BIBLE GIRL AND THE BAD BOY.

BIBLE GIRL AND THE BAD BOY by E.C. STILSON.

The book practically cried for me to spare its life, and for a moment I thought I'd rather burn in Hell than lose something my brother had given me in love. The pastor nudged me, though, and my heart turned to ice.


I thought of all those hours my brother had read to me. I thought of all that time he'd invested.


I couldn't throw it into the fire; not the last book of the trilogy. That funny little dwarf stared at me from the cover. Then, I closed my eyes. I stepped so close to the flames they almost ate my skin. I tore the book in front of those kids. I put on quite a show throwing in a section at a time because I couldn't stand sending the whole thing in at once. When the last pages went up in flame, and the dwarf on the cover curled with death, I dropped to my knees and cried. The kids all hooted and screamed in ecstasy, thinking I'd been freed, when the ropes of religion had just twisted tighter.

Faced by an uncertain future and surrounded by hypocrites, Elisa feels her foundations crumbling. She doesn't know who to turn to. That's when she meets a mysterious man. But maybe she shouldn't trust him. Will he help her, or make things even worse than they were before?.
..... Outer back cover

FIRST SENTENCE (Prologue): Looking back, I didn't know I'd run away with a practical stranger, get married at seventeen, or end up as a homeless street musician.

MEMORABLE MOMENT (Page 69): I'd love to tell you about how our souls practically masted while we played music, how I never felt the same after performing on the mountainside with Cade.

MY THOUGHTS: Hmm, not at all inspired by the title. Oh well, they say we shouldn't judge a book by its cover and as this offering from E.C. Stilson proves nor should we judge it by its title.

Written as a love letter to her husband, the author sent a couple of chapters to him each week whilst he was working away from home.

A totally refreshing read of faith, belonging and friendship, of what it is to be young and in love. Warm, honest and genuine, as you might expect we did get an insight into Bible Girl's faith but thankfully this had none of the overtly religious zealousness and preaching I was secretly dreading.

An innocent, intimate, emotional and, at times, quite shocking coming-of-age memoir of a young woman trying to find herself and her path in life, Bible Girl is the account of the author's struggles as she falls in love with the Bad Boy of the title, as she battles to stay true to herself whilst at the same time desiring to be more than what she is.

Quite unlike any other memoir I have ever read, this has none of the self-importance and grandiosity of the average 'celeb' memoir and yet neither does it have any of the excessive emotional drama of many others of its genre,  you really get the feeling that E.C. Stilson simply tells it as it was.

DISCLAIMER: Read and reviewed on behalf of the author, I was merely asked for my honest opinion, no financial compensation was asked for nor given. I should also like to point out that though we have never met in person, the author is known to me through the bloggging community though this is no way influenced my review.