I got up to 50% and just was not enjoying the story line. The writing itself was good, but the story was just not for me.

Thank you to NetGalley for the opportunity to read this new book. I am sad it was just a book I wasn't enjoying.

I kept hearing so much about this book and was excited to read it. While the subject matter was something I was not familiar with, I did enjoy the book overall. Another reviewer mentioned that it reminded her/him of Kirsten Hanna's writing and I agree. Overall, a good book that lives up to all of the promotions of I have seen. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

The writing is beautiful but the subject matter is not one that interests me. I was struggling to pick it up and so decided to set it aside as a book not for me at this time. It’s definitely a terrific book, I’m just the wrong reader.

Thank you for the opportunity to read this book. I will absolutely be interested in the author’s future endeavors.

This is a fascinating look into the world of the Black evangelical church in the South—admittedly not a world that I have any experience with. I am incredibly impressed that this is Monica West’s debut novel. Her language is nuanced and sophisticated, and I was hooked from the first page through the last paragraph. Miriam is a phenomenal main character, and I find myself wanting to know more about her, how she’s doing, if she is well. It’s a rare feat for an author to write characters that readers can so easily trust and connect with. The instances of abuse were sometimes disturbing, but necessary to read and all too familiar to women and children who live in that world. I am so glad that I read this book and can’t wait to read what Monica West puts out next.

My thanks to NetGalley and Simon & Schuster for an advance reader’s copy.

This book reminded me of Kristin Hannah's works, which is a compliment because I love her works and know that many others do as well. Books about strict religious laws and the implications for those who are do not perfectly align has always been fascinating to me, and with the added feature of a young girl who seeks to break out of the gender boxes prescribed by her religion. I think many readers, particularly those living in the Bible Belt who feel "different" would relate to this book.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Simon & Schuster for gifting me a digital ARC of this amazing debut novel by Monica West - 5 stars!

Miriam has grown up in Texas in a home dominated by her Baptist preacher father. Every summer, the entire family gets in their old car and travels around the south leading revivals and healing services to thousands. But one summer, Miriam witnesses her father acting brutally toward another man and her whole opinion and faith in her father starts to slip. As her father's reputation and shine start to diminish in others' eyes, Miriam herself believes that she may have the gift to heal others, which because she is a woman is considered a sin according to her father and the church.

This is a gorgeously-written coming-of-age novel with so many layers. Miriam questions her family, her faith and herself as she is forced to look deeper into her family and church relationships. This is a very troubled family made more destructive when the outside world stresses take their toll, combined with the inherent sexism of the deep rooted Southern Baptist traditions. There are wonderful characters in this book, especially Miriam, who holds to her faith but also her own mind of what is right and wrong. The ending left much to discover about Miriam and I can only hope that this author has book two in the works! Highly recommended - amazing debut!

The Awakening of Miriam Horton

This novel is compelling as it depicts an Evangelical family in the South. The story focuses on the Horton family, especially the oldest daughter, Miriam. Miriam is the epitome of a good person, excellent friend, observant of her religion and helpful to her family.

The structure of an Evangelical family is rather rigid as portrayed in this excellent chronicle. I do not believe author Monica West meant to generalize since each member of the family was different in terms of personality, responsibilities and curiosity. However, it is apparent, it is a patriarchal religion and the father is the family decision-maker. The Horton family is made up of Ma (Joanne) who married Papa (an ex-fighter) who became a preacher, Miriam, Caleb, and Hannah who is stricken with cerebral palsy. The children are home schooled by Joanne. We are not sure why lovely Joanne married her husband, unless it was to get away from an untenable parental situation.

I didn’t like Reverend Horton from the beginning of the story. He was mean to his sweet wife and nice children. There was an underlying violence to his preaching and from the beginning of the book, the reader is aware of his strong prejudice against women, mainly his wife and daughter, Miriam.

The story opens as the family begins their yearly summer revival seasonal trip. They travel through small southern towns, staying at private homes and preaching to congregations who believe in the faith of healing. These services are massive in attendance and the healing ritual is blatant and dramatic. Again, the reader is quite aware that the preacher’s existence is dependent on the money that is “donated” at these healing services.

