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The Currently Reading Podcast
Minisode: An Interview with "I Thought It Would Be Better Than This" Author Jessica N. Turner
00:35:19
Today’s spoiler-free minisode (the first one in years!) includes a conversation between Kaytee and author Jessica N Turner. Jessica is the author of multiple books. Her newest is , a memoir wrapped into self-help about dealing with disappointment in...
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- [00:00]
Katie
Foreign hi there Bookish friends. I am so excited to finally after many years away, welcome you back to another author interview episode here on Currently Reading. I'm thrilled to be joined today by my dear friend now after many years of hanging out together online, Jessica Turner. You, you can go way back to episode seven of season one to hear Jessica the first time she was on the podcast. But today we are celebrating something new. Jessica welcome back to Currently Reading, my dear.
- [00:39]
Jessica Turner
Thank you so much for having me. I always love to be in your company.
- [00:43]
Katie
It's so delightful to get to spend time together and over the many years we've had a lot of things in common. But today we are gonna maybe get a little bit vulnerable because I would love for you to start this episode out by introducing yourself a little bit to anybody who doesn't know you and telling us about your brand new book. Sure.
- [01:03]
Jessica Turner
So like you said, my name is Jessica Turner. Jessica N. Turner online. And that N is very important if you look me up online because jessicaterner.com is a porn site. Katie oh no, not ideal. And especially when you've got a new book out and lots of people are looking you up. I had a reporter this week say hey, I missed the n in your.com and that was a big mistake on my work computer. I was like, yes, it was. So. Jessica N. Turner, My full time work is as an influencer. I like to say that I help busy women with decision fatigue make decisions, whether that's decisions for what to wear or where to go with their families on vacation or how to navigate hard things. And how to navigate hard things is really the topic of my brand new book that has just released this week called I thought it would be better than this. Rise from disappointment, regain control and rebuild a life you love. And it is one part memoir, one part self help and tells the story of my 16 year marriage ending. When my husband came out and we had three kids, I didn't know that he was gay and it shattered me, as you can imagine, in every way. And that's the backdrop of the book. I was very conscious that I did not want to write a divorce book or a divorce help book. Though I think that people who are going through a divorce certainly will find themselves very easily on the pages of the book. But I did focus groups with around 50 women from all over the country, various circumstances and stories, just wanting to be sure that they felt seen in the pages of the book. And they did. And so whether you are going through a hard season financially or you've lost someone and are grieving that loss or friendship looks different than you expected it to, or parenting looks different, or there's some other longing in your heart that just makes you think, man, I thought it would be better than this. This is a book for you. I think you'll feel seen and understood, and also you'll feel really motivated to do something with where you are that it doesn't have to be the end of your story.
- [03:12]
Katie
Yeah. Oh, I have chills and goosebumps and I'm, like, a little bit sweaty. Because, as our listeners now know, I recently revealed on the podcast that I'm going through my own divor right now. And actually, you were one of the very first people that I ended up telling online that I don't see in person on a regular basis because it felt safe to come to you and to reveal this thing that was, at the time, very secret for me that I wasn't even sure if we were going to get divorced. And I was like, jessica, what am I going to do? And you, like, had these open arms for me. And it's because of your vulnerability. Sharing online and being open with your story, as you address in the book, I'm nowhere near, you know, being done with that process at all. But even in these past few weeks, as that news has become public in our podcast space, I have seen the flip side of that with people saying, thank you for sharing that. Now I feel safe telling you this kind of scary thing that's happening in my life, and I don't know what that's gonna look like. But seeing you on the other side of, you know, or still doing the thing.
- [04:21]
Jessica Turner
Yeah.
- [04:22]
Katie
Is really inspiring.
