Personal Demons by Lisa Desrochers

At first, Personal Demons reminded of those Christian romances I devoured like potato chips when I was in high school — the ones where a hot date meant getting together to read the Bible. Frannie, the high school girl who is the principal viewpoint character, comes from a large Catholic family and seems, initially, to be intent on remaining true to every bit of her Catholicism. In my own large Catholic family, that would most definitely include allowing no boy to touch me between my neck and my knees before my wedding night. So I settled in for what I thought would be a conservative young adult novel that would make its points about morality by having the persuasive swain be, literally, a devil.

Fortunately, Lisa Desrochers completely surprised me by giving Frannie a mind of her own that is all modern teenager. When she first meets Luc Cain (please not... Read More