Pure Enough by Sandy DeLisle

Title: Pure Enough
Author: Sandy DeLisle
Self-Published: October 2011

My Rating: 3.5 stars
Tags: YA | Romance | Realistic | Ebook
Includes: Sexuality

First Lines: If I had known wearing my cowboy boots was going to cause me so much grief on my first day of classes at Deer Grove High School, I would have worn the white sneakers my mom bought me for the occasion.

Growing up in Black Earth, Iowa, Katherine Brinkman has lived a very sheltered and conservative life. Because of her extremely protective parents, she has never had a boyfriend. After her mother receives a great teaching opportunity for a semester in Chicago, Katherine leaves with her mother to live there. Life in Chicago is very different than that in Black Earth. On the first day of school, as Katherine is teased for being a "hick" and "cowgirl", a goth named Charlotte stands up for her. From there, a tight friendship is formed between the two girls - one that Katherine must keep a secret from her mother, who only wants Katherine to befriend Christians. Katherine, who later changes her name to Kat, also falls for the attractive Aiden. Soon, they begin secretively dating and expanding their relationship to be more physical. Kat has grown up believing it's important to be pure and wait to have sex until marriage, but that value becomes more difficult to follow every day that she's with Aiden. Torn between the decision of whether to have sex or not, Kat must choose which is more important: to be pure and wait or give in to her sexual desires.

I've read a fair share of romance YA books that act as if sex is no big deal, which is something I disagree with. Being a Christian and firm believer in abstinence myself, I was really interested in reading this ebook. It was so different than all of the many other romance books I've read, since it treated sex as a big life-changing decision for Kat. Katherine's character was very realistic and I liked being able to see her grow and change throughout the book. It was interesting watching her question values that she had always learned to believe, and becoming more open-minded. By reading this book, I myself, realized that sometimes I can act just like her extremely conservative and close-minded best friend, but on a lower level. So I really connected with the characters and the storyline, and got a lot out of this book.

The author's writing was not extraordinary or memorably fantastic, but she definitely brought up great things to think about. I found myself really aggravated with Kat's uptight mother, and Kat's best friend irked me a lot. I love when a book's characters stir up emotions and reactions from the reader though, it really engrosses them in the novel even more. This was a quick and enjoyable read; it may at first seem light on the surface, but will leave you thinking in depth by the end. It's nice to know that there are still books in this generation that haven't completely abandoned the idea of sex being an important decision.

Cover Thoughts: For a self-published novel, it's actually pretty good. Nothing that memorable and it doesn't really stand out to me, but it is pleasing to look at.