Reverend Horton is a violent man, nothing is ever his fault. He is an abuser, with little or no guilt in terms of physical exploitation. Miriam is a smart girl who discovers she may have the power to heal. The scenes where she deploys her powers are remarkable. There are other graphic scenes including a birth, physical violence and the actual healing transformation. West's characterization of Miriam is brilliant. We observe her transformation and agony.

I did not know the family was black until one sentence toward the end of the book. This is a story about any family wedged into a singular life with their religion as the basis for their income and socialization. They have strict rules and will not compromise on any issues regarding their religious tenets. They do not accept abortion, same-sex marriage or transgender rights. Sometimes, it seems, they don’t accept each other.

My gratitude to NetGalley and Simon and Schuster for this pre-published book. All opinions expressed are my own.

This book was incredibly disturbing to me. I'm not a religious person anyway and this book did nothing to change my mind about that.

Miriam is the daughter of an evangelist preacher. Her father takes the family on the road every summer for revival season, healing people along the way. But behind the scenes, things are not as loving and kind as they seem on the surface.

Her father is abusive, Miriam is beginning to question everything she thinks she knows about him, and she feels entirely alone because despite the evidence being clear, the rest of her family turns a blind eye and pretends not to know. On top of that, she begins to suspect she has the power to heal, which her father has told her women can't.

The sexism, abuse, and just utter... hatred in this book really bothered me. And yet, I couldn't put the book down. That's how well written it was. Monica West wrote a book that I could not stop reading despite being disgusted by what I was reading. Imagining anyone living this life was heartbreaking to me.

The subject matter is incredibly uncomfortable but the book is so well written that you just have to finish it.

West’s writing is impeccable. Gorgeous, intimate, captivating - I felt completely sucked into this book once I started. Miriam’s voice is so convincing - making the journey from a young, naive, curious girl sheltered by her upbringing to a courageous young woman who pushes against the patriarchal structure that suffocates her family and the church.

Miriam has never had a reason to question her reality. She believes what her dad preaches, his word is literal gospel not only in their home, but in the homes of all his congregants. However, after the events of last summer, a seed of doubt is planted within her. To tend to it in any way would be a sin.

After she witnesses her father mercilessly beat a man who called him a fraud, Miriam nurtures the seed. It blooms, pushing out everything in its path. She begins to question everything she’s been taught. Who is this violent man who claims to be a preacher, who claims to be her father? Are his teachings serving their powerful God, or his own monstrous ego?

Along the journey of deconstructing her faith and her ideas of her father, Miriam discovers that she may have actual healing powers. Women are not supposed to use them (it’s ‘sinful’), so she must decide to help those that come to her or swallow her abilities to preserve her father’s crumbling pride.

Ableism is rampant in the evangelical church. Disabilities and medical disorders are seen as the result of weak faith and sin. Disabled people are often told that in Heaven they’ll finally be “normal”. It’s an incredibly toxic, ableist ideology. West attempts to confront this in her book. Hannah’s disorder and her dad’s inability to ‘heal’ it reveals the contradictions in his practice.

Miriam in her naivete believes that she should ‘heal’ Hannah. Despite their best intentions, everyone views Hannah as a problem to be fixed rather than a human. I think West tries to make a statement about the church’s ableism and how wrong it is to see disabled people as broken. However, I wish this was more obvious in the story.

I understand we see everything through Miriam’s eyes, and she is young and has much to learn. But unfortunately, at times, Hannah felt like a mechanism to show the cruelty and failures of Samuel, the compassion and goodness of Miriam, and her ultimate ignorance. While perhaps a devastatingly realistic portrayal of ableist views, I wish the ultimate message that disabled people do not need ‘fixing’ and are not inherently broken landed better. The plot point felt like it quickly reached its climax and raced through its resolution. Hannah deserved more than that.

If you did not grow up as a religious person, this book may be a lot for you. The entire thing is steeped in intense, devout, evangelical Christianity. It’s all Miriam has ever known, and she’s written so convincingly. It could be off putting if you don’t have a religious background, or if your own religious background was toxic. As someone who grew up in the evangelical church, I felt like the portrayal was SO accurate. For others, it may be frustrating.

Overall I enjoyed this book and thought the writing was fantastic. The first 25% of it, I was fully engaged. After that, the pacing got a bit slower and it was slightly more difficult to get through. Also, the ending felt slightly abrupt to me, but that may be a preference thing. I recommend reading this because West’s writing is truly marvelous.

