A devastating read, mostly because I can imagine the people out there living in these same circumstances and feeling lost, confused, alone.

As painful as many of the years with an abusive husband and an abusive church must have been, I appreciate hearing the positive moments, no matter how few. This reminds people that one of the difficulties escaping domestic abuse are the good days that often give false hope for more good days that never come. She was also provided help by church leaders/members which I’m also grateful for.

Most importantly, Tia is so strong. She endured, she planned, she organized, she stood up no matter how scary things got.

A Well-Trained Wife by Tia Levings is a very powerful, important but tough read. The author chronicles her life in the fundamentalist Quiverfull movement and its patriarchal society. I always love learning about different lifestyles and this one is scary!! The author did a great job narrating her own story.

This is an excellent audiobook, disturbing yet excellent.

I first heard parts of Tia's story through social media. I grew up in the South and saw people get sucked in to Christian fundamentalism but I was fortunate to never get too close. Tia's experiences show how scary high control religion is and the dangers it can pose for all of us.

I recommend this book to anyone who looks on such things as 19 Kids and Counting or Trad Wives positively. Please take the time to understand why these are actually toxic.

Thank you to Net Galley and Macmillan Audio for the audioARC!

Firstly, check the trigger warnings.
second, this book is read by the author which makes is so powerful. It was not a 'fun' book. but it was a great book.

A book is always more impactful when read by the author and so Tia Levings recounting her infuriating experience doesn't help but make an impact on the reader.
Trigger warnings for religious trauma, sex, violence and language.

Before you go into this book, please look up trigger warnings. Levings does not flinch away from the suffering she and others like her experienced.

Thank you to NetGalley, Tia Levings, and Macmillan Audio for providing me with a copy of the audiobook in exchange for an honest review.

A Well-Trained Wife takes a hard look at the reality of Christian Patriarchy that is, quite frankly, blazing across America. Levings exposes the hypocrisy and danger that has spread in the name of a "good Christian family."

As a former Christian, Tia's youth within the church mirrors parts of my own childhood. It is a difficult read, but an important one.

“I’m a human soul on a journey home, and I belong to me.” ~ Tia Levings

READ. THIS. BOOK.

A Well-Trained Wife has got to be one of the most beautiful memoirs I've ever read and has left me feeling honoured that the author would share her story with me. Clearly a very talented storyteller, Levings weaves through her personal story a broader narrative of looking for and finding one's true self, highlighting the value of resilience and self-advocacy.

I'm so incredibly proud of her for leaving an abusive marriage, and her observations following her escape had me tearing up. “Everyday, it was as if the more I made choices to save me, the more others showed up to help save me too”

Her ultimate path towards forgiving herself was deeply inspiring as a survivor of trauma myself, (“I could see the more I extended compassion to myself, the more I had to offer others. If I’d been doing the best that I could, what if they were too?”) and I'm especially grateful she didn't shy away from explicitly politicizing her lived experience and calling out the bigwigs within the fundie world.

Of all the ARCs I have ever received, this is the one I feel most grateful to have had the opportunity to read and review. A big thanks to Macmillan Audio, and to Tia, for both sharing her story, and narrating her own book.

I don't even know what to say... That book is incredible and it's so heartbreaking, it really open my eyes on what is still, sadly, our reality. I really admire her bravery, resilience and how strong she is, she has gone through so much in her life and I love how she told her story. For real I think everyone should read his book.

Tia Levings tells her life story - a slow (yet slippery and quick) descent into the world of being a traditional wife in a fundamentalist Christian marriage. Among the daily ongoings of raising children and trying to make a family, Tia is the victim of misogynism, Christian patriarchal control, poverty, and isolationism. Her story is so important and compelling during a time when this movement is trying to go through a rebrand as a "tradwife instagram aesthetic." The truth is anything but those picture perfect squares of homesteading and homeschooling. The dark side of abuse within her world will, at times, leave you bereft and broken alongside her as she navigates trials. At other times, you will be inspired by the strength and determination with which she rose to each occasion, sometimes to her own amazement.
Having grown up in a Pentecostal church (a "lite" version of Tia's), I was struck by how many of the foundations were rooted in those that captured Tia. These same foundational beliefs are now being used in the rise of Christian nationalism and to further the cause of toxicity towards women and marginalized groups. Tia's insight is a worse case scenario to some, but it is an opportunity to see where some want to lead us and just how terrible it would be.
Thank you, Tia, for your bravery and your voice.

It is truly astounding how much strength women have and how much it can be multiplied by motherhood.
This book had me almost crying on the bus and gasping in the car. Levings really highlights how easily Christianity can be manipulated and come to fuel oppressive structures. The societal acceptance of domestice abuse in these religious communities is much too widespread and it hurts so much to get an inside look at the shame and guilt that is shifted onto the wife in these situations. Levings has expertly crafted a criticism of conservative and extreme Christianities without coming across as hateful towards the reiligion, hopefully meaning her words are something its members will be willing to hear. The spirituality that she lands upon tells a lot about our human nature to worship and hold something as holy, something the evility of man does not always strip from us.
It is a difficult book to listen to, but expertly written and a story that deserves to be paid witness to.

Tia Levings' 'A Well-Trained Wife' is a brutally honest look at the underside of fundamentalist religious life. Its release has been perfectly timed to coincide with the "tradwife" trend and gives readers an idea of what that can sometimes entail. (Note: I'm not saying all of them have this experience.) Her journey is a study in courage - both for her own self-preservation and that of her children. She talks frankly about things many Gen X readers who were in Baptist church culture in the 80s will certainly remember (and may be triggered by). Her narration is perfect and I highly suggest listening to the audiobook. Tia's descriptions of the abuse she suffered at the hands of her first husband are heartbreaking (spankings and making her answer him with 'yes, lord' are just a couple) and it's followed by details of how she grew stronger and healed. My only warning to readers: while many may see familiar things in this book (Bill Gothard seminars and child rearing doctrine, for one), they may also unwittingly uncover their own buried traumas around religion.

