Vivian Versus America – Katie Coyle

I finally FINALLY got around to reading the second Vivian Apple book! I say finally because I read the first one two years ago! I did review it, which you can read here, but if you don’t have time for that, here is a brief recap: Vivian is a normal every day teen living a normal every day teen life in America who’s parents join the Church of America and get a bit too into it, Vivian remains a non believer up until the rapture is predicted and 3,000 Church of America supporters disappear, seemingly off to the promised land. Vivian and her best friend, Harp, go on an adventure to find out what happened to everyone, meet a cute boy along the way and discover the terrible truth of the rapture.
So, what happens to her next?

The predicted Rapture by Pastor Frick’s Church of America has come and gone, and three thousand Believers are now missing or dead. Seventeen-year-old Vivian Apple and her best friend, Harpreet, are revolutionaries, determined to expose the Church’s diabolical power grab…and to locate Viv’s missing heartthrob, Peter Ivey.

Oh – I should have said, this is also known as Vivian Apple needs a miracle. Just so you know.

This book picks up exactly where we left off with Vivian and Harp having escaped the Church of America and being separated from Peter, the pair of them join a militia group and the adventure begins yet again.

I find books about religion fascinating, there is something about the exploration of how people become believers, how they find solace in something that isn’t tangible, something I think Katie Coyle does really well with this duology is that they aren’t preachy or anti religion any more than they are pro atheism or pro religion. Though it does call out toxic fundamentalism and charlatans, there is nothing about these books that shames those with faith.
Honestly, the best things about these books are the characters, Vivian and Harp are brilliant and I love them and honestly, if you were going to be left behind after a rapture, these are the two you’d want to be stuck with. I think I preferred the first book but only because it was such an interesting premise and this one, though not unnecessary, didn’t need to be as long as it was and didn’t add anything new to the idea. Was still an enjoyable read and I kind of wish I’d read them both one after the other, that might have worked better! Next time, I won’t leave two years between sequels!