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Faking Faith

by Josie Bloss (Goodreads Author)

3.55 of 5 stars 3.55 · rating details · 382 ratings · 101 reviews

Dylan Mahoney is living one big unholy lie.

Thanks to a humiliating and painfully public sexting incident, Dylan has become the social pariah at her suburban Chicago high school. She's ignored by everyone--when she's not being taunted--and estranged from her two best friends. So when Dylan discovers the blogs of homeschooled fundamentalist Christian girls, she's immediately...more

Paperback, 231 pages

Published November 8th 2011 by Flux

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Lola and the Boy Next Door by Stephanie Perkins

What Happened to Goodbye by Sarah Dessen

2011 YA Contemporaries

81st out of 170 books — 427 voters

November 2011

29th out of 56 books — 62 voters

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Mar 21, 2012 Noelle rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: library-books, reviewed, yay-for-ya

Oh...let's see. Joining an online community based on a specific interest, making unexpected connections with people you've never met in real life, becoming so immersed in this community and its friendships that you make your own blog...nah, I wouldn't know anything about that. *ahem* Bloss describes this compulsion so uncannily (and hilariously) in Faking Faith that I was onboard right from the start. The power of an online obsession. The rush of community acceptance. The need to be involved and...more

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Mar 09, 2013 Renae M. rated it 4 of 5 stars

Recommended to Renae by: Pinkie Pie

Shelves: read-in-2013, contemporary-or-realistic-fiction, viewers-choice

To say that Faking Faith is a serious novel would probably do it a disservice. That is to say, Bloss deals with serious issues of identity and contentment in this book, but she does it with a light-hand, often adding grim humor to a situation that would otherwise cause readers to have some sort of indignant and furious reaction.

After Dylan is caught sexting and has become the most disliked person at her school, she does what any teen girl would do: she attempts to forget about her problems. Exce...more To say that Faking Faith is a serious novel would probably do it a disservice. That is to say, Bloss deals with serious issues of identity and contentment in this book, but she does it with a light-hand, often adding grim humor to a situation that would otherwise cause readers to have some sort of indignant and furious reaction.

After Dylan is caught sexting and has become the most disliked person at her school, she does what any teen girl would do: she attempts to forget about her problems. Except, instead of drugs or sex, Dylan’s rebellion is more subtle (and potentially hilarious). After stumbling on a corner of the blogosphere that’s inhabited by ultra-conservative Christians, Dylan decided to become one of them. Her fake personality is put to the test when she gets a chance to meet one of the bloggers, Abigail, in person. While staying with Abigail, Dylan learns a lot about herself and acceptance and all that gooshy sentimental stuff one would expect.

When I say Faking Faith is funny, I mean it in a ridiculous satirical way. This book is like a comic cautionary tale on “being careful what you wish for” and “the grass isn’t always greener”, etc. Josie Bloss doesn’t portray Christianity negatively, though I think most readers (myself included) won’t be able to help but draw a negative conclusion on the particular brand of Christianity portrayed in Faking Faith. Specifically, the brand that says women are weak creatures and God doesn’t want Christians associating with non-Christians, and all that jazz. Dylan’s new friend, Abigail, has a hope chest, for goodness’ sake! I didn’t even know people outside of Amish communities still did that. Yep, anyway.

While reading Faking Faith, it was hard not to feel bad for Abigail and her family. Her father is an abusive and controlling man who uses the Bible to keep a tight grip on his wife and children by shaming them and keeping them afraid of hell and the outside world. Dylan (alias Faith), is at first enchanted by their lifestyle, but as she realizes that the atmosphere of the household is more of a stifling hermitage than a wholesome and nurturing environment.

Of course, by the end of the novel, Dylan figures out that the fundamentalist Christian lifestyle isn’t for her, and she goes home with a new appreciation for her own messed up family, complete with cheesy lines and sappy hugs.

I think that, overall, Faking Faith does an excellent job with the subject it takes on. Josie Bloss managed to keep her own opinions in regards to religion out of the mix and never sermonized in either direction, though her characters did preach a bit. Obviously, like Dylan, I don’t think that a woman’s main job in life is to pop out babies and submit to her husband/father, so that aspect made me just as uncomfortable as it did her. In a good way. So overall, Faking Faith offers intelligent and thought-provoking commentary on how no family is perfect, and that running away from your problems doesn’t solve anything. I wouldn’t really say this is a religious book at all, since the Christian aspects were only used to reaffirm Bloss’s “the grass isn’t always greener” message. But either way, it was interesting.

