Faith Taking Flight by Julie Murphy Book Review
“You gotta have Faith.”
(pg. 46)
About
Author: Julie Murphy
Genre: Young Adult Fiction
Other books by Julie Murphy: Dumplin’, Puddin’, Ramona Blue
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Synopsis
Faith Herbert is a pretty regular teen. When she’s not hanging out with her two best friends, Matt and Ches, she’s volunteering at the local animal shelter or obsessing over the long-running teen drama The Grove.
So far, her senior year has been spent trying to sort out her feelings for her maybe-crush Johnny and making plans to stay close to Grandma Lou after graduation. Of course, there’s also that small matter of recently discovering she can fly….
When the fictional world of The Grove crashes into Faith’s reality as the show relocates to her town, she can’t believe it when TV heroine Dakota Ash takes a romantic interest in her.
But her fandom-fueled daydreams aren’t enough to distract Faith from the fact that first animals, then people, have begun to vanish from the town. Only Faith seems able to connect the dots to a new
Review
Spoilers Contained Below
To all those superheroes not represented,
The thing I love most about Julie Murphy is how she is a voice for all those who have never been seen. Because you know what, why is it that no super hero is curvy or plus sized? Why do all superheroes have to be slim or jacked as they say? 😅 Because it seems wrong that only the buffest, most slim-thick people out there are the ones depicted as being the hero. People come in all shapes and sizes and abilities and it is about time we had someone who represented that. I think Marvel and DC need to get on it because their diversity and inclusively is slacking 😂.
So obviously, what I loved most about this book was Faith and how she could fly—her superhero aspect. But . . .
I didn’t really think that her flying abilities was purposeful. To me it, didn’t seem like it served a purpose other than to show that representation of a curvy or plus-sized person having superhero powers. I would have loved more action, and use with her power to save the day or to go on a bigger quest than what she did. Sure, she used her powers to get out of situation and to save Colleen in that moment when she was flying her out the building, but I just never felt like it was the highlight of the book when I was expecting the flying/superhero aspect of the book to serve a greater purpose.
I mean, she flew around here and there, which is fine, but I don’t know, I wanted more flying and action. I wanted the whole Marvel or DC action in this book because of how Faith had this superpower she could use. But no, she would only practice floating in the alleys or in those spur moments. I understood why she didn’t tell anyone, but if we’re being honest, there is no “superhero” rule book that says you can’t tell people you have superpowers. And even at the end when she did tell her friends she had superpowers, I felt it was kind of anticlimactic because it just seemed disconnected to the story.
Speaking of her friends, I understood why Faith felt like she had to leave herself out. I’ve been there, felt that. Because when you have friends where they have a lot of history and you’re the new one, it feels weird. It feels like you are imposing on them or that you will never measure up to what they have or their history. Whenever Faith would walk or drive by Matt’s house and see her friend’s car in the driveway, she would keep going because she thought Matt and Ches were probably hanging out and didn’t want her there because they didn’t invite her. I just wanted to hug Faith in those moments because it’s hard. I know it’s hard. She felt left out. I wanted to tell her to not take it personally if they didn’t invite her because if they didn’t want to hang out with her or invite her over, then they weren’t true friends. But I understand it from the friends point of view that maybe they just want to hang out as just the two of them like old times. I don’t think it was ever their intention to make Faith feel left out though. They really did worry and care about her and they tried to include her. But because Faith already felt like she was a third wheel—-the one left out—-she just kept herself out. I had a group of friends in high school where two of my friends were very close. Like super-glued together close. And as someone who was not connected to them as strongly, I felt it was easier to leave myself out because I didn’t want them to invite me to things out of pity or obligation. So maybe that was what Faith also felt with Matt and Ches.
