Review: Burnouts, Geeks and Jesus Freaks: a love story

Title: Burnouts, Geeks and Jesus Freaks: a love story
Author: Karen Gordon
Published: March 4th 2014, self published
Add It: Goodreads
Purchase: Amazon, 

What I think: 

I'm always a bit apprehensive when reading a book that is self published, I've read my fair share of horrible edited books with more spelling mistakes than a 6 year old would make. However, Karen Gordon you managed to give me some hope in the self publish department, what a book! 

Burnouts, Geeks and Jesus Freaks is a fun and easy read that I loved from the very start. I guess many people can relate to the main character Carrie. Her life isn't easy but she makes the best of it, she has her friends likes going to school, at least she likes the last part of her day and has parties with her friends in the evening. Her home life on the other hand is terrible, I can't even describe how much I hate her parents, I felt so much hatred for them every time they where mentioned, really Karen, you did an awesome job at describing some of the worst parents in the world. 

The book is very easy to read, it has a clear storyline, we start with a description of Carrie's life and even go back a few years at some points. I felt like I really got to know her much better because of it. The only thing that I want to comment on is the continuous change with the points of view. I had a few times that I had to go back a bit to find out from who's point of view the story was being told, this could have been way clearer and would have made it a bit easier to read. 

Ben was Carrie's next door neighbour ever since she was little, they have been best friends and Ben has had a crush on her for forever. It is a really cute love story and I really like that we get to read from both Carrie's and Ben's point of view. The story was at some points so real, it was not an unrealistic love that happened overnight. Karen had a great way of describing how deep this relationship was, that it was years and years of love and friendship. 

I don't want to spoil anything so I'll be short about the ending of the book. All I have to say is that I felt like it was a bit rushed. The whole book was described in a lot more detail, sometimes a few pages took up a whole day. In the end however I felt like I was running towards a finish line being chased by a horde of cows. BUT, I did love the twist in the end, I won't spoil it, you'll have to read it yourself. Overall, a lovely book!

Summary from Goodreads: 

They’re burnouts - a little short on parents, money and plans for the future, but they’ve got each other and a whole lot of fun. With a world of crazy at home, Carrie Gould needs them to keep her sanity. To stay in their world she needs to keep dating the guy with the party house, which would be fine, if she hadn’t fallen in love with someone else.
He’s such a geek. Ben Gorman is obsessive, smart, strong-willed and on the fast track to his dream of becoming an Army Ranger. He’s also the only geek with a girl. Joelle Welker is perfect for him; a self-proclaimed Jesus freak, who is dedicated to her beliefs and to building a future with Ben. But those plans don’t include his neighbor, Carrie, or Ben’s dedication to her. 
Their friendship started by chance. Their love started with trust. 

This is a sweet, silly smart-sexy story of first love and first lovers.