Read more reviews at Respiring Thoughts.(less)

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Oct 26, 2012 Michele rated it 2 of 5 stars

2.5 Stars...
I have mixed feelings towards this book. As a Christian this book was a little offensive. I kept reading it to see what would happen. I am a stay at home mom that home school's my kids, and I felt like this totally portrayed us in a horrible way. I thought that there were good parts in it, the faith in God, and their humbleness. I didn't like that a "good Christian Man" was portrayed as overbearing and mean.
Like I said I kept reading to see if there was going to be a moment when the...more

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Jul 21, 2012 Amy rated it 2 of 5 stars

As a homeschooled Christian girl, I picked up Faking Faith with a deep sense of curiousity. Would Bloss be the type to bash homeschooling, Christianity, and big families in general, or did she come from one and therefore be more sympathetic? Well, Faking Faith falls somewhere in-between.
Plot:
Dylan Mahoney has pretty much reached rock bottom on the social scale at her high school. After an embarssing "sexting" incident, with pictures released all over Google, even her best friends won't talk to...more

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Jun 29, 2012 Paula Phillips rated it 3 of 5 stars

Review: Faking Faith -Josie Bloss - November 2011
Have you ever wondered what it would be like to create an alter-ego ? Would it start to take over your life ? What type of person would you make your alter ego to be ?
Meet, Dylan Mahoney. She thought she had it all , a great boyfriend, friends until one day her boyfriend dumped her and Dylan took to his car with a golf club and the next thing she knows it , is that a picture of herself topless that she sent to Brandon has ended up on everyone's ph...more

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Apr 22, 2012 Susan rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: kids-books

I read this in one night. It told the story of a girl from the outskirts of Chicago being completely shunned at her school due to some stupid actions on her part. Alone, she gets sucked into the online world of Christian homeschoolers and creates a fake persona for herself. She ends up visited one of her online friends for a couple of weeks, pretending to be something she's not. She gets caught, of course, but that's just a sideline to the story. The main story is how this life completely foreig...more

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Apr 15, 2012 Kelly rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: ya-fiction, read-in-2012

2.5.

Dylan's reputation was tarnished when she dated a guy who just used her. She lost her friends and found herself withdrawing all together from life. Them she stumbled upon a corner of the blogosphere inhabited by homeschooled, very devoutly religious girls and she became fascinated by them. She took her fascination one step further by starting a blog and faking an entire name/identity as one of these girls. Dylan/Faith becomes really close to one of the "big name" bloggers in this world, Abig...more 2.5.

Dylan's reputation was tarnished when she dated a guy who just used her. She lost her friends and found herself withdrawing all together from life. Them she stumbled upon a corner of the blogosphere inhabited by homeschooled, very devoutly religious girls and she became fascinated by them. She took her fascination one step further by starting a blog and faking an entire name/identity as one of these girls. Dylan/Faith becomes really close to one of the "big name" bloggers in this world, Abigail, and she decides she needs to meet her in person. That's when all of the loose threads of her story fall apart.

Call me paranoid, but this is one of those situations I've worried about happening to me quite a bit -- finding out someone you've grown to trust via the internet isn't who they say they are.

For the most part, I enjoyed the story, though I found the writing and plotting to be really weak in the first quarter of the story. It felt much more like telling, rather than showing, but once Dylan/Faith falls into this online world, those problems become less an issue. Dylan is an interesting and complex character because she's engaging in something that's pretty bothersome (she's a liar!) but she does it because she feels so lonely and confused (so she garners sympathy). When she makes it to Abigail's farm, things aren't easy at all, and she doesn't necessarily find an easy solution to her problems. I found her judgment of the Dean family's way of life a little annoying and close-minded, but I think in the end, she came to realize it didn't matter how they lived their lives, as long as she was living hers the way she needed to.

This book requires suspending belief a bit; never once did Dylan/Faith's parents worry about her leaving home to spend a couple weeks elsewhere -- she'd told them she was attending a program half-way across the state, but they never bothered to ask what kind of program, how much it cost, what she'd be doing, etc. They just let her go. To some extent it makes sense since her parents were so focused on themselves, but I found it hard to buy, especially since they only checked in on her once.

I was a little worried this book would go down the path of making a blanket judgment over these closed religious communities, and while there are certainly snippets here and there of that, it isn't overwhelming and it doesn't detract from developing full characters who live this life (whether they choose to do so or not). Abigail, who Dylan/Faith believes is the perfect, ideal girl, has her own problems and she deals with them like any other teenager would. Just because she's got strong faith doesn't mean she is immune to challenges or to feeling things like any other human being. Same goes with Asher.

The resolution was a little too clean for me, and I felt like in the end, Dylan got out of the situation with Abigail's family a little too easily (despite not having other easy outs while there). I wish the first part of the book had been stronger so I could really understand the hurt and frustration Dylan felt after the breakup with her boyfriend and her best friends. It'd maybe make the final scene more memorable. (view spoiler)

Ultimately, a fun read, and those who have ever looked for/found community on the internet will appreciate this one a lot. There's a nice message of friendship and life choices without this becoming a Message Book. (less)

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Mar 26, 2012 Stacia ~ Mistress of Mediocrity rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: young-adult

After bagging on several books for getting it wrong, I finally found an example of how an open ending can be done in a way which isn't completely annoying.