- [04:23]
Jessica Turner
Isn't that true for so much in life? I mean, whether it is learning how to bake bread or it's learning how to go on your first date after being with someone for 15, 20 years, like, whatever it is, or parenting. I mean, there's a million examples of just seeing somebody a little further down the road and the hope that that gives us. I remember when very few people knew that Matthew was gay and that we were, you know, navigating this, Googling, like, my husband is gay, and trying to find somebody that I could ask that I could talk to. And now when people Google that, they find my story, and I don't want to be the, like, poster person for, like, my spouse came out, you know, like, that isn't what I want my platform to be. I don't. I don't think that I have the emotional capacity or resources for that. But If I can be a light to someone even as they read the book, to know that they're going to be okay or someone in my real life like you, to say it is going to be okay and be a safe place to land. I want to be that because I was fortunate to have a lot of safe places to land in in my story as I was navigating it.
- [05:31]
Katie
So good. Okay, let's get into the book a little bit. I did finish it before we started recording, as promised. I did cry, especially that second half. I think I told you I was reading on Kindle and then Libro gave me an alc, so I had an audio copy to finish the second half. Which means you were telling me your story in your own voice. That's when I couldn't handle it anymore. That's when I really started to lose my management of tears capability control. But I was interested the whole way through, even having seen this, the public facing aspects of the situation for you. So I kind of want to rewind a little bit, even to you sharing some reels of Matthew helping you put together promo boxes, take them to the post office. What was that journey like as far as talking to Matthew and saying, okay, I'm ready to tell this story? Are you on board? Do I change your name? Like, what. What does that look like from this friendship after marriage situation?
- [06:34]
Jessica Turner
Yeah. So I think it's important for people to know if you don't know our story. So Matthew and I both are public figures. We both have large online followings and we chose to have a divorce that was more than civil, where we would remain friends, where there would be circumstances throughout the lives of our children, where we would still both be present. We would share meals together, we go on vacation probably once a year together with our kids. And so it's been very intentional. But I think sometimes people think it's like all roses and rainbows, you know, it's work. It is work. And when I first told Matthew that I wanted to write this book, he said that he was on board with it, but we, we didn't know everything that was going to like come out with what I was going to write about. I mean, we knew because we lived it, but we didn't know what I was going to write about. And so the proposal process, we had to submit a chapter. And so I submitted the introduction in the first chapter. So he read that, signed off on it, you know, was okay with me pitching it. Then I wrote the book and I did not share anything with him while I was Writing it. And Matthew's a prolific writer. He's written 10 children's books, 20 adult books. When we were married, I would have been sharing, you know, every paragraph as I did it kind of thing. So I didn't share any of it with him. And he needed to sign off on it from the publisher. The publisher said he had to sign off on it. Now, you think like Prince Harry, he didn't have William signing off on it, just like, for example. Right. Like, so they didn't need him to sign off on it. But there were a few stories in the book that if he didn't sign off on it, they would have had me change them. I don't specifically remember what they were. They would have had me change them or take them out just so that there weren't any, like, potential legal repercussions. Not that Matthew was going to, like, come after me. My editor actually said, you know, I think this is, like, the nicest divorce book that I've ever read. Like, felt like Matthew was painted really positively, which I was intentional about. You know, someday my kids are going to read this. I didn't lie at all, but I was very thoughtful about how I presented, like, him coming out to me and some of those things. I told it from my perspective, and I was clear in the book to say, like, this is Matthew's story. Like, this isn't me. Like, I'm not going to go into his stuff. Right. Like, this is just what happened to me. And so I sent him the book, and it was honestly really rough.
- [09:00]
Katie
I.
- [09:01]
Jessica Turner
And I've not told that on a. On a podcast. He said he cried the whole weekend. It brought up a lot of stuff. And you can imagine. I mean, the book is called I thought it would be better than this. And the. This is, in my case, marriage and being with someone and not being alone. Right. Like, that is my. This, like, Matthew, his truth. And then our subsequent divorce, which was needed and necessary, shattered my life and caused me a lot of trauma. And not just that, but a lot in our marriage. And so I think it was just hard to see that on paper. And so he had to take some time before I was like, I mean, at one point, I remember calling my editor saying, I don't know if Matthew's going to sign off on this. And she said, that's. If he doesn't, this is what we'll need to, you know, what we'll need to do. But he did. He did come around. He's very supportive of it. And I even said to him when he was helping me with the publicity boxes this week. I said, gosh, I mean, who would have thought that you would be helping me with this? I said, you kind of hated this book for a minute. And he said, yeah, I probably wouldn't have been helping you with this in September. You know, I mean, it did, like, take some time, but he's been nothing but supportive. But, I mean, I get it. Like, it's. It's my story and I have every right to tell my story. And he knows that as a writer and someday he may write something that will be painful for me. He has already written things that have been painful for me. But that doesn't mean that we don't like, still care and aren't mindful of it, you know, like, it is. It's a weird tension. Sorry, that was kind of a long answer to that. But it was a. It was a nuanced, emotional thing.
