The Possibilities of Sainthood - Donna Freitas

**** - SO cute. I really enjoyed it, it's a cute love story in a very Meg Cabot-like tone to the heroine and an original clever concept. Despite the Catholic premise and setting, there's no in-your-face Christianity. In feel this is a lot like a young adult sort of My Big Fat Greek Wedding. Great fun!

At 15, Antonia Lucia Labella wants two things more than anything else: to become the Catholic Church's first living saint and to finally get her first kiss. But of course, even the life of a prospective saint is full of trials. Although Antonia sends the Vatican a letter proposing a new patron saint (and offering to take on the job) every month, she's not making much headway. And as to her other goal, well, her overprotective Italian mother makes that whole kissing thing rather difficult - or she would if Antonia's crush even knew she existed...
I, like Antonia, have a fascination with saints, particularly patron saints. I love the stories, I love the reasons they're patron saints of various things. I love that there's a patron saint of mad dogs. I'm not Catholic, nor did I ever go to a Catholic school. But I did grow up in a predominantly Catholic area, so Antonia's world seemed fairly familiar - and hilarious. I loved Antonia's prayer petitions and her ideas for new saints. Most of all, I understood why the saints, and particularly becoming a saint, was so important to Antonia. The author did a fantastic job there of showing, not telling, and she trusts her audience enough to realize that she doesn't have to spell her characters' motivations out in detail.
The love story was a bit more predictable. There's the inevitable love triangle involving 1) a beautiful boy everyone is panting after for no discernible reason other than that he's pretty and an athlete and 2) the pining 'good friend' with a reputation as a heart-breaker. I was never really interested in Boy #1, but I also remember clearly myself at 15 lusting after boys I knew absolutely nothing about except that they looked dreamy when they smiled. So that didn't bother me too much. As to Boy #2, I was kind of ambivalent. On the one hand, I liked that he wasn't the (stereo)typical sweet, shy, overlooked guy. But on the other hand, it seemed like every time he looked at her, he was making her uncomfortable which doesn't exactly endear him to me.
But you know what, despite that, the book really worked for me. Antonia was a charming, engaging character, and best of all for me - she's a good kid. Sure, she occasionally gets in trouble, but unlike the ever-more-popular teen clique-lit, she has morals. Not in-your-face morals. Real kid morals. And I loved her relationship with her family. It's good to see a story about teenagers growing up without rejecting their families. I know mine means (and meant) far too much to me to truly identify with heroines/heroes who decide to go it alone.
There were definitely flaws with the book, but the cute hook really drew me in, and I fell in love with Antonia - she's just lovely.
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