Of Mess and Moxie: Wrangling Delight Out of This Wild and Glorious Life

Bestselling humorist Hatmaker (For the Love), a blogger, pastor, HGTV star, and mother of five, will be familiar to any evangelical Christian reader. She’s like a friend whose laugh that most of the time is fun to listen to but sometimes it’s too much. Here, Hatmaker piles on stories about bingeing on food (or wine or Netflix) alongside a bevy of kid poop jokes and kids-learn-human-anatomy jokes. Tucked in between are conversational reflections designed to offer pastoral advice and empathy when things go wrong. Those who don’t spend time in the evangelical subculture may miss some of the references (singer Sandi Patty, Baptist youth groups) and find that the humor relies on too many stereotypes of women, Erma Bombeck style. But those who find religious people humorless should certainly read this book. Hatmaker has humor in spades, which will please those looking for laughs, but her work will disappoint readers wishing for something with more depth. Agent: Curtis Yates, Yates & Yates. (Aug.)