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.

This was so hard to get through. It really felt like my soul was being steadily pulled out of my body the further and further I went. If you want to experience your anger morphing in real time to feeling drawn and quartered instead, this is the one.

I enjoy reading memoirs and thought the premise of this one sounded interesting. Unfortunately the execution and writing didn’t work for me and I decided to DNF at 25%. Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for the free book to review.

This is a book that is incredibly hard to listen to. I've done quite a bit of reading into the IBLP/Christian fundamentalism but it's always or often been a high level view of those organizations. Since this is a memoir, it's a much more personal view of how these forms of religion allowed Tia's husband to abuse her and how Tia often felt like she couldn't stop it.

I did have to take breaks from the book here and there just because of how explicit and devastating it is, but I do think it's worth the read

The audio is read by the author - I have to commend her for being able to narrate her experience in often a very factual manner.

This is an eye opening memoir in the vein of Uneducated and the Sound of Gravel. I live in Jacksonville, FL which is where this book begins.so I was surprised at such a conservative faction here.. The author does a nice job narrating.

A beautifully written memoir about Tia’s life growing up and her desire to be a good Christian woman seen by the church and in marriage. She was a people pleaser and did just about anything in order to keep peace in her home. Her husband, a man with no backbone, was easily persuaded by the Christian Fundamentalism and fell into the role of an abuser of a husband seeking his wife to be submissive. Tia always believing that she had two Tia’s, the one of good wife and mother and the other as artist, writer, hiker, creator, had a struggle balancing the two. I was so impressed with Tia’s ability to narrate her own story. I thought she did it beautifully. Tia’s belief of knowledge is power is so incredibly accurate. The writing was excellent, and I was engaged through the entire story. As a 10 plus hour audiobook, I listened to it in 2 days. If you like memoirs, you should read this one.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for providing an arc to reviewers.

This is a very interesting and well-written memoir. I have my fair share of religious trauma from growing up queer and Catholic in a rural area which is what drew me to the book. I find it so interesting to read about people who have similar experiences with religion and childhood to me but choose to stay religious or spiritual in some way because it is the opposite of my story. It's so beautiful to read about someone healing their relationship with something that has done them so much harm and turning it into a positive thing in their life.

I recommend this book to anyone who enjoys memoirs, religious themes, and survival stories. Really beautiful!!

This book was so hard to read, but I really loved it and think it’s so important, especially for anyone who has or is trying to break out of religious fundamentalism.

Hearing the author’s story from her own mouth made it that much more emotional.

This book was so incredibly eye opening. As someone who grew up in a fundamental Baptist home, I could definitely relate to some of the things she experienced. While my experience was definitely not as extreme, I could recognize a lot of the same emotions in myself. It is absolutely mind boggling to me how a lot of things done in these extreme churches are deemed normal and don’t raise any concerns until you’re outside of it. Thank you to NetGalley and MacMillan Audio for an audiobook ARC in exchange for an honest review!

Thank you St. Martin’s Press for the #gifted ARC and thank you Macmillan Audio for the #gifted ALC of A Well-Trained Wife! #MacAudio2024 #AWellTrainedWife #TiaLevings

𝐓𝐢𝐭𝐥𝐞: 𝐀 𝐖𝐞𝐥𝐥-𝐓𝐫𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐝-𝐖𝐢𝐟𝐞: 𝐌𝐲 𝐄𝐬𝐜𝐚𝐩𝐞 𝐅𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐂𝐡𝐫𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐚𝐧 𝐏𝐚𝐭𝐫𝐢𝐚𝐫𝐜𝐡𝐲
𝐀𝐮𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐫: 𝐓𝐢𝐚 𝐋𝐞𝐯𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬
𝐍𝐚𝐫𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐨𝐫: 𝐓𝐢𝐚 𝐋𝐞𝐯𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬
𝐏𝐮𝐛 𝐃𝐚𝐭𝐞: 𝐀𝐮𝐠𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝟔, 𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟒

This book was an absolutely moving memoir. At times extremely difficult to listen to, I am in awe at the strength and tenacity of the author, Tia Levings for not only leaving an emotionally and physically abusive relationship, but then telling her story. If you enjoy memoirs, I highly recommend this one.

“𝘛𝘰𝘥𝘢𝘺 𝘪𝘵 𝘩𝘪𝘵 𝘮𝘦 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘩𝘦 𝘩𝘪𝘵 𝘮𝘦, 𝘣𝘭𝘰𝘰𝘥 𝘴𝘩𝘢𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘪𝘯 𝘮𝘺 𝘣𝘳𝘢𝘪𝘯. 𝘔𝘢𝘺𝘣𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘴𝘯’𝘵 𝘢 𝘴𝘢𝘷𝘪𝘰𝘳 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘨. 𝘔𝘢𝘺𝘣𝘦 𝘪𝘵 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘶𝘱 𝘵𝘰 𝘮𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘴𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘮𝘦.”

🎧I listened to the audiobook, narrated by the author. I loved the personal touch of hearing the author tell her own story. You could hear the raw emotion in her voice and I feel as thought it made it all that much more impactful for the listener. I cannot recommend this audiobook enough.

I thought A Well-Trained Wife was a fascinating, honest, and disturbing memoir written by a girl (then woman) raised into (and then living in) a patriarchal Christian system. I think Levings did well at establishing the distance from her earlier self that it took to remember what she believed and went through and still have perspective about the experiences. The experiences, themselves, were horribly disturbing and I (as a reader) sometimes had a hard time understanding how she could have kept subjecting herself to the system. However, the writing helped me to connect with how this happened in a way I wouldn't have thought possible. I'm sometimes hit or miss on authors narrating their own memoirs, but this one was a "hit" for me. The pacing was good and the added emotion she could bring to the text worked well.

Tia Levings' devastatingly raw memoir chronicles her journey to end the church-sanctioned abuse inflicted upon her by her husband for years. Levings' story evokes a whirlwind of emotions: sadness, anger, frustration, confusion, shame, hopelessness, fear, devastation, and heartache. While I have felt many of these emotions throughout my life, I couldn’t fathom carrying the weight of all of them, every second of every day, for years.

The physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual exhaustion must have been overwhelming. Yet, the author persisted, fighting to ensure her children were safe and protected. This tenacity brings about a profound sense of relief, joy, and hope that Tia continues to experience.

Touching, moving, real, raw, and occasionally difficult to read, this is a solid four-star memoir. I highly recommend it to anyone who has experienced an abusive relationship, struggled with their faith, or had to start over.

Thank you to NetGalley, Tia Levings, Macmillan Audio, and St. Martin’s Press for the opportunity to read and listen to this memoir ahead of its release date in exchange for an honest review.