At the same time, when she pushed herself away from her friends, to them it made it seem like she stopped caring about them. IT created this distance where they both felt left out. And if there’s one thing I would tell anyone, is that if you feel something, say it in a nice way. I truly mean that. Because no one is going to read your mind. No one is going to know how you feel if you do not say it. To Matt and Ches it probably felt like they were doing all they could to make Faith feel part of the group, but to Faith, that’s not how she felt. Matt and Ches didn’t know that because Faith didn’t say something. And vise versa. So they needed to communicate with each other in a mature way about how the other feels. You need to communicate what you feel so other’s know how to be better and you both can know what you can do. Because if you do not say anything, I know personally, it builds hurt, it builds resentment, it builds distance. And if you value that friendship or relationship, they will respect you—shoudl respect you—-if you communicate your feelings. So please, please, please speak up for how you feel. Trust me, it will make a world of a difference and it will do more than just holding it all in.
Because there was this distance between her and her friends, Faith didn’t know what was going on with Ches and how she was with that other dude who was selling this drug that was linked to figuring out who was a superhero. I thought it was sweet how faithful 😉 a friend Faith was that she visited Ches while she was in custody. I liked the moment where they told each other they loved each other because you know, they were still friends and they cared. I also thought Ches shouldn’t have been blamed for being associated with the person who sold the drugs. She was just there at the wrong time and it’s unfair that she was reaping the consequences.
Touching more on the drug case, I still don’t understand it or the point of it. I would have loved for this to be expanded on because after a while I felt like this plot just lost significance and it was never clearly explained what it was. I know it was said it was used to find out who had superpowers, but who created this drug? Was it that Asian man from the camp? I don’t know.
I also didn’t feel like the backstory of Faith getting her superpowers made the most sense. I mean, the RED FLAGS were there. First, the met some rando at the mall. Second, he’s older than her. And not that older men on random gaming sites are ALL creepy, but you know . . . a lot are😆. Sorry, not sorry. So there was that flag. And then this random person tells her about having superpowers?! I’m sorry, Faith should have ran the other way!!!! I don’t care how lonely or left out she felt, no amount of random dude who thinks super powers are real is worth trying to make that relationship work. And you know, I get it, in this universe, powers are real, but if this was the real world, I would have done a skeet skeet skirt skirt in the other direction if that guy said something about activating my powers 😂. Then, he invited her to an EVEN MORE RANDOM “camp?” FAITH, what are you doing!???? She has too much faith in people. See what I did there? 😉
So Faith went to this random camp in this sketchy bus with a bunch of other people she didn’t know. I don’t know how this screamed a “good time” to her 😆. We get a glimpse of what happened when she went to the camp, but after that it cut to after the camp. So there’s this big gap of information missing, which I get was done to keep the reader guessing/to keep reading. All throughout the book I kept waiting for a big flashback moment, but we never got one. We got flashback moments or brief recollections from Faith, but I wanted more because I still don’t understand the point of the camp or how Faith got her powers. Like how is it that certain people have these powers within them that they can activate? Is it because both her parents passed away when she was young, and that made her special? Is that part of her origin story? I also would have loved to know who else went to this camp and where they are now. Because Faith alludes to the different people she saw on the bus, but how she never talked to these people. I mean, are they still at this weird camp or did they escape? Do those people have powers? We know one person who escaped, but I’ll talk more about her later on.
I would have loved to know more about the purpose of this camp and why they were trying to activate people’s powers in the first place? Like what were they trying to do? Were they trying to take over the world? Were they trying to make an elite league? I just didn’t see the purpose of the camp or the powers. It just felt like an added on detail just that needed more depth and explanation.
Here’s the other thing: Dakota.
