PAINT ME FEARLESS

Two friends ride the ups and downs of adolescence and beyond in this Christian novel.

Robin and Desiare not friends at first sight. When Desi first moves to Shady Gully, Louisiana, at the end of junior high, Robin wants nothing to do with her, mostly because everyone keeps telling Robin they look exactly alike: “You gotta see her, Robin. She looks just like you. Except she’s good lookin’.” But the girls’ outsider status—Desi’s religiosity is strange in Shady Gully while Robin is a perennial social outcast—soon leads them into a friendship of necessity. The girls head into high school, helping each other navigate the treacherous waters of popularity, self-esteem issues, and boys. They remain best friends after graduation, but their lives begin to drift in different directions. Desi ends up with a working-class husband and three kids before Robin and her executive husband even have one. Resentment begins to build, but not around the issues one might expect. Desi has long kept a secret from Robin, one that she has never found a way to share. As fractures begin to form in their long-standing friendship, will Robin and Desi manage to be there for each other during times of trouble? In this series opener, Lee’s prose is fluid and full of personality. She switches back and forth between the two friends by chapter, capturing the particular psychologies of each. Here, Robin considers Desi’s positive effect on her life in school: “Something had changed this summer in the way I thought of myself. I didn’t hate myself so much. Whether it was because Desi loved me back, or because I didn’t feel so alone anymore, or because I had something to look forward to every day, somehow I felt more included and significant.” The book often treads into sentimentality, and it does not quite delve into some of the issues it raises as deeply as readers may like. But fans of Christian fiction should appreciate this more nuanced, human approach to the genre.

An engaging story of friendship, loss, and faith told through two well-drawn characters.