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The Gospel According to Luke
Aggie Grey is a jaded sexual health counsellor who finds herself having to defend her business against the attacks of a radical new fundamentalist sect. Pastor Luke Butler is young, idealistic and out to capture the hearts and minds of Sydney's disaffected youth; his first order of business is to shut down Aggie's clinic.
Caught in the crossfire is 16-year-old Honey – pregnant, battered and ready to cling to whatever hope is offered. While Aggie and Luke fight over the fate of Honey's unborn child, they discover a deep and surprising connection. But as the war between the secular and religious intensifies, Aggie, Luke and Honey find themselves in moral and physical danger.
Set against a backdrop of religious terrorism and social decay, Emily Maguire's explosive second novel, first published by Brandl & Schlesinger in 2006 and now re-released in Picador, is a contemporary love story about belief, family, grief and hope.
Caught in the crossfire is 16-year-old Honey – pregnant, battered and ready to cling to whatever hope is offered. While Aggie and Luke fight over the fate of Honey's unborn child, they discover a deep and surprising connection. But as the war between the secular and religious intensifies, Aggie, Luke and Honey find themselves in moral and physical danger.
Set against a backdrop of religious terrorism and social decay, Emily Maguire's explosive second novel, first published by Brandl & Schlesinger in 2006 and now re-released in Picador, is a contemporary love story about belief, family, grief and hope.
312 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2007
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November 5, 2021Aggie is an ungainly but devoted worker at a sexual health clinic which – wouldn't you just know it! – is situated right opposite an evangelical church's youth outreach centre. Whose pastor, the eponymous (and ridiculously good-looking) Luke, ought to be everything she hates, and vice versa, yet when they meet – sparks fly! The plot summary of this one is a breath away from Mills & Boon except that, for all I know they've widened what they consider acceptable since my mum tried to write one in the nineties and couldn't keep the characters out of bed, I suspect they'd still draw the line at quite this many violent anti-abortion protests. Certainly it would be hard to deny that it counts as a melodrama. Now, it's a terrifying 15 years since I read Maguire's previous book, but that I remember as being a darker and more powerful beast, a story of a particularly fucked-up teacher/student affair which fit right into Serpent's Tail's noughties output, back when we all assumed the big battles had pretty much been won and only the right would object to transgressive fiction. Such sweet summer children. Whereas this time out...in some ways, the across the barricades romance feels even more shocking given the deepening of ideological battle lines since the 2008 crash. But it can't stop the whole enterprise from repeatedly feeling like it's about to topple into broad comedy (despite certain details which don't fit at all, I kept picturing Aggie and Luke as played by Miranda Hart and Joel Fry, both desperately trying to do serious). An interesting time capsule, but not one I can honestly recommend – and of course now I'm wondering what 2021 me would make of Taming The Beast.
November 13, 2012
Aggie Grey is a sexual health counsellor at a clinic in the heart of Paramatta in western Sydney. Across the road there has suddenly sprung up a Youth Centre, the brainchild of religious group Christian Revolution. While Aggie counsels young girls on drug addiction and unwanted pregnancy, across the road preaches abstinence and purity of all description. It’s only natural that Aggie and the pastor Luke aren’t going to be getting along and when Aggie finds that the Youth Centre is distributing pamphlets that are defamatory towards Aggie’s clinic, she sees red. What she does is hard enough without judgement and prejudice coming in the form of a fundamentalist group who have only been in the area five minutes.
But what both Aggie and Luke don’t expect is the attraction that flares up between them, despite the fact that they are diametrically opposed on just about everything. Aggie is the child of a free-spirit lesbian and a doctor who took his own life. She has been married and had several relationships. She believes in the freedom of choice and health and safety above all else. Luke doesn’t know his origins, he found God and that gave him the strength he needed to forge his career and his life. He believes in sexual relations only after the bonds of holy matrimony, of praying and consulting the Lord on all things, he believes that he is part of God’s grand plan. He does not support the right to choose, he supports the right of life, all life. They shouldn’t work in any world. They can’t work – but why can’t they keep away from each other?
