Keeping Faith by Jodi Picoult

Yes, I have been on a Jodi Picoult kick recently. This one sounded really interesting. Here is a description from Library Journal:

When seven-year-old Faith White and her mother, Mariah, swing by the house on the way to ballet class, they find that Daddy is home and he's brought a playmate. This is not the first time he's been caught cheating. After the fuss and feathers have settled and Dad has moved out, Faith begins talking to an imaginary friend who, it seems, is God. And God is not male but female. Faith is able to effect miraculous cures and is also occasionally afflicted with stigmata. When the media gets wind of this, the circus begins. The local rabbi takes an interest (Faith and Mariah are technically Jewish), and the local Catholic priest pays several inquiring visits. There is also a gaggle of psychologists. Throw in a professional atheist for the romance angle and a vicious custody fight with an egomaniacal lawyer, and you have a riveting read. Picot (The Pact, LJ 2/15/98) gets better and better with each book. If you can suspend disbelief on one or two points, this is an entrancing novel. Highly recommended

This book was pretty good, but not my favorite. I kept waiting for them to explain what was happening to Faith. I kept waiting for some big reveal, but it never really came. She apparently develops Stigmata- where you have the injuries Christ endured on the cross. There was no medical explination for it. I don't know if that is something that has happend to people in real life, but it was just kind of hard for me to believe. The story didn't move slowly or anything, but I just never felt like things were getting resolved. Also, the love story angle in the book seemed a little weak and unurealistic to me. There weren't any huge twists and turns like I've come to expect in Picoult's books.

I give this one 3.5 out of 5 stars.