Review: Purity by Jackson Pearce - Juhina

Title: Purity
Author: Jackson Pearce

Publication date: February 16th, 2012
Publisher: Little Brown Books for Young Readers

Genre(s): Young Adult (Contemporary)

Challenges: Contemporary, SARC

Source: Own
Format: Ebook

Pages: 218

Add to Goodreads

Before her mother died, Shelby promised three things: to listen to her father, to love as much as possible, and to live without restraint. Those Promises become harder to keep when Shelby's father joins the planning committee for the Princess Ball, an annual dance that ends with a ceremonial vow to live pure lives -- in other words, no "bad behavior," no breaking the rules, and definitely no sex. Torn between Promises One and Three, Shelby makes a decision -- to exploit a loophole and lose her virginity before taking the vow. But somewhere between failed hookup attempts and helping her dad plan the ball, Shelby starts to understand what her mother really meant, what her father really needs, and who really has the right to her purity.

When I first picked up Purity, I didn’t even read the synopsis, so you can say it is another book I picked up for its cover. However when I did read the synopsis, I was a bit put off. A girl is trying to lose her virginity because of a promise she made to her deceased mother many years back? The whole plot felt absurd, HOWEVER it was delivered with tons of humor. Which is why, while the topic of Purity made me a bit uncomfortable, overall it was enjoyable because the author went for the light, funny dialogue, which is always a plus for me.  

Shelby, the main protagonist made a promise to her mom that she would 1. Listen to everything her father says, 2. Love as much as possible, and 3. Live without restraint. Many years later, you see that Shelby has taken those three promises as her bible. She lives her life following these three rules, especially the first one, and the last. The problem arises when she has to go to a dance where she has to make vows to stay pure, and this is where Shelby has to find a loophole to obey her father (go to the dance) while at the same time NOT make those vows because that is not ‘living without restraint’. 

Throughout the book, with the help of her two bestfriends, Jonas and Ruby, she makes a list of all the eligible guys, and tries her luck with each of them. However in the end she goes through a big revelation of who her true love is. Now, I saw that coming miles away, actually ever since the character she ‘loves’, at the end of the book, was introduced. Also, it happened in the last couple of pages of the book so the ending felt too rushed for my liking and a bit too clichéd. I wished that the too much unnecessary details and side characters of the story had less pages dedicated to them and more pages dedicated to her figuring out WHAT she was looking for all this time. However, All in all, purity was an enjoyable read, while a bit too generic, is a cute contemporary to anyone looking for something light to read. 

3 musical notes