Review: Love Will Keep Us Together by Anne Dayton and May Vanderbilt

I have really loved reading this YA series, and am sad to see it come to an end. Each book has gone through a year of the high school life and been told from the perspective of one of the girls. This final book is told from Riley's perspective. Riley has always been the sort of mysterious one to me, she's the beautiful brilliant cheerleader type, but she doesn't seem totally sold on that image of herself. So it was really fun to finally read her story.

As with all of the other Miracle Girls books, I loved this story. It was fun to read but also felt authentic. The way Riley feels so uncertain about her future and what she wants to do was something I could relate to one hundred percent. I also appreciated that Riley struggled with doubts throughout the book and that she had the nerve to express them to the people in authority at her church. I loved that she questioned some of the things the church did and that she stood up for people she felt had been treated badly. Furthermore, I love the resolution to this aspect of the book, but I don't think I can express it without giving stuff away!

But the book isn't heavy on this, these things surface in Riley's life but they aren't the only things she has going on. She's kind of seeing her ex-boyfriend again and she's observing changes in her friends. Her brother who has Asperger's Syndrome isn't doing well at school and Riley feels the pressure of all of this.

Love Will Keep Us Together is a strong conclusion to the Miracle Girls series and I want to say that Anne Dayton and May Vanderbilt have given a great gift to not only Christian teens but Christian fiction with these books. They are full of realistic and diverse characters, they allow room for doubt to be expressed without everything being wrapped up in a neat tidy bow by the end, and they emphasize the importance of love and community. And of course, they are just plain fun to read. So from the bottom of my heart...I say thank you for giving me hope.

Rating: 4.5/5
Things You Might Want to Know: While these are technically classified as Christian fiction, I think this book has universal appeal
Source of Book: Received from publisher for review
Publisher: FaithWords