Take Me to Church

by wickedarcher_08

Louis is the new kid at school in Bible Belt, USA, who is fascinated by the quiet kid that everyone has deemed 'weird'. It takes everything in his arsenal to break the walls of Harry Styles down. Harry has a troubled past that has lead him to go against everything Louis thought he believed. Will Louis and Harry work through their differences, or will Louis allow his strict Christian upbringing to get in the way of their happiness?

___________

No masters or kings when the ritual begins
There is no sweeter innocence than our gentle sin
In the madness and soil of that sad earthly scene
Only then I am human
Only then I am clean
Amen, Amen, Amen

Genres: Fan Fiction, LGBT, Gay

1414 pages, ebook

Published August 10, 2019

Reviews

[Kate]

I haven’t gotten a chance to read this book, but they took it off AO3!! Does anyone have a link to a pdf of it??

Thank you so much <3

[kat · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ok that was intense.
I’m gay & I live in Alabama, this one hit close to home.

I have to wonder if the author is from the south too bc the little sayings and overall small southern town vibes were spot on.

Additionally the idea of Christianity as the default in a area like this is so real. I’m agnostic but still found myself doubting what I was reading and googling mid chapter bc even as a non religious person, it’s just like embedded into you down here to believe certain things.

Hearing what Mark was saying about politics and Fox News and gays, etc made my stomach turn because I KNOW THOSE PEOPLE. like a large majority of the people I’ve met in my life are those people.

Basically I’m saying the author really really accurately depicted Bible Belt USA.


In all, the story was good. It wasn’t my favorite but to no fault of the story- just my general reading preferences. I like reading UK Larry w/ cups of tea and British accents.


BUT It was like damn near 2000 pages on the books app and I read the whole thing in 24 hours so I obviously enjoyed it. I generally don’t go for a lot of smut and this was smut heavy but oddly as a gay woman w/ no attraction to men at all- I was still kinda into it 😜

It was triggering and hard and I definitely blubbered through the actual TMTC scene (oh & some soft quoting of IICF had me too) but it was also beautiful and sweet and felt like real love.

[Elena Spampinato · Rating 5 out of 5]

Probably one of the best fiction concerning biblical and religious themes, very delicate matters especially if linked with sexual orientation. It is beautifully written and I spilled a lot of tears on it

[Sana · Rating 4 out of 5]

this fic made me question many things that I never really cared to question about.

[dana · Rating 4 out of 5]

Rating: 3.5 stars

Okay so wow, I've read Collision and Young and Beautiful (they're both really long) in a week or less. This one took me 3 weeks to finish. But, I finally did! And I ended up really enjoying this one. I was really scared of reading this one because I knew a bit from other people and fic spoilers on twitter are very common so I already knew the twist was going to happen before it did but I still really liked it. Knowing the heavy subject matter really turned me away from this fic for a while, but I finally read it and I've got to say, it's a lot less heavy than I thought it would be. Don't get me wrong, it's really angsty and it did evoke tears out of me, but I was prepared to drop this book for having it be too much but instead it's a really lovely story with pain and healing and I deeply enjoyed it.

My only criticism is that a part of me wishes there was less smut and more emotional moments? A lot of the times they're intertwined but it felt like the majority of this book was filled with smut and like almost all of their heartfelt moments had to do with sex. I understand that having sex for them is very emotional and has a sense of vulnerability and I really liked that, but also sometimes I just wish they would cuddle and be domestic for a bit, I think that could've improved how their relationship is portrayed.

**spoilers from now on**
Overall, it was a really really nice read. I loved how the beginning half and the ending half kind of connected with each other? Like the beginning was Louis helping Harry heal and in the end it was almost exactly how Harry helped Louis heal, it was a very nice touch and it feels like there could be some symbolism in their actions if I looked for them. I loved their character development and the way their characters deal with their trauma. I did listen to the playlist while reading the book and a lot of the songs brought me back to when I use to listen to them in middle school and that really helped create the vulnerable aspect that Harry is also going through at the moment. I loved the religious aspect in this book too, it definitely made me want to know more about religion and pushed my agnostic views further than before. The details to religion was really greatly written and I thought that it was depicted really nicely. I did cry throughout the last half of the book after Louis helped Ashton escape and when he's telling Harry what happened to him in Conversion Therapy Camp. This book gave me emotions and it made me feel things and that by itself makes it a good book. I am so in love with TMTC Niall and Louis and Harry and I'm really happy that I got to discover new characters to fall in love with. It's very long and I am currently exhausted while writing this but I would like to reread this again, especially after having already read it because I absolutely love the contrast from shy, insecure Harry in the beginning to confident Harry at the end full of strength. It was very nicely done and I really did enjoy this one.

