Atheists Who Kneel and Pray on 13 July 2015 Pages: 250
Yara Phillips is a wandering muse.
She dates men who need her, but always moves on to something new, never staying in one place for very long.
David Lisey is in need of a muse.
A talented musician lacking lyrical inspiration. When he first sees her, he knows he's found what he's been looking for.
Yara believes she can give David exactly what he needs to reach his full potential:
A broken heart.
David’s religion is love.
Yara’s religion is heartache.
Neither is willing to surrender, but religion always requires sacrifice.
Atheists Who Kneel and Pray is a love story, but it’s also much more than that. Self-discovery sounds like a cliché, and this story was so far from a cliché I can’t really use that to describe it.
Atheists Who Kneel and Pray was my first Tarryn Fisher book. And I was pretty much blown away by it. I think what got to me the most is that Yara, the heroine, is not really all that likeable, but she’s very relatable. I wanted to get to know her and her story, even when she did things I didn’t agree with. Or when I didn’t like her at all. That takes some pretty mad writing skills, right? To get you to love a story even when you don’t really like the main character it’s all about.
As I got to know Yara better, Atheists Who Kneel and Pray became better and better. And I could understand where she came from. Maybe especially when I didn’t agree with her actions, I understood her well. She was insecure. Fairly selfish. Always on the run. And afraid of being left behind. David was kind of opposite of Yara. He had a lot of self confidence. Had a hero / rescue thing going on. And he was in a band, with girls throwing themselves at him after shows.
Atheists Who Kneel and Pray is about more than love, though. Or maybe that should be more than loving someone else. Yara really needed to learn to love herself, because she grew up with a mother who was emotionally distant. A mother who made her feel unloved and insecure. And as soon as she could, Yara up and left home, to never go back. This became her pattern, leaving when the going got tough. Until the moment when Yara figured out that leaving and running away didn’t help her move forward in any way.
There are a lot of feelings packed into Atheists Who Kneel and Pray. The writing grabbed me from the first word, and I could hardly put the book down until I was finished. And I’m pretty sure it’s going to be one of the very few books I will re-read. And I’m going to do so fairly soon.
You should model, she said. Her husband nodded in agreement. I smiled dumbly and excused myself to get their food from the kitchen. I was not a face. I was tired of being called pretty. I was tired of people seeing my potential. I could be whoever I wanted to be, and for now, that was a bartender.
“I’ve not been worshipped that way before,” I told him, half joking and half serious. I rolled on top of him to distract him from my outlandish statement, pressing my nose to his.
“That seems wrong,” he said, his voice husky. “Something as powerful as you.”
Reading this book contributed to these challenges:
About Linda @ (un)Conventional Bookworms
Linda is an English as foreign language teacher and has a Master's degree in English Language and Literature. She's an avid reader, blogger, compulsive one-clicker and a genre omnivore. Ever since she learnt how to read she has been seen with a book or two in her hands everywhere she goes.
Twitter: ailynk
i can see it, the quality of the writing in 2 quotes, no wonder you love it
It was so, so good! And now, I feel like reading ALL of her backlisted books 🙂
I really had no idea what this was about, but I think this would something I would enjoy. And I ‘m glad you enjoyed it so much. I’m adding it now to my wishlist. 🙂 Wonderful review.
It was so good Jenea! I loved the writing, and I just can’t say enough god things about this book 🙂
I LOVE the cover! Soooo beautiful and amazing. Your review sounds great and I guess I have no other choice but to read this book ;-). Thanks for sharing this with us, Lexxie.
Best wishes
Vi
I agree, Vi, the cover is so beautiful! And the story is really well done 🙂
I have been seeing some really great things about this book, Lexxie. I am so glad you enjoyed it as much as you did. Knowing you plan to read it again soon says a lot!
Yeah, especially because I hardly ever re-read books, right?
Yay, awesome review, Lexxie. So happy that you loved this book. I LOVED it too. Oh yeah agree with all you said. It’s awesome. The writing is BEYOND amazing. ?❤️??
The writing is unique and amazing 🙂 I love it when I find an author who dares to write a little differently, it makes the voices of the characters stronger 🙂
Twitter: Mollykatie112
I’ve not read her either. The name of the book and the fact that reviewers are not giving much away about the book made me kind of back off. I’m a happy ending kind of reader for real so I don’t think(?)this one would be for me. I am glad you loved it as have pretty much all the reviews I’ve seen.
I haven’t read a Tarryn Fisher book in a long time. This definitely sounds like one that would make me pick her books up again. Great review!
This was my first Tarryn Fisher… I went straight on to read F*ck Love and Mud Vein and really enjoyed those as well 🙂