Review: Addison Blakely; Confessions of a PK by Betsy St. Amant

Sixteen-year-old Addison Blakely has tireless played the role of PK—preacher’s kid—her entire life. But after Wes Keegan revs his motorcycle into town and into her heart, Addison begins to wonder how much of her faith is her own and how much has been handed to her. She isn’t so sure she wants to be the good girl anymore. Join Addison Blakely as she attempts to separate love from lust, facts from faith, and keep her head above water in her murky, fishbowl existence.

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I have a special place in my heart for PKs, preacher's kids. My boyfriend is one (well a Reverand's kid) though he himself isn't religious so he doesn't have to worry about the same things that Addison does in this book. As well as that, I have loved Footloose since I was a kid so the whole PK meets bad boy thing, whilst not very original, holds a place in my heart.


I can't say that I absolutely loved this book and was totally gripped, but I never got bored, and the story was cute with some pretty deep moments, the writing was good to read and it flowed well. Addison as a character never got too annoying for me, though her attempts to turn Wes into a good guy annoyed me - she claims to 'love' this guy then wants to change him? I loved the inner struggles that Addison went through, it was both this love story, but also a coming of age story that showed Addison coming to terms with who she is and who she wants to be and finding some middle ground.


Wes was a typical bad guy with a heart of gold, but I still liked him. I can't say he was my favorite character of the book (that goes to Marta) but not my least favorite either (probably Luke), he didn't really have that much development but I was still cheering on him and Addison. Marta was an amazing best friend, and her blunt honesty with Addison was just what the book needed.


I'm not a religious person so some parts seemed pretty preachy to me, I also don't think I can fully understand the moral of the story, which seems to be Addison coming to terms with her religion but also being able to get what she wants. But I definitely relate to the idea of trying to live up to peoples expectations whilst struggling to be who you want to be.


Overall, this book was a cute and fun read, but I can't say I loved it. The writing was good, and some of the characters were well developed however some of the characters were just stereotypes. The moral was probably lost on me and my lack of religion may have affected my judgement, but I enjoyed the story and it killed some time.


Overall Rating: C+

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Book to be released January 1st by Barbour Publishing, book received for review through NetGalley. Thanks to the publisher for giving me a chance to read this early.