This book has been sitting on my TBR for the longest time. I was so excited when I saw this audiobook in my auto approved books list. I was so glad to finally check this book off my list. Although I think I may have enjoyed it more when I was a bit younger it was still a wonderful read.

I think it was the MC and my inability to connect or really care about her that kept my rating low on this one. The story is beautiful and the narration on the audio is very well done. Just missed the mark for me personally.
ARC via netgalley

I loved the juxtaposition of Christian values and realistic fiction in The Names They Gave Us. People are complicated and more than one thing. It's nice to see YA fiction reflect that. I feel this novel will resonate with Christian teens trying to find their place in the world.

Given the set-up, this book could easily have turned into a cliche. We have a pastor's daughter who's always been "good" floored by the return of her mother's cancer. She doubts her always-been-easy faith and in this state goes to work at a secular summer camp for kids who have difficult lives. This could have turned into utter rejection of organized religion and easy answers about relationships and grief. But it works hard to go deeper. It explores how relationships shift as people grow, how empathy is at the forefront and guides "goodness". While there are some obvious reveals later in the plot, the strong characters and genuine soul searching make up for perceived weaknesses.

What happens when your faith is tested? Lucy kept the faith during her mom's first fight with cancer. Praying constantly and leaning on God. But when the cancer comes back, all she feels is anger toward God. Things she thought she knew about her mother are proved to be falsehoods as she discovers more and more of her secrets. Including that she has an older half-sister. Great story with very well-defined characters. Fast listen that keeps you coming back. The narration is great.

Audiobook Review - I found that the opening of the book was on the slower side. This is one that readers will need to stick with until they get invested in the characters and really want to read through to the conclusion. Secondary purchase.

DNF'd as couldn't keep up with it - the narrator felt too old for the characters which put me off and I couldn't tell which character was which and it just lost me

I won’t lie. I was quite excited for this book as I was under the impression that it was Christian fiction. However, it isn’t. Even though it does revolve around faith. I didn’t end up finishing it, as it simply wasn’t what I was hoping for.

This was a YA contemporary story about a girl whose faith is tested when her mother is diagnosed with cancer for a second time. I listened to the audiobook with narrator Yinka Ladeinde. She did a great job giving voice to Lucy and all the other characters. It was a great audiobook and I think I may have enjoyed the story more because of the narration.

Lucy was an okay character, it took me some time to warm up to her but I think a young person may warm to her sooner. The storyline in this was about Lucy’s mom asking her to be a counselor at a camp for troubled teens instead of at her parent’s church camp, and Lucy doing it because she knew it would make her mom happy. We also had Lucy’s faith being tested by the diagnosis and a bit of a romance storyline, with Lucy’s boyfriend Lukas ‘pausing’ their relationship at such a hard time for her, and Lucy finding another romantic interest at Camp Daybreak. The pace in this was so slow though! After the initial getting to camp was over, it was just day-to-day camp activities, very little romance, and even Lucy’s mom’s cancer seemed to take a back burner, which was surprising for me as it felt like it should have been the main storyline.

The ending was good and the twists of Lucy learning more about her mother and life through the things her mother hid and finding friends at the camp was good. Although I would have liked to have known a little more about the sister, but that is just me. I fully loved the representation in this book and none of it felt forced or added, it was just part of who they were. Either with or without faith everyone is respected. Lucy comes to terms with her life and how she wants to move forward.

Overall a cute YA about inclusiveness and supporting one another through tough times.

content warnings: cancer, death of parent (prior to story), medical content, suicide (prior to story)

with the return of her mom’s cancer comes the crumbling of constants in lucy hansson’s life: her boyfriend, her faith, and her longtime summer job at church camp. when lucy’s mom asks her to be a counselor at a summer camp for troubled kids. there, lucy finds loving and confident friends she strives to be more like, a stronger faith, and even some family secrets.

somehow, i had no idea this was about a christian girl when i went into this, so this aspect was a really nice surprise! as a christian, i love how lucy’s faith was depicted in the book. there are several instances of her praying and praising. her faith is also tested throughout the book, and i appreciated how she moved through this. lucy also grew a lot as a character, as she learns to be less judgmental and more confident as a camp counselor.

narration: the audiobook narrator, yinka ladeinde, had the perfect voice for this story! this really helped immerse me into lucy’s mind.

