I suspect this one will resonate with anyone who grew up in house devoted to religion. There was a lot in here that felt validating for me.

“God Spare the Girls” started as a bit of a professional-development project.

Washington, D.C.-based journalist Kelsey McKinney has spent years as a features writer for the likes of The New York Times, Deadspin, Vanity Fair and Defector, where she currently is a writer and co-owner.

“When I first started, I was trying to shift my reported work more into reported features, and I was realizing that my ability to describe things was very bad,” she said during a phone interview. “I started working on this as practice for writing beautifully, which is not often encouraged in the economic form of journalism.

“The more I did that, the more I kept doing that, and then suddenly I had all of these notepads, and these two girls that I was obsessed with, and a terrible rough draft.”

Fortunately for readers, McKinney took her rough draft and revised it (and revised it) into her much-celebrated debut novel. The Texas-set story of two sisters in a family splintered by revelations of their pastor father’s misdeeds has won kudos from Oprah Daily, Lit Hub, Shondaland and Bustle, among other outlets. It’s the July selection for the Texas Book Festival Club with Austin360, and McKinney will discuss it virtually July 29 with “God Land” author Lyz Lenz.

McKinney sets sisters Abigail and Caroline in the evangelical world she, too, was part of as a child. Rendering that culture meant capturing some distinctive details as an author. But McKinney notes it was most crucial to steer clear of skewing too far into caricature.

“What I was more concerned with is being fair to those experiences. I didn't want to write a book that was mocking of what people believed. I wanted to write something a little more complicated than that,” she said. She also wanted readers who were still in that world to recognize it, but not be so offended that it derailed the story for them.

McKinney artfully shows readers how Abigail and Caroline initially exist as less-powerful satellites orbiting around the men of the church. In one small, telling passage, the girls’ father pours his wife a cup of coffee in an attempt at a peace offering: “He tore open a couple of Splenda packets for his own. Caroline then waited for him to reach for the fridge. He didn’t. He stared at his wife’s cup as if it might tell him the answer.”

The siblings also navigate their own relationship as sisters who love each other fiercely, but also push each other’s buttons. McKinney said depicting that bond sometimes worried her.

“I was most nervous about how my sister would take it,” she said of concerns that readers might think the novel mirrors more than her evangelical childhood. “The sister relationship is the heart of the book. Before I went out to agents with the book I gave it to her and said, ‘Read this, and if you don’t want me to send it, I won't.'” (She got the go-ahead.)

Part of McKinney’s work on early drafts also included reckoning with the big-picture questions her characters wrestle with, including the boundaries of faith and the importance of choosing one’s own path. Above all, “God Spare the Girls” invites introspection.

“I wrote it because it was a book I could have used at 20,” McKinney said. “It could have changed my life.”

I couldn't resist this new release after Anne Helen Peterson mentioned it in Episode 284: I need an irresistible read this summer. I'd describe it as The Book of Essie meets Olympus, Texas. McKinney's debut novel is set in the insular small town of Hope, Texas where evangelical megachurch pastor Luke Nolan is both revered pastor and local celebrity. But this is really the story of his daughters, Abigail and Caroline, who find themselves at a crossroads when information about their father comes to light and throws their core beliefs into question. Part coming of age story, part family drama, this modern story of community and identity completely drew me in. I can see why it was one of Anne's most anticipated reads of the year.

Lots of interesting things happening in this book. Daughters finding themselves, learning about their parents, and deciding about their faith. As a person who grew up in a Christian household, this book did have times where I laughed out because of them bringing up a condom box multiple times. Finding one's self during the pressure of marriage is also a worthy part of the book - are you doing it for you or them? If you are coming for a wholly Christian novel, this might be more than you expect, but there are lots of worthy thoughts to ponder.

Thanks for the free ebook from NetGalley. My opinions are my own and not influenced.

I received a free ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This was a pretty decent read. I thought overall the story was good and I enjoyed the two main characters. I thought at times the author tried a little too hard with the similes when her writing was pretty strong without it. A pretty realistic and relatable read.

Although the summary piqued my interest, I felt it was a little slow. I'm usually a fan of character-driven novels and I liked reading about the relationship between the two sisters. I felt that the book only skimmed the surface though, leaving me wanting more details about the family members connections and interactions.

For someone who grew up religious in Texas, this book was painful and reflective and beautiful. I saw so much of myself in the main characters and found myself both hurting for them and rooting for them. An incredible debut.

