Review: The Possibilities of Sainthood

Genre: Young Adult
Title: The Possibilities of Sainthood
Author: Donna Freitas
Rating: 2.5/3

Plotline (from Goodreads):

Antonia Lucia Labella has two secrets: at fifteen, she’s still waiting for her first kiss, and she wants to be a saint. An official one. Seem strange? Well, to Antonia, saints are royalty, and she wants her chance at being a princess. All her life she’s kept company with these kings and queens of small favors, knowing exactly whom to pray to on every occasion. Unfortunately, the two events Antonia’s prayed for seem equally unlikely to happen. It’s not for lack of trying. For how long has she been hoping to gain the attention of the love of her life – the tall, dark, and so good-looking Andy Rotellini? Too long to mention. And every month for the last eight years, Antonia has sent a petition to the Vatican proposing a new patron saint and bravely offering herself for the post. So what if she’s not dead? 

But as Antonia learns, in matters of the heart and sainthood, things are about as straightforward as wound-up linguini, and sometimes you need to recognize the signs.

Author Donna Freitas

My take:

It's been a long time, but I've finally gotten the chance to go back and read something of my preferred genre! Yaaaaay!

I'm not sure if it was because I had been away from the young adult genre for so long or because this was just a darn good book to read, but either way I simply adored the book. I can't explain why, because there's simply no rhyme or reason to it (other than the fact that it was a darn good book, of course.)

Again, I'm not really sure if it's because of the book itself or if this is characteristic of the young adult genre in general, but the emotion the description builds up inside you is just incredible! Lately, I've been reviewing a lot of books that contain graphic sexual or horror themes. Not to say that those were bad reads (in fact, I quite enjoyed many of them as the brutality of the language really shocked me into becoming excited about the story) but there's only so much blood, guts and uninhibited sex one can take before deciding to take a break.

What I love about coming back to young adult fiction is the refreshing naivety of everything. Compared to hardcore romance novels and horror stories young adult is an extremely watered-down way of storytelling. Authors don't have the graphic language and M-rated description at their disposal because they're targeting a much younger audience. But somehow they manage to use whatever they have and truly pull at the strings in the depths of your soul. This clean, heartfelt emotion is such a beautiful thing, and definitely something I've only seen in the young adult genre.

SpoilerAlert!

Am I the only one who fell in love with Michael? The dude radiated so much cuteness I felt it coming out of the pages! *swoon*

Tell me what you thought about the book. I'm aware I was being overly gush, but have no regrets. Young adult is a kick-ass genre, and I'm so glad I came back to it.