Honey is sixteen and pregnant. From a heartbreaking background, she doesn’t have the support she would require to go through with it. She makes an appointment with Aggie in order to get the necessary referral. This leads to Honey meeting Luke and Luke sees opportunity, he sees what his path should be. The chance to give Honey the ability to choose life, to embrace the Lord and a new future. As Aggie, Luke and Honey fight over the right decision for all concerned, there is a savage group hell-bent on getting their message out to everybody, with life-changing consequences.
Every now and then you read a book that forces you out of your comfort zone. It might make you go to places you don’t want to, or think about things you haven’t before (or haven’t wanted to). For me, this was one of those books. I have a bit of a girlcrush on Emily Maguire – this is the third novel of hers that I’ve read in probably less than 2 months and all of them have been fascinating.
Abortion has been in the news a little lately, due to some very ill-thought out comments from Republican candidates in the upcoming American federal election. I’m not American (nor is the author, we are both Australian) but I find similarities in the thoughts of the right-wing Republicans and the fundamentalist Christian Revolution group in this book. I’ve watched as American female friends of mine have despaired over the debate about rape and abortion and the fact that upper middle class white men think that they have the right to legislate and dictate what right a woman has to put in her body (hormonal birth control), what is defined as rape and whether or not they should have the right to abort an unwanted or undesirable pregnancy. I’m extremely up front about my strong belief that it is a woman’s right to choose what she does with her body. Not her state member’s right. Not her head of government’s right. And certainly, certainly not her religious minister’s right.
I don’t know how Emily Maguire wrote some of the passages in this book so objectively! Luke is a religious zealot. Abandoned as a baby, raised in an orphanage and embraced into religion at an early age, every thing he does in his life is governed by his deep and abiding faith in his God. This occasionally (okay, often) leads to him sounding like a clueless, pretentious twat. He’s so innocent it’s almost painful. For a start, the Christian Revolution Youth Centre is in Parramatta. Not exactly the most wholesome of communities, is Parramatta. It’s clear that Luke has absolutely no idea what it’s like to be staring down the barrel of single motherhood at 16, poor, no options. He sees only the possibility of a beautiful baby but the reality is that baby is going to be most likely born into a cycle of abuse, neglect and poverty. He has no idea what this pregnancy could involve for Honey, what it could do to her, psychologically and physically. Having a baby is no picnic, I should know, I’ve had 2 of them. And I wasn’t a 16yo girl with no support network either. Luke thinks the Church can be Honey’s support but they are ill equipped to deal with her and really give her what she needs because they are so focused on their message of abstinence and purity and faith and that simply isn’t Honey’s reality. In contrast, Aggie offered her options, but didn’t pressure her into any of them. Luke is disgusted at Aggie “peddling abortion” when really it is Luke who is peddling false hope and security. This volatile triangle of contradiction seems doomed for tragedy early in the piece.
And yet I couldn’t help but be taken in by Aggie and Luke’s story. They shouldn’t have worked, I don’t know how Aggie could listen to what he said sometimes. Reading it infuriated me several times and I’d set the book aside and take several deep breaths before picking it up again. But there was a little beauty in their struggle too, especially Luke’s. His faith was everything to him. I’m not religious, so I don’t really understand such devotion to God. But Luke, for all his faults, I believe at heart, was a good man trying to do the very best he could in the calling he believed he had received. His feelings for Aggie confused him, she was obviously not the sort of woman he believed God would choose for him. He found himself unable to stay away from her (and her from him just as much).
The Gospel According To Luke asks some tough questions and not just of its characters but also its readers. I found myself thinking if I weren’t married, could I be with someone whose views were the exact opposite of my own, like Luke and Aggie’s feelings? Would the different opinions we had destroy the feelings we had? Or would someone have to change in order for it to work? Could I be with a religious person? Someone who wanted to go to Church, baptise our kids and involve religion in their every day lives? This is the sort of book that you think about, for a long time after finishing. Or at least, I know I will.
And that ending! Heartbreaking.