Journalist Kelsey McKinney makes her debut as a novelist with God Save the Girls, and I have a hunch we’ll be seeing a lot more of her work. Lucky me, I read it free and early; thanks go to Net Galley and William Morrow for the review copy. This book is for sale now.

Caroline and Abigail are the daughters of the charismatic head pastor at a megachurch in Hope, Texas. This opening paragraph had me at hello:

"For that whole brutal year, Caroline Nolan had begged God to make her life interesting. He sent a plague instead: grasshoppers emerged from the earth in late June, crawling across the dry grass, multiplying too quickly, staying long past their welcome. Now they carpeted the land she’d inherited with her sister, vibrated in the sun like a mirage. As Caroline drove the ranch’s half-mile driveway, she rolled over hundreds of them. She threw the car in park, stepped out into the yellowed grass beside the gravel drive, and crushed their leggy, squirming bodies beneath her sensible heels."

Teenagers are people that are exploring their own identities, and there’s often some rebellion mixed into those years, but for Caroline and Abigail, there’s not a speck of wiggle room. They are constantly reminded that everything they do reflects upon their father. Forget profanity, street drugs, shoplifting, booze. These girls have even the most minute aspect of their appearances proscribed. Is that V-neck deep enough to show even a smidge of cleavage? Cover it up, or go change. How much leg? Why aren’t you wearing makeup? Not just your smile, but what kind of smile? How you sit. How you stand. And if these confines were not enough to drive any teen bonkers, they live in a fishbowl that every adult seems to own a key to. People come in and out of the family home all day and all evening, so showing up to watch television in your robe and fuzzy slippers in the family room is a risky prospect, too.

I’ll tell you right now, I couldn’t have. I really couldn’t.

But these are girls raised to believe that the Almighty is always watching, and always knows your heart, and so they do their best to shed petty resentments, whereas others must be buried deep. Buried, that is, until a shocking revelation is made about their father’s extracurricular activities.

The story is primarily told through Caroline’s point of view; Abby is the most important secondary character, and she’s interesting, but we see her through Caroline’s lens. I admire the way that McKinney develops both of them, but more than anything, I admire her restraint. In recent years, fundamentalist and evangelical Christian preachers have gone from being rather shocking, daring novelists’ subjects to low-hanging fruit. As I read, I waited for the rest of it. Which girl was Daddy molesting? What else has he done? Has he embezzled? Does he have a male lover on the side somewhere--or Lordy, a boy? But McKinney doesn’t go to any of those places. She keeps the story streamlined, and in doing so not only stands out from the crowd, but is able to go deeper into Caroline’s character.

At the end, when Abigail prepares to marry the dull, dependable boy her parents like, the scene is downright menacing; their mother, Ruthie, is helping her into her dress, and she “wielded a hook like a sword,” and as everyone takes their positions, the walkie-talkies “hiss.”

There’s a good deal more I could tell you, but none of it would be as satisfying for you as reading this book yourself. Your decision boils down to text versus audio, and I advocate for the audio, because Catherine Taber is a badass reader, lending a certain breathless quality to key parts of the narrative. But if you’re visually oriented, you can’t go wrong with the printed word here, either.

Highly recommended.

[4.25 stars]
This debut novel about two sisters (Abigail and Caroline) who find out their famous evangelical pastor father has some secrets reminded me of The Book of Essie (but, a bit quieter) and The Dearly Beloved. Set in a small town in Northern Texas, this is a story about living for the sake of appearances vs. living authentically. It's a story of sisters and what happens when two sisters finally get to know each other for real. And, what happens to their faith with it's rocked by the exposure of their father's secrets...and the crumbling of the "perfect pastor's family" facade. A great pick for book clubs!

📚𝓑𝓸𝓸𝓴 𝓡𝓮𝓿𝓲𝓮𝔀📚
3/5 🌟

I almost gave up half way through on this one. It was just … a lot of description and not much action.

But at about 50% through it began to pick up a bit - and by that I mean going from like 10 mph to 25 mph -
but it piqued my interested enough to keep going. And by the time it ended, abruptly I thought, I was wanting more.

It’s a beautiful story about sisterhood. Abigail and Caroline are the daughters of their small community’s beloved and revered spiritual leader, preacher Luke Nolan. In the weeks leading up to Abigail’s wedding, their father experiences a public fall from grace. The church accepts him back; the girls have a more difficult time.

It’s a critical summer for Caroline - she’s lost the father she knew, is about to lose her sister to marriage, has lost her “purity” to a boy she feels pretty meh about, and is about to leave their small town for college. So, a lot going on for Caro. She’s a really interesting character and is beautifully revealed by McKinney.

It’s a long, slow burn without much of a firecracker at the end, but I really loved the relationship between Caroline and Abigail as they both process their father’s wrong-doings differently and head off on separate paths to begin new lives. The author’s slow pace paid off, but maybe it took just a tad too long to get there.

Have you read this one? Would love to hear your thoughts!

#bibliophile#stephsalwaysreading#bookstagram#bookstagrammer#bookreccomendations#tbrlist#godsparethegirls#whatshouldireadnext#istayuptoolatereading

LOVED this book. So character driven but I couldn't put it down. I loved the sister relationship, the conversations about religion, the inside look at a mega-famous evangelical pastor. I thought this was an excellent story and cannot wait to read more from this author.

QOTD: sunrise or sunset and why?

Sunsets 💯 because I am NOT a morning person, never have been and don’t think I ever will be 😆 but I did once wake up as the crack of dawn in Mexico to say that I watched the sun rise. I don’t feel any need to do it again ha!

Speaking of which, though, how GORGEOUS is the cover of God Spare the Girls by @mckinneykelsey?!

@novelpairingspod piqued my interest when they mentioned the synopsis during a TBR toppler episode. While it maybe looks and sounds like it might be a thriller on cover alone, God Spare the Girls is actually more of a coming-of-age story of two sisters as they navigate their own crises of faith as the daughters of a recently scandalized mega-church pastor.

I think this is a fair look for anyone outside of evangelical circles at some of the Church culture in some devout and fundamentalist congregations and an insightful take on mega churches in particular.

I wanted to hug Caroline in particular almost the whole way through. From experience, I can say that it is TOUGH when you start to wrestle with doubts about the entire framework of how you see the world.

I really enjoyed taking the journey with Abigail and Caroline, but wish the ending wasn’t so abrupt. I don’t feel like I had a lot of closure as a reader, but maybe that’s the point!

"Read it for twists on twists, meditations on faith, and a deeply thoughtful treatment of an evangelical community." — Glamour, Beach Reads That Are Like Summer in a Book

Thanks @netgalley and @williammorrowbooks for this gifted e-book and happy one-month bookaversary to @mckinneykelsey (pub date June 22, 2021)

#netgalley #godsparethegirls #kelseymckinney #netgalleyreads #netgalleyreader #netgalleyreview #bookreview #bookreviewer #bookreviewersofinstagram #bookreviewers #bookreviewblog #bookblog #bookblogger #bookblogging #bookbloggers #bookstagrammer #bookstagrammers #bookstagram #bookstagramming #booksgram #bookgram #booksofinstagram #booksofinsta #arc #arcreader #comingofagenovel #fictionreads #booksonbooks #bookreaderscommunity #booklover

I wouldn’t describe this as a page-turner… yet I kept wanting to turn the page? I really enjoyed this sister story that takes place in rural Texas. This narrative is atmospheric—I felt I could feel the heat of Texas while I was reading! The characters drew me in immediately. I wanted to know more about everyone in this story (even the side characters).

This is exclusively a character-driven novel so if that’s not your jam, I wouldn’t recommend this for you. However, character-driven novels ARE my jam, and I found this one excellent. It explores sister relationships, parent/child relationships, faith and struggles with faith, growing up, marital relationships through compelling characters and great writing.

There’s only one reason I did not give this book 5 stars: the ending. Usually, I can still give a book 5 stars if I don’t enjoy the ending. However, (without spoilers) I just felt this ending was rushed and didn’t really fit with the direction of the story. I was very surprised when I turned the final page and realized this was the end of the book. I wanted more for these characters!

Overall, I loved this and would recommend it. My rating: 4 stars

Thank you to William Morrow for this eARC!

Faith is a funny thing.

We all have it, in some way, shape or form. Everyone believes in something, whether it is an institution or an ideology or an individual, though that belief is often an entanglement of two or more of those things. We believe even in the absence of evidence. Sometimes, we believe in the face of evidence to the contrary. That’s part of how it works.

But what happens if the object of your faithfulness proves questionable in its worthiness?

