Novel Review: Leap of Faith by Jamie Blair

Rating (Out of 5): ~3.5

Genre: YA Contemporary (+teenage mother)

Publisher: Simon & Schuster

Publish Date: September 3rd, 2013

Spoilers?: Not more than the synopsis.

Buy it here: Amazon. Barnes and Noble. Book Depository. Powells.

Goodreads Synopsis:

Can true love be built on lies? A teen on the run seeks relief and redemption in this gripping, romantic read.

Leah Kurtz has finally found a place to call home, a town where she and baby Addy can live in peace, far from the drug-infested place she grew up. Chris is one of the best parts of her new life, the only person who’s ever made her feel safe. And now that she’s found him, there’s no way she can tell the truth:

Her real name is Faith, not Leah. She’s seventeen, not nineteen. And the baby isn’t hers—Faith kidnapped her.

Faith’s history catches up with her when a cop starts asking questions and Chris’s aunt spots her picture in the newspaper. She knows it’s time to run again, but if Faith leaves, she’ll lose Chris. If Chris is in love with a lie, though, did Faith ever really have him in the first place?

Something Specific:

Quote:

• "'It is what it is. I can accept it or not.’ Her eyes meet mine. ‘I want him. So I accept it.’ […] She must really love Ken. Some people will ignore a lot to be with the person they love.” (ARC, pg. 195)

The Cover:

My biggest problem with the cover is that it looks like it's trying to do three different things at once, when it could work a lot better with only two of them. I'd prefer it not to have the big side of the face on the left, and only have the see-through girl and boy walking, but even just the face and the boy would work. The two girls just don't work together very well, and it looks weird.

Aside from that, I suppose it fits. The feeling of it works for the story, although it definitely could try to portray the story a lot better.

Review:

I hadn’t heard anything about this book when I saw it at the bookstore, and upon reading the synopsis, I was immediately hooked. And the first page really had me wanting to keep reading, as well. It’s always nice when a book has a good opening, and this one definitely does.

I don’t know why, but just about any book about a teenager with a baby has my immediate attention. Also one with an abusive partner or parent. Those are deal makers for me.

Faith, later known as Leah, has a bad home life. A horrible one, really. She only has her mom, who is horrible, and her older sister, who is alright and there for her but also trying to get out of their situation when she starts college in a couple months.

And I don’t really want to spoil what happens, because it was left a surprise for me and I really liked it, but Faith ends up with a baby, and runs away. Changes her name to Leah, steals a car, and drives to a different state. Lies about her age, but ends up meeting some really nice people, gets an apartment, and a job (kind of, for a while). But throughout all of it, even as she meets Chris and gets close with him, she’s lying about who she really is and what’s going on with her, and is constantly worried about getting caught.

I liked Faith, and understand her reasons for everything she did. Didn’t like some of it sometimes, but understood. I hated her mother, and wasn’t really a big fan of her sister all the time, but maybe I would have just liked to have gotten to know her better, have seen a more rounded character. I liked Chris and his family, and how they all reacted to Faith.

The ending had me guessing, as there were two ways it could have ended and I was really dreading it going in one direction. I ended up liking the ending, though, even though I’d have liked a little bit more of it. I also think I just would have liked more character and relationship development, as I don’t think those were fully fleshed out.

The writing was pretty average, but nice and easy to get to. This was a pretty easy read, not particularly slow although not super fast, and definitely not lighthearted. It deals with a somewhat heavy subject, and it doesn’t really put a light spin on it, which was nice. 

Overall, this was just a pretty good read. Kept my attention, was easy to get through; I liked the story, I liked the characters even if I’d have liked to get to know them all more.