But what both Aggie and Luke don’t expect is the attraction that flares up between them, despite the fact that they are diametrically opposed on just about everything. Aggie is the child of a free-spirit lesbian and a doctor who took his own life. She has been married and had several relationships. She believes in the freedom of choice and health and safety above all else. Luke doesn’t know his origins, he found God and that gave him the strength he needed to forge his career and his life. He believes in sexual relations only after the bonds of holy matrimony, of praying and consulting the Lord on all things, he believes that he is part of God’s grand plan. He does not support the right to choose, he supports the right of life, all life. They shouldn’t work in any world. They can’t work – but why can’t they keep away from each other?
Honey is sixteen and pregnant. From a heartbreaking background, she doesn’t have the support she would require to go through with it. She makes an appointment with Aggie in order to get the necessary referral. This leads to Honey meeting Luke and Luke sees opportunity, he sees what his path should be. The chance to give Honey the ability to choose life, to embrace the Lord and a new future. As Aggie, Luke and Honey fight over the right decision for all concerned, there is a savage group hell-bent on getting their message out to everybody, with life-changing consequences.
Every now and then you read a book that forces you out of your comfort zone. It might make you go to places you don’t want to, or think about things you haven’t before (or haven’t wanted to). For me, this was one of those books. I have a bit of a girlcrush on Emily Maguire – this is the third novel of hers that I’ve read in probably less than 2 months and all of them have been fascinating.
Abortion has been in the news a little lately, due to some very ill-thought out comments from Republican candidates in the upcoming American federal election. I’m not American (nor is the author, we are both Australian) but I find similarities in the thoughts of the right-wing Republicans and the fundamentalist Christian Revolution group in this book. I’ve watched as American female friends of mine have despaired over the debate about rape and abortion and the fact that upper middle class white men think that they have the right to legislate and dictate what right a woman has to put in her body (hormonal birth control), what is defined as rape and whether or not they should have the right to abort an unwanted or undesirable pregnancy. I’m extremely up front about my strong belief that it is a woman’s right to choose what she does with her body. Not her state member’s right. Not her head of government’s right. And certainly, certainly not her religious minister’s right.
I don’t know how Emily Maguire wrote some of the passages in this book so objectively! Luke is a religious zealot. Abandoned as a baby, raised in an orphanage and embraced into religion at an early age, every thing he does in his life is governed by his deep and abiding faith in his God. This occasionally (okay, often) leads to him sounding like a clueless, pretentious twat. He’s so innocent it’s almost painful. For a start, the Christian Revolution Youth Centre is in Parramatta. Not exactly the most wholesome of communities, is Parramatta. It’s clear that Luke has absolutely no idea what it’s like to be staring down the barrel of single motherhood at 16, poor, no options. He sees only the possibility of a beautiful baby but the reality is that baby is going to be most likely born into a cycle of abuse, neglect and poverty. He has no idea what this pregnancy could involve for Honey, what it could do to her, psychologically and physically. Having a baby is no picnic, I should know, I’ve had 2 of them. And I wasn’t a 16yo girl with no support network either. Luke thinks the Church can be Honey’s support but they are ill equipped to deal with her and really give her what she needs because they are so focused on their message of abstinence and purity and faith and that simply isn’t Honey’s reality. In contrast, Aggie offered her options, but didn’t pressure her into any of them. Luke is disgusted at Aggie “peddling abortion” when really it is Luke who is peddling false hope and security. This volatile triangle of contradiction seems doomed for tragedy early in the piece.
And yet I couldn’t help but be taken in by Aggie and Luke’s story. They shouldn’t have worked, I don’t know how Aggie could listen to what he said sometimes. Reading it infuriated me several times and I’d set the book aside and take several deep breaths before picking it up again. But there was a little beauty in their struggle too, especially Luke’s. His faith was everything to him. I’m not religious, so I don’t really understand such devotion to God. But Luke, for all his faults, I believe at heart, was a good man trying to do the very best he could in the calling he believed he had received. His feelings for Aggie confused him, she was obviously not the sort of woman he believed God would choose for him. He found himself unable to stay away from her (and her from him just as much).
