Rowena’s review of Addison Blakely: Confessions of a PK by Betsy St. Amant.
Main Character: Addison Blakely
Love Interest: Wes Keegan
Series: None that I know of.
Author: Facebook|Twitter|Goodreads
Sixteen-year-old Addison Blakely has tireless played the role of PK—preacher’s kid—her entire life. But after Wes Keegan revs his motorcycle into town and into her heart, Addison begins to wonder how much of her faith is her own and how much has been handed to her. She isn’t so sure she wants to be the good girl anymore. Join Addison Blakely as she attempts to separate love from lust, facts from faith, and keep her head above water in her murky, fishbowl existence.
This was a Christian fiction book that didn’t come off as preachy which I enjoyed and appreciated. It didn’t take me long at all to read this book and I appreciated that as well. This book is a coming of age story about a young girl who is trying to stay on the straight and narrow. She’s at that age where she’s starting to question her beliefs and her faith because up until now, she’s been leaning on her Dad’s testimony. Now she will be curious enough to find those answers for herself.
She’s always been the PK (Preacher’s Kid) that gets good grades, is active in just about everything and is on the straight path to a great college of her choice. All of that is thrown in the air when she meets Wes. She’s distracted by her attraction to him and he’s not a boy that a good girl like her would bring home to her Daddy and him give her his blessing to date. He’s a bad boy with a leather jacket and a motorcycle that she can’t get out of her mind.
Wes has his own issues throughout this book and even though Addison is too caught up in her own personal demons to pay much attention to Wes’, the author did a great job of letting the reader know that Wes is real and he’s got his own issues to work out. What I really enjoyed about Wes is that he’s rough around the edges but he’s got a great big heart. You could see his frustrations with his attraction to Addison because she represents everything that he’s not too wild about but you can see that he can’t help his feelings for Addison.
What I liked about this story was that the author did a great job of making me wonder who the better boy was for Addison. Usually, I know which camp I’m in from the beginning but it was hard to tell in this book because while I liked both boys, I wasn’t always sure if Wes was good or not. He had a way of going about doing things that are meant to be good but don’t come off as good at first look.
Getting to know Addison was easy to fall in with but there were times when I wanted to smack some hot dang sense into her. There were times when she was so wrapped up in herself and what she was going through that I wanted her to take a step back and be there for someone else. So many people were there for her but she was always more wrapped up in herself to be there for anyone. Those people included Wes, Marta and Claire. I just thought that if she was less wrapped up in herself, she would have tried harder to reach Claire and she would have noticed that things weren’t as light as Claire was making it out to be. With Wes, she would have been able to realize that something happened that made him not perform in public and for him to get up there and do it anyway…FOR HER, made me want to slap some dang sense into her because all he got for his troubles was a thank you and a smile. With Marta, she was the best friend that Addison had (aside from Wes) and she was there for Addison but they spent most of their time together talking about Addison and her problems. I wish we could have spent some of that time, getting to know more about Marta. What happened to her that made her such a firm believer in the Church because she mentioned that there was a story there but we didn’t really get much of it.
Overall, this story was a fun read because Addison is fun to get to know and she’s not perfect (even though everyone seems to think she is) and that’s what I enjoyed about this book. I enjoyed all of the imperfections and I’m definitely interested in reading more from this author.
..and that’s your scoop!
Book cover and blurb credit: http://barnesandnoble.com
*nods* I agree with the stuff you have said. I felt like Addison was a bit “me me me” sometimes. Not in a mean way just in an unaware way.
But she was fun to get to know over all.
Thanks for such a great review! I’m so glad you enjoyed it! I just got my author copies in the mail and have been reading it again myself. 😉 If this helps explain anything, I had believed there would be a series, and a lot of Marta’s story was going to come through in the second. However, that’s now up in the air. If you guys liked it enough and want the sequel I have planned, an email to my publisher (Barbour Publishers) would go a long way. ::wink:: Thanks!!