Review by Jill Williamson
Landon Carter is a boy who doesn’t really know God at all. When he realizes he might be the only guy in the school without a date to the homecoming dance, he pulls out his yearbook for help. For some reason, he keeps coming back to the picture of Jamie Sullivan, a plain, ultra-religious minister’s daughter. A date with Jamie might earn him some ridicule, but it would be better than going stag. So he works up the nerve and asks. Jamie’s answer? She says yes, on one condition. She makes him promise that he won’t fall in love with her.
Landon isn’t a bit worried about falling in love with Jamie Sullivan.
The dance goes okay. A few days later Jamie asks him a favor. She wants him to take the lead role in the play. Landon has no desire to do such a thing, but the way Jamie puts it to him, he’d be the biggest jerk on earth to say no. The more time Landon spends with Jamie, the more frustrated he gets. If she’d just try a little, she could be normal. But Jamie is anything but normal, and that’s why Landon can’t help but break his promise.
This book has a couple mild curse words in it. But it is one of the best love stories I’ve ever read. Here is a girl who is being exactly who God created her to be. Most the kids write her off as a nerd, but Jamie is the real deal. And when a guy gets to know a girl who is real and confident and who knows who she is, that is the most attractive thing in the world. Most girls don’t get that…ever. But God designed each of us to be who we are, not to pretend to be someone else. Jamie gets that. She also gets the bigger picture. That God might use her to bring others to him. This story has a heartbreaking twist, but if we can remember that we were not created for this world but for the next one, it is truly a very happy ending. I love this book!
Age Range: 16 and up
Genre: Romance
Part of a Series: no
Pages: 240
Publisher: Warner Books
Released: 1999
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