What it's about Memoirs of a Girl Who Loves God is the story of a disturbed 14-year-old girl, Krystal. Her life is falling apart: her mother's just cheated on her father and had a baby for another man, her father has moved out, and her school grades are abysmal. And so she takes a shard of glass and cuts her wrist... What we love about it In most other writers' hands Krystal's story, and those of many of the people she meets along the way, would be unremittingly bleak and depressing. There are very few things I'd want to read about less than a teenage girl who is so emotionally wrought that she finds solace in cutting her own wrists. But CL Wells skillfully manages to sweep us along in the tale without weighing us down too much with Krystal's sadness. A lot of the brightness comes from Krystal's best friend, Em, a bubbly ray of sunshine who convinces Krystal to volunteer at a Christian homeless shelter, and from Brandon, the very cute guy she meets there. I happen to have volunteered at a homeless shelter in my youth and CL Wells' description of the shelter brought my memories flooding back. Krystal is surrounded by an eclectic group of fellow volunteers and guests, and some of the most exciting chapters of the book are when these new friends take the reins and tell Krystal (and us) their life stories, and how God has touched them. Things begin to move in the right direction for our protagonist - she even begins to stop cutting herself - but just as we start to think that she's found her happily-ever-after, tragedy strikes at the shelter and at home, and darkness (seems to) overwhelm all... Who wrote it? I really must sharpen my googling skills, cos I couldn't, for the life of me, find out what the "CL" in CL Wells stands for. Here's what I do know: she lives in Kansas with her partner of over twenty years, and two aged pets. She is, unsurprisingly, a Christian, and a promoter of self-harm awareness. She's also a huge fan of Tom Hanks, Tyler Perry and Oprah. She is currently working on a sequel to Memoirs of a Girl Who Loves God. We can't wait.
