Just Julie's Fine

Meet Julie: To know her is to love her. The only bad things to have happened to her are too many good things. When she walks down the street, birds call her name and the sun smiles more broadly. I do not know how you will stand her. ** Hilarious, subversive, reflective, and poignant, this novel is a revolving portrait that perfectly captures the BYU single experience and the internal and external tensions faced by Latter-day Saint women. -Katherine Cowley, award-winning LDS author Reading this book is like catching an affectionate wink from the guy who sits on the back row in Gospel Doctrine class smiling to himself as he does crossword puzzles on his phone so that you think he's not listening but who always comes out with the comment that turns the discussion into something bigger, something that matters. Jepson treats his characters-these glorious, quirky, hilarious young people trying to figure out their places in the world, trying to understand their own hearts-with humor, yes, but also with a subtle tenderness, so that we recognize their yearnings. This book is as fun as a pick-up game of Pictionary, but just when you think it's all Peanut M&Ms and Twizzlers, holiness appears as if on a silver tray passed by the deacons. The ending sneaks up on you like your home teacher (minister) on a unicycle bearing mint brownies, and, like him, is sweet and surprisingly healing. The sunset our Classic Protagonist rides off into is a different sunset than she had thought she was aiming for, a better sunset, and that makes all the difference. It makes this book true. -Darlene Young, author of Here