- [10:36]
Katie
Yeah, so, exactly. I think it's important to acknowledge that tension and nuance, that you can be glad for the things that have come while still grieving the things that were lost. And I think that's really where this book steps into, that gray area, is that you're saying you may have had some plan for your life, you may have thought, these are the steps I'm going to follow, and now it's different. And how are you going to deal with the disparity between what you expected and what actually occurred? Right. Nobody expects, as with a friend that you mentioned in the book, nobody expects to lose a child in utero. Nobody expects to bury their parents right after they moved to be close to them. You know, like, there's so many parts of existence that fail us on some level. And being able to live in that gray area, acknowledge that nuance, and then give a long winded answer about how that actually looks when it plays out is that's humanity. That's what it is on the page, right?
- [11:38]
Jessica Turner
It is.
- [11:39]
Katie
So yeah. How about with regard to moving more into memoir with the Fringe Hours, which I still love that book so many years later. That was very practical. That was very like, here are some ideas for how to pull more time out of your day in certain areas. And here's what to do with your fringe Hours. It's more time management, it's more planning, it's more outward focused. How did it feel to turn inward when you're writing this book? You're bringing up your own therapy. You're bringing up your super special Stephanie. My therapist's name was Megan and I Would have moved mountains for her, the way that she changed my life. I wish I could still be with her, but I moved and now I can't. So that super special relationship, having a conversation with your best friend on mic that people can hear if they get the audiobook version of the book, some of those really tender internal parts, putting them on the page. What was that process like for you?
- [12:37]
Jessica Turner
It's interesting. You know, I wrote the Fringe Hours ten years ago, so I guess I forget how old I am. So I guess I would have been, what, like 34, I think. I don't. I don't know how old I am. 43, 44, something like that. Why can I not remember my age? Nobody needs to know something. It's something like that anyway. I was a baby. I was a baby. And so I wrote the way I knew how to write, honestly.
- [13:01]
Katie
Yeah.
- [13:02]
Jessica Turner
So I think some of it is that there was no other way for me to write this book than to storytell in the way that I did, you know, in the Fringe hours and stretch too thin. I was writing about things like making time for scrapbooking and planning parties and stories just aren't vulnerable in the same way as talking about the first time you kiss somebody in 20 years, you know? And so some of it, I think, was just the nature of the book that I was writing. Some of it, I think, is that I've. I've become a better writer. I've also become more comfortable in speaking vulnerably and feeling that is an important part of my job and what I've been called to do in a way that I didn't with my first two books. I also think that as I have become more whole and confident in who I am, I feel confident to go in those deeper waters. And I think when I first started writing books, my ex husband was a prolific writer at the time. And I didn't necessarily think of myself as an author or think of myself as someone who could really write. And so I maybe limited the type of writing that I did. And so I think I've just grown as a writer, and so I feel more comfortable in that. And I also think that's what I like to read. You know, I'm like, tell me you're nitty gritty. Let's get messy. That's. That's what I want to know about people. And I think that's how our humanity gets more intimate with one another. And so I think that builds trust, and I think for me, it builds courage. And then seeing the positive Ripple effects that happen from those stories make it really worth it.
- [14:51]
Katie
Indeed. So special. Okay, so let's talk a little bit about where you go from here because you have shared recently publicly that you're in a longer term, but still new compared to a 16 year marriage relationship that is a bit more private than two public facing authors who are online all the time. Right. So you've made these personal pivots with regard to your life and we've gotten to see some of that. How does John feel about this book?
