Don't You Marry the Mormon Boys [Paperback]

Janet Kay Jensen (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 1, 2007

As medical students at the University of Utah, Andy and Louisa fall in love - but can a mainstream Mormon and a Fundamental polygamist overcome the cultural barriers between them? Both realize that their choices will not only affect their own lives, but will also have an impact on their family, friends, and even their communities. Fearing that the sacrifices required of them would be too great, they go their separate ways. Yet for Andy in Kentucky and Louisa in Utah, life does not go as they'd planned. While Andy is serving as a country doctor and trying to bury his pain, Louisa is coming to terms with the fact that all is not as perfect in her tight-knit community as she'd believed. As doctors, each will have to choose between keeping the peace in their communities or doing what they know is right. And someday, both will have to face their past and decide if they can make the sacrifice to be together.

Product Details

• Paperback: 324 pages
• Publisher: Bonneville Books (November 1, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 159955075X
• ISBN-13: 978-1599550756
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.4 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (17 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,722,920 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Janet Kay Jensen is author of the award-winning novel, Don't You Marry the Mormon Boys (Cedar Fort, 2007) and co-author of The Book Lover's Cookbook, Recipes Inspired by Celebrated Works of Literature and the Passages that Feature Them (Wenger & Jensen, Ballantine, 2003). Her work also appears in Healing Ministry Journal, LDS Writing Secrets, ByLine, Meridian, Everton's Family History Magazine, Heart to Heart Newsletter (Intermountain Donor Services) and The Magic of Stories.

She holds degrees in Speech-Language Pathology from Utah State University and Northwestern University and is an adult literacy tutor. Recently, she had the opportunity to record an interview with her literacy student through the StoryCorps(R) program sponsored by National Public Radio. She was named Bridgerland Literacy's Outstanding Tutor for 2008. She has been a guest instructor in a county jail creative writing program for inmates.

Janet has won numerous awards from the League of Utah Writers, including first place in personal essay, humorous poetry, and short story. Her work has also won several honorable mentions in ByLine. She is a member of Authors Guild, LDStorymakers, League of Utah Writers, Romance Writers of America, Mortar Board, and Utah State University's Old Main Society.

Don't You Marry the Mormon Boys placed second in the League of Utah Writers annual competition for full length books in 2006, and an excerpt placed third in the 2005 Association for Mormon Letters Fiction Contest.

Janet has demonstrated her gullibility by serving as a soccer mom, PTA president and Cub Scout leader. She and her husband, Miles, are the parents of three grown sons and have three remarkable grandchildren.

She blogs at www.janetkayjensen.blogspot.com and tweets as janetj1762.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Disappointing, May 31, 2008

By 

L. H. Johnson - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Don't You Marry the Mormon Boys -Two medical students denied a future by polygamy: one cannot embrace it; the other cannot escape it (Paperback)

The book jacket's summary of Janet Jensen's debut novel, Don't You Marry The Mormon Boys, describes a story about two people from different backgrounds and belief systems (Andy is mainstream LDS and Louisa was raised in a polygamous fundamentalist community) who fall in love at medical school but face overwhelming obstacles in an effort to be together.

That was the story I was expecting and found myself disappointed with the story I was actually given. Andy and Louisa do, in fact, face these obstacles, but it is never the focus of the story. In fact, were it not for a few flashbacks to medical school, there is no mention of these two main characters together in the same chapter, much less the same plot for the first 200 pages. Andy does his rural, family practice medical thing in Kentucky, which seems a completely unnecessary setting to me (unless the far fetched and wholly irrelevant ending was somehow important to the story of Andy and Louisa's journey....which it is not), and Louisa returns to her polygamous community to realize that her eyes have been changed to the situation around her after eight years of living away from it.

Sure there are a few wistful thoughts, memories and even dreams about the other, but the reason for their attraction, or friendship, is never explained. Andy thought she was beautiful, in spite of her plain, long ankle length dress, and crowning glory long hair, but apparently pursued a relationship with her because she was so smart and he wanted to study with her. (????) The reader is never given any information about Louisa's feelings towards Andy. There is simply an assumption that because she spent time with him, she fell in love with him. The hows and the whys are not worth mentioning, I suppose. Without that development of their relationship for the readers to hold onto, I didn't yearn for these two to be together. As their stories don't actually intersect in the story until page 197, a little yearning would have been nice. But, that doesn't seem to be the point of the book.

The thing I liked most about this novel was Jensen's humanistic portrayal of polygamous families. It's always troubled me that the media, pop culture and even the mainstream LDS church portray them as crazy, mindless followers without any thought or choice about their lifestyle. Jensen shows a side of their families and individuals who honestly believe what they practice, and that they do it for the same reason a lot of us do whatever it is we do - because we think it's what God has commanded us to do. I also appreciated the look inside their culture...from the need to protect themselves from outsiders to the organizations of their households. Considering the current events going on in Texas, it adds a deeper understanding to the story. But, that doesn't seem to be the point of the book either.

It isn't all sunshine, however, and as Louisa's eyes are opened to the real problems of their community (abuse, incest, birth defects, depression) she becomes a target of opposition to the community - particularly to the Council of Brethren, who seem like old, scary, mean men without a compassionate bone in their bodies. Again, this black and white portrayal of the community's leadership seems too clean and villainous to be true. Surely, there are some members who are able to be something other than completely dogmatic. It doesn't matter, though, because, once again, this conflict with Louisa does not seem to be the point of the book.

In the end, I'm not sure what the point is, or was supposed to be. Andy and Louisa seem more like conduits for the author to expound on the quirks and habits of rural Kentucky and polygamy than actual characters. The part of the story where they are actually together and communicating and conflicting only warrants 40 or so pages. Then the story jumps tracks and heads off in an entirely new direction - one I won't mention because it will seem like I am reviewing another book. I felt like it was a different book.

I guess I feel mostly disappointed because I didn't get the story I was promised. I didn't get Andy and Louisa's story. Not really.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Religious fiction, with a twist, July 5, 2010

By 

Amanda Richards (Georgetown, Guyana) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Don't You Marry the Mormon Boys (Paperback)

This rather unusual story combines love and cultural differences then throws in some drama and a twist of suspense. It begins as your standard "boy meets girl" story, where "boy" is a mainstream Mormon, and "girl" comes from a polygamous society. Both study medicine at the University of Utah, fall in love, and then go their separate ways mainly due to their different backgrounds.

Naturally, true love finds a way, but a large part of the story deals with the trials they face while apart. "Boy", whose name is Andy, becomes a country doctor in Kentucky, while Louisa, heretofore referred to as "girl" returns to her community in Gabriel's Landing, Utah. Both soon realize that small communities aren't always as peaceful, sunny and cheerful as they appear, and have to make difficult choices.

Just when you think you've got the story line figured out, the author throws in an unexpected twist with a couple of unlikely characters, and the plot goes off in a different direction.

This begins as Romeo and Juliet, and ends up as something else entirely. There are a couple of characters that seem a tad caricaturized, but overall, an interesting read, which although based on religious differences never becomes preachy.

Amanda Richards, July 5, 2010

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A title that will catch your eye!, February 7, 2009

By 

Proud Mom of 3 (Southern Utah) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Don't You Marry the Mormon Boys (Paperback)

When i seen this title i had to pick it up and find out more! I'm very happy that i did, because this is a wonderful read! You will catch your yourself laughing out loud as you read this. Andy and Louisa seem very real in many ways. They both are struggling with her coming from a polygamist back ground. Find answers that will show many how hard some will fight for true love.
Janet Kay Jensen should write more novels because she did a WONDERFUL job!