More Than the Tattooed Mormon

by Al Carraway

Al Fox Carraway has spent the last four years inspiring the world with her story of conversion, redemption, and finding faith. As a blogger, social media personality, and award-winning public speaker, her message has reached millions. This moving biography and up-close account of her life and membership in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (sometimes called the "LDS" or "Mormon" church) will show you what it means to truly trust in the Lord.

"Don't go, Al. You won't fit in."

Being baptized and following the Lord has made Al's life harder than it ever was before. She endured criticism from friends and family for becoming a Mormon. She faced harsh judgments from Church members for her appearance. She gave up everything and felt more alone than she ever had in her life. All because she chose God.

Now she shares an up-close look at how trusting God has led her to places she never expected. As a blogger, YouTuber, and award-winning public speaker, her message has reached millions. Sharing her love of the Savior, Al goes beyond her own conversion and encourages readers to choose God above anything else. This uplifting book inspires readers to build a true relationship with the Lord that will bring them real, lasting happiness.

Genres: Nonfiction, Lds, Religion, Biography, Memoir, Inspirational, Church

176 pages, Paperback

First published December 8, 2015

Reviews

[Gretchen · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was okay. I really enjoyed the beginning where she outlined her conversion and the struggles she encountered as a result. I also enjoyed the first parts where she encourages her readers to press through difficult times with faith. However, this felt like a blog post that just went on for too long, which makes sense since she gained her following as a blogger. It just seemed to drag on and on and OOOOOOON, way past the point of being interesting. Her message is a really one and heart is definitely in the right place, the book was just way too long and very repetitive. I would have liked to have seen more autobiographical information, more details on the reconciliation with her family, information about how becoming a mother changed and stretched her testimony and understanding of God's relationship win us, and other personal stories like that. Less "rah, rah! God is awesome!" (no really, she says almost exactly that A LOT) and more, "here's how God has used these specific situations in my life and how I am continuing to grow as a result." Good effort and maybe more helpful to the youth of the church in terms of its tone.

[Charlie Holmberg · Rating 5 out of 5]

Mind that this is only about a third autobiography/memoir; the rest is gospel insight!

[Shauna · Rating 5 out of 5]

My Favorite Quotes--
"Ask God, Not Google."

"We are blessed by our efforts of trying, not perfection."

"Hard times will consistently be there, but so will Christ."

"The gospel is not there to prevent hard times from coming but to help strengthen and guide us when they do come."

My Review--
Al has been such a motivational person to so many--

Now, with this book, she will reach an even broader audience.

I LOVE her candid telling of her struggles and her fears and her triumphs.

She is a great example of pushing forward, to Christ, no matter what happens...so needed to hear that right now.

This book is a MUST-READ!
Very well written!
A true inspiration!

[Vy · Rating 2 out of 5]

Great experience, great girl. Wouldn't doubt that she's an amazing motivational speaker. But writing was so juvenile I could barely get through it.

[Amanda Mae · Rating 5 out of 5]

How could you not look at that face of pure joy and not want to read about her journey of faith and happiness?! Great pep talks in here, and so many phrases I wanted to underline. I've never met Al, but if I get the chance I want to give her a hug and say thank you. I'm already making up a list of people I need to give this book to.

[Sydnee · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is SO good. Al writes about the gospel with such joy that it's contagious. Her writing makes you want to be a better person. I would highly, highly recommend!

[Melanie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love to read conversion stories and heard about Al Fox (now Carraway) a few years ago. I didn't know too much about her so was interested to hear her story.

I loved that I felt like she was just talking to me, telling me what led up to her joining the church and how difficult it was for her after that. She actually had a great life and didn't feel like anything was missing. Things changed for her when she started asking questions. When she joined the church, her friends and family left her and she was completely alone. She was able to find the strength to keep reading and studying her scriptures and attending church. Moving to Utah was in some ways more difficult for her, though. She dealt with insensitive comments and looks from others but never let those keep her from living the way she knew she should.

Her story is inspiring! She seems like she would be fun to know. She gets real and shares some serious heartache she experienced. There are also lots of good times, too! I liked that she included what her current relationship is with her family.

This is more than just her story--she shares scriptures and passages that have helped her. I enjoyed hearing her perspective on those and so much more. It's easy to see why she's a highly sought after speaker. Her story is definitely thought-provoking, inspiring and well worth the read!

Mel's Shelves

[Melody · Rating 5 out of 5]

It was an interesting thing, reading this book. A friend from church used some of it in her Relief Society lesson and it intrigued me, so I asked another friend to borrow her book.
About half way through the book I was thinking to myself, I don't NEED this book at all in my life. I am not struggling with my testimony, I am not struggling to figure out my purpose, I am not struggling with feeling the spirit, and I most certainly am not struggling with knowing God is real, and feeling His love for me. I KNOW all those things, and I hold my relationship with my Heavenly Father as the most dear thing in my life.

