What do you do when you’re new to an area (you’ve moved because your last job ended very badly after you became personally involved in an investigative report and cost the paper the headline), in desperate need of a job and the only one you can find is at a Christian publishing house where they expect employees to be Christian? The main problem being you don’t really consider yourself a Christian? You “fake” it. That’s the basic premise of this book and hence the title.

Maizy is smack in the middle of this scenario. She has a part time job at a “real” newspaper but needs a job that will actually help her pay the bills. Her story begins in front of the building holding the publishing company. She’s in her car going over “Grace (she’s going by her middle name) Stewart’s 5-Step Program to Authentic Christian Faith.” She bases her plan on a book she’s been reading: “The Dumb Blonde’s Guide to Christianity.” It’s full of all sorts of helpful information which caused her to put bumper stickers on her car (but with scotch tape…just in case she doesn’t get the job), hangs a crown-of-thorns air freshener from her mirror, etc.

As she heads into the building she notices that the bumper sticker is already coming off. As she tries to adjust it she hears a voice saying “it’s crooked.” She doesn’t know it but this encounter is the first of many she’ll have with Jack. As the book unfolds Maizy finds it harder and harder to hide the real reason she applied for the job at this company. What makes it worse is the newspaper finds out she’s working for the publishing company and hires her to do an investigative report. It seems that her boss had tried to do it before but it didn’t work out. She insists that the company is made up of a bunch of hypocrites and wants to “bring the company down.”

Although I enjoyed the book it was fairly predictable. And there were constant reminders that Grace was “faking” it. The whole book made that perfectly clear so the reminders weren’t necessary. Because of these things it would probably be a better read for a younger audience.

Reviewed by Lynn Worley