13-year old Olivene Love, the eldest daughter of traveling preacher Reverend Everlasting Love, has come to the small town of Binder to help her family spread the Word. They're to stay only three days, then move on to the next town, just like always. But Ollie can't help but notice something is deeply wrong in Binder--Jimmy Koppel, a thin, dirty boy about her own age is living on his own, his father murdered and his mother in jail for it. Not only is Ollie convinced that the mother is innocent, despite her signed confession, but the whole town seems to be blinded by prejudice against the Koppel family. What Binder could use is just...a little bit of Love.I'm having trouble decided exactly how I feel about this book. There wasn't anything wrong with it--well, a few absolutely disgusting frog incidents, and by disgusting, I mean more than just warts and slime, but things that could actually be super-upsetting for some people--but I can't say I loved it, either. The characters, the setting, the mystery, the family dynamics between Ollie, her parents, and her four sisters--everything was really nicely done. It was good. I don't want to say anything bad about it, but it also wasn't a book I couldn't stop reading, and I didn't get so attached to the characters that I hated to leave them behind.
But. I liked it.