Becoming Free Indeed

Author: Jinger Duggar
Genre: Memoir
Publisher: Nelson, Thomas, Inc., 2023
Pages: 240
Rating: Recommend

Synopsis: When Jinger Duggar Vuolo was growing up, she was convinced that obeying the rules was the key to success and God's favor. She zealously promoted the Basic Life Principles of Bill Gothard,

• fastidiously obeying the modesty guidelines (no shorts or jeans, only dresses),
• eagerly submitting to the umbrella of authority (any disobedience of parents would place her outside God's protection),
  
• promoting the relationship standard of courtship, and 
• avoiding any music with a worldly beat, among others.

Jinger, along with three of her sisters, wrote a New York Times bestseller about their religious convictions. She believed this level of committment would guarantee God's blessing, even though in private she felt constant fear that she wasn't measuring up to the high standards demanded of her.

In Becoming Free Indeed, Jinger shares how in her early twenties, a new family member - a brother-in-law who didn't grow up in the same tight-knit conservative circle as Jinger - caused her to examine her beliefs. He was committed to the Bible, but he didn't believe many of the things Jinger had always assumed were true. His influence, along with the help of a pastor named Jeremy Vuolo, caused Jinger to see that her life was built on rules, not God's Word.

In Becoming Free Indeed, Jinger shares how in her early twenties, a new family member - a brother-in-law who didn't grow up in the same tight-knit conservative circle as Jinger - caused her to examine her beliefs. He was committed to the Bible, but he didn't believe many of the things Jinger had alwasy assumed were true. His influence, along with the help of a pastor named Jeremy Vuolo, caused Jinger to see that her life was built on rules, not God's Word.

Jinger committed to studying the Bible - truly understanding it - for the first time. What resulted was an earth-shaking realization: much of what she'd always believed about God, disobedience to His Word, and the personal holiness wasn't in-line with what the Bible teaches.

Now with the renewed faith of personal conviction, Becoming Free Indeed shares what it was like living under the tenants of Bill Gothard, the Biblical truth that changed her perspective, and how she disentangled her faith with her belief in Jesus intact.

Review: This novel couldn't have been more different that Homecoming which I just finished yesterday. This was a quick, easy read that I finished in a couple of hours.

I always enjoy reading memoirs written by people who grew up so differently than me. Written by one of the Duggars, of the imfamous Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar family), the book had instant appeal to me. I watched a few episodes of 19 and Counting when I was a new mom, in awe of a family who was able to somehow keep it all together with 16, 17, 18, and eventually 19 children.

I knew ahead of time that this was not a tell-all, and there wouldn't be any juicy Duggar gossip, and honestly, I've had enough of that from celebrity memoirs and headlines. This is the story of Jinger Duggar coming to grips with the cult-like, "Christianity" she was taught. She discusses how in her early twenties, she began to view the world and what it mean to be Christian differently. 

She's able to poke fun at herself, she's relatable, and this was a not a book about "poor me," my parents messed me up for life. I enjoyed her journey. 

Homecoming

Author: Kate Morton
Genre: Historical Fiction / Mystery
Publisher: Mariner Books, 2023
Pages: 560
Rating: Recommend

Synopsis: Adelaide Hills, Christmas Eve, 1959. At the end of a scorching hot day, beside a creek in the grounds of a grand and mysterious house, a local deliveryman makes a terrible discovery. A police investigation is called, and the small town of Tambilla becomes embroiled in one of the most shocking and perplexing murder cases in the history of South Australia. 

Many years later and thousands of miles away, Jess is a journalist in search of a story. Having lived and worked in London for nearly two decades, she now finds herself laid off from her full-time job and struggling to make ends meet. Until a phone call out of nowhere summons her back to Sydney, where her beloved grandmother, Nora, has suffered a fall and been raced to the hospital.

At Nora's house, Jess discovers a true-crime book that chronicles the police investigation into a long-buried event: the Turner Family Tragedy of Christmas Eve, 1959. It is only when Jess skims through the pages that she finds a shocking connection between her own family and this once infamous scandal - a murder mystery that has never been resolved satisfactorily.

Review: Usually when I finish a book, I can't wait to blog about it, but this one was different. I had to think about what I had just read and my thoughts about it. This was my first Kate Morton novel.

On one hand, the reader gets to know the characters well. On the other, there are a lot details. On one hand, it's a long and winding road. On the other, it's a transportive novel. The author clearly wasn't rushed. While most books are sitcoms, this was a Christmas special. There were so many random details that I knew some had to be significant to the story, but which ones. As it turns out, in the end, all of them were important.

Homecoming meandered along, and then bam bam bam, it all came together and I was left thinking, "whoa, what just happened?" I haven't determined if this is a good thing or not. I'll need to read another Kate Morton novel before I draw conclusions about this author.

The Mostly True Story of Tanner & Louise

Author: Colleen Oakley
Genre: Fiction
Publisher: Penguin Publishing Group, 2023
Pages: 352
Rating: Recommend

Synopsis: Twenty-one-year-old Tanner Quimby needs a place to live. Preferably one where she can continue sitting around in sweatpants and playing video games nineteen hours a day. Since she has no credit or money to speak of, her options are limited, so when an opportunity to work as a live-in caregiver for an elderly woman falls into her lap, she takes it.

