"Rurally Screwed: A Memoir of Losing Myself For Love," by Jessie Knadler

"Rurally Screwed: A Memoir of Losing Myself For Love," by Jessie Knadler

Jessie Knadler was a New York City girl, through and through. An editor for a splashy women's magazine, she splurged on Miu Miu, partied hard, lived for Kundalini yoga, and dated a man-boy whose complexion was creamier than her own. Circling the drain both personally and professionally, Jessie definitely wouldn't have described herself as "happy"; more like caustically content. Then one day, she was assigned a story about an annual rodeo in the badlands of Eastern Montana.

There, she met a twenty-five-year-old bull rider named Jake. He voted Republican and read Truck Trader. He listened to Garth Brooks. He owned guns. And Jessie suddenly found herself blindsided by something with which she was painfully unfamiliar: a genuinely lovable disposition. In fact, Jake radiated such optimism and old-school gentlemanliness that Jessie impulsively ditched Manhattan for an authentic existence, and an authentic man. Almost overnight, she was canning and sewing, making jerky, chopping firewood, and raising chickens. And all the while one question was ringing in the back of her head: "What the !#*$ have I done with my life?"

A hilarious true-life love story, Rurally Screwed reveals what happens to a woman who gives up everything she's ever known and wanted-job security, money, her professional network, access to decent Thai food-to live off the grid with her one true love (and dogs and horses and chickens), and asks, is it worth it? The answer comes amid war, Bible clubs, and moonshine.

Must say I did enjoy this book.  Didn't think it was hilarious as described above, but it did have it's fun moments.  I could see why she was attracted to Jake with the way she described his behaviour, a true gentleman through and through.

One thing for sure her life went from one extreme to another and no wonder she questions her sanity and her reasons for doing it. Although she digs deep into her life, she doesn't dig right down the the nitty gritty and I think that shows in her book, as you do feel as though you are missing something.  It's a bit like saying you only had a couple of teeth out when in reality you had all your teeth removed, if that makes sense?

Stars out of 5 : 3 At the end of the day I did enjoy this book, but I will probably not remember it in a month or two's time.  Glad I read it though.