Heretics Anonymous by Katie Henry

Summary:
Michael is an atheist. So as he walks through the doors at St. Clare’s—a strict Catholic school—sporting a plaid tie, things can’t get much worse. His dad has just made the family move again, and Michael needs a friend. When a girl challenges their teacher in class, Michael thinks he might have found one, and a fellow nonbeliever at that. Only this girl, Lucy, is not just Catholic . . . she wants to be a priest.
But Lucy introduces Michael to other St. Clare’s outcasts, and he officially joins Heretics Anonymous, where he can be an atheist, Lucy can be an outspoken feminist, Avi can be Jewish and gay, Max can wear whatever he wants, and Eden can practice paganism. After an incident in theology class, Michael encourages the Heretics to go from secret society to rebels intent on exposing the school’s hypocrisies. When Michael takes one mission too far—putting the other Heretics at risk—he must decide whether to fight for his own freedom, or rely on faith, whatever that means, in God, his friends, or himself.
Review:
Heretics Anonymous has been so well-loved by so many people that I trust to the point where I had nothing but really high hopes for this story. I knew that I was going to love it. I did exactly that. I read this in one sitting because I just couldn’t stop.
I loved the setting of a Catholic school. It’s not something I’m overly familiar with so it was something different and unique. I thought the whole book brought up a really interesting discussion about religion. I’ve never been an overly religious person. I’m on the border of agnostic, but I’ve always wanted to be able to have faith and believe as strongly as the Catholics. I also enjoyed the inclusion of the beliefs of the other characters.
I adored this squad. I thought their friendship was fun and realistic. I really liked that they formed their ‘club’ and tried to do things to change some of the more ridiculous rules of their school. But I also thought it was really interesting that they considered the effects of their actions. They made choices to do certain things, but they also tried to think about what those things were doing to the students outside of Heretics Anonymous. I’m not going to go into the things I liked about each character but I will say that it was a diverse cast of friends. Diverse in the sense of sexual orientation, race, religious beliefs, and from an outsider’s perspective, it was done well.
I’ve seen people complain about the romance, that it didn’t need to be included. But I don’t feel that way. I really liked the romance between two members of this squad. It was complicated and sweet and sometimes dramatic. I really liked how things ended. It wasn’t the usual happily ever after, it was more complicated than that and I think that made the story all the more realistic.
Overall, I adored this book and everything about it. Heretics Anonymous was everything I wanted it to be. I cannot wait to read Katie Henry’s newest book. I will definitely be recommending Heretics Anonymous to anyone and everyone that will listen.

Keep on reading lovelies, Amanda.