The Secret Lives of Church Ladies

I wanted to start off 2024 by stepping out of my comfort zone (fantasy), and this was the first book that was available on the Libby app and that I finished this year. Overall I thoroughly enjoyed it, including the audio narrator.

I was confused on some aspects of the book, namely that the first short story had me thinking they were all going to be in some way about lesbians—that is certainly not the case, although I won't proclaim the book definitely said that's what they were going to be about. There was—obviously—a lot of religious talk and contemplation, and I found myself relating to a lot of the confusion and thoughts of some of the women.

As a very quick rundown through each short story: "Eula" nearly made me sob while I was walking to work; I didn't enjoy "Not-Daniel", any situation of unfaithful partners is very icky to me, but I was also still confused over the lack of lesbians; I enjoyed the style of the way "Dear Sister" was written, but I do wish I could've heard a response back; "Peach Cobbler" was simply a wild ride to go through, I felt so bad for the main girl; "Snowfall" was probably my favourite—thank you, lesbians—and it had the perfect atmosphere I wanted for winter; "How to Make Love to a Physicist" was genuinely sweet, I loved hearing about the budding romance and the struggles with God and faith really struck home in some spots; "Jael" was really rough for me to get through simply because of the blatant homophobia mentions, but the end was a proud moment; I actually had a great time with "Instructions For Married Christian Husbands" even though it featured more unfaithful partners, it was so full of well placed humour and unabashed rules; and finally, "When Eddie Levert Comes" was an incredibly sad read, it broke my heart as the final story.