Small Town Sinners by Melissa C. Walker

Small Town Sinners by Melissa C. Walker

Release Date: July 19, 2011

Publisher: Bloomsbury USA Childrens

Age Group: Young Adult
Pages: 288

Summary: Lacey Anne Byer is a perennial good girl and lifelong member of the House of Enlightenment, the Evangelical church in her small town. With her driver's license in hand and the chance to try out for a lead role in Hell House, her church's annual haunted house of sin, Lacey's junior year is looking promising. But when a cute new stranger comes to town, something begins to stir inside her. Ty Davis doesn't know the sweet, shy Lacey Anne Byer everyone else does. With Ty, Lacey could reinvent herself. As her feelings for Ty make Lacey test her boundaries, events surrounding Hell House make her question her religion.

Melissa Walker has crafted the perfect balance of engrossing, thought-provoking topics and relatable, likable characters. Set against the backdrop of extreme religion, Small Town Sinners is foremost a universal story of first love and finding yourself, and it will stay with readers long after the last page.

My Thoughts: I love Walker’s books. I always have to read her newest. She’s one of my favorite authors.

I was looking forward to this one as soon as I heard about it. And it was good but not something I’d normally read probably.

We are introduced to Lacey Anne Byer who is a good girl. She obeys her parents, goes to church, does well in school. She’s pretty set in her ways since she was raised this way. She’s just “good.” She’s been brought up by the church so her thoughts are pretty set in stone.

New boy Ty comes into the picture and she realizes there is more to him than she thought. Ty brings out a new side of Lacey. She wants to do things with him, like kiss him. Not something she would normally think about.

I really loved Ty. He hit home with me from the beginning. I enjoyed the first scene with him and I enjoyed the last. He is what made most of the book for me.

Lacey also learns of a friend’s secret and its hard on her. And everyone else. I really liked Lacey’s friends. I knew there was more behind their stories too. People can be so complex.

I liked this one. I liked how they participated in Hell House and it made things interesting. Seeing the different thoughts of different people and how they can influence each other. However, I figured there would be more to Ty’s story and there was.

I enjoyed this one a lot but I also felt myself wanting to throw it across the room a few times. I didn’t agree with every single thing in the book and that is ok. I’m not going to go into detail because everyone has their own thoughts and I’m the first to say there is always more to the story than what we think.

I won’t lie, this one is pretty deep and its also pretty intense. If you don’t want to read about religion at all, this won’t be the book for you. It does concentrate on it quite a bit.

Overall: I still love Melissa Walker’s writing. I liked the characters. And, I liked the plot for the most part. Just because there were a few parts of the story that got my emotions running and that is ok, I still enjoyed it. Of course, I’ll continue to read Walker’s work! Love her!

Cover: I love it! I love the apple, and I love how she is just laying there. This cover is very neat and eye catching and its also realistic and raw. I like it a lot. 

What I'd Give It: