The List

You know, I love to cheer for a friend. I was super excited when I found out that a friend from BYU had a book. And that book was being published! Awesome. I just got to read it. And it is a keeper!

The List by Melanie Jacobson

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I'm not going to lie to you. Confession number one: I do not read LDS literature anymore. I did as a young adult. I did a little in my college days. But I haven't even entered a Deseret Bookstore in about ten years. LDS literature has not been anywhere on my radar. Confession number two: chick-lit has never been my genre. I've read a few books here. I've read a few books there. But it's never been my fave. Confession number three: I know the author. We worked together...at the Limited. And we were in the same major...back in the BYU days. She's a friend. She's smart and sassy. Most importantly, she's a great writer!

All confessions, and possible prejudices aside, The List was, in a word, adorable. And in another, delightful. And in just one more, entertaining! And isn't that just perfect for a lazy summer afternoon with not much to do? It is. It truly is.

So Ashley, a really beautiful and somewhat unconventional, Mormon girl moves to Huntington Beach with two goals in mind. Learn to surf and hook up with a hottie for some summer lovin! Once they are off her "list"? She can go on to graduate school in good old Provo without a care in the world. But when she starts to really fall for her summer fling, Ashley has to reassess what matters most.

I kind of hearted this book, and here is why:

1. The main character, Ashley, has a backbone and she's smart. But she's funny, too. She is someone who, in real life, would totally be my bff. I liked her that much. And that is because she seems like a real person. I'm a Mormon and a single girl. I totally related to Ashley.

2. I loved the dialogue. It felt like real conversation. I find that many authors struggle to make dialogue mimic real life. Not so here. And that only made the characters all the more developed and real.

3. It's light. And sometimes that is just what you want...a story that is fun and that doesn't take itself too seriously.

4. This is slightly embarrassing to admit, but I loved all the Mormon trappings. I suppose that in my more "worldly" or "intellectual" moods, I think that Mormon literature focuses too much on Mormonisms...i.e., references to institute or wards or linger longer. Maybe it's because I haven't read such novels in a long time that I found the references refreshing and fun.

5. The romance had my heart pitter-pattering! I'm not 24 anymore, but isn't crushing on someone one of the great pleasures of life? And then falling in love...well, that is the great pleasure of life! Am I right? I am right. And the romance here was perfect.

6. Finally, she gets the whole singles ward culture. I lived it (for too many years). And this was an honest and real representation of the culture that exists in an LDS singles ward.

So go out and read it! And congratulations Melanie...well played!

View all my reviews