She seemed nice. She seemed reeeeeaaaalllly nice. Something felt up. I kind of didn’t have a good vibe about her, not because she’s a Hollywood star, but because something felt weird ever since she invited Faith to the corn maze thing. When they were in the maze and they got separated, I felt it was weird how Dakota brushed off Faith’s shock with finding Gretchen. You would think Dakota would have been more empathetic to Faith, but she just brushed it off, which felt wrong given the situation. It also felt weird how close Dakota was getting to Faith when Dakota was never really around. She was around Fatih in chosen moments, but other than that, where was she and what was she doing? And you know the saying, keep your friends close, but your enemies closer? I felt like maybe that was what she was doing. I mean what was Dakota’s motive to be friends with Faith?
I also found it HIGHLY sketchy how she knew who Faith was before she know her. I mean, how exactly did she find Faith that day at the fair. I mean, Dakota couldn’t have planned for that dog she adopted to run to her on that day. So it didn’t feel like an organic relationship. Then there was the whole romantic aspect of Faith and Dakota, which if I’m being honest, I don’t know if it was love or infatuation with the idea of Faith’s biggest idol actually liking her. I mean, if Harry Styles or Shawn Mendes liked me, I would be a GONER. I wondered if Faith was a goner for Dakota for this very reason, or if she really liked Dakota as a person. I don’t feel like we got to know Dakota as a person and would have liked to know more about her life outside of her acting. I know she likes dogs and she’s always moving around, but there has to be something more to her than just that, you know?
Then there was the sketchy girl who went up to Faith and Dakota—the girl who Dakota has a restraining order against. I mean, who was that? I mean, why would they uproot an ENTIRE set just for this? Safety first, I get it, heck, I respect it, but there’s more to the story than that girl being some crazy fan Dakota had to get a restraining order against. It probably had to have been a bigger deal. It also begs the question though if they moved the set because of the restraining order or because Margaret knew about the people with powers in Glenwood. So there was also that.
Honestly, Margaret gave me the Shonda Rhimes of the Glenwood world vibes. She seemed highly-esteemed and well-respected and I love that a woman holds such a powerful position in this book. We love that! 💜 Sucks she turned out to be CRAZY 😂. Because she was in on this whole thing.
She had Colleen, the dogs, and all the people without a home up in her studio set. I’m sorry, what we’re you going to do with them?
I didn’t get it.
I also didn’t get Dakota’s constant good girl, bad girl back and forth. She said she really loved and cared for Faith and that’s why she let Faith go free at the end, but at the same time before that she was threatening Faith and saying all these things. If you love someone, you wouldn’t hurt them. I didn’t think Dakota actually loved Faith. I’m not sure who Dakota even is. Or who Margaret is. So I didn’t trust a word they said.
I liked Colleen’s comeback as a character. People always under estimate the shy, “small,” or timid people. As someone who was labeled that her whole life, I know what Colleen felt. She was angry, and I thought it was fitting how her power was her super voice and her fiery hands because that sis was RAGING! I would be too in some ways. They always shoved Colleen aside like she wasn’t good enough to do something because she was shy or she was quiet. And I would just like to say on behalf of the shy and quiet girls, we are not incapable of speaking up or doing anything any other person can do. Just because talking out loud can be nerve-wracking or scary for us, it doesn’t mean we can’t do it. Whenever the newspaper people like Faith would shut Colleen down for her ideas or make her feel bad, I kind of wanted to put a bullhorn to those people’s ears and tell them to wake up and stop acting so rude. Even when Colleen scheduled that interview with Gretchen, and Faith was so rude to Colleen, saying how Colleen should have checked with her and blah blah blah. I would have loved for Faith to have heard herself because you truly do not talk to a person like that. I also understood why the teacher didn’t want Colleen to go after the drug story because that would be a safety issue. But I also didn’t think it was fair of the teacher to put Colleen down because her saying Colleen shouldn’t do that piece instigates that she didn’t believe in Colleen. As a future educator, one of the biggest things I hope to instill in my students is my unending belief in them that they can do anything they set their mind to, and I will support them in that. I think the teacher should have one about it in a more respectful way or at least have someone like Faith work with Colleen on the article so at least the teacher knew Colleen would be in safe hands.
