, and it gave honor to prioritizing something other than romantic love.

[libralita]

Janci wrote a really nice and touching piece about Brandon 😭 if there’s one positive thing that came out of this wired article thing, it’s that my opinion of Brandon has skyrocketed.

[mr-legoman]

Me reading the Skyward spinoff series: Haha this is fun. It nice to see what the others are doing. I sure hope nothing bad happens

ReDawn's ending:

[themelodyofspring]

1K Pages Readathon - Days 4, 5, 6

Got no reading done on days 4 and 5 because of (over)work.

Finished the ReDawn novella today for day 6. It was very battle intense and I loved the character interactions. 5🌠 (traumatized by the ending) 😭

Starting Cytonic (Skyward #3) next!

Read today: 209 pages

Total pages read: 488/1000