Week 51 Review: The Gospel of Winter

From Goodreads:
A fearless debut novel about the restorative power of truth and love after the trauma of abuse.

As sixteen-year-old Aidan Donovan's fractured family disintegrates around him, he searches for solace in a few bumps of Adderall, his father's wet bar, and the attentions of his local priest, Father Greg—the only adult who actually listens to him.

When Christmas hits, Aidan's world collapses in a crisis of trust when he recognizes the darkness of Father Greg's affections. He turns to a crew of new friends to help make sense of his life: Josie, the girl he just might love; Sophie, who's a little wild; and Mark, the charismatic swim team captain whose own secret agonies converge with Aidan's.

The Gospel of Winter maps the ways love can be used as a weapon against the innocent—but can also, in the right hands, restore hope and even faith. Brendan Kiely's unflinching and courageous debut novel exposes the damage from the secrets we keep and proves that in truth, there is power. And real love. 

My Review:
I really enjoyed this book! And yeah, it took me a while, till Mark said something about the start of 2002, that I realized that this took place at the end of 2001, and the start of 2002, and yeah, that was pretty good! And I think the Catholic scandal happened, too, around then!

At one point, Father Dooley says that Father Greg is a good man, but with a sickness. And I'm thinking, well, at what point does the bad things that he does, make him a bad man, who does some good things? Because he's getting to that point!

I did feel like that Josie and Sophie weren't really developed, I mean, they're supposed to be his friends, but we hardly know anything about them. We know more about Mark, because yeah, like it says, he has been through a situation like Aidan. So that wasn't fun, but other then that, I enjoyed most of it!

So the ending, I like most of where it ended, that they were going to tell people the truth about what Father Greg did. But what I want to know, is if Mark is going to be OK. I mean, we know he's going to get better, but a good sign would've been nice!

Yeah, this was a pretty great book, and I enjoyed it so much! Great début novel!

Author: Brendan Kiely
Read: December 18th, 2014
Source: Publisher for Review
Reason Why: Sounded really good, and it's a DAC Book and a SAC 2014 Book!
Publisher: Margaret K. McElderry Books
Published: January 21st 2014

5/5 Hearts

4/5 Books

4.5/5 Stars