Review: Perfectly Dateless by Kristin Billerbeck

Daisy Crispin's parents are extremely overprotective. In many ways, they are fundamentalist Christians...they don't let Daisy date, they make all her clothes for her so they can boycott the chain stores they feel support values they don't like, they don't allow her to have a cell phone or internet in her room, and they expect her to go to Bible college and become a pastor's wife.

Daisy just wants to be normal. In her view, going to prom will ensure she has a bit of a normal life. Daisy's really good in math and she also has a memory for facts and she's always spouting them off. She doesn't exactly fit in at her school. She does have a job of her own and is saving to go off to college.

When I started this book, I was pleasantly surprised by it. I suspect that a lot of Christian teens who would be reading Christian fiction YA might identify with Daisy's life. I laughed out loud because I enjoyed the humor. As the book went on, there were a few scenes that seemed to stretch reality for me just a bit, and some of the humor felt forced. But ultimately, it was a fun read.

Perfectly Dateless is a book about growing up, about testing boundaries in order to discover who you are and accepting the consequences of that. And while for some teens, what Daisy does may not seem that daring or bad, for someone growing up in an environment as tightly controlled as Daisy's, it really is. I was thinking while I was reading this book that I haven't read many books about overprotective parents outside of Christian Fiction YA...usually the parents aren't around at all.

I enjoyed the story and look forward to more YA lit from Kristin Billerbeck.

Rating: 4/5
Things You Might Want to Know: Christian fiction
Source of Book: Received from publisher for review
Publisher: Revell (Baker Books)