The Gospel According To Luke asks some tough questions and not just of its characters but also its readers. I found myself thinking if I weren’t married, could I be with someone whose views were the exact opposite of my own, like Luke and Aggie’s feelings? Would the different opinions we had destroy the feelings we had? Or would someone have to change in order for it to work? Could I be with a religious person? Someone who wanted to go to Church, baptise our kids and involve religion in their every day lives? This is the sort of book that you think about, for a long time after finishing. Or at least, I know I will.
And that ending! Heartbreaking.
January 1, 2016
After the tremendous high that was Taming the Beast, I had high hopes for this one. And I was only mildly disappointed.
This book was slower than Beast. The story line didn't move with the same intensity, but I'll let it slide as this was a very different book.
It follows three main protagonists: Aggie, a head strong counselor who helps women with their problems, including abortion. Honey, a sixteen year old mother. And Luke, a young pastor whose mission is to close down Aggie's godless clinic and save Honey from a possibly hell-worthy decision. However, Luke soon realizes their is more to Aggie then a lack of culture and more to Honey than her circumstances. Throughout the book, Luke is led on a path of uncertainty, Aggie on a path of love and Honey on a path of self-discovery.
The conclusion is sad and lovely, and sadly in hindsight, preventable.
This book was slower than Beast. The story line didn't move with the same intensity, but I'll let it slide as this was a very different book.
It follows three main protagonists: Aggie, a head strong counselor who helps women with their problems, including abortion. Honey, a sixteen year old mother. And Luke, a young pastor whose mission is to close down Aggie's godless clinic and save Honey from a possibly hell-worthy decision. However, Luke soon realizes their is more to Aggie then a lack of culture and more to Honey than her circumstances. Throughout the book, Luke is led on a path of uncertainty, Aggie on a path of love and Honey on a path of self-discovery.
The conclusion is sad and lovely, and sadly in hindsight, preventable.
October 2, 2023
I enjoyed it - ending came a bit out of nowhere but overall had a nice time
October 23, 2009
This was a pretty absorbing novel. I read Taming the Beast before this and I really enjoy the way Maguire writes. I really liked the characterization of the protagonists. Although, like another reviewer, I did find Aggie a bit coarse and unsympathetic. I also didn't completely buy her attitude in certain situations. I think what Luke saw in her should've been emphasized more to show how giving a person she is. I really enjoyed the other main characters, Luke and Honey. I only wish we were given more of Honey's story and perspective as I found her to be quite interesting. Maguire sets a great pace and wonderfully uses foreshadowing in this novel and I had a feeling of dread throughout for what may be coming. The ending hits you like a bag of bricks and I was left feeling despondent once I finished it.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
May 9, 2025
That ending basically killed me.
I have a lot more I want to say about this, but I'm too sleep deprived to do it justice atm. Review tc. What I can say right now: Emily Maguire remains a genius. She is one of the most important authors we have writing today and it is truly a privilege to read her work.
2025: eternally relevant (sadly, in many ways)
I have a lot more I want to say about this, but I'm too sleep deprived to do it justice atm. Review tc. What I can say right now: Emily Maguire remains a genius. She is one of the most important authors we have writing today and it is truly a privilege to read her work.
2025: eternally relevant (sadly, in many ways)
August 17, 2020
Even though I really loved this book and it's a new favorite, I can't in all honesty give it 5 stars.
The ending was just too abrupt and the personal journey of at least one of the main protagonists was left TOTALLY unresolved.
---
Re-readings:
23-25 April 2016
18 August 2020
The ending was just too abrupt and the personal journey of at least one of the main protagonists was left TOTALLY unresolved.
---
Re-readings:
23-25 April 2016
18 August 2020
August 12, 2017
I enjoyed the first half - but then the story became tediously turgid and degenerated into a script for a B grade television drama. It dragged on and on and the entire ending was unpleasant. I was so glad it ended- by then I didn't care about the main characters- they had degenerated into something else not quite authentic. Disappointing read.