- [15:22]
Jessica Turner
Yeah, so John is who I've been dating. It'll be a year in a couple weeks. And you can hear in my voice how big I'm smiling. I'm just, just so, so happy and so in love. And it doesn't feel like that new butterflies love that kind of like happens in the first couple months of a relationship, but it does also feel like butterflies every day. Like I am so happy every day and just can't believe that this gets to be my next chapter. I wrote the book not dating anyone, and it felt really important to me that I be by myself when I was writing the book. Don't get me wrong, I still went on a few dates at kind of the tail end of writing it, but I really sensed in my spirit. I don't generally over spiritualize very much, but I sensed like that I needed to write this book by myself. And so I turned it in March of 2024. And then I met John in April and I told him, obviously quickly, that I had written this book and could I send it to him. Which as you know, having read it, holy moly, it is vulnerable. Right? Like, you're just gonna go ahead.
- [16:39]
Katie
Would you like to dig through my underwear drawer while you're at it?
- [16:42]
Jessica Turner
And also like, I'll start farting in.
- [16:44]
Katie
Front of you tomorrow.
- [16:45]
Jessica Turner
That's right. I'm still not farting in front of him, but okay, perfect.
- [16:49]
Katie
The book, yes. The farts, no. Got it.
- [16:51]
Jessica Turner
That's gonna be a hard pass. But I. My feelings toward dating is like, I do not want to waste time with like a bunch of. I don't know, I like, I'm like, let's just. I've had enough therapy, I guess. Thank you. That's exactly it. Like, I wrote this book. If you're gonna date me, you're gonna hear all these stories anyway and like, let's just go ahead and see how it is. And John's a reader primer. Yeah, there you go. You know, like, it's funny, my boundaries with dating Were always like, I talked to them, but I would never tell them what I did on chat. I needed to FaceTime them. And then I would tell them that I was an influencer so I could see what their response was on their face. And so because someone had to be okay in some capacity with a public facing person, right? And so, yeah, I just gave him the book and I was like, I'd love for you to read it. And shockingly, he read it right away. And he said, has said multiple times. I can't believe you wrote this book and then you met me. Because it just, I don't know, like, it really. I can't believe I wrote this book and then met John. What was interesting to me when I recorded the audiobook, which recording an audiobook happens, like, after all the edits are done. The publisher literally is sending the book to print. They want to be sure it is the most final, final, final version. So it was almost a year. And when I recorded it, I thought to myself, man, all of this is still true. I stand by every single thing I wrote. So being in love with someone, while, yes, I feel even more joy and peace and contentment in ways that I maybe didn't feel when I was single. Not in a codependent way, but in a way that I knew I always wanted to be with someone again. I loved being married. It doesn't change anything in the book we actually talked about. Gosh, should I do, like, an addendum? Like, you know, something like. And interestingly, my editor was like, I don't know if after reading this book, if readers could handle that. Like, I don't know if they, like, you've given them enough of, like, your journey and your wholeness that, like, they don't need the, like, pretty bow at the end with, like, you being in this new relationship. And, you know, I mean, to be fair, I sure hope, I hope that John is always in my story. But, like, this was only six months in, like, can I really be writing an epilogue about, you know, it felt really brave to put him in the acknowledgments.
- [19:18]
Katie
Yes.
- [19:19]
Jessica Turner
And it was really special for me when I got the first copies of the book to give that to him and open it and have him read it. And. But he's. He is such a cheerleader and a fan of me and my work. And so he's really proud of it. He's like, this book is gonna change so many lives. Like, it's a great book. Like, you don't need to be nervous, you know, he's very affirming and supportive in that way and really tender with me. Getting tender about, like, talking about the trauma and the hard parts of my story. It's bizarre being so wildly happy and talking about some of the worst days of my life and holding that tension. Right. Like, both of those things are true. Like, some. Some podcasts, I've kind of gotten choked up about stories. Even though I don't want to be married to Matthew anymore, I'm extremely happy with where I am. He's really happy. But that doesn't make the pain of the past less painful.