Heck, Colleen’s character was probably my favorite 😅. There’s just so much to her story that I appreciated we got. Her family didn’t really care for Colleen. I just want to hug her!!! No wonder she’s shy, she grew up feeling what she said isn’t important and that it would be better not to say anything anyway because no one would care. I know this all too well too. And it sucks. It sucks to feel like you don’t matter and it’s better not to say anything. It’s lonely. I could feel Colleen’s loneliness come across as anger and hurt from the way she was treated. Colleen’s sister forgot about her, which I understand because the sister had her own life and kids. But still, she should have checked in with Colleen each day to make sure she was safe or healthy or if she needed someone to talk to. Because sometimes all people want is someone who will sit down, listen, and be there. Sometimes that’s all we “shy” people need. If I knew Colleen in real life, I can GUARANTEE you, I would be her friend. I really would. Because you know, you got to give people a chance and no one gave her one.
The dogs and the homeless people who were captured, I’m still confused as to what the Harbringer Foundation was trying to do with that. Were they trying to make the next Underdogs? And why would they gather all the homeless people too? I mean, hey, they had shelter, so I guess they were okay, but I don’t know, it felt weird.
Along with the flying plot, I thought it didn’t make sense with the whole Grandma Lou plot. It felt kind of random to mesh the two together because the story focused on flying, friendship, romance, mystery, and then it threw in that Grandma Lou had dementia. I liked the story line, don’t get me wrong. I just didn’t think it fit well with everything else going on. I loved how independent and strong Grandma Lou was. She gave Faith a lot of space and freedom to do her own things, which I respect. But when the Grandma went missing that whole night, my heart plummeted for Faith. Her grandma is all she has, and she didn’t know if she was okay or safe. Faith didn’t want to believe that her grandma was forgetting things because she felt like if she voice it, it would be true. After that night, she couldn’t hide the fact that her Grandma was losing her memory.
I liked how Faith and Grandma Lou had a conversation and found a balance of watching over her Grandma, while also letting her be free. I appreciated Fatih’s neighbor/Grandma Lou’s friend for helping out with watching Grandma Lou or being there for Faith when Faith needed someone when Grandma Lou went missing. Their neighbor sounds like the type of person who cares a lot, but tries to come across like she doesn’t. I appreciated her though.
Overall, I would say this was a cute, easy read, but there were parts that didn’t click or didn’t make sense to me. I think there are a lot of things that still need to be expanded on or could have been clearer. I also would have liked more significance to Faith’s powers rather than her just randomly flying here and there. Maybe that was the point—-that she was just a normal girl who could fly—-she wasn’t her powers. I’m not sure. But I think the story would have been a bit more epic if it had more background with her origins story and battling the evil guy per say. Or if at the end of the story, she did end up falling in love with the “bad guy.”
I don’t know.
It kind of makes me wonder if the Grove would be canceled now as a show 😂.
Anyway, what was your favorite part of the book? Least favorite part? Anything I mentioned that you want to discuss more about?
If you had a superpower what would it be? Let me know below in the comments as I love hearing from you all 💕
I hope you have a beautiful day whenever and wherever you might be reading this 😊.
And as always, with love,
Rating
3.2 Full Bloom Flowers
Characters: I liked Faith as a person. She seems like a very likeable gal with great aspirations to become a veterinarian. She also sounds like a high-key fangirl like me, and heck she has a blog! I think we would be good friends 😊.
Plot: Highly sketchy people and situations that kind of didn’t make sense to me. I liked the idea of a plus-sized superhero, but I would have loved if took on a more significant role in the book and had more action moments with it.
Writing: Not my favorite Julie Murphy book, but that doesn’t mean I don’t respect her as a writer! 💜 So I definitely enjoyed the style of her writing, and it was easy to read through
Romance: I wouldn’t say the romance was the main focus of this book, and I wouldn’t say I fell head over heels in love with the relationship either.