Pure – Terra Elan McVoy

Tabitha and her best friend Morgan got purity rings when they were twelve. The rings are a symbol of their virginity and friendship. In high school, they meet Priah, Cara, and Naeomi, who all have purity rings also. However, things change when one of the girls breaks her promise. Now, all the girls are taking sides, and friendships are close to collapsing. Tabitha takes the side of the girl who broke her promise, while Morgan chooses to ditch her. During this time, Tabitha also meets a boy named Jake, and they start dating. What does he think of the purity ring, and will the girls ever reconcile?

There are many things I liked about Pure, but there are also many flaws that I can’t ignore. To start with the good, Tabitha was an amazing character. Tabitha made intelligent decisions and handled the difficult situation well. An interesting thing about Tabitha is that her parents are not religious at all. In other words, Tabitha chose to be religious, rather than she was raised to be religious. I also thought that McVoy did a great job writing the religious aspects. I did not feel like she was too preachy at all. Priah, Cara, and Naeomi were likable character also. Another thing I liked was the setting. I live about an hour away from Atlanta, so it was fun reading about all the places and thinking, “Hey, I know where that’s at!”

Now for the bad, I felt that Jake was too good to be true. He’s a lacrosse player with lots of friends, is okay with purity rings, and cute. It just seems a bit unrealistic. I also did not see why Tabitha liked Morgan. McVoy wrote Morgan as the epitome of a Jesus Freak. Through the novel, Tabitha realizes how wrong Morgan is about a lot of things, but it seems like Tabitha should have realized this a long time ago. I mean, they’ve been friends for years! Another thing I disliked was the ending. It seemed like McVoy took the easy way out.

Despite the flaws, Pure is a decent book about friendship. If you’re into religion in books, I definitely suggest you give it a try.