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A debut novel of family, fame, and religion that tells the emotionally stirring, wildly captivating story of the seventeen-year-old daughter of an evangelical preacher, star of the family's hit reality show, and the secret pregnancy that threatens to blow their entire world apart. Esther Ann Hicks--Essie--is the youngest child on Six for Hicks, a reality television phenomenon. She's grown up in the spotlight, both idolized and despised for her family's fire-and-brimstone brand of faith. When Essie's mother, Celia, discovers that Essie is pregnant, she arranges an emergency meeting with the show's producers: Do they sneak Essie out of the country for an abortion? Do they pass the child off as Celia's? Or do they try to arrange a marriage--and a ratings-blockbuster wedding? Meanwhile, Essie is quietly pairing herself up with Roarke Richards, a senior at her school with a secret of his own to protect. As the newly formed couple attempt to sell their fabricated love story to the media--through exclusive interviews with an infamously conservative reporter named Liberty Bell--Essie finds she has questions of her own: What was the real reason for her older sister leaving home? Who can she trust with the truth about her family? And how much is she willing to sacrifice to win her own freedom?
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content warnings: sexual assault, 'secret' pregnancy, abortion discussion, incest, almost-cultish levels of religion, "religious" persecution
I listened to this book on audio, and despite being able to predict it, I was pulled along and enjoyed the writing and characters.
Told from three perspectives, we follow the story of Essie, and how she has a plan to get out of her family and town and strike her own path. Her plan involves Rourke, who has his own secrets and reasons for wanting to get out of town, and also involves Liberty, current journalist and an ex-conservative survivor of an almost-cult.
My full review can be seen on my YouTube channel here: https://youtu.be/3L9Z3-Xv1YA
Top bullet points:
- I was frustrated around the 40% mark at how many questions I had about Essie's motives and plan. I as the reader wanted to be more on Essie's side, not view her as a potentially unreliable narrator because we didn't know what was going on. But the plot of the book was the reveal of her plan and her reasons for it.
- I was able to guess both Rourke's 'secret' and Essie's too who the father of her baby was very very early on, so that made this a pretty predictable read for me.
- I commend the final actions taken in this story, despite their fall-out, because that was a bold and brave thing for actually all of the characters to do.
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