Say a Little Prayer by Jenna Voris is a delightful YA queer romance(ish) novel about our main character, Riley, as she is forced to attend the local church camp as punishment for slapping a girl at her school. The church, and the pastor leading the camp, are the very same that recently shunned her older sister. The girl’s got beef. Riley begins to formulate a plan and her intentions are not all that holy.

This really surprised me! It had me laughing (lots) and crying (a time or two). The main character is snarky and angsty, she’s got her flaws but shows growth (same with many of the other characters). As someone with their own share of religious trauma, I found this to be quite cathartic. Really, really loved this!

Thank you to NetGalley and Viking Books for Young Readers for an eARC!

I loved Say a Little Prayer so much! The characters were loveable and the plot was great. Overall, I enjoyed the author's writing style a lot as well. Definitely recommend to any queer person who grew up in the Church.

Sent to christian camp for slapping someone who said despicable things, Riley does the only thing she can. Sin some more.

I think I can speak for everyone (because we all talk you know), this cover sold me on this story. I didn’t even look at the blurb (ummm okay, I never do). I didn’t look at the author’s name, I just said, “yes, please!” This cover is eye-catching and makes you want to read the book. I love it.

Jenna Voris makes camp sound just as awful as I remember it. I do find it funny that one of the issues I had with camp was the fact that the counselors didn’t have to do the things that the kids had to do. In the movies, the counselors always have to participate. I find it funny and so beyond realistic and true to Riley’s theme: do what I say and not what I do. Counselor Gabe needs to go.

I love this secondary cast. I’m crushing on Delaney and Torres isn’t bad either, but I would totally date Delaney if I was their age. Voris has some diversity in the story, but it really focuses on the Christian faith.

Say A Little Prayer deals with fear. Fear of God, fear of the church, and fear of the decisions that we make in life affecting our relationship with our faith. I will give you heads up that the issue of abortion is a strong secondary thread in the storyline. It doesn’t deal with the issue directly, but with the aftereffects of how a family and community responds when it is used as gossip.

There is a slow-burn clean romance buried in this exploration of heavenly virtues and sin. All it takes is a little distance and a reconnection to make Riley look at Julia, the Pastor’s daughter a little differently. It’s cute and sweet with of course the dynamic thrown in of Julia’s position.

I love the climatic ending. Girl code is everything for me and this story got it right. I left Say A Little Prayer having chuckled, had my heart tugged, and had it soar with happiness as a group of people came together to tell Riley’s story. It’s a good way to spend spring break.

As someone who struggles with her faith, this book was a breath of fresh air. Riley was a very interesting protagonist, and I really empathized with her situation as someone whose family was ostracized for their supposed sins. The romance aspect of this book was so sweet as well, although it did feel a bit sudden to me. Julia reminds me of a lot of young women I knew growing up in the church, especially pastors’ daughters. I really loved her part of the story, as well as the resolution of things with Hannah. Overall, this book was really well written , funny, heartfelt, and a true joy.

Jenna Voris’s Every Time You Hear That Song (2024) was one of my favorite books of last year. While Every Time, with its endless detail and often surprising plot, is still my favorite, I really enjoyed reading Say a Little Prayer.

The book opens with Riley in the principal’s office of her Ohio high school, in trouble for hitting a classmate, Amanda. It’s revealed fairly quickly that Riley was standing up for her sister, Hannah. For a while now, their family has been on the outs with their local church—it was bad enough when Riley came out as bi, but then Hannah got an abortion. Pastor Young—who also happens to be their next-door neighbor and father of Julia and Ben, their two close friends—publicly shamed them both. The family stops attending church and Hannah’s former friends harass her in the hallways.

The principal “lets Riley choose” to serve her punishment at Pastor Young’s spring break church camp in Kentucky. At least Julia will be there … but so will Amanda and her friends. At camp, Riley has to contend with the parts of church she misses and the parts that fill her with rage. When the camp’s theme turns out to be avoiding the seven deadly sins, Riley instead decides to commit all of them.

This book does a great job of condemning what some people do under the mantle of Christianity without lumping in all Christians. Pastor Young is a recognizable evil, a man who derives power from humiliating and striking fear in others. People go along with him because he’s convincing, but Riley also finds fun, accepting friends at camp. Voris and I are around the same age and both from Indiana, and to me, there’s an aura of my Midwest about her books. I would have gotten a lot out of this particular portrayal as a teenager.

It can be dramatic, but the core of the story isn’t flashy. There’s a romance that stays fairly quiet for most of the book. Riley’s parents aren’t a huge part of the story, but are wonderful and supportive. Most of this is really about reclaiming nuance and rebuilding community; standing up to the evil pastor shows how pride can be a virtue.