- [20:13]
Katie
Yes. Okay. Okay. So for me, one of the. I think one of the pieces of this book that I will never forget is. Okay, a little bit more background. Almost two years ago, I almost unilaterally decided to move my family, including my husband, back to Arizona, where I grew up, which is where my family lives, which is where my best friend lives. My sister is 15 minutes away. People, like, sometimes I see people at the grocery store that I went to high school with now. It's really weird, but it's where my first community is. It's where the church that I grew up in and was baptized in is located. It's a soft place. And at the time, things were mostly fine. It was a little rough getting everybody moved over here. And then it was about a year later that the rest of my life shattered. Open. Right. And looking back, I was like, God, thank Jesus that I decided to move our family back to this place that is a soft place with wagons already circled within moments of me saying a single word out loud to anyone. Like, how is that even possible? So for me, a huge part of this book that really impacted me in a big way was talking about the friends that came alongside you. Angie, who crawled into your lap to hug you. Right. Who made sure that you weren't alone on an anniversary.
- [21:37]
Jessica Turner
Yeah.
- [21:37]
Katie
My best friend for Christmas bought me Valentine's Day tickets to go to an event together and an event on what was my wedding anniversary so that I would not be alone both of those nights. And I could sob right now thinking about that, because if we didn't live here, who would have been there with me? I don't know. Right. So it is the family where my parents will pick up my kids because I have to get another kid somewhere else and come over and help me do home repairs that I was gonna have to figure out on my own. And my best friend is co parenting with me as a gay man to be able to make sure that I'm not alone on days that would have been really hard for me. So that conversation with Angie and the various times throughout the book that you talk about, you know, going to see Ann or Lisa, I want to say, and Angie, you know, the number of women that you're able to call and grieve to or be in community with, and know that no matter how hard this is, no matter how different it is from the thing you expected to happen, you've still built this foundation of female friendship especially, that has lifted you and kept you buoyed through what were no bueno times. Right. Like very not good times. So, I mean, I guess this isn't even a question. This is me telling you how special that part of your book was to me and how many times I can think of that I have walked alongside another friend going through a. A different thing, whether it was with regard to parenting or daughtering or, you know, being in community with friends or church members or whoever it is, and knowing that I was part of that story of. Of lifting when it felt like I couldn't even hold my own legs underneath me, and then having these people do the same for me, so phenomenally special and so amazing. And. And I think where I am going to go with that is that whether this conversation between two women has resonated with you with regard to where Jessica and I are and the different trials that we've talked about on this conversation, there is so much more to. I thought it would be better than this. That is about looking at that grief, facing it with friends, holding your hand, being allowed to cry on the phone with somebody, knowing how to ask for help. That is in this book. And it's not just, well, maybe you're getting divorced and maybe you're trying to work through that, and maybe that's your trauma. Even though that's what a lot of this conversation is. That's not what this book is about. It is about the grief that underlines so many of our lives, whatever disappointment it is. And I just, I guess. Thank you.
- [24:32]
Jessica Turner
Thank you for writing it. Jessica is really important to me, and I feel a bit of disappointment in myself that I was so unaware of people's pain that I encountered every day. And what I mean by that is, I mean, my parents divorced when I was an adult. I've walked with friends through grief that they have experienced. But I do think that until you have experienced a major disappointment or grief in your story, you can't fully understand it, unfortunately. And unfortunately, also, we are not taught how to navigate it. We're taught how to do chemistry in school, but we're not taught how to navigate disappointment, which I think is a failure for the education system. Right. Because this is a universal experience. And so I really think that this book is a book for everyone, that it isn't a book only if you're going through a disappointment. It really is a book that I think will open your eyes to disappointment that I wish I had read prior to my experiences. And I'm also really glad to have created a book that's a great gift. So if you're listening to this podcast and you're like, I, I just don't need this book. I am in a. A safe place, a happy place, a healthy place. This book doesn't have anything for me. When you're wrong, it probably does have something for you. But also maybe what this has for you is it has an opportunity for you to be that friend that Katie's talking about and that I talk about in the book that you can bear witness to somebody else's story by saying, I know you've been going through a hard time. This is a book that I think will really help you feel seen and understood and give you some really practical tools. I don't love when self help books don't give great tools. So even though there's a lot of storytelling in the book, there's a lot of takeaway in this book. When I was recording the audiobook, the engineer was an older man, probably in his late 60s or early 70s, and he teared up a couple times when I was reading it. And he said, you did a really good job with that book. It's gonna help a lot of people. I think even I got some good stuff out of it. And he was just this like little grandpa, you know? But it really was affirming to me that this is something that we can all find ourselves in because it's, it is the human experience. Unfortunately, disappointment comes for us all.
