Author: Jackson Pearce
Release Date: April 24th, 2012
Publisher: Little Brown
Pages: 224
Age Group: Young Adult
Source: Finished copy for review

Rating: ★★★★★

A novel about love, loss, and sex -- but not necessarily in that order.
Before her mother died, Shelby promised three things: to listen to her father, to love as much as possible, and to live without restraint. Those Promises become harder to keep when Shelby's father joins the planning committee for the Princess Ball, an annual dance that ends with a ceremonial vow to live pure lives -- in other words, no "bad behavior," no breaking the rules, and definitely no sex.
Torn between Promises One and Three, Shelby makes a decision -- to exploit a loophole and lose her virginity before taking the vow. But somewhere between failed hookup attempts and helping her dad plan the ball, Shelby starts to understand what her mother really meant, what her father really needs, and who really has the right to her purity.

Purity ended up being much more than I thought it would be. I thought it sounded amazing just based on the description, but that doesn't even begin to describe just how beautiful this book is. It's a really sad book in ways, but it also has some very happy moments where it really shines. This is the first of Jackson's books that I have read, but I have heard a lot of people talk about how amazing her writing is. And I can see why now. I've read a lot of great Contemporary books, but Purity is really something special.

The story in Purity is a lot more complex than I thought it would be. And I love how in the Authors note Jackson talked about how she had originally planned for this book to be a lighthearted, funny story about a girl losing her virginity. While there is a focus on that throughout the story, I didn't really feel like it was a huge focus and I thought all of the sex related context was very subtle and nicely done. I was glad to see that it didn't hold such a huge grasp on the story, because I became a lot more attached to other parts of the story that were much more important in my opinion. I was moved by the part of the story dealing with the loss of Shelby's mom, and the three promises she had made to her. I really liked that she tried her best to keep those three promises, no matter what. Then you have the relationship between Shelby and her dad. This was by far my favorite part of the story, seeing how their relationship grew throughout the story after the tragic loss and how they slowly learn to truly be there for each other.

I'm a little conflicted when it comes to the characters. I loved Shelby, Shelby's Dad, Jonas, Ruby and several of the other more prominent characters. They were all extremely well written, and I really enjoyed their respective relationships in the story. They all shared something special, which all had a huge impact on the story as a whole. With that said, I didn't really care for a lot of the minor characters. While it's probably not very important, since most of them only show up for maybe 3-4 scenes throughout the book I just dreaded the scenes that they were in.

The ending really got to me. Everything built up to it, but I just wasn't sure how well it would actually turn out. And I mean that in the sense of Shelby's relationship for her dad, you really want them to be able to become close and be there for each other. But you just don't know how exactly all of that will play out. I really liked how the Questions they each had to answer as part of the Princess Ball played such a important role throughout the story, and the ending.

I would highly recommend this book. It's a sad book, yes. But there are plenty of moments that will having you laughing, and happy. I am almost positive that this book will cause some readers to cry during certain parts, but that's not really a bad thing. It's a beautifully written book, with an extremely powerful story on many different levels. This is one of those books you should give a chance. I know not everyone will have the same opinion as me when they read it, but I truly think you will enjoy this book if it even sounds remotely interesting to you.

Thanks to Little Brown for providing me with a copy of this book for review.