This is the perfect read for a summer of deconstruction! Riley is our bisexual drama queen who just landed a main role in Shrek The Musical but she couldn't control her anger long enough to avoid slapping her sister's ex bestie! Julia is our closeted lesbian no one expects to get in trouble. Riley and Julia have been besties for years but when Julia's pastor father is trying to tear them apart during summer camp,will he succeed?! Honestly if you've been following me on Insta for like the last 5 months then you haven't been able to escape this book in my stories! I've been PUMPED about it,I had been hearing about it for a month before I FINALLY pre-ordered it but I couldn't wait any longer so I headed to NetGalley. I will be rereading next month,I can't wait to get the final version in my hands!!

I first want to say that the chapter titles were absolutely amazing! This book is great. I love the way this book portrayed different types of religious trauma. Riley's attempt at committing all the seven deadly sins was a really nice additive. All the characters in the this book were great. It showed how they were all so complex. I love the different point of views of religion that we got throughout all the girls in the book, I think it was a great portrayal of the different ways religion can affect people. The romance was such a sweet bonus of reading this book. Overall, this was such a sweet yet powerful book.

Thank you to Net galley for providing This book to me in exchange for an honest review

I honestly didn't know what I got myself into when I said I'd read this book. BUT, I was not disappointed. Our gal, Riley, is so strong and resilient. She is a bisexual queen. She will stand up for the people she cares for every time. Hannah went through something she shouldn't have had to, so having Riley definitely helped with that instance. Love a sibling bond! Speaking of siblings, Julia and Ben were so funny, being the pastor's kids. They were mischievous and very compliant to what their father needed. Also, Amanda was such a mean girl at the start. Such a privileged girl, but then we got to know her more. So I tolerate her more now.

I guess I should have expected this book would be within a religious institution, but I didn't fully read that through. I loved the camp and the way that religion and sins play into the modern lives of teenagers. This book did get down to a deeper meaning and it was so fun to read. I haven't read a book that quickly in a while. It was so light and fun to read!

5/5 stars for camp, living authentically, and friendship.

**Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this free review copy. I am leaving this review voluntarily.

Riley stopped going to her congregation over a year ago after realizing this was no place for a family like hers. Unfortunately, as a punishment for slapping a classmate, Riley finds herself at the church's spring break camp. Anything is better than a suspension, right? Thankfully, her best friends Julia and Ben (who are also the pastor's children) will be there to make things more bearable. Instead of following the guidelines for the week, Riley sets out to commit a sin for every day they're at the camp - all seven deadly sins. Her required essay when she returns will also be focused on what she's "learned" while at camp and how Pastor Young should not be the revered person the town thinks he is. Unfortunately for Riley, these plans do not work out as she had hoped. Instead, she's now at risk of losing her best friend and crush - Julia. Church camp has never been so full of drama and emotions.

I almost DNF'd this one multiple times. It was so predictable and full of cliches that it was painful to get through at times. The characters lacked the depth required to really make you like them - or even root for them. Everything just felt very surface-level and rushed. The concept of the novel is great, but just lacks what it needs to be memorable. In writing this review, I'm struggling to remember what I read and I just finished the book mere minutes ago. I had such high hopes given some of the earlier reviews, but this just fell so flat.

3 Stars

Say a Little Prayer follows Riley as she heads to church camp, despite her complicated relationship with both the church and her town’s pastor. I thought this was a really fun book that explored interesting perspectives on religion. It was a quick and lighthearted read while also touching on deeper topics. However, I felt the characters could have been more developed, and the romance fell flat. It was very surface-level and suffered from too much miscommunication.

Overall, it had a great concept, but I just wanted more from the characters and relationships.

I really liked the concept of this book, but ultimately it wasn't for me and I didn't get invested until the very end.

Jenna Voris is quickly becoming one of my favorite YA contemporary authors. This book does an amazing job balancing tough topics with humor, which is due in large part to how strong of a narrator Riley is. Her voice was so strong it even invaded the chapter titles, which often made me laugh out loud. Although I was never a member, I grew up in close proximity to churches like this, and they've hurt a lot of people I love. Riley's wrath towards Pastor Young and his congregation was all too understandable. What makes this book so special is that so were Julia's relationship with her faith, and Greer and Amanda's fear, and Hannah's grace. Say A Little Prayer is gay as hell, but it also deeply explores all the shades of gray.