April 11, 2011
If you recall, I love Emily Maguire. Taming of the Beast was a total mindfuck for me, but I sorta like that in a writer. So I picked up The Gospel because its premise totally rocked my socks. See, there's this non-profit sexual health clinic worker, right? Her name's Aggie. She's totally awkward and has no self esteem. Aggie's life is okay, she's got issues like whoa and she's an unapologetic atheist but at the book's beginning her real problem is the Christian Youth Center that's opened up across from her hole-in-the-wall clinic and their insistence on basically propaganda bombing anybody who comes anywhere near Aggie's clinic.
Enter Luke, the head of the Youth Center. Luke is apparently heartstoppingly pretty. And swarthy. Be. Still. My. Heart. If not for the fact that he's a total Christian fundamentalist, he'd be an awesome catch and totally out of Aggie's league. They're the same age, which I kept having to remind myself because Aggie's so world weary and Luke is so, so sheltered. Thing is, he's not stupid, he's just so wrapped up in the cocoon of fundamentalism that he constantly came off like a teenager, almost. They're brought together by a pretty intense attraction that seems to be Maguire's trademark (not that I'm complaining) Aggie recognizes it for the attraction between two people, but Luke is convinced God has brought them together to give him a chance to save her soul.
I'll let that sink in.
This book was amazing to me for two reasons, 1) because the juxtaposition of unapologetic health clinic type and fundie pastor intrigues me, and 2) because I kept having flashbacks to my childhood. Take pretty much everything you've ever heard about fundamentalist Christianity and how these people look at the world, no matter how well intentioned or evil you believe them to be. Then funnel that into fiction. You've pretty much got Luke and his people. They're not really bad people, but they don't seem to realize that by being so convinced of their position they're really not giving others, or themselves for that matter, a chance to really live. I mean, okay, I'm all for recognizing God in your life. But when you're convinced that every little thing no matter how mundane, like, like eating Cheerios must be done only to glorify your creator... that's not a very full life s'all I'm saying.
I really liked that Luke and Aggie didn't really change when they got together. They maintained their own values and we got to see the culture clash and how that really did screw with the relationship. Luke's offering Aggie's gay best friend a pamplet on how to "cure the gay" and being genuinely perplexed that Aggie's offended, for example. Aggie's admitting that she's only attending Luke's prayer circles to be near Luke and she could give fuck all for what he's preaching, for another. There's an addition of a third character that sortof lights the match under teh book but I can't really talk about her without giving everything away.
I will say that there was one loose end in the ending that I really wanted to see come full circle and Maguire's not taking that extra step and naming the culprit sortof irritated me, but it was so obvious (to me) who it had to be that I guess it's okay. I just like validation that I'm right. I'm silly like that. Anyway, definitely worth a read. The book's out of print in this country, but I got my copy for way cheap used on amazon so I suggest you check it out.
Enter Luke, the head of the Youth Center. Luke is apparently heartstoppingly pretty. And swarthy. Be. Still. My. Heart. If not for the fact that he's a total Christian fundamentalist, he'd be an awesome catch and totally out of Aggie's league. They're the same age, which I kept having to remind myself because Aggie's so world weary and Luke is so, so sheltered. Thing is, he's not stupid, he's just so wrapped up in the cocoon of fundamentalism that he constantly came off like a teenager, almost. They're brought together by a pretty intense attraction that seems to be Maguire's trademark (not that I'm complaining) Aggie recognizes it for the attraction between two people, but Luke is convinced God has brought them together to give him a chance to save her soul.
I'll let that sink in.
This book was amazing to me for two reasons, 1) because the juxtaposition of unapologetic health clinic type and fundie pastor intrigues me, and 2) because I kept having flashbacks to my childhood. Take pretty much everything you've ever heard about fundamentalist Christianity and how these people look at the world, no matter how well intentioned or evil you believe them to be. Then funnel that into fiction. You've pretty much got Luke and his people. They're not really bad people, but they don't seem to realize that by being so convinced of their position they're really not giving others, or themselves for that matter, a chance to really live. I mean, okay, I'm all for recognizing God in your life. But when you're convinced that every little thing no matter how mundane, like, like eating Cheerios must be done only to glorify your creator... that's not a very full life s'all I'm saying.