3.5 stars

This book was one of my most anticipated. The main character was a bit annoying and immature (I understand that she is 17). I feel like all of the characters were very generic and the story ended exactly as expected. I liked the idea about the seven deadly sins but I feel like the side characters (and even Ben) were just there and did not have any real purpose.

I will say I do think if I had read this at 16 I would have been obsessed with this book.

Can't say enough about how much I absolutely loved this book!! Having grown up as a queer girl in a religious setting, I totally related to the main character Riley. She leaves her church after her sister went through an abortion scandal and struggles with the guilt of leaving her church and her feelings over her beliefs. She's forced to go to a week long church camp to avoid being suspended and the group of friends she makes there is perfection. I loved all the side characters as much as I did Riley. Riley's best friend and of course love interest is the pastor's daughter and that brings another level to this story that I loved. It's a YA book that has silly little YA themes but it also has an insanely deep underlying storyline that makes this one a true winner. Definitely worth the read for sure!

Say A Little Prayer
By Jenna Voris
Publisher PenguinTeen
Released March 4th, 2025

Thank you NetGalley and PenguinTeen for this ARC 🤩

💫💫💫💫💫/5

💒 This book is a true YA. While it has a lot of mutual longing and some kisses, there is no spice. The book had me hooked immediately! Our fmc, Riley, will be relatable to so many! Riley attended a very conservative/strict church most of her life. Riley and her family stop attending this church, after her sister is publicly shamed and kicked out of the church and Riley realizes her queer identity. Then Riley finds herself a year later at the church sleepaway camp. What follows is a beautiful story of self reflection, character growth, friendship and love.

💒 As someone who is queer and has religious trauma- this book did take me a while to read. I felt transported back to childhood in parts of the book. Riley felt real and tangible to me. It made the part of me who could never stand up to the religious bigots, smile the entire time.

This book was SO FUN. Riley is such a vibe, the church camp setting was everything, and I loved all of her friends. Yes, there is some silliness and cringiness, but that’s teenagers! Also, the chapter titles might have been my favorite part. Definitely add this one to your list!

5⭐️

I had a feeling this one was going to be good just from the title and cover alone, but it ended up being so much better than I anticipated.

I always worry with stories like this that the main character is going to be a bit obnoxious, but Riley felt completely justified in all of her emotions and reactions. Stories that detail the struggle between religion and sexuality are so important to be represented, especially for younger age groups; readers will always be searching for little pieces of themselves in the stories they pick up, and I hope ones like this show people out there that they aren’t alone in their fears.

I appreciated that the characters were authentic and felt like today’s generation of teenagers without being cringey like so many writers make the mistake of doing. Also, the chapter titles were incredible; I liked that they gave me even more of a sense of Riley’s personality and humor.

All in all, this story was just super fun and gave me a nice little slice of summer to combat the chilly early spring air. I’m so happy this book is out in the world and people can fall in love with it like I did!

I needed this book this week. I could see myself in every character, and I can’t help but wonder if this book was around when I was a young pastor’s daughter if it would have saved me some heartache. I don’t want to spoil it too much, but this book was so healing for me. If you have some lingering religious trauma, or you like Casey McQuiston, this is right up your alley! The format and characters are fun, definitely consider picking it up! Also, a major honorable mention to the chapter titles! Very Percy Jackson coded and they made me giggle.

I have read exactly two Jenna Voris books and at the end of each the only thought in my head was "perfection."

This book is sugar coating the very real horrors of conservative Christianity but it does offer humor and hope and fun and a slice of high school that feels real and heartfelt. I loved it.

First of all, I really appreciate being given this arc. This book was a very anticipated read for me. I really enjoyed reading it, I thought some moments were quite funny, and the teens felt like teens. Their behavior and dialogue felt very natural. However, I think overall this book wasn't for me. I wasn't a huge fan of the writing and the pacing, and I thought the plot was lacking. It was a great story in theory, I was really interested in the topic of how toxic and excluding organized religion can be, and the shame and anger you carry around with you after being shunned by the community that preaches about love and acceptance. I thought the idea was great, but the execution fell flat for me. Everything felt a bit boring and predictable, the characters didn't really have any real nuisance or substance. It kind of felt like watching a corny Disney channel original movie.

I also didn't really get to feel the buildup to the romance at all. It's alluded to here and there, but it felt like a lot of telling. Julia didn't even feel like a fully fledged out character to me, I didn't really know her, so whenever Riley talked about wanting her I asked myself "why??"