Kelsey McKinney’s debut novel “God Spare the Girls” addresses just such a circumstance. Told through the eyes of a teenager living as part of an evangelical family in Texas, it’s the story of how the fallibility of others can cause one to struggle with one’s own faith. It’s about the pressures that come with expectation, of the need to maintain a public face even as one’s private world is crumbling. And it’s about family – both the connections that are and the ones we wish for.

It’s a compelling and beautifully written tale, a book that captures the hubris and hypocrisy that can come from institutionalized faith while also finding ways to acknowledge the value that such circumstances can bring. Delicately heartwrenching, driven by sad realizations and quiet humor, it’s an unforgettable read.

Caroline Nolan is part of, for lack of a better term, church royalty. Her father Luke Nolan is a rising star in the evangelical world, the pastor of a burgeoning megachurch in the Texas town of Hope. Her mother Ruthie is the image of the perfect pastor’s wife – perfectly-coiffed hair, immaculate dress, a constant smile. Her older sister Abigail is seemingly perfect – pious and brilliant, already an old hand at helping to pen her father’s sermons; she was largely responsible for the sermon on purity that went viral and helped push Luke into greater prominence.

But Caroline is losing her connection to this world. She’s pretty sure that Abigail is marrying the wrong man for reasons that aren’t entirely clear to Caroline. She’s got some questions about just why God would care about her own “purity,” such as it is, and is pushing against some of those boundaries. She’s tired of the pasted-on smiles and the constantly watching eyes – so much so that, despite her father’s disapproval, she’s going to go to go away to college rather than staying close to home.

And then it all blows up.

Luke Nolan – esteemed man of God and purity proponent – fell from grace. And as word spreads, Caroline and her family are forced to deal with the fallout. Caroline and Abigail, overwhelmed by the situation, remove themselves to their grandmother’s ranch, one of the few places where they can simply be, away from the prying eyes and chattering lips of their father’s congregation. But as Abigail’s wedding day approaches, Caroline must reckon with the actions of her family. Connections grow more tenuous with each revelation; Caroline is confronted with the reality that perhaps she doesn’t know anyone – even her family – as well as she once believed.

Look, folks: this is a good book. A REALLY good book. It would be a notable achievement for any writer, let alone a debut novelist (though anyone who has followed McKinney’s work up to and including her excellent output at Defector.com likely isn’t surprised).

There’s a remarkable sense of place here, a blend of writ-large ideas and intimate details that adds up to an evocative encapsulation of the setting. Ever read a book where the prose was so engrossing that you didn’t just intellectually, but viscerally experience the environment? Seriously – McKinney will straight-up make you sweat.

And then you have the interpersonal dynamics. McKinney has drilled down into the bedrock, pulling you into the expansive yet insular world of the Nolan family. While I have little familiarity with this particular brand of Southern evangelicalism, it doesn’t matter – everything I needed to understand was brought forth through Caroline’s eyes and experiences. The collision of religion and pragmatism is particularly striking – a collision we view in multiple forms and from multiple perspectives.

Oh, and just so we’re clear – it’s also a hell of a story. I can talk about craft and character until the cows come home, but all of that is in service to a narrative that is thoughtful and clever and engrossing as hell. It’s a cliché to call a book a page-turner, but I’d be remiss if I failed to address just how readable “God Spare the Girls” is. Almost compulsively so – McKinney grabs hold of you almost immediately and refuses to let go, drawing you into the story, tempting and challenging and generally doing all the things good writers do.

“God Spare the Girls” is an exceptional piece of fiction, sad and smart and driven by an overarching verisimilitude. What McKinney has created feels like a real place with real people, all while sharing their stories of faith gained or lost or somewhere in-between. Believing matters – but what often matters more is that (or those) in which (or whom) we choose to believe.

God Spare the Girls is a debut novel by Kelsey McKinney. This book is set in Texas and follows the lives of a deeply religious family. The patriarch of the family is an evangelical pastor who is highly regarded in his community as a leader. However, his decisions have put his daughters in a difficult position of having to choose whether or not they'll forgive him. The daughters move temporarily to their grandmother's farmhouse to wrestle with what they must decide. This is a character-driven novel that is full of family angst. Read and enjoy!

