Rhys can't believe a gorgeous, graceful Mormon girl like Emmy is giving a guy like him a chance.  Of course, she doesn't know he's not a member of her church.  He needs to tell her.  Right away.  The second he does, though, she'll jeté right out of his life.  Rhys will do anything to keep Emmy by his side.  Except the one thing she wants him to do: convert.  Will Emmy have to give up what's most important to her in order for the couple to have a chance?  Or will their whirlwind romance end before it's even had a chance to begin? 

Love on Pointe, a debut novel by Tiffany Odekirk, is an upbeat, swoony romance featuring a likable duo battling an impossible problem.  While I found the story's premise a little implausible, I adored its setting.  Odekirk does an admirable job of bringing the BYU atmosphere to life in all its goofy glory, capturing both the fun and frustration inherent in the student experience.  She also goes to great pains to break down common stereotypes, although many manage to bleed through.  Still, Love on Pointe tackles a difficult situation with honesty and sensitivity.  Although it's obvious from the get-go how the story will end, she throws in a couple of surprises to keep the plot interesting.  Not every aspect of the story line rang true for me, but overall I found Love on Pointe an enjoyable read.  Yes, it oozes a fair amount of cheese and melodrama; still, it's a bright, fun, faith-promoting book that will appeal to anyone looking for a clean, easy-to-read LDS romance.  While I have a few issues with Odekirk's debut performance, one thing is certain—I can't wait to see what she does for an encore.    

(Readalikes:  Love on Pointe reminded me of other contemporary LDS romances by Melanie Jacobson, Jenny Proctor, and Brittany Larsen)

Grade:

If this were a movie, it would be rated:

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(Image from Barnes & Noble)

Not a lot goes on in the small town of West End, Montana (Pop. 947). Tourists flock to the region to fish and gawk at wildlife in Yellowstone National Park, but for the locals, life pretty much revolves around getting drunk and getting pregnant. Sixteen-year-old K.J. Carson can't wait to leave it all behind. All she has to do is make it through high school. With dyslexia. And a bunch of redneck morons harrassing her daily. Piece of cake.

When shaggy-haired Virgil Whitman appears at K.J.'s high school one day, she's instantly smitten. A transplant from Minnesota, he's gorgeous, laidback, and a brilliant wildlife photographer. Getting paired up with him for a journalism project, puts K.J. over the moon. Wolf-watching with Virgil and his wildlife biology professor mother is exciting; K.J.'s mesmerized by the beauty of the animals (not to mention her journalism partner). Her obsession with them grows every time she pens a new article for her "Wolf Notes" column.

It's not until an angry local takes a potshot at Virgil that K.J. realizes just how dangerous it is to be a wolf sympathizer in a place like West End. She knows the whole idea of re-introducing wolves into Yellowstone sparked controversy in areas surrounding the park, but she had no idea how divisive an issue it really was. Until now. While ranchers rage against the wolves that attack their cattle, activists put up their own fight. The fiercer the battle gets, the more vicious it becomes - businesses are getting vandalized, K.J.'s being threatened, and people are angry enough to shoot teenagers. Despite everyone's warnings to back off, K.J. can't keep away from the wolves. Or Virgil. Or really dumb ideas that get her in trouble with everyone from her father to the town's two police officers. But she can't back down now, can she? Isn't standing up for her beliefs worth a little ribbing from her classmates? Besides, the wolves are the only thing she and Virgil have in common. If she curbs her little obsession, will Virgil stop paying so much attention to her? With her town in turmoil, K.J. has to decide who she really is and how far she'll go to save the animals she's grown to love.

The plot to Kristen Chandler's debut novel, Wolves, Boys, & Other Things That Might Kill Me, may seem a little far-fetched, but I remember well the fight between loggers and environmentalists that broke out in my home state of Washington over the spotted owl. The action in the book might get a little melodramatic - it's a book, after all - still, it was realistic enough to keep me thoroughly engrossed. Virgil didn't even turn into a werewolf. Imagine that! My favorite part of the novel, however, was K.J. Funny, snarky, self-deprecating K.J. She made me laugh, she also made me think and feel and root for her to triumph in her quest to save the wolves. While the novel's got a few rough spots (some awkward phrasing, a handful of copyediting errors, etc.), it's still a gem of a first novel. I enjoyed it, loved it really, and cannot wait to see what Chandler does next.

(Readalikes: Reminded me of The Loop by Nicholas Evans)

Grade: B

If this were a movie, it would be rated: PG-13 for some language (no F-bombs), sexual innuendo, and mild violence

To the FTC, with love: Another library
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