I have enjoyed everything Natalie Naudus has narrated. That’s why I knew I had to read Natalie’s self-narrated and written audiobook. And this was everything I wanted and more. It’s tender, swoony, and emotional all at once. Keep reading this book review of Gay the Pray Away for my full thoughts.
Summary
Valerie Danners is in a cult. She just doesn’t know it yet. When she finds a queer book at the library and smuggles it home, her conservative Christian homeschooling world begins to crack. And when the cutest girl she’s ever met shows up to Bible class, she starts to question everything.
Riley is so confident and kind, and she and Valerie bond quickly over existing as multiracial teens in a very white Christian community. As Valerie explores her feelings for Riley, she begins to see that the world she knows is a carefully crafted narrative.
Publicly, the girls are close friends–holding hands in prayer, rooming together at a conference. Privately, they grasp at any chance to continue their forbidden romance–until they are found out. Now Valerie must choose between staying with a family she fears will never accept her, or running away with the girl she loves.
Review
Gay the Pray Away is a book about love and self-discovery. It’s about someone’s comments unlocking out ability to look around us. To see the things around us that were wrong, but we never saw it. While it’s very much a romance story, it’s emotional in Valerie’s journey of self-discovery. She realizes the wrongness that surrounds her and is able to put into words the feelings at the pit of her stomach. We are told over and over again that the problem is us. But what happens when someone comes along and says that’s wrong. That there’s nothing wrong with us.
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While there’s definitely religious trauma and abuse within Gay the Pray Away, it’s very much a story about how we survive, how we get help, and what we stand by and watch. It’s the knowledge that we shouldn’t have to hide who we are. We are waiting for the shoe to drop with our hearts in our stomach, even as we fall in love. Of course, read by the author is going to be amazing and Natalie brings a care and softness to this tender story. This is definitely a recommendation from me. Find Gay the Pray Away on Goodreads, Storygraph, Amazon, Bookshop.org, Blackwells, & Libro. fm.