- [27:08]
Katie
Yeah. If you are not, I mean, good for you. If you are living this life that is totally disappointment free right now. But if not, it, it's going to show up someday. Right? It's going to be there someday. And even accepting that, like maybe you have this friend that is grieving or disappointed, it's still a book for you listener, because it's about coming alongside. It's not just your own grief. It can be about how to be next to that person, be with them. There's withness in this book that is so essential to a society that feels very disconnected. Oftentimes. Right. To be able to say, you know, it's worth my time to make a phone call. Even though I hate talking on the phone. Don't we all hate talking on the phone? It feels like you love talking on the phone.
- [27:54]
Jessica Turner
I love talking on the phone. Yeah. I think it's so much more efficient. Like, I love it.
- [28:00]
Katie
Yeah. I love. I'm an extrovert. I love being in person with people. I still hate talking on the phone. Yeah. It makes me lose.
- [28:07]
Jessica Turner
If I'm driving, I'm probably on the phone. I think it's a good time to connect with people. Yeah.
- [28:12]
Katie
It's all audiobook all the time for me. Yeah, I love that.
- [28:15]
Jessica Turner
Hence why you read 200 books a year and I'm like in the 30, 40 range. So there we go.
- [28:19]
Katie
Yeah, yeah, it happens. Exactly.
- [28:22]
Jessica Turner
Let's.
- [28:23]
Katie
I didn't tell you to prepare for this. So let's pivot this into a little like round of currently reading. You can either tell us something you've read over the past year or so that you really loved, or the best book you read recently, or you can pan a book. I'm totally good with that too. But just like what else is trickling around in Jessica's brain right now with books?
- [28:42]
Jessica Turner
So because I have been so consumed with recording podcasts about the books and releasing the book, I had a great reading, like kind of first six weeks of the year and then it like really has bombed.
- [28:52]
Katie
Tanked.
- [28:53]
Jessica Turner
But it's coming. It's coming for me. I just gotta get this book out. But I would say a book that I have really loved in the past few months was the Berry Pickers. Surely you have read it. Yes, I.
- [29:04]
Katie
No, I have not. It's Amanda. What is her last name?
- [29:08]
Jessica Turner
I am in utter shock.
- [29:10]
Katie
It's a beautiful cover. I'm pretty sure I own it.
- [29:13]
Jessica Turner
I'm pretty sure you probably do. It was an ALC with Libro fm. That's how I listen to it. And it is read by a man and a woman. It is a phenomenal audiobook. It is the story. Can I. Do I tell what it's about?
- [29:26]
Katie
Yeah. Amanda Peters is the name of the author. But yes, do tell us about it.
- [29:31]
Jessica Turner
So it is a book about a indigenous family from Canada who picks blueberries in Maine in the summer. And their four year old, I think four year old sister gets taken. And it is the story of that little girl growing up with another family. And so every chapter she's kind of like getting older. And then the brother who was the Last one to see her. And he is dying. And it stays. He's dying, the whole book. And she's getting.
- [30:04]
Katie
Does it ruin you? Is this a sobbing book?
- [30:08]
Jessica Turner
I'm not a crier, so I'm not a good person to ask. And I don't really want to ruin much for you by telling you anything about what happens.
- [30:15]
Katie
Okay.
- [30:16]
Jessica Turner
But it is phenomenal, and I have not stopped thinking about it for probably two and a half months. It feels like something that could really happen. There's a little bit of, like, cultural commentary because the family, you know, goes to the police in America and they're like, well, you aren't from here. We're not going to do anything for you. It takes place, I think, in maybe the 70s. It's fantastic. And I think you would really, really enjoy it.