I really liked that Luke and Aggie didn't really change when they got together. They maintained their own values and we got to see the culture clash and how that really did screw with the relationship. Luke's offering Aggie's gay best friend a pamplet on how to "cure the gay" and being genuinely perplexed that Aggie's offended, for example. Aggie's admitting that she's only attending Luke's prayer circles to be near Luke and she could give fuck all for what he's preaching, for another. There's an addition of a third character that sortof lights the match under teh book but I can't really talk about her without giving everything away.
I will say that there was one loose end in the ending that I really wanted to see come full circle and Maguire's not taking that extra step and naming the culprit sortof irritated me, but it was so obvious (to me) who it had to be that I guess it's okay. I just like validation that I'm right. I'm silly like that. Anyway, definitely worth a read. The book's out of print in this country, but I got my copy for way cheap used on amazon so I suggest you check it out.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
December 10, 2013
Luke Butler has recently been appointed senior pastor at an evangelical Christian youth centre in suburban Sydney. He is in his late 20s, and never known any life apart from the orphanage he was brought up in following his abandonment at birth, or the church to which he has devoted his life to and where he has finally found a family of sorts. He has no knowledge, or indeed any desire to find out about his birth parents or family. Luke's life is one of order, devotion, tolerance and adherence to God and the teachings of the Bible.
Across the road from the youth centre is, in a bizarre situation of polar opposites, a family planning clinic, managed by the very capable, compassionate and real Aggie Grey. Aggie has a complicated back story too, but wildly different from that of the chaste and clean living Luke. She is a counsellor at the clinic, dispensing contraceptive and relationship advice, helping those with gender identity and sexual orientation issues, counselling women with unwanted pregnancies, and dealing with sexual diseases.
The snake on the cover of the book does not need an apple to tell you what is going to happen when these two meet. An instant and dangerous connection sees them both compromising their deeply held values and beliefs. Into this mix comes 16 year old Honey, pregnant, alone and without a clue as to what she should do. She has been treated very badly by the men in her short life, and she is inextricably drawn into the powerful relationship bubbling away between Luke and Aggie.
The time worn theme of two people falling in love at the wrong time in the wrong place is at the core of this novel. And just like Romeo and Juliet, there are myriad forces at play to prevent any lasting happiness. The elephant in the room is 'abortion' and what is seen to be in the best interests of Honey by the pro life and pro choice factions, ie the church and everyone else. As expected, things rapidly spiral out of control, and there is no happy ending in sight.
Despite the deep and controversial subject matter, this is a straightforward and easy book to read. The characters are perhaps a little too stereotyped and one dimensional, but this is an important subject with neither a right or wrong answer that has been intelligently handled.
Across the road from the youth centre is, in a bizarre situation of polar opposites, a family planning clinic, managed by the very capable, compassionate and real Aggie Grey. Aggie has a complicated back story too, but wildly different from that of the chaste and clean living Luke. She is a counsellor at the clinic, dispensing contraceptive and relationship advice, helping those with gender identity and sexual orientation issues, counselling women with unwanted pregnancies, and dealing with sexual diseases.
The snake on the cover of the book does not need an apple to tell you what is going to happen when these two meet. An instant and dangerous connection sees them both compromising their deeply held values and beliefs. Into this mix comes 16 year old Honey, pregnant, alone and without a clue as to what she should do. She has been treated very badly by the men in her short life, and she is inextricably drawn into the powerful relationship bubbling away between Luke and Aggie.
The time worn theme of two people falling in love at the wrong time in the wrong place is at the core of this novel. And just like Romeo and Juliet, there are myriad forces at play to prevent any lasting happiness. The elephant in the room is 'abortion' and what is seen to be in the best interests of Honey by the pro life and pro choice factions, ie the church and everyone else. As expected, things rapidly spiral out of control, and there is no happy ending in sight.
Despite the deep and controversial subject matter, this is a straightforward and easy book to read. The characters are perhaps a little too stereotyped and one dimensional, but this is an important subject with neither a right or wrong answer that has been intelligently handled.