Psst. I have a secret. One I shouldn't tell. You might think horribly of me once I mention what it is. This secret is so possibly embarrassing that I think I'll hide it in a spoiler tag. Look only if you're brave!

(view spoiler)...more

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Feb 21, 2012 Alicia Scully rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: fiction, gr-10-12, young-adult-lit, realistic

Dylan has made some mistakes in her life--mainly those surrounding a certain boy whom she knew she shouldn't have gotten involved with. These mistakes spiraled into a sexting scandal that greatly separated her from her peers. Her solitude in the real world translated to a fierce attachment to an online community of fundamentalist Christian girls who blog about their lives and God's grace. Dylan eventually creates her own blog about the life of a girl that she makes up known as Faith. She then st...more

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Jan 21, 2012 Jessi rated it 1 of 5 stars

I was really looking forward to this book. I was a few pages in and became frustrated because I thought the writing was kind of contrived. Sentences were sloppily constructed and there were some really simple grammatical errors (like a then/than mixup) that any decent editor should have caught. I thought that some people might excuse things like this because the book is written from the viewpoint of a teenager, but if you look at the vocabulary the narrator uses, it's really unrealistic. Additio...more I was really looking forward to this book. I was a few pages in and became frustrated because I thought the writing was kind of contrived. Sentences were sloppily constructed and there were some really simple grammatical errors (like a then/than mixup) that any decent editor should have caught. I thought that some people might excuse things like this because the book is written from the viewpoint of a teenager, but if you look at the vocabulary the narrator uses, it's really unrealistic. Additionally, I was a bit disappointed by the portrayal of the young religious women in the book. It seems the author took stereotypical bits and pieces from various corners of the Christian faith, and mashed them all together. To me, this just comes across as a lack of understanding of one's characters. Yes, there are conservative teenage girls who blog. Sometimes, though, they came across as downright Amish. There were a lot of farm-girl depictions in the book. But really, do the majority of homeschoolers live on farms? I doubt it. Also, the tone could be condescending at times. Dylan, the narrator, talks about these girls who aspire to be good wives and mothers one day as if that is their sole goal in life. It's a "given" that these girls have no desire or are not allowed to ever attend college or have careers. The author portrays this as punishment, in my opinion. This is another stereotype, though. The Bible says nothing about keeping women away from education or the workplace, and therefore the vast majority of homeschooling families don't hold this opinion, either. Sure, some of them won't go to college. There are plenty that do, though.
I'm not a super-conservative dress-wearing Christian homeschooler, but I thought that the author should have put a little more effort into accurately portraying this community. In my line of work, I encounter these kinds of families a lot (I work at a public library)- the girls portrayed in the book come across as caricatures of preconceived notions people seem to have about this crowd.
Maybe the author does know girls like this. It is possible that she is writing from her own experience- I kind of doubt it, though. Between the stereotypes, the contrived ending ("Maybe I'll put my experiences into a novel!") and the editorial laziness, I was tremendously disappointed in the book. It took me less than two hours to read from cover to cover, so at least I didn't waste too much time on it. (less)

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Jan 10, 2012 Megan rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: 3-stars, children-and-young-adult, fiction

The secret shame of my Internet bookmarks: among the recipes, the how-to articles, and the gazillion and one book reviews, I have saved links to a few personal blogs of people who belong to subcultures I am in no way a part of but am voyeuristically fascinated by. That's what blogs are for, right? An opportunity to expand one's own world by learning about the lives of other people. I also have to admit I've done a little daydreaming about what my life would be like if I were a part of these kind...more The secret shame of my Internet bookmarks: among the recipes, the how-to articles, and the gazillion and one book reviews, I have saved links to a few personal blogs of people who belong to subcultures I am in no way a part of but am voyeuristically fascinated by. That's what blogs are for, right? An opportunity to expand one's own world by learning about the lives of other people. I also have to admit I've done a little daydreaming about what my life would be like if I were a part of these kinds of subcultures.

So, yeah. When I read the blurb for this book, I thought, "Hmmmm. I can recognize some of the feelings here."

For Dylan, the seventeen-year-old protagonist of Faking Faith, the Internet is first a source of trouble (after Dylan's boyfriend cheats on her and she takes a golf club to his car--the incident of course captured in video and posted to the Internet--he then emails to the rest of the school the topless cell phone pics she had sent him earlier) and then later a source of refuge. Friendless and harassed at her high school, she's now spending a lot of time home alone, at the computer. She becomes obsessed by the blogs of fundamentalist Christian teenage girls who seem to live picture-perfect lives and who also seem to have the peace and serenity of knowing All The Answers. But Dylan's not satisified by just reading or even just commenting on the blogs. No, Dylan has to assume a fake identity as one of these girls and get herself into this group. She wants to be accepted by them. And it all happens just as she dreams it, and within a few months, Dylan's actually buying a bus ticket to go visit her new best friend--the most popular and most virtuous girl of all these bloggers--and she's going to pull off this charade in person.