You may have heard the metaphor that some books are mirrors, reflecting our own experiences back to us, while others are windows, offering a glimpse into lives entirely outside our own. For me, this book felt like a mirror. The worlds Tia navigates throughout her childhood and adulthood are reflective of the culture I was raised in—a world I gradually left behind after graduating high school.

Tia’s story resonated with me profoundly. It was gut-wrenching at times to witness how the patriarchal system left her unprotected, teaching her to feel responsible for the state of her marriage, even as she found herself in an increasingly abusive partnership. Watching her find community online and slowly build an escape route was deeply moving. I’m grateful that she chose to share her story.

However, I must note that the book contains many triggering elements, including physical, emotional, and religious abuse, rape, animal death, and infant death.

Thank you to NetGalley and McMillan Audio for the advanced copy of this audiobook.

Wow, I don’t even know where to start. After watching the new movie based off Colleen Hoovers book, It Ends with Us, I am hyper aware of domestic violence. After listening tot his book I feel like I can better understand there are so many sides and steps to it. I’m so glad we are more educated and can try to help these women.

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC. I loved the narrator.

A WELL-TRAINED WIFE by Tia Levings is available as of Tuesday 8/6. I’ve been reading and listening to this one on audio. I love a memoir narrated by the author!

Tia Levings is a strong voice who makes a decision to leave fundamental Christianity to save herself and her kids. She spent years as being told what to do and feeling like she had no rights because of her husband and the different churches he brought into their lives. This book was not an attack on Christianity but a truth to what happens in the evangelical community. Tia does hold onto her faith throughout her abuse and her escape finding friends and family that support her. To warn you, this book is hard to read at times so beware if abuse is a trigger for you.

I highly recommend audio as the author also narrates it. Thanks @macmillan.audio for an early listen! And thanks @stmartinspress for an ARC! This book came out this week and is a great one to add if you are into memoirs.

This book was intense but well written. The author has a way with words and uses elegent prose to describe her experience. The book might benefit from some trigger warnings because because the content was graphic and deeply upsetting.

Read 8.6 - 8.9.2024
DNF @20%

This was just too much for me - having grown up in this world and been a part of the evangelical movement [and having watched several lives destroyed by the "rules" within it, including my own ultimately], I found myself having flashbacks of that time [and of my friends, one who is now dead] and for my own mental health, I could not continue.

I recognize the importance of this book and the lessons it teaches and I would therefore recommend this book and the audiobook even though I am unable to complete it myself.

I thank NetGalley, Tia Levings, St. Martin's Press, and Macmillan Audio for providing the eBook and audiobook ARC's in exchange for an honest review.

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Tia Levings's novel is compelling, incredibly eye-opening, and overall, a fantastic addition to the world of non-fiction. Not only was her experience compelling but it was also relatable. I am confident in saying that her story will inspire many who have shared her hardships. As an avid audiobook consumer, I think I enjoyed A Well-Trained Wife even more because it was Levings herself narrating. Her powerful voice lent to a dynamic listening experience that I struggled to "put down". This book left an impression on me, and I am so grateful to Tia Levings for telling her story.

This is such a heart wrenching true story of a woman escaping from extremist Christianity. My heart broke for Tia throughout this book and all the things she’s had to endure in her life. It is a good listen and it made me thankful for the family I have and my own upbringing.

I’ve been watching Tia Levings reels on instagram since the big Duggar blowout and I always found her personal perspective and sneak peek behind the curtain of Christian Fundamentalism fascinating and shocking.

In A Well-Trained Wife, Tia delves deeper as she details her life experiences that culminated in her being in a relationship with a man who would eventually try to take everything, including her sense of self and eventually attempt to take her life.

Fascinating about Tia story not only what she has survivor, she always had a spark of herself that was kept burning as she injured, different atrocities and decorations make her into a well-trained wife.

The story is not only captivating and terrifying, it’s inspiring and impressive as she escapes the silencing from Christian patriarchy to deliver her story to the masses. She hasn’t sugarcoat the role. The church plays in her downfall, but she also accept responsibility for her own choices. I found her locked into her abusive relationship.

The audiobook is also narrated by Tia Levings herself, and she does a great job delivering her in her own voice. She captures the emotion and the vibe perfectly. I don’t think I would’ve liked to hear this book being read by another voice actor.

Absolutely inspiring and I recommend this to anyone who is interested in taking a peek behind velvet curtains Christian patriarchy. If you’re interested in some Fiction recommendations on the same vein, swipe through my post to see two other books that feature heroines escaping their own Christian patriarchal cages.

Thanks to St Martin’s Press for the arc copy!

Told in a beautiful, honest, and sometimes harrowing voice, A Well-Trained Wife is an unforgettable and timely memoir about a woman's race to save herself and her family and details the ways that extreme views can manifest in a marriage.

Thank you St. Martin’s Press, Macmillan Audio and Netgalley for sending me an ARC of this book! This was an interesting book but it wasn’t easy to read. At times, reading it made me feel angry and sad but I liked it. A long time ago, I watched the show 19 Kids And Counting on TLC and I thought to myself,”These people are crazy. Why do they want to have so many kids?” and now, I understand why. It’s because they’re Fundamental Christians. I’m glad I wasn’t raised that way.