4.5 ✩

so, so good!!!! the chapter titles were so excellent and so funny, really brought an extra cherry to this book.

the entire thing was very comedic and also very real, and it filled me with lots of anger at the injustice of it all at times. i really liked how it explored the power religion holds on a community and specifically how scary it can be when someone seems to hold all the power.

the characters were all SO special and the heart of the story. Julia and Ben were my absolute favorites but I loved being in Riley’s head.

removing a few points because of the end, because it felt so abrupt and like a lot was left unresolved or resolved off page and too well, which left me kind of hanging. also i personally needed to throw some punches at the pastor.

but this is just such a good story and i hope a lot of baby gays read it and realize the happy ending to come for them ♡︎

This was such a cute book and one that touches on the realities of religious trauma in such a relatable way. I loved Riley and felt she was fiercely loyal to those she loves and isn’t afraid to stick her neck out for others. I highly recommend this to anyone who enjoys LGBTQ+ coming of age stories, with a heavy dose of church camp trauma healing.

Genre 📚: YA Contemporary, Queer Lit, Romance
Tropes 💁‍♀️: Forbidden love, Friends to lovers, Falling for pastor’s daughter
Rep ✔️: Bisexual main character, POC side character
CW ⚠️: Religious trauma, Homophobia
Rating ⭐️: 4/5

Riley is done with church — she doesn’t feel safe in that environment being bisexual, and she resents the pastor for shunning her sister. But after getting in trouble at school, she’s forced to go to church camp for a week with the very pastor she hates. And rather than participate in the pastor’s mission to be “saved,” she decides to set out on her own mission to commit the seven deadly sins: sloth, greed, gluttony, wrath, lust, envy, and pride.

The camp setting is sooo nostalgic and fun, especially with Riley going around trying to figure out how to complete her next sin. Some of her strategies are clever, some simple and straightforward, and I love that she gets her fellow campers involved. Things get a little complicated, however, as her feelings for her best friend Julia deepen. Because Julia is also the pastor’s daughter.

The romance was sweet, and the themes of faith and coming out were handled really nicely for a YA book, but I was left wanting more. I would’ve liked Riley’s story to have taken place over summer instead, so we had more time to develop the characters and their relationships. I still had a good time with the whole seven days/seven sins thing, though, and definitely finished the book with a smile on my face.

🌅Say a Little Prayer by Jenna Voris🌅

Ratings:
4.5⭐️ / 0🌶️

When I first heard of Say a Little Prayer by @jennavoris I was really excited! I don't normally read YA books, but the premise of this one called to me. A Sapphic love story where the mc is set on proving her pastor wrong? Uh, yeah. Count me in. I had so much fun with this! Even though the overall topic is pretty deep, the story is pretty light and fun. Riley is written VERY well, meaning I found her super frustrating, but she's 17. What 17y/o isn't? But just be ready for that. Overall, the story is really good, and I enjoyed it a lot!

Available 3/4/25

Thank you NetGalley and Viking Books for the ARC of this book!

This was such a great book! Who doesn’t love a queer YA novel about church camp?

Despite having some fairly heavy topics (queer phobia, religion trauma, cultish mentality, bullying), the book managed to have a fairy light tone overall.

This book does have some tension that feels very high school - the miscommunication, the angst, and the teenage anger - but since this is a YA book with high school characters, it felt perfect. I loved the FMC, and I resonated with her so much. Reading about church camp also took me right back, and it was so fun to see all the characters’ dynamics!

When Riley messes up for the last time at school, she's given the worst punishment she could possible get... a week at church camp. Riley hasn't been back to church since they shunned her family, isolating them from their community. Going to church camp for the week will be hell haha get it but it can't be that bad if her best friend Julia will be there too right? But what happens when feelings start to form and lines start to blur but Julia's dad is the pastor and Riley doesn't know what's real and what isn't?
This book gave me all the feels. The perfect coming of age queer story. I really enjoyed the format styling of the book, breaking it up into the seven deadly sins, making that an important part of the story. I think having new queer ya novels that just focus on the queer romance not a coming out story is just as important as the coming out novels we've gotten and this gives that perfectly. I think a lot of people will enjoy this story as a coming of age queer rom com esque story!

First, I want to thank Netgalley and Penguin Random House for giving me the opportunity to read Say A Little Prayer by Jenna Voris. This opinion is solely my own. I loved this story. The story follows Riley, who left her church a year ago after listening to Pastor Ypung preach about gays going to hell. After the sermon, she came out to her super supportive family as bisexual and they stood by her decision not to go back to church. The big problem with Riley's hatred for her church... her best friend Julia is Pastor Young's daughter. Riley is forced to agree to spend Spring Break at her old church's camp. Riley decides to embrace the 7 days she's spending at camp by committing one of the deadly sins each day. The only problem, the feelings she continues to have for Julia as they spend more and more time together at camp. I easily gave this book 5 stars and definitely recommend it.