In a way, this book is pretty much a classic YA novel: Dylan is desperate to be accepted by a group of girls who have everything she thought she wanted, she learns this life is obviously not what it seems like from the outside, and she returns to her old life and knows how to improve it. I like the Internet and Quiverfull twist, and I thought that Bloss did a fair job depicting the religious aspect without being too one-dimensional--and a particular good job at depicting what it was like for those caught in that lifestyle (Dylan's friend Abigail, and Asher, Abigail's brother). I didn't find the characters particularly deep; Dylan's never given much of a personality other than her obsessive stalking of the lifestyle, and I was pretty disappointed by how she didn't even think through how she'd pull off her fakery in person, and how she managed to fool so many people for so long. The book centers primarily around her visit to Abigail's family's farm, not the actual Internet blogging stuff, so I was deprived of an opportunity to read for myself whether Dylan was convincing in her fakery. I found her parents' change of heart in the end to be pretty convenient, too, but I really did like seeing how they could communicate better now, with so much out in the open.

The ending's tone and openness was one of my favorite things about the book. (Speaking of the openness, this is a good book for fandom. After reading it, I knew exactly what kind of fanfiction I'd want from this book, and I could see other people getting into it, too.) There aren't easy answers, but Dylan now knows what she could have faith in, and what she wants to have faith in, and she's better equipped to work toward peace and security and friendship and family in her own life.(less)

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Dec 14, 2011 Angieleigh rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: bc11-12

This book was recommended by my best friend and blogmate. She was right, it was a cute, funny read.

I am pretty sure that Ms. Bloss must have caught the Duggar family and their friends on TV a time or two because Abigail's upbringing reminded me a lot of the Duggars customs. I was glad, however, that the dad was nothing like Jim Bob and the mother was nearly nothing like Michelle, except her cheerfulness that got a bit tedious at times until she showed her true colors.

...I'm almost certain she mu...more

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Nov 21, 2011 Jac (For Love and Books) rated it 4 of 5 stars

Poor Dylan Mohaney! This book is one series of bad decisions after another! First she falls victim to a sexting scandal, and goes all Carrie Underwood on her boyfriend - which coincidentally? Is also caught on video.

Then, while still grounded from the above incidents, she uses her parents credit card to buy a bus ticket to meet a girl she's met on the internet - telling her parents she's on her way to some school related summer camp. (At this point? I was seriously wanting to shake some sense i...more

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Jan 11, 2012 Allison rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: ya-fiction, ya-realism

After an unfortunate sexting incident happens to Dylan at school, she finds herself alone and abandoned by her friends, her one time boyfriend, and her work-a-holic parents. In her new-found free time, Dylan becomes obsessed with the blogs of fundamentalist Christian girls whose lifestyles resemble those of the "Stay At Home Daughter" or "Quiverfull" movements (Duggar's anyone?).

Dylan is fascinated by their simple, wholesome, family centered lives, and soon observing is just not enough. She cre...more

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May 11, 2013 cactussecret rated it 4 of 5 stars

Never really been a fan of stories relating to religion, especially if it's Christianity( no offence here I just have absolutely no interest in it ) BUT managed to read the whole story and wow I didn't regret a thing. All I can say is, the author did a GREAT JOB making the book both light on the religious matter yet heavy on the feelings and the whole intensity of the situation the characters were facing. I feel sorry for Abigail's background and how she was born into a family and forced to beli...more

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Apr 08, 2012 Logan rated it 4 of 5 stars

An absolutely shocking plotline. The entire time I read the book, I couldn't help but picture the Duggars and their perspective on life and the role of women in the household. I was slightly disgusted at the fact that there are women that feel as though their only option is the path their father lays out for them. As I type this, my mother came in to ask which shoe matched her outfit better. In this society, who cares? You'll be married off anyway, whether your outfit looks nice, or like you pul...more

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Feb 27, 2012 Jeff Raymond rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: read-ya-contemporary

Ugh.

The concept behind this book is great - a girl gets caught up in a sexting scandal at school, and falls into the online world of homeschooled evangelical teenagers to the point of actually starting a blog of her own, faking her way in the evangelical world as "Faith." She becomes friendly with another girl and actually goes to visit her and live among those she has merely been pretending to be.

