I saw it several times at the library, but I didn't really want to read this book. The blurb described it as exploring "how a loved one's death impacts those left behind." Not a very fun read. But I ended up picking it up once I'd read all of Wittlinger's other books at the library. And I ended up enjoying it a lot — not the torture and sorrow I expected. Wittlinger's characters are complex and engaging. She mixes serious themes — here death, parent-child relations, religion — with funny moments and writing that never takes itself too seriously, as well as a pretty cute romance that develops. Books like these are the reason I read YA lit.

Blind Faith tells the story of Liz Scattergood who has just lost her grandmother, Bunny. Liz's mother is taking the loss particularly hard, having been the best of friends with her mother. When she finally gets up after days on end in bed, it's to try out a spiritualist church that promises to help her communicate with the dead. Liz and her father are skeptical, but Liz attends, just to see, and finds herself wondering if communicating with the dead isn't possible after all. Unfortunately, the church, instead of offering her answers, just gives her more questions.

In the meantime, Liz gets to know the newly moved in grandchildren of her prickly next door neighbor, Mrs. Crosby. Bubbly Courtney and angry Nathan are just the diversion Liz needs from all the problems she has at he own house, that is, until she discovers that Courtney and Nathan's mother is terminally ill, and a whole new legion of questions are unleashed, about life and death and love. Despite his own prickly exterior, Liz finds herself falling for Nathan, and before she knows it, she's wrapped up in a whole other family about to endure a crippling loss. Wittlinger takes on a lot in Blind Faith, dealing with death and dying, God, faith, the afterlife, mediums, mother/daughter relationships, and love all in one shot and does it remarkably successfully. In fact, if I had one complaint about this book, it's that all of Wittlinger's strings are tied up a bit too well. It's rare that you see all these sloppy issues cleared up so tidily in less than 300 pages. Even so, Wittlinger does an admirable and graceful job of asking questions about faith, unearthing the sensitive topic of dealing with terminal illness, and exploring the the unique mix of joy and pain that lurks inside all too many mother/daughter relationships. Not my favorite Wittlinger, but still definitely worth a read! ( )

This book was pretty good, but I expected more. I felt that it ended a bit suddenly and that Ellen Wittlinger could have written a bit more. The main character was quite relatable, and the other characters feel real, too - Ellen Wittlinger is very good at creating believable, honest characters. Overall, a pretty decent read that kept me turning the pages, but not Wittlinger's absolute best. ( )

Reviewed by Me for TeensReadToo.com

It was bad enough when fifteen-year-old Liz Scattergood's grandmother, Bunny, died. It's even worse now that her mother seems to have gone crazy. For weeks her mom wouldn't get out of bed, wouldn't eat dinner with Liz and her father, wouldn't even brush her hair. Although Liz understands that her mother and Bunny had a special bond, were more like sisters, in fact, than mother and daughter, Liz doesn't understand the extreme depression. That was almost preferable, though, to what happens when her mother snaps out of her funk and finally leaves the darkened comfort of her bedroom. Because now she's found religion--or, in this case, Spiritualism, where the congregation and leaders believe they can communicate with the spirits of the dead.

After her mom's first visit to Singing Creek, the Spiritualist Church, she comes home acting alive for the first time in weeks. Liz is curious enough to agree to accompany her the following Saturday, but Liz's dad is none too pleased with the developments. For him, religion is filled with hypocrites and fools, and the crazies that attend Singing Creek are the worst of the lot--they hold out hope to those who have lost someone they love, convincing them that they can really "talk" to the dearly departed's spirit.

For Liz, these new arguments of her parent's is shaking up her once comfortable life. Added to that is the new family who has moved in across the street. There's Courtney, [...]and a total joy, and fifteen-year-old Nathan, who always seems so angry. Their mother, Lily, is dying of leukemia and has come home to spend her final days with her mother, dubbed by Liz as Mrs. Crabby. As Liz enters into a tenuous friendship with Nathan bordering on a first love, and takes Courtney under her wing, she's confused by her father's anger, her mother's obsession with communicating with her dead mother, and the fact that life in Tobias isn't as calm and easy as she'd always believed it to be.

Ms. Wittlinger has penned a beautiful story in BLIND FAITH. This is the story of hope and faith, of love and loss, of life and death. As Liz fights to understand why she doesn't have the same type of bond with her mom that her mother had with Bunny, as Nathan and Courtney learn to live without their mother, and as everyone involved learns how important it is to always have hope, these two families will be forever entwined. A very heartfelt, tender story, you won't go wrong reading BLIND FAITH. ( )

When your mom, still grieving over the death of her mom (your grandmother), joins a Church that claims it can communicate with the dead and your atheist father yells at her for filling your head with nonsense, you can may not know to whom to turn for trustworthy advice about anything, spiritual or otherwise. Your family argues about what you can listen to and where you need to be, but never really listen to you. There is the new boy, Nathan, but he is only in town because his mother is dying and his father shipped him off to be with his grandmother. When you talk to Nathan, however, his anger is a lot like yours. Adults in his family do not trust him to make his own decisions in the same way your family seeks to control you. You discover that talking to someone about what you believe and where you have doubts is immensely helpful and satisfying and it can even lead to love finding a place back in your heart. Wittlinger has penned an important book that explores faith as a deeply personal decision that does not require a logical or rational explanation. It also discusses faith in the context of someone who does not believe in a god, also a deeply personal decision. Recommended for high school libraries.