- [30:42]
Katie
You know, even though I've seen it and I have it in my libro account, I don't think anybody's ever set it up for me. So maybe this was the key.
- [30:51]
Jessica Turner
Yeah, Good. I'm so glad to have contributed to a book that I know you're going to love. If you don't love it, you don't have a soul. No, I'm kidding.
- [30:59]
Katie
Oh, well, these are big.
- [31:01]
Jessica Turner
These are big words.
- [31:02]
Katie
But I will report back to you directly when I pick it up and let you know.
- [31:06]
Jessica Turner
Yes. So that is the book I also loved years ago. The book Molokai. Did you ever read that book? God, I'm so impressed by you. He wrote Honolulu, and I can. There's, like, a used bookstore sticker on the second half of his last name, so I can't quite think it's Brenner. I think I'm impressed by you. Anyway, Molokai is about a woman who is on an island, a real island. It's fiction, but based on a true story about this island for people with leprosy in Hawaii in the early 1900s. And she has a baby. And so there's a sequel called Daughter of Molokai that I've had forever because I was obsessed, obsessed with Molokai. I mean, I read it years ago and I still am like, oh, that was such a good book. And Daughter of Molokai just did not hit me in the same way. And that was kind of. That was a little bit of a bummer for me. I don't know if it was some. You know, sometimes the books, the season you're in or whatever, Right. It's the story of their daughter who gets adopted. And then it takes. It starts before. Way before World War II, but then goes into, like, the Japanese internment camps in America, which I actually hadn't read a lot about. And again, it's kind of like a. A relevant moment right now with some of the politics going on. And so I liked it, but I didn't love it. Like, I loved Molokai. So those are my book thoughts. Molokai.
- [32:31]
Katie
Well, Molokai is also a chonker, right. If I have it shelved correctly in my brain, like 5, 600 pages. He writes big books. And so, I mean, I think there's something about that, like, long, epic story where you're with a family for a long time and you get to know them and you love them like they're your own. So that's super special. Okay, well, those are some great book recommendations. Thank you so much for making time to chat with me today, to be vulnerable with me on mic, to, you know, keep me from crying all the way. And just for writing your story and.
- [33:06]
Jessica Turner
Sharing it with us, it is my absolute pleasure. I am honored to have played a small part in your story that I was a safe place for you to land when you needed community in safety to tell what was going on with you. And that's something that I talk about in the book that maybe is a good, quick reminder for people that if you're going through something hard, don't feel like you are a burden. I know that I felt that often and I talk about that in the book. And my friends were like, no, I want to be here for you. Think about what an honor it is for you to sit with someone when they tell you their hard story. It's the same. That's true for you. So it was an honor for me, and I hope that people listening can think about who they have in their lives that can be safe places or who they can be a safe place for.
- [33:51]
Katie
Yes, absolutely. All right, that is going to wrap up this interview. Let's quickly run through some socials. You can find me on Instagram oatsonbookmarks, Meredith is at Meredith Monday Schwartz on Instagram and the podcast is at currently reading podcast Jessica, where can we find you?
- [34:09]
Jessica Turner
You can find me at Jessica Nturner and you can find the book. It's your favorite indie bookstore, Amazon, your library, Libro fm, wherever you like to get book.
- [34:18]
Katie
Excellent. I love that our show is produced and edited every week by Megan Putabong Evans. You can find her at most of Meagan's reads on Instagram. We always include show notes and we would love to have you join us for episodes of the Big show, as we call it, where every week we talk about what we've been currently reading, deep dive a bookish topic and make some bookish wishes at the fountain. These episodes are always ad free because we have amazing bookish friends on Patreon that help support the show and keep us in business, keep our lights on. They make sure that we can keep these episodes quick, tight and ad free for you all. So if that is interesting to you, you can get lots of extra content over on patreon.com currently reading podcast. Until next time Jessica Happy reading my friend.
- [35:04]
Jessica Turner
Same to you. It.