Like I said, great concept. Sadly, the execution is less than stellar. It handles a difficult, ofte...more

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Nov 12, 2011 Fred rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

After a series of bad decisions, culminating in the widespread dissemination of some foolishly shared ("you'll never show these to anyone,right?") topless photos, MC Dylan finds herself home alone, suspended, grounded by her workaholic parents, shunned by her friends and generally very, very lonely and unhappy. What's a girl to do? Why, spend hours on the internet, of course, where she becomes intrigued by and sucked into the world of homeschooled fundamentalist Christian girls (from families th...more After a series of bad decisions, culminating in the widespread dissemination of some foolishly shared ("you'll never show these to anyone,right?") topless photos, MC Dylan finds herself home alone, suspended, grounded by her workaholic parents, shunned by her friends and generally very, very lonely and unhappy. What's a girl to do? Why, spend hours on the internet, of course, where she becomes intrigued by and sucked into the world of homeschooled fundamentalist Christian girls (from families that kind of remind me of the Duggers). She really connects with with one of them, a girl from southern Illinois named Abigail (I think that name means "Handmaid," appropriate for her, as it develops). Dylan (whose name comes from a guy who was the ultimate symbol of the hedonistic 60's) invents her own such persona, "Faith" (I like the ambiguity of the title, btw, referring to both her name and her beliefs). As Faith, Dylan creates her own blog, and insinuates herself into the little online community and ultimately ends up visiting Abigail and her family (she's a clever one, if a bit sneaky). Faith's visit stirs up a lot of things at the farm, including Abi's brother Asher, who's already somewhat on probation for having been seen kissing a non-Christian girl. Is Faith's presence and impact a good thing for any of them?

One of the things I really liked about this book was the starkly contrasting nature of Dylan/Faith's two worlds. Her parents are mystified by her interest in and questions about things like baking, and why they never go to church. And of course Abi's family views the world Dylan comes from (if they think of it at all), as equally incomprehensible, and essentially a snare for the unwary, to be avoided above all. The relationshion between Abigail, the first person Dylan's connected with in so long who hasn't judged and rejected her, is sweet and convincing, and all the more dramatic for being founded on a whole lot of lying. Maybe because it is so utterly foreign to her experience, Dylan doesn't judge Abigail's world harshly, but instead sees it as something to be experienced, comparing it to being on an alien planet at one point. One of the things I liked best was how Dylan was able to see the appealing things about both worlds, and I appreciated that the author didn't engage in a lot of stereotyping or mockery of "those benighted kooks," but was able to see what they had that the more materialistic and driven lawyer family lacked (and vice versa, of course).

This is one of those "OMG, girlfriend don't do that books," a lot of the time, and it's fun (and stressful) to see how such bad judgment and poor impulse control land Dylan in so much, and so many different kinds of, hot water. But Dylan does grow, heal and learn as the summer goes on, and the Faith experience ends up being one that brings her a new appreciation of her own world and family, while also, perhaps, having a similar effect on Abigail and Asher. When Dylan applies what Faith learned to the situation she left behind, she's able to reconcile her experience of both worlds in a healing and hopeful way that make the conclusion emotional and satisfying. And isn't that what a good YA book is supposed to do?(less)

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Mar 20, 2012 Darlene rated it 4 of 5 stars

This young adult novel by Josie Bloss seemed to start out as a warning of sorts about the dangers of the internet, and the constant texting (or in this particular story.. 'sexting'), which is so prevalent among adolescents in our society. The story surrounds teen Dylan Mahoney, who suffers like so many teens, from low self-esteem, lack of self-confidence, no guidance from her ever busy parents and her overwhelming need to 'belong'. She becomes involved with a guy (a user!) who talks her into sen...more This young adult novel by Josie Bloss seemed to start out as a warning of sorts about the dangers of the internet, and the constant texting (or in this particular story.. 'sexting'), which is so prevalent among adolescents in our society. The story surrounds teen Dylan Mahoney, who suffers like so many teens, from low self-esteem, lack of self-confidence, no guidance from her ever busy parents and her overwhelming need to 'belong'. She becomes involved with a guy (a user!) who talks her into sending inappropriate photos of herself to him via her cell phone. And upon their inevitable bad breakup, he posts the photos online. Dylan is ostracized by everyone at school... including her two best friends. Her absentee parents are disappointed and don't know how to talk to her about her situation so Dylan becomes very lonely. She begins to obsess over blogs written by homeschooled fundamentalist Christian girls... one in particular written by a teen girl named Abigail. Dylan becomes so immersed in the online world, that she creates a phony alter-ego named Faith and starts a blog of her own. She ends up going to visit Abigail and her family for a couple of weeks and realizes that this world that seemed so perfect and uncomplicated actually has its own pitfalls and complications.... very much like her own.