I love a good Southern fiction, and was looking forward to reading "God Spare the Girls". Set in Texas, you meet two sisters, Caroline and Abigail Nolan, whose father Luke Nolan is a charismatic evangelical preacher who popularized a purity pledge movement. The setting of the book was fantastic, and I could picture the family ranch where Caroline and Abigail retreat to have some space when it is revealed that their famous father has confessed to an affair with a church member. It was interesting, but more than a little disconcerting to see how the church community and family members reacted to this news. Abigail, who has been her father's muse for many sermons, and Caroline, who is struggling with her faith and the whole "purity pledge" grapple with their feelings and their family relationships. To further muddy the waters, Abigail's wedding is just weeks ago, and the bombshell revelation comes the day after her church bridal shower. Although I was very vested in these characters and the story, the ending was a little disappointing for me. Thank you to Netgalley for providing me with a copy to review.

God Spare the Girls is the story of two sisters who, after learning of their father’s infidelity, begin to question the foundation of all they were raised to believe and their perception of the father they love, who is also the pastor of their church.

There really isn’t anything shocking in this story. It felt very true to life, showcasing people as they are, both as facades and as the reality underneath that shiny surface. It hurt my heart so many times because of this. I think the author did a fantastic job illustrating a powerful message while never telling the reader how they should think or feel.

I particularly liked that the narrative continuously followed a very realistic path, never wrapping things up in fancy packaging or utilizing unnecessary dramatics.

I felt curious about the author’s background as I read this. This is not Christian fiction, but McKinney did seem to have a firm grasp on theology, church politics, and Christian family life. While this can all come from research, so much of it felt like it was born from a more personal experience. Her ability to capture this tone so eloquently was impressive.

God Spare the Girls is a solid, immersive debut and I really enjoyed reading it. It’s quiet literature that won’t speak to everyone in the same way, but even in its whispers, it has something very important to say.

I am immensely grateful to William Morrow/Custom House for my review copy through NetGalley. All opinions are my own.

I had really high hopes for this book. As background, like the author, I grew up in an evangelical environment. However, I suspect that at 46, I'm a bit older than the author. I don't know if that's the reason for my reaction, but I offer it just in case.

First, the positives. McKinney beautifully captures the Texas setting and the characters in this family. She also does a great job of explaining evangelical culture through the story and in scenes rather than exposition. In addition, the characters' journeys are sympathetic and believable.

Ultimately, this is a somewhat shallow coming of age story. Some coming of age stories feel like complex, mature novels intended for a sophisticated audience; alas, GOD SPARE THE GIRLS seems intended for readers looking for something light. In part, this is likely because Caroline, the main character, is 18. There's a definite Young Adult feel to the story. At times the tone and descriptions are so superficial that any deeper exploration of identity or theme is lost.

If the novel had been marketed as appealing to (for example) fans of Friday Night Lights or something light, then that would be a fair comparison. However, from what I've seen, it's being marketed as a serious literary novel. In that vein, I expected something heftier, something more serious and nuanced.

Many thanks to NetGallery for a free ebook in exchange for my honest review!

"God Spare the Girls" by Kelsey McKinney is a coming of age story set against the backdrop evangelical Christian culture. Caroline Nolan is newly graduated from high school and ready to leave her small town and the church where her father is the beloved preacher. She plans to spend her final months at home preparing for her devout older sister's wedding. But during the summer before college, her family is turned upside down by news of her father's affair with a congregant.

Caroline and her older sister Abby retreat to their late grandmother's ranch house to deal with the own feelings about faith, marriage, and their places in the world. Caroline's resolve to leave and start her own path never wavers. She can't understand why her mother and sister seem rooted to their hometown and the church.

Watching the scandal unfold gives Caroline new insight into the power women wield in her church, power they can only keep by propping up her father to be the face of faith.

Even though I haven't lived in Texas since I was four years old, God Spare the Girls made me feel like I was there, with the hot days and and open land.

This character driven, coming of age novel focuses on two sisters whose father leads a large, evangelical church and whom they recently discovered had an affair. However, this book is about so much more. Though it only takes place over a few weeks, we see Caroline struggle with her faith, try to grow closer to her sister, and ultimately, question the role that women have been given in the church.

McKinney paints these characters and their relationships beautifully. There are layers to the characters' motivations, and they come to terms with each other and what they want out of life in such a realistic way.

I could relate to Caroline's struggles with her faith, too. Like her, I've questioned why women don't have a larger role in the church and why so much of the Bible is focused on men. Why women are seen only in supporting roles, and how awful things are ignored to protect the image of the church. So often, I feel like books paint religion in either black or white, but this book handles all the nuances of belief well.