Then I got to the second half of the book, and I realized something. I did need this book in my life, as it was just another source of truth and inspiration, and filled with the encouragement I need to remind me of the path I am on, and to CONTINUE on it. Its like going to testimony meeting-hearing others thoughts and testimonies always strengthens me and my relationship with God. As did this book. It just made me smile knowing I KNOW as she does, that God is real, He is leading my life, and He is always there for each and every one of us. I need to continue doing what I am doing, and continually cultivate the testimony I have.

I wanted to reach through these pages and hug Al. I hope if we ever meet in life she would know she has a friend in me.

[Eden Wen · Rating 2 out of 5]

Read it on recommendation. This was oh so fluffy (If I had a dollar for each time she uses the phrase "X is oh so good"...).

It is interesting reading this at this point in my faith journey. It made me wonder what the author defines as the gospel, since she talks about it as a general good thing but without going into specifics. She skirts around specifics so much that when she mentions how the gospel has been oh so good for her, it feels like she can't really point to why. I think this is due more to the lack of a quality editor than her lack of gospel experience.

A line in it was especially telling of her approach to her work—she does what she does because she does not want to fall into a lesser glory. The idea of telestial glory seems to frighten her so much. I feel this can perpetuate a busyness and a perfectionism that distracts from living life, an "If I do A-Z on this checklist, I will make sure I will be in the celestial kingdom". Perhaps I'm misinterpreting because of the fluffy nature of the book, but it is a mindset that worries me about passing onto the youth of our church.

[Jeslyn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent read - I could relate to 90% of her experience, including the uprooting and moving across the country solo in what felt like a crazy plan. I liked her delivery style very much - one of my pet peeves is a lack of editing, as errors, etc. can become jarring when I'm engrossed in a book; however, they didn't bother me here, and made this feel almost more authentic. A terrific role model, particularly in her encouragement to never give up, and to believe that we are all loved and of value beyond our understanding.

[Marianne Cone · Rating 3 out of 5]

I loved the message of the book, but found the author’s writing to be frenetic, disjointed, and rambling. It was just ok.

[Kathy Jo · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have never been able to read a nonfiction book. All the times I had tried, I always fell asleep within a couple of pages. Until this one.

I've been struggling a lot over the last couple of years. No one would know just by looking at me. I'm one of those that will suffer in silence because every time I would reach out to someone, I would get brushed off, ignored or hear something like: "I'm sorry. Now getting back to me." A person can only experience this so much before they just stop reaching out.

The last couple of weeks have been extremely hard. Harder than usual. Something happened that just broke me and I decided enough is enough. I know others are going through hard times and I'm always there for them but it's time to be there for myself. Selfish? Some may think yes. But personally, I don't think I am being selfish at all. If I'm not taking care of myself and loving myself, then who is? No one.

After talking to an amazing friend I realized that what I needed was to not only learn how to love myself, but to see myself how God sees me. I need to fix me. If I'm broken, how can I help others to heal? I can't. If I'm not strong for me, how can I be strong for others? I can't.

So I started looking for books that would help me to learn how to love myself. I had been striking out right and left until a thought popped into my head. "More Than the Tattooed Mormon." At the time, I had no clue where that thought came from but once I downloaded the book and started reading, I knew it was an answer to weeks, maybe even months, of prayers. Never has a book meant so much to me. This is definitely a book that I'll be reading over and over again.

This is not a one and done kind of book. This is a book that can help me to see things in a different way. Help me to see that I'm not alone. Help me to see that God loves me and is more aware of me than I could ever imagine. Help me to learn how to love myself. Help me to realize my worth (chapter 15). Help me to realize that when I don't have anyone around me who knows what I'm going through or anyone that I can turn to, I can turn to God and he will be there for me.

Do I ever get lonely going at this crazy life/world alone? More than you'll ever know. But I need to remember that I am NOT alone. I need to learn how to rely on God and remember that He loves me, imperfections and all.

This is not me crying out for help. I promise. I KNOW I'm not the only one out there that's feeling the way I'm feeling and going through some of the things I'm going through. If you're reading this and see any kind of similarities, please grab this book and give it a try. It may help, it may not. But I learned a lot while I was reading and can't wait to read it again.

Just know... you are loved, you matter, you've gotten through 100% of hard days, you are not alone. There is help for all of us and we just need to find our own way and our own journey to receive it.