Faking Faith turned out to be more than just a cautionary tale about internet usage. It turned out to be a well-written, thought provoking story... about two very different lifestyles and just how it's possible, that even though people always look for where the 'grass seems to be greener', any lifestyle has the capability of keeping people 'in a box.' This was a hopeful story, in the end, of how two young adults with very different belief systems managed to come together and find some understanding. Ultimately, they continued on their different paths, but as sometimes happens... they each managed to take something good from the other and use it to become better, more accepting people.(less)

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Mar 25, 2012 Afton Nelson rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: young-adult

This was an interesting, if unrealistic, read. I was with the main character right up until she decided to take her on-line stalking and fake blog personality and turn it into a 2 week stay with her favorite on-line BFF, an ultra-conservative, homeschooled, totally sheltered, Christian young woman. What I did like about the story was how Dylan/Faith grasped on to Abigail's world, observed it, was able to take the good and leave the bad and make positive changes in her own life. Abigail's life wa...more

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Nov 20, 2011 Ann Frohoff rated it 5 of 5 stars

Where to start...hmm. Well, the good thing is I want more & I don't want to spoil it by telling you why. So, well done, Josie Bloss. This is actually my first comment regarding a book I've read.
I have not read any of the reviews for this book, I just saw it on many of my "friends" to-read list. I had no idea of what to expect.

As someone who was quite daring as a teen, I did relate to this character in many instances. I too lied to my parents one too many times, taking journeys to far off pl...more

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Nov 08, 2011 Kelly Hager rated it 5 of 5 stars

Dylan is not having a good year. It started out great, true, but things have quickly taken a turn south. She was dating the most popular guy in school---which led to a huge fight with her friends---but then she caught him cheating on her. So naturally, she had to take a golf club to his car. Unfortunately, he retaliated in the worst possible way: he emailed personal photos to everyone. And when I say "personal," I mean "topless."

You should not be surprised to learn that she has since been ground...more Dylan is not having a good year. It started out great, true, but things have quickly taken a turn south. She was dating the most popular guy in school---which led to a huge fight with her friends---but then she caught him cheating on her. So naturally, she had to take a golf club to his car. Unfortunately, he retaliated in the worst possible way: he emailed personal photos to everyone. And when I say "personal," I mean "topless."

You should not be surprised to learn that she has since been grounded. To pass the time in her new life in solitary confinement, she surfs the internet constantly. And then she finds blogs that these homeschooled Christian girls keep. She's quickly sucked into reading about their lives, and then creates her own, under the guise of a homeschooled girl named Faith. But how long can she keep the charade going?

I cannot tell you how much I enjoyed this book. It's fun and sweet and, best of all, not snide. Dylan-as-Faith makes friends with Abigail (sort of the queen bee of the Christian teen blogging set) and while Abigail and real-Dylan are completely different, they form a fast friendship. Of course, it doesn't hurt that Abigail is talking to Faith; she never would've had a conversation with Dylan.

I feel like it would've been really easy for Josie Bloss to use this book as a way to make fun of Abigail and girls like her, but she doesn't. She presents the best and worst of both worlds, and shows that each side has gains and losses that the other doesn't have. For example, while Abigail knows her path is set (she will grow up, get married to someone her parents approve of and she will have children that she will stay home to raise), she doesn't get much of a say in it. But is that really that much worse than what most of us do? We stumble around and learn by a series of mistakes we make.

Of course, Dylan and Abigail form a great friendship and while neither has their mind changed, both minds are definitely more open by the end.

Also, I'd be remiss if I didn't mention the love interest. Abigail's brother, Asher, has his own drama and is so conflicted about Dylan-as-Faith. But the two of them are so great for each other, and I am holding out hope for a sequel because there is so much that could happen between Asher and Dylan.

Recommended.
(less)

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Jan 19, 2013 Nicole R rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2013, children-young-adult, realistic-contemporary

I was intrigued by Faking Faith. I mean, Dylan goes from sexting to pretending to be a fundamentalist Christian. I get why she's initially drawn in, and how she was able to take the good from Abigail's life. You sort of see her appreciate her own life after visiting Abigail.

I was definitely intrigued by Abigail and her family and their beliefs. I'm fairly certain there are more than a few people out there who think families like Abigail's are strange and maybe even a little crazy. I would say Fa...more

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May 30, 2012 Megan rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: too-y-a

This book sucked me in really quickly and held my attention. I think I read it in like an hour and a half! The whole premise of 'extreme' religious teens blogging was intriguing and not something I had happened upon before. Dylan was likeable, but I found the Abigail character to be much more interesting and I wish her and Asher could have been given more perspective than Dylan, the outsider to their lifestyle. The beginning and the end of the book were entirely too short, sadly. Dylan's explana...more

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Jan 14, 2013 Rebecca rated it 4 of 5 stars

