Not So Pure and Simple: a rom-com for the ages

Not So Pure and Simple, by Lamar Giles, is a multi-layered story aimed not just for a young adult audience, but for adults who have opportunities to understand better what this generation is experiencing.  

The story introduces Del, a high school junior who is ready to jump at his chance to ask out his crush, Keira, now that she's available.  Only she has joined her church's Purity Pledge Alliance group and is not showing any interest in Del.  So he decides to join the group, too, in the hopes that he can spend time with her.  

What ensues is nothing what Del expects.  At times the story evokes laugh-out-loud situations and conversations between the characters.  At other times the story provokes multitudes of questions about what our youth face today in terms of pressure, posing, and getting their questions answered fairly.  The epic conclusion leaves the reader satisfied as the paths for the characters continue to stretch well-beyond the pages of the story.

The best part of this book's coming of age arc for Del is the support he gets from his family.  They allow him the space he needs to attempt to be his own person, but they provide guidance when those attempts fail.