Revival Season by Monica West is a coming of age story but also a story about faith, family, strength and of the complexities of religion and God. It's heavy but is written with such a light touch that it almost moves beyond time periods and just exists on this plane of a world that isn't that far from our own.

Miriam is a character that will live deep inside of my mind for many years. She will be there - growing up and finding her own way - questioning her strength and her healing powers.

Thank. you to NetGalley and Monica West for the opportunity to read this book.

Miriam is the 15 year old daughter of a faith healer who starts to see her father for who he really is and starts to see her own strength and possibility at the same time. I'm not typically a big fan of coming of age stories but the setting of this novel and the sub-themes kept me engaged throughout. Miriam faces various choices in the novel and with each choice there is someone she can protect or she can remain true to herself. I especially enjoyed the question about what happens when you're faithful to what you've been taught and yet those who taught you are not walking the talk? Highly recommend this novel.

A stunning debut. About a small Southern black family told through the eyes of 15 year old Miriam. The family is falling apart and things are different during this revival season.
Many thanks to Simon &Schuster and to NetGalley for providing me with a galley in exchange for my honest opinion.

Revival Season made me angry. Which kept me reading! Miriam worships her father. Unfortunately she finds out he is. not worthy of her worship. What made me mad was he used God and scripture to justify his actions. Miriam was an amazing daughter, sister and Christian. It was nice to see her stand up to her father. My only complaint was the ending. I actually thought some pages were missing.

Thank you to NetGalley, the publisher and the author, for an ARC of this book, in exhange for an honest review.
The synopsis of this book sounded intriguing to me so I requested a copy to read.
"Revival Season" by Monica West was a beautifully written story that kept my interest the entire time & taught me something new.
Ms. West is definitely an author to keep an eye on with this strong debut.

I'm so grateful to have received an ARC of this - my heart hurt for Miriam through the entire story, but it was worth it to see her growth. I savored the pages over a larger chunk of time than I normally would, but it made it so much more of an impact that way. There is absolutely nothing that I would have changed about Revival Season.

Miriam's world makes a major shift during her 15th summer. Her father, a Baptist preacher, takes their family= Miriam, her brother Caleb, her sister Hannah, and her mother-on the revival circuit every year but this year, a shadow hangs over them over something that happened. And then her father, who believes he can heal, starts to spin out even as Miriam begins to believe that she can do the same. Her friend Micah, who has diabetes, suddenly gets better until she doesn't. Ma is pregnant again, after a still birth several years ago, and she takes the brunt of Papa's anger but Miriam is not exempt. How Miriam navigates caring for Hannah, who has cerebral palsy, her mother, and herself is amazing. You will feel for this young woman as she tries to reconcile her love for her family, her faith, and the violence of her father. It's a gorgeous novel. Thanks to the publisher for the ARC. Highly recommend.

I typically love books that discuss faith in a nuanced way, but I couldn't get into this novel. I didn't find the characters to be very believable.

Stark and beautifully written, Revival Season will hit you hard. An excellent choice for book group discussion. Will be purchasing for the library collection.

This is an extremely difficult book for me to review. This is a fiction book with an extremely religious overtone. This would normally not be a book I would read, yet for some reason I could not put this down. It is surely interesting, and I think would make for good discussions. However, I would not want to be the one having this discussion at all.

Many thanks to NetGalley for providing an advanced copy of Revival Season and what a promising debut for the author Monica West! The cover art was intriguing as it's subtle, but it also gives the reader a peek into what is a "revival." I admit that I knew nothing about this world of revivals and Southern Baptist church life. The story focuses on the Hortons, who are a Southern Baptist family from Texas where faith is the cornerstone of their lives. Every summer the family packs up and drives to revivals across the country and where the father holds healing services, but something goes terribly wrong on one of their stops. His 15-year-old daughter Miriam is a fascinating character, who believes that she possesses the power to heal, even though it's forbidden for women to participate in the healing ceremonies. Lots of family dynamics at play in this coming of age novel. It's a poignant story where we see such themes as father/daughter relationship, mother/daughter relationship, feminism, faith, siblings, and what it means when your faith and your family are at odds with each other. She is definitely an author to keep an eye on with this strong debut. Official Pub Date is May 25, 2021.