A sweet, rather unconventional story about forgiveness and honesty. After a devastating incident involving a boy and a provocative picture, Dylan is ostracized by her peers and friends. When she finds blogs about fundamentalist Christian life, she starts fantasizing about a new world. Pretending to be Faith, Dylan meets wholesome Abigail whose home life is one where the parents are home more than a couple of hours a night, and there are home-cooked meals on the table. But, as Dylan soon learns,...more

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Nov 02, 2011 Kat Alexander rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: books-i-own, arc, read-2011, reviewed, figment-review

3 1/2

Dylan Mahoney is an outcast. She used to have friends, good grades, the trust of her parents, etc., etc., before a certain short-lived boyfriend, a viral video of her totalling his car with his own golf club, and a few naked photos sent via text message. Abandoned and alone, Dylan turns to the Internet, and finds a new obsession--the blogs of fundamentalist Christian girls, the ones who live on farms in the middle of nowhere and have six siblings. Dylan, fascinated, creates her own blog wit...more 3 1/2

Dylan Mahoney is an outcast. She used to have friends, good grades, the trust of her parents, etc., etc., before a certain short-lived boyfriend, a viral video of her totalling his car with his own golf club, and a few naked photos sent via text message. Abandoned and alone, Dylan turns to the Internet, and finds a new obsession--the blogs of fundamentalist Christian girls, the ones who live on farms in the middle of nowhere and have six siblings. Dylan, fascinated, creates her own blog with her own persona, pennamed Faith. But when she finds herself living among one of the bloggers, has the deception gone too far?

I read the book in a single sitting. Like, without getting up. Sat down. Read book. It didn't take long. It's a relatively quick read, and there aren't real stopping points until the very end. It's not so much that there are massive cliffhangers at every chapter, but it's like reading TVTropes, or Dylan's blogs--once you start, you're pulled in by some weird fascination that doesn't allow you to put the book down. The plot is just so different from the usual. The feasibility of Dylan's trip to the home of one of her favourite bloggers might be questionable, but reading about the family is too interesting to think about it all that much.

Still, just because I was sucked in the whole time doesn't mean I was impressed the whole time. The beginning of the book is an information dump--the first four chapters are primarily dedicated to a summary of Dylan's life from November to the present day, around the end of the school year. While it didn't entirely put me off reading, it did bother me. By the end I was bored of all the infodump and couldn't wait to get into the part of the novel that sounds like a novel, instead of just an extended plot summary. The family Dylan stays with at times seemed too canned--there was nothing surprising about them, nothing that seemed unlike the assumptions that are usually held about religious fundamentalists. I don't think the book was a regurgitation of stereotypes or that the author didn't research, but I still wasn't entirely satisfied.

Dylan didn't appeal to me at all, hardly. Probably in real life, she would be an acquaintance--not someone I would be friends with, but not someone I disliked. In a novel, though, she annoyed me. She's surprised too often by the family's more stereotypical behaviours, like she's never heard of teenage girls forced into arranged marriages by their parents to older men, or sons being punished by their parents for falling in love with someone outside their religion. And this is after already reading these blogs for months and months--how could she not have been aware for so long? It just didn't seem to fit to me.

Overall, it's an interesting enough book. I enjoyed reading it, and stayed intrigued the whole time. There's a bit of romance, a bit of deception, some moral questioning. It's not all that hard-hitting or controversial, but for a quick read, it's at the least a solid, interesting one.(less)

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Jan 30, 2012 Sara rated it 3 of 5 stars

Recommended to Sara by: Allison

Shelves: ya-fiction, christianity-and-spirituality

Sexting is something that has gotten a lot of media coverage lately — young girls taking and sending nude photos to their boyfriends; this often backfires when the couple breaks up, the photos are distributed, and charges are brought about regarding distribution of child pornography. But although that is the catalyst for this novel, it is not the central theme. Dylan is one of those girls — swept off her feet by the bad boy (despite warnings of her friends), and then tossed aside in a dramatic c...more Sexting is something that has gotten a lot of media coverage lately — young girls taking and sending nude photos to their boyfriends; this often backfires when the couple breaks up, the photos are distributed, and charges are brought about regarding distribution of child pornography. But although that is the catalyst for this novel, it is not the central theme. Dylan is one of those girls — swept off her feet by the bad boy (despite warnings of her friends), and then tossed aside in a dramatic clash culminating in a smashed windshield and a flurry of picture texts. While she attempts to recuperate from the social ostracizing that occurs, Dylan finds herself reading the blog of a homeschooled fundamentalist Christian girl named Abigail, and becomes fascinated by her life, so very different from her own. And soon Dylan is making her own blog in an attempt to connect with Abigail and other girls like her.