[Andrea · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked this book, I think Al Fox is darling and such a great person. I like that she focused on life after her conversion - she has some amazing insight and is such an amazing person. I do wish she would've spent a little more time on her story before her conversion. It was described quite vaguely and the book wasn't what I expected- but I still enjoyed it.

[Amy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked this book. Al Fox Carraway is an amazing person and this book made me want to be and do better. The only reason I didn't give it 5 stars is because I wanted more life stories and less preaching.

[Jodi Escalante · Rating 5 out of 5]

A delightful narration by Al herself. I loved hearing her passion for the temple.

[Roy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I haven't listened to Al's whole conversion story before and I am very glad I have now. She weaves a good story and makes some well worded gospel points that obviously came after some sore trials. She is a great example of a believer and I hope to be able to meet her some day.

[Heather Collins · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this as a 10 year convert to the LDS church, and let me start by saying I love Al's story. When she talks about herself and her experiences, her joy is infectious. And many times as she shared her experiences with joining the church, I found myself thinking, "Me too!" and "I know exactly what that's like." I share a lot of experiences with her, in terms of sacrificing relationships and dealing with rejection after joining the church. Also being from the East Coast, I loved hearing stories that reflected so much of where I'm from and what my story has been. The moments when she's sharing stories about her own life are the best parts of this book. And I wish that something like this would have existed when I was 17, 18, and 19 years old, and still a teenage recent convert. That's when this book would have been a huge blessing in my life, and the group to whom I'd most recommend it.

The problem is, her stories don't make up the entirety of the book, especially not much beyond page 70 or so. And because I'm familiar with her as a speaker, especially a talk she gave at Southern Virginia University, many of her personal stories were ones I'd heard before. She uses a lot of the same lines from her speeches in the book, which made the reading sadly unoriginal. And when she sermonizes, it becomes especially repetitious and uneven. In the last third of the book, I would skim through or skip paragraphs or entire pages, hunting out the points where she talks about herself and her experiences. The other material required absolutely no thought to process, reading somewhat like a Pinterest board of motivational quotes. Much of the second half of the book didn't hold my attention.

The unevenness of the text I attribute not to Al herself, but to the poor production quality of what Cedar Fort brought to her work.

I really didn't like the Century Gothic style font they used, especially in conjunction with the odd margins and paragraph spacing. It made the book exceedingly uncomfortable to read. If you're going to read this, and you don't like a lot of experimentation with your typography as you're reading, I recommend the eBook since that allows you to set your own preferences. But that's a personal hangup of mine, I admit.

I also found myself questioning throughout the book if it had been professionally edited. I found several spelling mistakes, including two on the same page in chapter 7. A decent line editor, or even the spell check in Microsoft Word, would have caught them. There were several places where a good developmental editor would have told her to show instead of tell, and to cut down on the needless repetition. Her scriptural observations and interpretations are not always sound. She has an unfortunate prooftext moment with 2 Nephi 7:11, presenting it as something to which we should aspire instead of Isaiah's intended visual for apostasy. She also suggests that Heavenly Father doesn't speak often in the scriptures, which simply isn't true. A memoir/scriptural commentary needs to be edited for accuracy, as well as clarity. And she clearly didn't get this from her publisher.

Al as a speaker has a very raw, unpolished style that is approachable and comfortable to everyone who meets her. But without good editing, it comes across as sloppy and unfinished on the written page. Especially for her first book, Al did an admirable job. I was just so distracted by so many other elements that were working against her work, I had a hard time enjoying it.

I really wanted to like her book much more than I actually did. I admire her as a person, and the message she puts out into the world. But I'm certainly glad I picked this up at the thrift store, and I'll probably pass it along to someone else.

[Camille Hoffmann · Rating 5 out of 5]

I realize not everyone may love this book, but for me, it was exactly what I needed at this point in my life.

If you're expecting an autobiography, you'll be a little disappointed, but if you're looking for motivation and a perspective change, this book is fantastic. She shares her conversion story at the beginning of the book, but a lot of the book is focused on the lessons she's learned through her journey and encouraging her readers to choose God daily. The book is a little repetitive, which at first I wasn't loving, but by the end I decided I didn't mind it because it really helped sink her message in- I learn best through repetition ;). It may not be the strongest writing, but her passion and her message more than make up for it. And honestly, I think it makes her feel more real in the book, and will help younger readers especially be able to more easily connect with her and understand her message.

I love that she focuses on CHOOSING every day to recommit to Heavenly Father and to CHOOSE to be happy; that we can have that real, lasting happiness by choosing God daily. It really is a matter of choice, and while life won't be perfect with the Gospel, it is so much easier. She also emphasizes how much our Heavenly Father loves us and is mindful of us (in this very second). I think this is definitely a book that every young women/men and young adult should read; and even as a pregnant mother of 3 (almost 4) children I gained a lot from reading this book! It's one I want to own so I can highlight the quotes and paragraphs I found the most meaningful and motivating. Definitely recommend.