Summary for memory:
Louis's mom is married to Mark, he's religious and in the military. Because he's in the military, they move around a lot. At the beginning, Louis is a senior and he's new to a southern town's school where almost everyone is Christian. He immediately takes an interest in Harry who wears black clothes and is sort of an outsider. He tries to get closer to Harry but Harry makes it really difficult for him to get to know him. A bit of a flirtatious relationship between them exists. Niall and Liam are great side characters and they're all friends; Niall is Harry's best friend and Liam is on the footie team with Louis. Harry starts to like Louis back. They discuss religion a lot, Harry is very informed in religious views, and Louis starts to question his own religion. Louis starts a fake relationship with Willow to get Mark off his back, Harry doesn't know it's fake though and takes this as a betrayal as Louis kept flirting with Harry before. It's angsty. Eventually, they set the record straight and Louis and Harry start a physical and emotional relationship without labels. They get closer and start to get feelings. They work hard to keep their relationship a secret but eventually their friends find out. They fall in love slowly and Harry's heart starts to heal. Harry's mom starts to date Robin and slowly their relationship is fixed too. Prom happens. Around 50% through the book we find out what happened to make Harry distrustful. Harry had an online relationship with a boy named Logan when he was 13 and when he went to meet him in person, him and his friends beat Harry up for being gay, saying they were only interested in him as a joke. They harassed him and Harry started to self harm, drink, and a suicide attempt. Harry's mom found him, Harry's dad left, and their relationship has been strained since. Louis stays the night with Harry and the next morning he goes home and comes out to his mom and Mark. Mark doesn't take it well and takes him to Conversion Therapy Camp. Harry believes that Louis left him after having finally opened up to him, not knowing that Mark had kidnapped him, and tries to commit suicide again; his mom stops him. Louis goes through hell in the camp, he makes friends with Ashton and they work hard to keep each other sane. One night, they try to escape but they both can't so Louis sacrifices himself so Ashton can leave. Ashton goes to find Harry and tells everyone where Louis is. Louis is finally broken down in Camp by the time they find him. All the people involved in the kidnapping are thrown in jail. Louis. however, works hard to figure out what is right and what is wrong as he doesn't know anymore. With Harry's help, he starts to see things a bit clearly and a suicide attempt from Louis' side later, he starts to see some reason. They fall in love again, or realize that they were always in love, almost the same way that it happened the first time (football, dinner, passed notes, etc). Louis starts his healing process and after a lot of work they start to get to a semi-normal place. Louis no longer believes in religion. 2 years after, Mark is still in jail and we find out he has cancer. It's Louis' mom's wedding and she's marrying Dan who treats them a lot better. Louis promises that he'll marry Harry one day. They helped each other heal.


Reading Thread: https://twitter.com/loveonsapphic/sta...

Link to Book: https://drive.google.com/file/d/16IN6...

[Krea · Rating 4 out of 5]

i wanna give it a 5/5 but the idea doesn't sit right with me. It took me a while to finish it, bc it was long and life happened.

i loved it but some parts were triggering and traumatising, but they didn't happened juft for the sake of it happening. it was justified.

[dove &#x1f54a; · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautiful, cunning and above all epic , this had my emotions all over the shop and I just wanna say FUCK YOU MARK

[Izzy · Rating 5 out of 5]

So so sooooo much angst like omg 😳honestly it was rly hard to read at times I read this around 2 weeks and I was reading it 24/7 in my classes, the plane, EVERYWHERE, it even made my grades slip a little for a minute 😬 BUT ITS ALL WORTH IT IN THE END

[Sarah · Rating 5 out of 5]

Prepare yourself for a very heavy and emotional book. I loved reading it so so so much!

[Sage]

is there a way to read this w out making an acc on ao3?

[Aadi Reads · Rating 5 out of 5]

This will break you, please please please check out the warnings on AO3. That being said, OH MY GOD THIS WAS AMAZING!

[Sara · Rating 5 out of 5]

TOOOP

[Katy · Rating 5 out of 5]

If anyone has a pdf of it pls send it to me

[Moa · Rating 5 out of 5]

emotional rollercoaster

[Amorisflammae · Rating 1 out of 5]

Poorly written and unnecessarily long,

[Sayali · Rating 5 out of 5]

I could not put this down. It got really heavy at times and I had to stop so that I wouldn’t throw up, but this was just amazing. I can’t wait to read the published book series.

[Peyton Leighty · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5

[ester · Rating 5 out of 5]

the most romantic speech i ever read and it's from a larry fanfiction 👁️👄👁️

[Char · Rating 3 out of 5]

this broke my heart and out it back together multiple times lol
only 4 stars bc of the writing, I didn't love the way the dialogues kept going on and on sometimes but other than that beautiful <3