Chill Out, Josey

Newlywed Josey Anderson's life is nearly perfect: an ideal job, a husband who's the man of her dreams, and time to settle down after a yearlong mission trip to Moscow. But then Chase lands his dream job---in Russia! Can they start a family, run a business, and find happiness so far from home? Softcover, from Steeple Hill.

Josey Anderson will be the perfect wife. She and Chase did have the perfect wedding—if you don't count the matron of honor going into labor. Now all she has to do is find a cute Cape-style house, report for the Gull Lake, Minnesota, paper, bake cookies and learn to sew—is that so difficult?

But when Chase lands a new job—in Moscow—Josey's dreams disintegrate. After all, she's been there, done that as a missionary, and a city without year-round hot water, decent takeout or…maternity clothes—that's not perfection! But what's the perfect wife to do?

Susan May Warren and her family returned to the United States in 2004 after serving in Russia as missionaries for eight years. Susan now writes full time from her home in northern Minnesota, where she and her husband live with their four children. Susan holds a B.A. in mass communications from the University of Minnesota, and is a multi-published author with Tyndale House. Two of Susan’s Tyndale books, Happily Ever After and The Perfect Match, were named the American Christian Fiction Writers’ Book of the Year (2003 and 2004), and she has also been a Christy Award finalist.

In this sequel to Everything's Coming Up Josey, former unlikely missionary Josey Anderson has married Chase and is looking forward to a quiet, traditional newlywed life in Minnesota. But her plans are thwarted when her new husband accepts a job in Russia, where Josey had spent a tumultuous year in missionary service. As usual, Warren (Tying the Knot; The Perfect Match) presents a likable heroine who learns about the compromises and joys of married life and impending motherhood while adjusting to living in a foreign culture. Readers who enjoyed Kristin Billerbeck's "Ashley Stockingdale" series will appreciate this chick-lit title. Copyright 2007 Reed Business Information.

Chill Out, Josey! by Susan May Warren had me laughing out loud. Literally. Part comedy, part newly-wed romance, this book provides an entertaining and honest view of how life might look for a couple trying to begin a new life together in a completely different culture.

Josey and Chase Anderson are already working through the normal issues of a new marriage--things like communicating, losing their autonomy, and establishing trust. To add to the list, a change in Chase’s job dictates a change in location: to Russia. The day before the big move, Josey discovers that she is pregnant. Nervous to tell Chase since the couple is already having communication problems, Josey puts off telling him at all. During the move and their first several months in Moscow, tensions between the newlyweds mount. Chase is gone with his job far too much, and Josey, who is feeling and looking more and more pregnant, fears she is losing him to the skinny office girls she calls the “Underfed.” In the meantime, Josey gets involved with providing much-needed individual attention for children in a local orphanage. At home, she attempts to mentor a new friend and figure out how to cook.

Chill Out, Josey! is written in first-person, present tense, a style which takes the reader directly into Josey’s mind and emotions in a very personal way, giving the reader access as well to Josey’s thoughtful meanderings (who would think that “arachbutyrophobia” was a morbid fear of peanut butter sticking to the roof of your mouth?). Josey can be unreasonable and immature, though her heart is usually in the right place. Her sense of humor keeps both her own spirits and the story’s overlying tones on a light note, while her insecurities about her appearance, her role in her husband’s life, and her own emotions are something most women will be able to identify with.

Through Josey’s experiences of life and pregnancy in Russia, she learns to experience God’s love in new, unexpected ways through equally new, unexpected events. Anyone who is already familiar with Josey from her adventures in Everything’s Coming Up Josey, can expect the same adventuresome quality and humor in this playful continuation of the Josey series. – Lyndi Markus, Christian Book Previews.com

In her faith-based romantic sequel to Everything’s Coming Up Josey, Warren picks up with Josey Anderson, née Berglund, as a young newlywed. Josey longs to live an ordinary life in her hometown of Gull Lake, Minn., but her husband, Chase, loses his job and accepts a new one in Russia (unbelievably not telling her about the first or asking her about the second). Josey finds herself mostly alone and pregnant in Russia, listening to a friend lecture, “Did it ever occur to you, Josey, that God sent you here not because Chase needs you, but because you need God?” The secrets Josey and Chase keep from one another are appalling, and it’s a stretch to believe Josey keeps her pregnancy under wraps as long as she does. The numerous references to the “Proverbs 31 Woman,” even in jest, will fatigue even the most devoted Christian reader. A side theme of adoption and orphanages in Russia is intriguing, and might have merited more page space, and a peanut butter cottage industry provides humorous moments. Readers who like liberal doses of faith in their fiction, newlywed wranglings, and lots of details about clothes (even bad clothes that don’t fit) and food might enjoy Warren’s latest. (Dec.) Copyright 2007 Reed Business Information.