March 23, 2011
After reading "Taming of the Beast", EM's previous offering, I was looking forward to whatever came next. I had high hopes, and overall I wasn't disappointed. Not as powerful as TotB, it was always going to be difficult for EM to produce another novel as amazing. GAtL provides more evidence of EM's ability to create convincing damaged characters and then weave them into irresistible murky tales. Aggie is a counsellor (of sorts) who meets her match in Luke, a pastor from across the street. When a pregnant teenager comes onto the scene, Aggie and Luke clash over the future of her unborn child. Throw in some meaningful sub plots and you have a novel that is some way from the brilliance of TotB, but an excellent read nonetheless.
December 20, 2009
The Gospel According to Luke by Emily MaGuire will grip you and rip you apart. There can no be happy ending. Indeed there isn’t one, though the ending is appropriate, satisfying. The book itself is an interesting interplay of two very polar characters and a third just trying to survive, grow up. It has so many elements. I doubt one could read it without being very affected by it.
I recommend this book unreservedly. I knew that MaGuire was a good writer from her previous book. I didn’t realize just how good she was. Now I have to wait for her next one.
I recommend this book unreservedly. I knew that MaGuire was a good writer from her previous book. I didn’t realize just how good she was. Now I have to wait for her next one.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
December 24, 2010
Loved the three main characters. Fascinating premise - two individuals with absolutely incompatible values falling in love, and what happens as a result. One is an youth pastor, the other counsels youth on sexual health including abortion. The third character, Honey, is a 16 year old girl who has such a rotten present and past, a shocking window on the lives of some. I was gripped.
November 1, 2011
Recommend to me by my friend, I wasn't sure about this book from the blurb but whoa was I wrong! Simply loved it from start to finish, with it's great contrast between religious belivers and thoughs who are not.
The ending was uncontrollably sad, almost leaving me in tears, yet somehow it just makes it more real. I will be sure to recommend it at every opotuinity! 5 stars.
The ending was uncontrollably sad, almost leaving me in tears, yet somehow it just makes it more real. I will be sure to recommend it at every opotuinity! 5 stars.
June 16, 2013
This book was a little less 'harsh' than her first novel.
I'm starting to really like the way she writes, its very unapologetic.
The ending crept up on me, and had much more of an effect on me that I thought the book was actually having.
Good subject matter, well executed and a few funny buts thrown in there too.
I'm starting to really like the way she writes, its very unapologetic.
The ending crept up on me, and had much more of an effect on me that I thought the book was actually having.
Good subject matter, well executed and a few funny buts thrown in there too.
May 15, 2014
I'm not saying too much really but I tried so hard to enjoy and love this book as it sounded like a great storyline. But unfortunately I just kier putting it down and not wanting to come back to it, it didn't hold my interest much, I know it's got some great reviews but for me this one was just a bit bland really.
February 1, 2011
I found the love between Luke and Aggie very touching. They came from totally opposing sides but what was between them was stronger. It was terribly sad to read the end, but I kind of expected something similar all the time.
December 31, 2011
I was intrigued by the title and the concept of this book (when I wasn't supposed to be choosing any more library books). It was interesting to see how deeply held beliefs can be interpreted by people of different views but I was disappointed with the ending.
November 22, 2021
4.5 star.
very captivating, great storyline and one of the best love fictions i've ever read.
"in this violent, war-torn, hate-filled world, love in any and all of its forms is something to be cherished and celebrated."
very captivating, great storyline and one of the best love fictions i've ever read.
"in this violent, war-torn, hate-filled world, love in any and all of its forms is something to be cherished and celebrated."
September 21, 2011
Enjoyable read, explores the psychological and ethical challenges of human relationships
October 12, 2025
2.5 🌟
I don’t even know what to say about my most anticipated read of 2024. I think I’m disappointed.
I don’t even know what to say about my most anticipated read of 2024. I think I’m disappointed.
January 16, 2010
Another amazing read from Maguire.
Displaying 1 - 22 of 22 reviews