Overall, I think a lot of people will like and resonate with this book. There are some gems here. It just wasn't for me unfortunately. I really liked the chapter titles though, I thought they were funny. (Bring back chapter titles!!!)

a perfect book for those of us with catholic trauma and who are funny because of it. not usually the biggest fan of 1st person narrators but i enjoyed riley’s voice. also love the sentence long jokey chapter titles (very percy jackson meets old fall out boy). overall a cute ya rom com with a sprinkle of catholic guilt to round it out.

I so deeply loved this book. This book is something that I wish I had been able to read when I was in high school. Jenna Voris is able to so perfectly balance humor and the complex emotions that the impact religious trauma has on people, especially girls and LGBTQ people, as they are growing up. All of the characters felt incredibly realistic to me. There is an incredibly real pain in an institution and a people you once found comfort and community in becoming the very place causing you pain that I thought the characters reflected well.

Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin Teen for a digital ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Riley is a high school junior whose family left their church after the pastor kicked out her sister who'd had an abortion. When Riley slaps a student in school after she insults Riley's sister, the principal makes Riley attend the church's weeklong camp. Once there, Riley decides to commit every mortal since, one each day. The problem is that she doesn't want the pastor to forbid his daughter, Julia, who is Riley's best friend and crush, from staying friends with her.

This is a well written and highly engaging YA novel with the strong voice of a main character whose righteous anger is relatable even as she is forced to confront her own shortcomings. The romantic pairing is present but not the focus of the book as it would be with a traditional romance. But Riley's efforts to expose the pastor's real agenda while trying to stay close to Julia is incredibly well done.

Highly recommended.

I received an ARC from the publisher via NetGalley.

Say a Little Prayer was everything I was looking for in a YA rom-com and more. I never want to judge a book by its cover...but tell me that cover doesn't fill you with joy (just like the contents of this book!). It's campy, fun, with a tender love story and a truly fantastic takedown of purity culture, and main character Riley is a delight.

Like most rom-coms, the premise requires a fair suspension of disbelief--when theater kid Riley gets in trouble for fighting with a fellow student, she's given a second chance to stay in school if she attends church camp over spring break and writes an essay about what she learned. The camp's run by the church she left last year, because she realized there was no room for a bi girl and because they shunned her older sister Hannah for having an abortion, so Riley is less than thrilled to return. But, maybe the week won't be so bad...her best friend/crush Julia is the pastor's daughter, and she can't wait to spend time with Julia. Plus, the camp's premise this year--Seven Virtues--gives Riley the perfect chance to rebel against the church's confines. While navigating her feelings for Julia and her complicated relationship with her ex-church, Riley sets out to commit seven sins in seven days.

One thing I loved so much about this book is that the setting and premise aren't window-dressing -- Voris really takes the church camp setting and runs with it. Pleasant Hills feels so realistic and that's both wonderful and horrible: from the joy of breaking the rules with other campers to the endless sermons and feelings of guilt they inspire, Voris captures all of it so well. I loved Riley's friendships with the other campers, and of course I loved her romance with Julia. The slow burn was beautifully done; I was rooting for them the whole time, and I felt Riley's bi panic on a spiritual level. Truly one of the best friends to lovers books I've read in a long time.

I also loved Riley's narration; big-hearted, bold, and free-thinking, Riley is the kind of main character whose head I love to be in. Voris's prose is both laugh out loud and tender, sometimes in the same sentence, and that for me is what made the pages fly book. This book never dragged; beat for beat it was a perfect YA rom-com.

Many thanks to NetGalley, Viking Books for Young Readers, and Jenna Voris for gifting me this e-ARC in exchange for my honest review! I think I found a new auto-buy author!

It took me some time to get into this book, and I felt like I had to constantly remind myself that these are 17-year-olds; they are gonna make dumb mistakes and do things that I wouldn't. But once I got out of that frame, I LOVED this book. I think both the main characters really find their voice throughout the novel, and it was a refreshing spin on a YA novel.

This sweet, queer YA book is full of great sass and snark but also an exploration of religious trauma and community (growing one, losing one, finding one). It is thoughtful and relatable while being entertaining to read.

I loved reading Every Time You Hear That Song.
So I was pretty excited for Say a Little Prayer by Jenna Voris.
A wonderful, heartfelt romance that explores themes of self-discovery..
The characters were flawed and made mistakes but that's what made them.
The plot was great, the characters were engaging, the conflicts gave me someone to root for, and the writing was well done.
I love her writing and her stories always keeps me glued to the pages!