One slip on the rug. That's all it took for Louise Wilt's daughter to demand that Louise have a full-time nanny living with her. Nevermind that she can still walk fine, finish her daily crossword puzzle, and pour the two fingers of vodka she drinks every afternoon. Bottom line: Louise wants a caretaker even less than Tanner wants to be one.

The two start off their living arrangement happy ignoring each other until Tanner starts to notice things - weird things. Like, why does Louise keep her garden shed locked up tighter than a prison? And why is the local news fixated on the suspect of one of the biggest jewelry heists in American history who looks eerily like Louise? And why does Louise suddenly appear in her room, with a packed bag at 1 a.m. insisting that they leave town immediately?

Thus begins the story of a not-to-be-underestimated elderly woman and an aimless young woman who - if they can outrun the mistakes of their past - might just have the greatest adventure of their lives.

Review: I got caught up in this story in chapter 1. It was a fun ride, but there were heavier themes as well. It was a lot like The Guncle in that way - heavier themes handled in a way that doesn't bring the reader down and gives hope. I also found myself thinking about my late paternal grandmother. She had many adventures in her life.

A Fever in the Heartland

Author: Timothy Egan
Genre: Non-fiction
Publisher: Penguin Publishing Group, 2023
Pages: 432
Rating: Highly Recommend

Synopsis: The Roaring Twenties - the Jazz Age - has been characterized as a time of Gatsby frivolity. But it was also the height of the uniquely American hate group, the Ku Klux Klan. Their domain was no the old Confederacy, but the Heartland and the West. They hated Blacks, Jews, Catholics, and immigrants in equal measure, and took radical steps to keep these people from the American promise. And the man who set into motion their takeover of great swaths of America was a charismatic charlatan named D.C. Stephenson.

Stephenson was a magnetic presence whose life story changed with every telling. Within two years of his arrival in Indiana, he'd become the Grand Dragon of the state and the architect of the strategy that brought the group out of the shadows - their message endorsed from the pulpits of local churches, spread at family picnics and town celebrations. Judges, prosecutors, ministers, governors, and senators across the country all proudly proclaimed their membership. But at the peak of his influence, it was a seemingly powerless woman - Madge Oberholtzer - who would reveal his secret cruelties, and whose deathbed testimony finally brought the Klan to their knees.

Review: Despite the amount of time since I posted a book, this was only a two day read. I basically took two weeks off from reading because my kids were on spring break one week, and my husband the following. I also had a couple books I started, but set aside for the time being because I couldn't get into them.

I love Timothy Egan's writing so I was thrilled to see he had a new book published. A Fever in the Heartland shed light on so many of the issues we deal with today. Egan writes in a storytelling, readable style and I learned so much. 

The Klan is certainly not what I think of when I think about the 1920s, but for people living during that time, they would have been a common sight and a big part of their lives, whether they realized it or not. As a descendant of Polish Catholic immigrants who were relatively new to the Pittsburgh area in the 1920s, I am proud to say that when the Klan tried to make in-roads here, mobs beat them back.

The Sister Effect

Author: Susan Mallery
Genre: Fiction
Publisher: Harlequin, 2023
Pages: 416
Rating: Recommend

Synopsis: Finley McGowan is determined that the niece she's raising will always feel loved and wanted. Unlike how she felt after her mom left to pursue a dream of stardom, and when the grandfather who was left to raise them abandoned her and her sister, Sloane, when they needed him most. Finley reacted to her chaotic childhood by walking the straight and narrow - nose down, work hard, follow the rules.

Sloane went the other way.

Now Sloane is back, as beautiful and as damaged as ever. . .and she wants a relationship with her daughter. She says she's changed, but Finley's heart has been burned once too often for her to trust easily. But is her reluctance to forgive really about Sloane or worry over losing what she loves the most? With the help of a man who knows all too well how messy families can be, Finley will learn there's joy in surrendering and peace in letting go.

Review: I can count on getting absorbed in Susan Mallery's books, and this one was no different. However, The Sister Effect won't be remembered as one of my favorites either. It took awhile for both Finley and Jericho to grow on me, and even in the end, I wasn't their biggest fan. I really struggled with Jericho's mother pushing him to forgive his brother and ex-wife. While it's noble and necessary, it didn't ring true. Forgiveness would have made a great theme for the next book had Mallery chosen to make The Sister Effect the first book in a series or trilogy.

Other Susan Mallery Novels:
The Friendship List
The Christmas Wedding Ring

Wishing Tree Series
The Christmas Wedding Guest
Home Sweet Christmas

Mischief Bay Novels
The Girls of Mischief Bay
The Friends We Keep
A Million Little Things

The Great Gatzby

Author: F. Scott Fitzgerald
Genre: Fiction / Classic
Publisher: Scribner, 2004
Pages: 180
Rating: Do Not Recommend

Synopsis: The story of the mysteriously wealthy Jay Gatzby and his love for the beautiful Daisy Buchanan, of lavish parties on Long Island at a time when The New York Times noted "gin was the national drink and sex the national obsession," it is an exquisitely crafted tale of America in the 1920s.

Review: This is a book I'd been wanting to read for awhile, and when one of my online reading groups posted a challenge that was "read a book under 200 pages," it seemed like a go
od time to try it. I hate to say it, but what a disappointment. I have a hard time getting into books with flowery language so I knew I was in trouble early. I also struggled with jumping between the past, present, and future. But at 180 pages, I pushed myself to finish it.