Book Description: Say a Little Prayer by Jenna Voris is a novel following a young teen by the name of Riley who spends spring break at a church camp to avoid suspension. Lucky for her, Riley is joined by her best friend (Julia)—who also happens to be the daughter of the pastor (Young) who shunned her sister from the church they attended. Subsequently, Riley decides to go on a mission to commit each seven deadly sin during the week she's at camp to prove Paster Young wrong. However, as the days passed, Riley finds herself falling for her best friend. Say a Little Prayer is a story about romance, friendships, and religious trauma.

Book Review: I was able to read this one in two days. It’s easy to digest, has witty chapter titles, and inspiring friendships and family dynamics. Technically, I thought this was a well written novel that I flew through. Story wise, I thought it was funny, cute, and heartwarming. One of my favorite things about the book was the relationship between Riley and her sister Hannah, and their friendship with Julia and her brother. The tight dynamic was so warming to read.

However, I will admit that I felt like we needed more romantic interactions between Riley and Julia to make the romance more believable. Additionally, I felt like a Julia POV would have strengthened the novel and possibly turned this book into a 4 star read for me.

Further, this was a very funny book. I was not expecting to laugh as much as I did. The banter between multiple characters kind of reminded me of my own friendships. The characters, in general, were well written—with each feeling like a real person. Finally, I actually liked the way the author explores religious trauma. This is a book for teens and young adult, so I thought it was done in a tasteful way.

I recommend this book for individuals interested in coming of age young adult novels with romance. 


Rating: 3.5/5 (Good and will recommend!)

Review will also be posted on Instagram on publication day.

Irreverent yet undeniably charming. This book continues the tradition of ‘But I’m a Cheerleader,’ taking subject matter that has long been a source of queer trauma and finding the fierce joy and humor without compromising on tough realities.

I truly enjoyed this book and everything about it. It was simultaneously funny and serious, and did a good job of keeping the balance. As a former member of the church who has since left because of their opinion on queerness, among other things, this book struck a cord within me. I struggled a lot with the purity culture that was taught and getting over that having sex does not make you less of a person. I struggled to accept myself as bi when I was taught it was wrong. This is a book that so many young people who are in the same position I was need to have. There are always going to be some people are going to hate you and what you stand for no matter what you do and you can't change their mind. But you will always have people who are on your side and who see the bigotry that is displayed and disagree with it. What has been designated as a safe place in the past, may not always be in the future and that is ok. I think it is important for young queer people to read this, especially those who have been harmed by the church. And that is so needed right now in this current political climate.
I genuinely have no criticisms of this book. The content was well handled and balanced, the chapter titles were hilarious, there were callbacks to her previous book, and the theater kid references were spot on. So long story short, I support gay wrongs, abortion is healthcare, and fuck homophobes.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the arc

This was a book I was excited to read as it has LGBT representation, and as a strong ally I love to read books about this community. Unfortunately< I thought this book was executed poorly as the author used cringeworthy terms in order to try and connect with her audience. And unfortunately when I say she used cringeworthy terms, I mean that she overused them. So in conclusion, I liked the message and the plot of this book, I just thought that execution was poor.

What a fun sapphic slow burn about a girl who is forced into church camp but who does everything she can to prove the lessons of god wrong. Oh and she also might have a huge crush on her best friend.

Riley's family lives across from Julia and Ben, the kids of the local church's pastor. But when Riley's sister Hannah has an abortion and the church finds out, they're ostracized and forced out. Due to anger issues, Riley finds herself at the church camp having to write an essay and what better theme than doing the opposite of the seven deadly sins!

This was a slow burn young adult cute sapphic romance about being in the church and having these supposedly forbidden feelings. It's also about friendship and standing up for things together. The ending really deals with the struggle of having these feelings but god will forgive you I promise. I also loved Ben, he was so funny.

I just wish we had proven the pastor wrong more. We spent the whole novel leading up to a conflict with him only to brush right past it. I wanted to see more closure and proving the church and congregation wrong in general. It fell a little flat to me and I really wanted to see more of Julia and how their relationship will affect hers with her father.

This is still a very enjoyable book otherwise! Especially if you are an ex-convert like me

I liked this book but I didn’t love it. It had all the right ingredients but it fell flat for me and I can’t really put my finger on why. Maybe I needed more flirting and just interactions in general between Riley and Julia in the first half of the book for the second half to feel more real. I also needed literally any adult to stand up for their child in a public way.

This is heavy on religious trauma and mean girl dynamics so if that’s triggering then please skip this one.