*Thanks to NetGalley and Bloomsbury USA for providing this ARC in exchange for an honest review.* What a beautiful, poignant novel, that deals with some pretty tough issues in a delicate manner. The protagonist is a young woman named Lucy who is a star swimmer and a PK (preacher's kid). When her mother's cancer comes back, her parents decide to send her to help at a summer camp for children with difficult backgrounds. 'The Names They Give Us' is a YA novel, so it deals with typical teenage issues such as boyfriends, break ups and make up. However, it also delves so much deeper into issues facing teens today. An important and touching story.

I really struggle to grasp my true feelings about this book. Firstly, thank you to netgally for providing me with the arc for this audiobook! I think this was extremely well narrated and as someone who remembered reading this book when I was a teenager I was very excited to revisit it as an adult.

I did not remember that this book had any religious discussion in it at all, in fact if I had remembered that I never would have picked this up, my view of religion is possibly unfairly tainted by my life experiences. That said however, I think the balance in this book is expertly done.

The characters, friendships, and questioning of religion was super well done and I love a good summer camp setting. I don’t think that any of the teen lingo was heavy handed or annoying and I found the main character very relatable.

I think the only fumble here was the pacing and maybe the length? I think this book was too long, and at the same time I feel like it ended so abruptly I wasn’t ready for it and was still left with questions. If 50 pages of excess had been used to wrap up some of the lose ends I think this would be a easy to reconvened novel but as it currently stands I believe it would frustrate readers like it did myself.

When I read this as a teenager I rated it 5 stars and I remembered it super fondly even if I didn’t remember the actual plot. My current rating is 3 for the novel and 5 for the incredible narration! But I think it is important to note my original rating when I was the target for this particular novel.

I have many feelings about this book and all of them deep. It made you laugh and cry and question. The narrator did a fabulous job of bringing the characters to life that you feel submerged between the pages.
Maybe, as an author and a young adult reader, I would have done the ending a tad differently but I understand why it was done the way it was done. All in all, it’s a 3.89 star for me but I’m going to round up. 😉

I DNF'd this about halfway through. I had a lot of trouble keeping the various characters apart due to lack of differentiation on the narrator's part and flip-flopping of names in the text. I was intrigued by the main character's rage at the beginning of the novel, but it simmered away too quickly. As a young adult novel, I would say it is slightly below average.

I really enjoyed this book! It was insightful, heartbreaking, and encompassed several important issues.

This is the audiobook version of a book that was published in 2017. It is a heavy book told in one narrator's voice that worked for the female main character but was not distinctive enough to distinguish between all the side characters. I was glad to have the physical book to read along with.
This book would make a great jumping off point for very deep discussion about many of the things young adults are facing.

3.5⭐️ rounded down

I’ll start by saying that this book just wasn’t for me and it’s a me thing. While individually all of the topics should be a home run for me to read, I found it boring and “too much”.

I am guessing this title is being rereleased as the publication date for the audio “ARC” I received is the end of May 2024 yes the book is 7 years old. But I thank NetGalley and the publish for a chance to listen and give an honest review.

My issue is I kept falling asleep. The book didn’t stay engaging and maybe it’s due to the narrator? I don’t think it’s completely their fault, it’s just that the main character is just boring and whiney.

That being said, having many issues intersect is a great way for teens to learn about acceptance, especially with the intersection of religion and X situations. However, it was too much. It was as though the author had a check list of hot topics that they wanted to cram in. That’s not enjoyable reading nor realistic.

Many of the characters (besides our main one) are very rich and great characters. It’s a shame that Lucy had to dampen that all but it is what it is.

If you can get past the above, the book is probably a 4 insofar as the impact it could have on a person. So give it a go.. maybe not the audiobook though…

My rating system since GoodReads doesn’t have partial stars and I rarely round up.

⭐️ Hated it
⭐️⭐️ Had a lot of trouble, prose issues, really not my cup of tea (potentially DNF’d or thought about it)
⭐️⭐️⭐️ Meh, it was an ok read but nothing special
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Really enjoyed it! Would recommend to others
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Outstanding! Will circle back and read again