Average Rating:

4 of 4 Reviews Showing:

Reviewed by Tonja Evans (Alma, AR), October 05, 2008

That book was one of her best book that I have read yet; thanks for the the reading.

Reviewed by Stacey (Las Vegas, NV), May 17, 2008

How does an American woman handle being pregnant in Russia? Susan May Warren produces another hit novel with "Chill Out, Josey!" Josey and Chase are now married and heading back to Russia when Josey learns she is expecting a baby! In an attempt to support her man as a "Proverbs 31 Woman," Josey waits to break the news. Susan May Warren reminds every woman what it is/was to be an unsure newlywed. With sensitivity she illuminates the insecurities we women encounter during pregnancy. I frequently had to stop reading, reminisce and laugh at myself. Bravo, Susie! Not only for a laugh-out-loud-entertaining book, but for the motivation to look at how I used to be when I was pregnant, and see those insecurities for what they were then, as well as how they still had me bound, today.

Reviewed by Melissa Rathbone (Broken Arrow, OK), January 24, 2008

This book was just as much fun to read as the first. Same old Josey, different situation! I felt like I was on the emotional roller coaster with her! Susan May Warren really knows how to appeal to her readers. It's like Josey and Chase become real people to the reader. You laugh, cry, and become angry with them both. But eventually you can't help but fall in love with this story! I can't wait for the third installment!

Reviewed by Michelle (AZ), January 02, 2008

Don't read this book in public. All of the snickering and snorting will draw attention to yourself, and you won't be able to hold it back. Josey is such a great character. Her thoughts were hilarious and her antics were totally nuts. But she tries so hard you've gotta love her. She is a bit naive, though, when it comes to some things, but fortunately the trust she places in people is not destroyed. You have to love someone who cares as much she does, right? Isn't that what makes her so adorable? I think so. Josey had funny names for people that will make you laugh, but she is descriptive without sounding mean, and I loved that. She referred to the Russian women (who worked with her husband) as the underfeds because they were so thin compared to her. And when she starts going through her internal pregnancy thoughts (like comparing herself to a manatee) make sure your mouth is empty or you'll spew food on your book. Trust me, this story is a keeper. You won't want to ruin it. I especially enjoyed one of the key props in this book. Josey referred to them using a pet name, scary pants. There is a whole lot of subtle meaning that goes in to that clothing item. Brilliantly done! Personally, I think this author is most gifted in writing funny chick lit. I hope Josey's legacy continues or I'll be one sad reader. Of all of the books I've read in the past year, this is by far the most amusing, but it also had some profoundly insightful moments that were a natural part of the storyline. Lest you think you will get only humor from this book, let me set you straight now. Josey gains insight into her inner life and motivations, and as a reader you will do some soul-examining along with her. The spiritual message is wonderful.

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Author: Susan May Warren
Submitted: January 30, 2008

    Tell us a little about yourself.  Susan May Warren is the best-selling author of more than 20 novels and novellas with Tyndale, Barbour and Steeple Hill. A three time Christy award finalist, and three time winner of the Inspirational Readers Choice contest, Susan currently has over 500,000 books in print. A seasoned women’s events speaker and writing teacher, she’s taught at the American Christian Fiction Writer’s conference for the past three years, and she runs a fiction editing service mybooktherapy training writers how to tell a great story. After serving for eight years with her husband and four children as missionaries in Khabarovsk, Far East Russia she now writes full-time while her husband runs a hotel on Lake Superior in northern Minnesota

    What was your motivation behind this project?  “Why don’t you write your life story?” During my eight years as a missionary in Russia, friends from all over the world, in response to my letters, would pose that question. I’d shrug, saying….I’m not sure how to do it. Fast forward three years. Chick lit is beginning to hit the shelves. An insightful editor at Steeple Hill challenged me to try my hand at this new genre. I thought -- what would I have to write about – missionary stories? Thankfully, she had vision, and when I proposed an idea about a single missionary headed to Moscow for a year, she embraced it. Finally I’d found a venue for my story…although fictionalized…mostly. I laugh that finally, I got to write about all the fallacies, all the frustrations, and all the foolishness of being a freshman missionary. Mostly, I got to write about the one thing that God taught me – that He’d been at work in my life to bring me to this place, and the places beyond, all my life. And that I didn’t have to be perfect. I just had to surrender and trust. Just like Josey. And in Chill Out, Josey, I let the adventure continue with more of my hilarious (at least I think so!) adventures as a pregnant woman navigating the bus, the subway and most of all LIFE in Russia. I hope you'll laugh (and cry!) with me/Josey as she trys to figure out just how to stop worrying about life...and just learning how to CHILL OUT, JOSEY!

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