Skip to main content

Amen, L.A.


Amen, L.A. is a YA contemporary novel by Cherie Bennett and Jeff Gottesfeld.

Seventeen-year-old Natalie Shelton is used to being a minister's daughter in ordinary Minnesota, but after her Mom is offered a more lucrative position at the Church of Beverly Hills they pack up and head to California.

It's a bit of a culture shock - but her sister Gemma and brother Chad are loving it. They're living in Ricardo Montalban's old mansion with a view of the ocean and finding themselves befriended by rich kids galore.

Yet Natalie finds herself also making enemies, and managing to become friends with the one girl she's told not to. But she's a good girl and she has morals. Surely the glitz, glamour, and partying of Beverly Hills won't manage to suck her in.

Right?

I found Amen, L.A. to be a refreshing change from the usual Gossip Girl type fare. Instead, we get a girl as our main character who has real morals and is struggling with the fact that she compromised one of her big ones right before leaving Minnesota (in just the first few pages of the book).

What's also nice about Nat is that the authors don't go the cliche route and make her a wide-eyed naivete but a smart, mature girl that recognizes the behavior of L.A., just doesn't want to embrace it. She has a kindness to her, as well as an occasional sarcastic streak, that makes her more willing to give second chances. And the fact that the authors make Nat a Christian is almost shocking in YA literature, sadly. But it's very, very cool to get a different perspective in what can often be a very tired and overused setting.

The narrative style of Amen, L.A. is also unique in that Nat is almost talking directly to us in first-person. I couldn't help but smile at the direct tips to the reader to watch the movie Clueless (I second that) and read Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson (again, I second that). Without being rude or snobbish, Amen, L.A. reveals the superficialities that sometimes come with wealth and beauty, as well as the hypocrisy that can come with being outside of it. This is a sunny, fast-paced book with a conscious and a pulse on issues.

Glittering with sunshine and incredible cars, Amen, L.A. is a mixture of fun and fallout as it follows bad decisions and new decisions - and looks like a series I'll be wanting to follow-up on!

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Author Q & A - Jan Eldredge Stops By!

Next Wednesday y'all will be getting my oh-so-humble opinion of Evangeline of the Bayou , the Summer 2018 Kids' Indie Next List selection! (That means it was picked via booksellers at independent bookstores countrywide.) Until then, I have a Q&A with the Louisiana born and raised author herself: Jan Eldredge! (Don't forget to come back next week for my review!!) A Conversation with JAN ELDRIDGE Author of Evangeline of the Bayou 1) The glossary in the back of the book is so helpful! Where did you learn about all these creatures? Which creature from the book is your favorite? I have a small, but growing, collection of books about mythical creatures around the world. If I couldn’t find what I was looking for there, I researched library books, online websites, and the occasional documentary. Something that really surprised me as I started learning more about mythical monsters was the number of different cultures that share very similar

First Step: Admit You Have a Problem

Hi fellow Bibliophiles! I have been rather neglectful to this blog... instead continuing to stay buried in a book as I have during the holidays. I'm hopeful that most of you have been doing this too and can easily accept my apology. Have I been reading? Um, yeah! (Translation: duh.) Just haven't been able to pull myself away long enough to actually WRITE about what I'm reading. Lol. But that's me, a bibliophile, an addict, an addict who's fallen off the wagon and fully embraced her love of reading - especially with all this free time to do so!!! I've also been watching awesome holiday movies, eating yummy, but bad-for-me, food and hanging out with the people I love best! You too? I hope! ;) Anyway, I will return with a new book review next week, most likely on Monday or Tuesday. Thanks for your patience and keep reading!!!

Evangeline of the Bayou

Evangeline of the Bayou is an urban fantasy middle grade novel written by Jan Eldredge and illustrated by Joseph Kueffler. You may have noticed that just last week I posted a Q&A with the author! There is no doubt that twelve-year-old Evangeline will become an amazing haunt huntress – not with a lineage like hers. Not only was her mother a force to be reckoned with, but Evangeline lives with her grandmother – a daily opportunity to hone her skills. And she’ll definitely get her animal familiar soon. Definitely. It will be better than some unruly cat named Fader. Dang cat. Perhaps her time will be now – now that she and her grandmother have been called to New Orleans to investigate a strange case bursting with secrets to be unearthed. Yeah. She’ll definitely be returning to her bayou a true haunt huntress… This is a fun one. There was one particular line that was so delightful that I made a special note to call out in my review: “…its spiri