Another Jenna Voris slam dunk. So so good. Filled with angst and so much joy and queer love. The girls coming together to support Julia in the end had me sobbing. I've known many of these characters in real life and felt a connection with them deeply. The backdrop of a Christian youth camp and all its cringyness felt reminiscent of the few youth groups I did in elementary school. (Made me want to rewatch Yes, God, Yes.)

What a little slice of queer joy!

Riley is an absolute spit-fire and such a believable high school Junior. Hearing her journey through church camp and her relationship with Julia was incredibly relatable (especially as someone who was once a young, questioning gay kid in church camp). Seeing Riley confront each theme of the church camp days and the corresponding sin was fun. And even beyond camp there were still elements of her embracing the grey, positive areas of sins like pride and lust which made for a strong through-line.

Overall. I would have loved to hear more of Julia's perspective and her own struggles as she balanced her relationship with her best friend, Riley, and her father, the Pastor. I also was a little taken-aback at the beginning of the book with the number of F-bombs and sexual innuendos or explicit talk about sex in a book that was labeled as being for ages 12+. Some of the sexual references are necessary and create a stronger storyline in relation to the sins and Hannah's story, however, as a sex-positive parent of a 10 year old, I don't think I would give her a book like this until she was well into high school.

Thank you NetGalley and publisher for this arc!

This book was great!! I really enjoyed it. I Finished this in one sitting. If you are struggling with your sexuality along with being a church goer I highly recommend this book for you.

Sadly I will be unable to read this book because no matter what I do it's not downloading correctly to my kindle. Because of that I'll give it a 5 star and preorder it instead.

As a lesbian whose dad is, everyone say it together, a preacher- this book provided such a good insight into the experiences some queer individuals experience. I really appreciated that this book kept such a fun, energetic tone while still focusing in on the power imbalances that exist in many religious institutions. Riley was a lively narrator- highlighting the spectrum of emotions that comes with confronting the cornerstone religion and sexuality.

However, I think my favorite part of the whole story was the development of the girls’ friendship at camp. I loved that the text touched on the idea that some aspects in life are not black and white, but more so that everyone is doing their best to navigate how their worldview matches what they have been taught their whole life. The climatic scene where the girls band together was very touching and one of the highlights of the entire book.

I do think there were some plot lines that fell a bit flat- Riley and her essay seemed to fizzle out as the story reached its conclusion. However, I do not think that this impacted my overall view of the text. A solid, fun, 4.5 stars!

I quite liked this one. It's not only funny and sweet but has great characters, and focuses on some deeper issues many people struggle with. Although I've never been religious, I was still able to relate to many of the frustrations that Riley faced such as isolation and feeling like she doesn't belong. I particularly enjoyed the friendships Riley formed throughout her time at camp, and how they stood up for each other when it mattered. There were a few things that weren't perfect, for instance, the essay and its resolution were a bit lackluster for me. Overall however, the book was a quick entertaining read worth the effort. 4.5/5 stars rounded up.

I was so excited to receive this ARC after reading and absolutely adoring Every time you hear that song a few months ago and you'd be mistaken if you didn't think I was gonna read it IMMEDIATELY. And this one absolutely lived up to my expectations, it was a delight to read from beginning to end. I think I can consider myself a big fan of Jenna Voris's writing now for sure.

There were very few moments where I wasn't laughing while reading this, there were constant jokes or offhanded comments made by every character and not to mention the chapter titles which were amazing. Its very rare YA books even do chapter titles anymore but I'm glad they were here and I'm glad they were so unhinged lol. Petition to put them back into books permanently please?? There are totally heavy moments and parts where it'll definitely hit really close to home for some readers though, no book is without those tougher conversations. I was never religious so I cant totally speak to any of it, but I know that even so there were a few things that sat with me and made me think. Riley was a great MC, she kind of wanted to set the world on fire and if i'm being honest she was kind of valid for it? But props to her for not doing it, more self restraint than I have on any given day lol. She was very strong willed and always stood up for people and the things she believed in no matter what the consequences may be. She questioned a lot and it was interesting to see her attitude towards things change throughout the book. I think that Julia, Greer, and Hannah were my favorite side characters. They all faced unique and also some of the same conflicts or were wronged by somebody and even so it didn't make them unredeemably mean or cruel. Sure they made mistakes but everybody does and they do admit and own up to it. I also liked Riley and Hannah's family dynamic, it showed the contrast between unconditional love like they had and conditional love like Julia and Ben had and how that can affect somebody in the long and short term.

The camp setting was super fun too. All these kids come together and even though some might have different opinions on faith or be in different social circles at home etc they still all love the vibes, friendship, and community that camp brings them. I loved all of the side characters tbh they were just funny and their personalities meshed well together. And the ending was truly heartwarming to see and made me love them even more if that was even possible. Like I said, I loved every second of this and I could keep talking about it but I think ill leave it here. Thank you to Netgalley and Penguin for the ARC, all opinions have been my own!

Saved meets But, I’m a Cheerleader and I’m LIVING!

When theatre kid Riley gets in a fight at school, her principal punishes her by sending her to church camp (because that’s not a direct violation of church and state). Riley and her family stopped going to church a year ago when her sister, Hannah was thrown out of the church by the Pastor who happens to be her best friend, Julia’s, dad. Riley also came out as bisexual a year ago and the church made it clear they were not in support. It’s literally a whole thing. As she’s trying to take down the church from the inside, she’s battling her growing feelings for said best friend. In a church camp where being gay is a sin, what could go wrong?

Oh my God! I loved this book! It was laugh out loud hilarious and so sweet, I got a cavity. The romance between Riley and Julia was great, but this was also about friendship, hope, believing in yourself and standing up for what’s right.

I loved all the characters and felt that they all added something great to the story. The only thing I wish is that we got to know how Shrek went!

Overall, this was fantastic and I highly recommend it! 🩷

As someone who struggled with accepting their own sexuality while always being an avid church goer this book spoke to me on so many levels. (Not to mention having a crush on my best friend whose family was heavy involved with the church.)

Reading Say a Little Prayer was such a healing experience. Highly recommend if you can relate to Riley in any way.

Thank you to Jenna Voris, Penguin Group, Viking Books, and NetGalley for providing me with an E-ARC.

“The marquee out front is blank today—probably because someone took a picture of the time it said you can’t enter heaven unless Jesus enters you and now Pastor Young is afraid of accidentally implying that we should canonically fuck the Lord—”

The amount of times I have made myself cry laughing reading a Jenna Voris book? 3 for 3.

Say A Little Prayer is for the girls, the gays, the religiously-traumatized, and anyone who was ever rubbed the wrong way by that one overly-powerful YoungLife cheerleader that no one ever stood up to in High School.