I have to admit that I grew up with some girls like this. My parents did homeschool me, and my mother tried hard to make us fit into the good homeschooled Christian girl model (ala Elisabeth Elliot), although we were too Chinese to ever be the perfect fundamentalist girls. So I know all too well the world that the curious Dylan describes, right down to the “Christian girlhood” blogs that she reads, first with astonishment and a little scorn; I had friends who dabbled in writing similar newsletters, though these were actual mailed newsletters — no World Wide Web for them! I appreciate that in this story, Dylan’s experience with this foreign family and their odd lifestyle causes her to become closer to her own family and friends, creating an appreciation that she did not have before. That Dylan realizes she cannot force Abigail to accept her help in breaking away from the unhealthy aspects of the lifestyle is also very true to life. The author seems to do a good job at portraying Dylan’s attempts to understand and respect the lifestyle choices made by the fundamentalists while still disagreeing with some of their beliefs; however, upon reading Bloss’s blog, it is evident that she is adamantly anti-fundamentalist, calling her discoveries “sheer mind-boggling terror.” And while I too have issues with fundamentalism, for many of the same reasons that Dylan does in this novel, the author’s attitude of outright condemnation and disgust does not seem like the most appropriate way to bridge the gap to women who are emerging from this lifestyle, nor would it give teens much sympathy for someone recently emancipated from such a lifestyle.(less)

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Mar 24, 2012 Victoria rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This was a 'palate cleanser' between 2 tough books (as YA titles are easy reads and you can blow through them pretty quickly) and it was decent enough and did the job I was looking for it to do.

The characters were neither memorable nor too forgettable. I will say that the characterization of Abigail and her entire family were no more than caricatures of how modern society views far right winged fundamentalist Christians (think the Duggars, but in book form). Having had grown up in a pretty funda...more

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Dec 09, 2011 Hannah rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2011, own-finished-copy

I was kind of wary of reading Faking Faith, like I always am when it comes to books dealing with religion. No matter what direction you're going, it's always a tricky topic. Books dealing with religion can go either way - I either love them or hate them. And while I didn't love how religion is handled in Faking Faith, it turned out to be a really fun read!

I was immediately pulled in by Faking Faith. Just like Dylan, I was intrigued by the blogs of these Christian fundamentalist girls. Before rea...more I was kind of wary of reading Faking Faith, like I always am when it comes to books dealing with religion. No matter what direction you're going, it's always a tricky topic. Books dealing with religion can go either way - I either love them or hate them. And while I didn't love how religion is handled in Faking Faith, it turned out to be a really fun read!

I was immediately pulled in by Faking Faith. Just like Dylan, I was intrigued by the blogs of these Christian fundamentalist girls. Before reading this one, I thought it was kind of weird that she turns to these blogs, and I didn't get how she would even come across something like that. But while reading, it made sense, and it turned out I was just as pulled in by that world as Dylan is - I wanted to know everything Abigail's life.

Dylan is a good character, easy to relate to, even in the beginning. Reading how she describes how she went out with Blake, the guy who ended up posting naked pictures of her online, it should have been easy for the reader to think of Dylan as some stupid girl who trusted a guy who acted like he cared for her. But somehow, the story works - she knows she was stupid and freely admits it, and that made me feel for her instead of roll my eyes at her stupidity.

Abigail's character is conflicting. My feelings towards her are similar to Dylan's - in the beginning, I thought she was completely crazy and didn't understand her at all, but after we get to know her more, I ended up really feeling for her. Asher, Abigail's older brother, is, well, okay. What we do know about him I liked, but I would have liked to know a lot more about him and his history.

Now comes the part of this review I've been dreading - the religion-part. For the most part, the topic is handled well in Faking Faith, and luckily, the author's not trying to shove her opinion down our throats, which I can't stand. But at times I think the book is a little too against Christianity - I don't agree with Abigail's belief, but Christianity itself is not a bad thing, and I would have liked to see some more of that in the book. The way it is, it felt a little too much like the author or narrator was condemning Christianity altogether.

I found the ending a little too happy, and I don't think it's realistic how much suddenly changes for the better.

Even though I feel like some aspects in Faking Faith are lacking, this is a really fun book. The topics are fascinating, and the whole concept is different from anything I've read before. I recommend Faking Faith if you're looking for a quick, fun read!

Reviewed at http://www.paperbacktreasures.blogspo...(less)

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Dec 30, 2011 Soapykitty rated it 5 of 5 stars

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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About Josie Bloss

Josie Bloss grew up in East Lansing, Michigan. She attended the University of Michigan, where she was a member of the best college marching band in the country and a staff reporter for the Michigan Daily.

After obtaining a degree in Political Science, she tried to decide if she wanted to be a lawyer while wrangling paper in several large Chicago law firms that are attempting to take over the world....more

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“Because you fight it out, and stumble, and write bad poetry, and pick yourself up again, and at the end, hopefully, someday youre sitting with your kid on her bedroom floor, talking about how you screwed everything up too.” — 4 people liked it

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