Riley Rose, atheist and bad girl, has been tricked into attending Spirit Ranch, a Christian camp. There she meets Dylan Kier, alumni camper and recent paraplegic, who arrives with a chip on his shoulder and a determination to perfect all of his bad habits. United in their personal suffering and in their irritation at their fellow campers, they turn the camp inside out as they question the meaning of belief systems, test their faith in each other, and ultimately settle a debate of the heart.
From School Library Journal
Grade 9 Up—In this thoughtful Australian novel, a troubled 16-year-old girl finds love and meaning in unexpected places. Riley Rose—rebellious, promiscuous, and deeply unhappy after the death of her mother—is dumped at an isolated Christian camp for a week so that her father and stepmother can go on vacation. Overweight, wisecracking Riley expects to hate everyone at Spirit Ranch. Instead, she bonds with some of her bunkmates and falls for Dylan, a paraplegic fellow camper. What could be a clichéd situation—the bond between two outcasts—is instead touching and believable. There are some camp bullies, of course, but even the villains prove to have redeeming qualities. Riley is an appealingly flawed main character, tough-talking and funny at the same time. She hangs on to her skepticism but allows some tenderness to penetrate her armor. That she could change so profoundly in a single week sometimes stretches credibility, and the slow pace might deter less determined readers. Overall, however, this novel will appeal to sensitive teens who will root for Riley and the other camp underdogs.— Miranda Doyle, San Francisco Public Library
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From Booklist
Raucous and sexy, this Australian novel about an atheist teen is not for everyone; but even some religious readers will want to read it for the hilarious, honest, first-person narrative of Riley, 16, who discovers that there is no Utopia anywhere. Furious that her dad and stepmom force her to go to Christian camp, she works hard to be a plague on all the Bible-based activities. Her world is about being fat and having a serious guy habit and coping with her grief for her dead mom. At church camp, she can’t wait to have sex with a gorgeous counselor, but she refuses him when he won’t wear a condom. She does bond with fellow camper Dylan, recently disabled (though he hates that word), and together they plan a secret vision quest into the nearby desert. More than that bumbling journey, what will hold readers is the irreverent commentary on the camp bullies and, even more, Riley’s discovery that she, and they, are not as bad as she thought. Grades 10-12. --Hazel Rochman