[Vince Snow · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’m a really big Al Fox fan, I’ve followed her on social media for a long while and I’ve heard her speak in person. There were a lot of parts I liked about the book, there were also some I didn’t like as much.

I thought most of the book was fluffy, a lot of feel good sentiments that I didn’t connect with.

Most of the book is autobiographical, and Al Fox is kind of an enigma to me. I think that’s why a lot of people like her and she has a such a big following on social media. She’s very positive. I liked seeing some of her humanity show slip through the cracks though like when she said that she was upset that her friend was able to go to the temple before she was.

I kept thinking about how fluffy the book was and how I wasn’t gleaning much from it and then she did end up teaching me some doctrine after all.

”Perhaps we love the idea of being with our spouse forever because it sounds romantic, but a temple marriage is not just there to be cute.”

It changed the way I think about temple marriage.

She quoted Jeffrey R Holland talking about a time him and his wife were struggling and his wife said to him “the future holds everything for us.” It resonated with me and is a truth I want to believe.

A thing that I got from the book was that Al Fox has had profound, meaningful, spiritual experiences in her life. Sometimes on social media it’s tough for me to tell because lots of stuff there feels fake or forced. But I feel like she was authentic to her experiences and I think it’s a powerful account.

[Kiri · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was really hoping this book would be more intimate and personal. However, I felt it reads just like a talk, or worse, a blog post. Such a bummer because I think Al had big potential with the medium of book writing. Each chapter was full of generic advice and reading it got old. Although at some points throughout the book she did make interesting points about the gospel that i hadn't heard before.

One thing I kept wishing was that she wouldn't put herself down so much. She is obviously doing an amazing job at who she is, but the book is riddled with "I know I could be better...". That's such a terrible mind set that people, mostly women, need to rid themselves of. It's okay to be proud of yourself! You don't have to boast, but put downs do not equal humility.

I also wish the publisher had taken more pride in the editing and layout of the book. Once you open it, it feels and looks like a cheap handout book.

[Bryn · Rating 4 out of 5]

I like books like this because they're motivational and they generally make me feel good or at least make me feel bad but hopeful. It was no different with this one. I really needed to hear some of the things she had to say and I appreciate that. However, again with books like this, the writing tends to be almost irritating because they're written in ways people would speak to each other which isn't bad but can get confusing. There were several sentences I had to read over again just to get their meaning. In short, some different editing would have been helpful for sure. And at times I felt that she just piled one-liners on top of each other for the whole page. Again, not a bad thing necessarily but a little irritating at times. Overall it's a good pick-me-up read and I did like it.

[Cheya · Rating 4 out of 5]

A wonderful story of Al Carraway's conversion to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. As a young girl she knew nothing of the church or its standards but when she read the Book of Mormon and earnestly prayed to know of its truthfulness she changed her life. That change brought about much pain and suffering. Her family denounced her, friends left her side and she was instructed by the Lord to move to Utah! She was not received well because of the way she looked. After sharing her story, the author encourages us to pray and listen to the Lord and follow His counsel. I found the book uplifting and inspiring. I was saddened to read about the mean remarks that people wrote on her blog.

[Deslynn · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm giving this 5 stars because for me......I've had such a different perspective when it comes to trials. I have wanted to avoid them at all costs. Her outlook and faith have changed the way I think now, every day. I look at my challenges and obstacles differently. I pray and seek differently. I Listen more closely now, and for me.....that's worth 5 stars.

[Allyson · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love this. I love her entire message that there is happiness in living the gospel. I love how she makes it clear, fun, and straight forward to hear. I wish all teens in the church read this every year. This was a great read. I highlighted, and I will re-read for sure. I recommend! I can't wait to read the next book coming out in a couple of months.

[Kareena · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very interesting read. There was a lot more religion than I was expecting and not as much of her life, but it was cool. Her testimony really showed through. A great read.

[Michelle · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved this book because of Al's enthusiasm about the gospel. It's contagious! In the future, when I get down or just need a boost, I will be referring back to this book.

[Alexis Backman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Als story was and is beautiful!

[Catherine Peel · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved it!

[Sage · Rating 5 out of 5]

An Amazing Read. So inspiring and uplifting. It is like Al is cheering you on for all the good things in your life. Best pep talk from Al ever. A must read and a read again soon.

[Alli White · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read it in one night! She has such a strong testimony and conviction to do and be active in all church things. If you need a testimony builder or pick me up, this is a great one. Part conversion story, part motivational speaker-esque… this is a great young adult/adult application book.