Book Review: Godshot by Chelsea Bieker

Book: 152

Rating: 5/5

Godshot was front and centre for my "Last, Now, Next" pic for the end of September. It was a library book and I didn't get a chance to take a solo picture of it because I wanted to return it ASAP so the next reader could read it!

Man, I am a sucker for a coming of age story. One that includes a weird culty church like vibe? SIGN ME UP.

Lacey May is only fourteen when her single mom, Lou, is banished from their local "church" (read: cult) for her sins. Lou decides to chucks deuces and leaves with a man she doesn't really know, leaving Lacey May in the "care" (see those quotation marks??) with her widowed grandmother. Her grandma, as well as several others in the town, blindly follow Pastor Vern as he promises that if they each perform an 'assignment' from him, their town (that is basically drought ridden and hasn't seen rain in ages) will be blessed with rain.

Lacey May slowly finds out the hard way that Pastor Vern's plan to bring fertility back to the land is not one that is the greatest for the women or young girls of the cult. She decides to do whatever it takes to find her mom, including teaming up with some women who run a sex call company where her mom used to work at.

What follows is a story of a young girl trying to find out where she belongs. The writing was absolutely beautiful and magnetic and SO vivid, I could see this so clearly as an HBO limited series; the cover is gorgeous; Lacey May was such a fascinating character. One of the quotes on the back of the book says she is a "brokenhearted believer" and that is a perfect way to encapsulate Lacey May. She doesn't think what Pastor Vern and the church are doing is right, but what else does she know? This small town and its people are all she's ever known. Is there even any hope for her to leave this small town?

I really, really loved this one. I felt like I lived in the world of Godshot for the days I spent reading it. Bieker is a phenomenal writer and I can't wait to see what she does next.