Purity by Jackson Pearce

Maybe no one can understand what this feels like but me. I touch my neck, the spot where the cross charm hangs on Mom's neck. No one can understand because . . . they really don't know any better than I do. No matter what they think, how sure they are they've got everything figured out, they're as in the dark as I am.

I chose to read Purity when I realized it was the only one of Jackson Pearce's books that I hadn't yet dug into. As a pretty huge fan of her Fairytale Retellings series (of which, book 4 is on the way!), I knew I needed to get my hands on this one and ordered it straight off the Book Depository once I found it.

Shelby lost her mother when she was a child. Cancer stole her away and left Shelby with her father, a man who loved she and her mother very much, but wasn't exactly prepared to raise a daughter all on his own. Perhaps this was the reason her mother made Shelby vow to keep the three rules. After all, one of them was to obey her father. Whatever her motivation behind the promises, Shelby agreed to them and has been doing her absolute best to obey each of them, no matter what the cost.

Though she obeys her father's every rule, Shelby feels like she hardly knows her father. Perhaps he feels the same way, because soon finds himself running the Princess Ball, a dance held by the local church where, at the end, each daughter pledges herself to a life of purity. Shelby knows that if she makes the pledge, she has to keep it- unless she can find a loophole.

It isn't long before Shelby finds her loophole: if she has sex before the night of the Princess Ball, her vow will be void. She will no longer be pure and therefore cannot live a life of purity. As the Ball approaches, Shelby has to juggle her time between helping her father put the Ball together and finding a suitable guy who is willing to help her break the vow before she takes it.

I'll admit, I was not immediately captivated by this book. It took me a few chapters to get into it, and even then it was a thin line for me between putting it down and dragging my feet through the rest of the narrative. I am happy to report, however, that I did eventually get into it and honestly enjoyed it through to the end.

Shelby is an interesting character and, while I had trouble with the plausibility of her adhering so closely to the promises, I really did like the way the story went. I loved seeing the way her mind worked and how she dealt with all the chaos that was cluttering her life. I especially loved that she didn't only concern herself with the struggles that were in her immediate future. She worried about all kinds of things and we even got to watch her struggle with the concept of faith and religion, which made her that much more accessible as a protagonist and even more believable as a person.

Though the story wasn't all I hope it to be, that may just be because I was hoping for something fully on par with her fantasy novels. However, Jackson Pearce still manages to prove that she is a wonderful and fascinating author through and through. I cannot wait to continue reading as many books as she is willing to put out.

Rating: ★★★☆☆

I remember understanding what love really was. It didn't hurt; it didn't ignore your prayers, didn't seem not to care that your mom was dying. It didn't leave you wondering what you did wrong. Love tried to make you happy, even if it was useless. Love would do anything to make you happy.