Wow. Wow. Wow. Lamar Giles is doing the Lord's work.

Del is a high school senior in a small community in Virginia. When his long-time crush Kiera becomes single, Del concocts a plan to join the purity pledge group at their church in order to spend more time with her and, hopefully, make a move. When his best laid plans start to crack, Del is confronted with a harsh reality: maybe he isn't the "good guy" after all.

I was floored by how well this story teaches the concept of toxic masculinity. Cuz, if even the so called "nice guys" can have destructive and harmful behaviors and attitudes, what hope is there for change, right? The story lights a clear path forward.

Besides that, the portrayal of Christianity in this book is so so so good. I'm a church girl myself, and I've made the rounds. This book is accurate. How Mr Giles built layers of scripture, honest questions about God, different types of relationships towards God and religion, toxic churches, youth group kids, and modeling of Jesus' behavior and teachings blew me away.

This story has meat. YA at its finest: sharp, funny, poignant, deep realistic characters, seamlessly woven cultural layers. Dang. Hats off.