Burnouts, Geeks and Jesus Freaks by Karen Gordon -a review

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ABOUT THE BOOK: Release Date March 4, 2014
Genre: Young Adult, contemporary

They’re burnouts – a little short on parents, money and plans for the future, but they’ve got each other and a whole lot of fun. With a world of crazy at home, Carrie Gould needs them to keep her sanity. To stay in their world she needs to keep dating the guy with the party house, which would be fine, if she hadn’t fallen in love with someone else.

He’s such a geek. Ben Gorman is obsessive, smart, strong-willed and on the fast track to his dream of becoming an Army Ranger. He’s also the only geek with a girl. Joelle Welker is perfect for him; a self-proclaimed Jesus freak, who is dedicated to her beliefs and to building a future with Ben. But those plans don’t include his neighbor, Carrie, or Ben’s dedication to her.

Their friendship started by chance. Their love started with trust.

This is a sweet, silly smart-sexy story of first love and first lovers.

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I need to get this off of my chest but I found the title quite catchy. Reading the title of this book, you would think this story is a young adult novel about high school cliques. My first impression was it was going to follow a burnout, a geek and Jesus freak about their lives in high school where something will bring them together where they will realize they have a lot in common. Something along those lines. In a way it does follow a burnout and geek but for the Jesus freak not really. You do read the story from the point of view from the burnout and geek.

You have burnout, Carrie Gould and geek, Ben Gorman who are childhood neighbors and friends. Carrie and Ben are good friends despite being on opposite ends of the clique spectrum. I felt like Carrie and Ben are like your star-crossed lovers where there was just so much standing in their way to be together. First it’s the cliques there are associated with, then it’s them being in relationships with the wrong people, and then it’s the circumstances with Ben’s military career and Carrie being forced in a marriage due to an unplanned pregnancy with another man. And when they finally realize their feelings for each other and get together, their time together is just so brief that you are just so overwhelmed with disappointment.

You seriously feel like you want to curse the faith above on why they can’t be together. They are just so perfect together. They’ve known each other since childhood and have continued to remain friends through the years and they both have family issues. They just get each other so well that you are screaming at them to be together even when they are with the wrong people. While Ben and Carrie are separated because of Ben being deployed, it is like a horrible Dear John movie where they don’t even get to hear from each other very much and it’s through only hand written letters not even a phone where they can each other’s voice. The separation was downright just too painful to read. With Ben being on a role with his military career and Carrie accidentally getting pregnant by Nick, it’s feels just like Dear John where the couple don’t even end up together in the end. Luckily, there are second chances in this book. Second chances are one of my favorite book elements. I just love how when all seems lost, things fall back in place as they should.

I love Ben. I love his character on how he is a total boy-scout and gentlemen. I love his sense of responsibility, his loyalty to his mother and grandparents, his love and respect for Carrie and his sense of being true to himself which I must add is really admirable when you are a confused teen trying to find yourself. Ben is almost perfect. Though I admit that the only thing that bothered me about Ben was I felt like he was a little selfish when it came to his military career. Why the heck did he permit her to see other people just because he wanted to accomplish all his goals in the military and he felt guilty if he asked her to wait for him?!? Guys in the military get engaged and married all the time. So why not? Carrie seemed to be so in love with him that I can see her waiting and being faithful to him. There was just a part of me that felt like he didn’t want to be tied down. I get that he wants to follow his dreams and it was what he wanted to do since childhood but why couldn’t he see that you can still pursue you dreams and share it with the one you love?

The other thing that also bothered me was Carrie’s parents. Seriously, they were major A-holes throughout the entire book. Carrie’s mother was very against Carrie’s friendship with MG but to me it felt like she hated Carrie for not being the preppy, school spirit type of teenage daughter. I mean so much for loving your daughter for who she is…NOT! I wanted to back hand her for every cutthroat thing she said to Carrie. As for her father, how emotionally distant can you be to your child?! He really didn’t give a rat’s butt about Carrie and when she was graduating high school, it just seemed like he couldn’t wait to get rid of her. Awful parents and it’s no wonder Carrie went through a crappy string of bad luck sometimes. Nice, caring and loving parents could’ve made a difference in a child’s life.

Overall there was a lot to love about this book. The awesome friendship between MG and Carrie, the comical moments when Carrie, MG and their group of friends got drunk, Ben and Carrie’s moments, and most of all this book just brings you back to high school. It almost feels nostalgic. It makes you remember all the good times with your friends, the parties, the bad relationships, and young love. Great book and I highly recommend it. YA books are fun and it’s good for you to indulge in one every now and then. I can’t wait for the next book. ☺

Copy supplied by the author

Reviewed by Xtina