Pure

You must stay away from the one who brings nothing but heartache and death. Know the difference between need and love, fate and future. Alex would give anything to be a normal half-blood, but she can't escape her destiny: On her eighteenth birthday, she will Awaken to become the second Apollyon, which has only ever happened once before. And it didn't end well. Maybe it wouldn't be so bad if her "other half" Seth weren't so infuriating...and somehow always around. Their connection does have some benefits, like staving off her nightmares of the tragic showdown with her mother, but it doesn't stop Alex from becoming a target for daimons, half-bloods, and pures who don't want her to make it to her eighteenth birthday at all. As if fighting for her life weren't bad enough, she also battles her heart as she tries to bury her feelings for the forbidden, pure-blooded Aiden. But as daimons infiltrate the Covenants and a mysterious threat looms over Alex at every turn, it is clear Aiden will do and sacrifice anything for her. When even the gods get involved, Alex can't help but wonder--how many people need to get hurt in order for her to survive?

You must stay away from the one who brings nothing but heartache and death. Know the difference between need and love, fate and future. Alex would give anything to be a normal half-blood, but she can't escape her destiny: On her eighteenth birthday, she will Awaken to become the second Apollyon, which has only ever happened once before. And it didn't end well. Maybe it wouldn't be so bad if her "other half" Seth weren't so infuriating...and somehow always around. Their connection does have some benefits, like staving off her nightmares of the tragic showdown with her mother, but it doesn't stop Alex from becoming a target for daimons, half-bloods, and pures who don't want her to make it to her eighteenth birthday at all. As if fighting for her life weren't bad enough, she also battles her heart as she tries to bury her feelings for the forbidden, pure-blooded Aiden. But as daimons infiltrate the Covenants and a mysterious threat looms over Alex at every turn, it is clear Aiden will do and sacrifice anything for her. When even the gods get involved, Alex can't help but wonder--how many people need to get hurt in order for her to survive?

In Pure, Linda Kay Klein uses a potent combination of journalism, cultural commentary, and memoir to take us "inside religious purity culture as only one who grew up in it can" (Gloria Steinem) and reveals the devastating effects evangelical Christianity's views on female sexuality has had on a generation of young women. In the 1990s, a "purity industry" emerged out of the white evangelical Christian culture. Purity rings, purity pledges, and purity balls came with a dangerous message: girls are potential sexual "stumbling blocks" for boys and men, and any expression of a girl's sexuality could reflect the corruption of her character. This message traumatized many girls-resulting in anxiety, fear, and experiences that mimicked the symptoms of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder-and trapped them in a cycle of shame. This is the sex education Linda Kay Klein grew up with. Fearing being marked a Jezebel, Klein broke up with her high school boyfriend because she thought God told her to and took pregnancy tests despite being a virgin, terrified that any sexual activity would be punished with an out-of-wedlock pregnancy. When the youth pastor of her church was convicted of sexual enticement of a twelve-year-old girl, Klein began to question purity-based sexual ethics. She contacted young women she knew, asking if they were coping with the same shame-induced issues she was. These intimate conversations developed into a twelve-year quest that took her across the country and into the lives of women raised in similar religious communities-a journey that facilitated her own healing and led her to churches that are seeking a new way to reconcile sexuality and spirituality. Pure is "a revelation... Part memoir and part journalism, Pure is a horrendous, granular, relentless, emotionally true account" (The Cut) of society's larger subjugation of women and the role the purity industry played in maintaining it. Offering a prevailing message of resounding hope and encouragement, "Pure emboldens us to escape toxic misogyny and experience a fresh breath of freedom" (Glennon Doyle, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Love Warrior and founder of Together Rising).

In Pure, Linda Kay Klein uses a potent combination of journalism, cultural commentary, and memoir to take us "inside religious purity culture as only one who grew up in it can" (Gloria Steinem) and reveals the devastating effects evangelical Christianity's views on female sexuality has had on a generation of young women. In the 1990s, a "purity industry" emerged out of the white evangelical Christian culture. Purity rings, purity pledges, and purity balls came with a dangerous message: girls are potential sexual "stumbling blocks" for boys and men, and any expression of a girl's sexuality could reflect the corruption of her character. This message traumatized many girls-resulting in anxiety, fear, and experiences that mimicked the symptoms of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder-and trapped them in a cycle of shame. This is the sex education Linda Kay Klein grew up with. Fearing being marked a Jezebel, Klein broke up with her high school boyfriend because she thought God told her to and took pregnancy tests despite being a virgin, terrified that any sexual activity would be punished with an out-of-wedlock pregnancy. When the youth pastor of her church was convicted of sexual enticement of a twelve-year-old girl, Klein began to question purity-based sexual ethics. She contacted young women she knew, asking if they were coping with the same shame-induced issues she was. These intimate conversations developed into a twelve-year quest that took her across the country and into the lives of women raised in similar religious communities-a journey that facilitated her own healing and led her to churches that are seeking a new way to reconcile sexuality and spirituality. Pure is "a revelation... Part memoir and part journalism, Pure is a horrendous, granular, relentless, emotionally true account" (The Cut) of society's larger subjugation of women and the role the purity industry played in maintaining it. Offering a prevailing message of resounding hope and encouragement, "Pure emboldens us to escape toxic misogyny and experience a fresh breath of freedom" (Glennon Doyle, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Love Warrior and founder of Together Rising).