Lebak, Jane. Honest and for True. Philangelus Press, 2015
I wasn’t sure where to categorize this novel. If I had read it 7 years ago, I would have easily called it “contemporary,” but I read it yesterday in 2022. It isn’t old enough to call it “classic.” To be honest, it isn’t exactly what I would call “Catholic” either. I attended the author’s Catholic Writer’s Guild (CWG) workshop and she is definitely Catholic, so I decided to file this review under the Catholic category.
Why isn’t it Catholic?
It is sorta Catholic. The main character, Juliet, meets a young man at a Catholic church where they both attend, but Juliet makes it clear that she chose the church because it was conveniently located across the street from her Brooklyn apartment and happens to be the church her roommate attends. The young man she meets is presumably Catholic although he doesn’t talk about his faith or claim to be.
Other than the Catholic “Sister Maggie Mystery” books written by Sister Diana Carollo that I bought at this year’s Catholic Women’s Conference, Honest and for True is the first novel that I picked up because it was written by a Catholic. To be honest, I didn’t know they existed until I attended the CWG workshop. Where have they been hiding?
If you do a search on Amazon for “Catholic novels” you will see a hodgepodge of books – some Catholic novels perhaps – mostly novels with a Catholic word like “Sister” or “Priest” and a few spiritual books for good measure.
The author, Jane Lebak, has written too many books for me to count. Seriously. I’m a pretty adept counter of books, but there are so many listed in her Amazon account, I just gave up after the first dozen.
There is nothing contrary to the faith
Juliet has a special gift. She can see and speak with her guardian angel. This book is the second of three in the “Lee and Bucky” series about Juliet (nicknamed Lee) and her guardian angel Bucky. She nicknamed him as a child and he won’t share her real celestial name with her. With all those angel books written, I am going to assume that the Catholic theology of angels is represented correctly in this book and others in the series.
Throughout the book, I was a little startled whenever Lee and/or Bucky talk about God in an offhand way. It wasn’t offensive, in fact, I believe that Lebak is trying to create a character in Lee who can appeal to a reader who is not only not Catholic, but not Christian. The great Catholic themes are able to shine in the book without being preachy and therefore allow Lebak to show and not tell why premarital sex is a bad idea and that marriage and big families are a good thing.
But, if you are looking for a book that feels comfortable to a Catholic with characters living out a Catholic life, this is not it. In Honest and for True, you will find characters with good morals making good choices and experiencing consequences whenever they stray from the straight and narrow path.
I liked it
This book won’t become a best seller or stand the test of time to become a classic, but I really liked Lee and her outlook on life.
She is 29 years old when the book starts, working as a mechanic in a Brooklyn shop, living with her preschool teacher roommate and constantly carrying on a dialogue with her guardian angel who appears whenever she plays the Fleetwood Mac album, “Rumours” or when he feels like it or when she really needs him.
Lee is very likeable. I’d say she behaves the way every Catholic mother wants her daughters to behave. She is an honest mechanic (which sometimes riles her boss), she is a considerate tenant who runs errands for her elderly landlady, she doesn’t hook up with the guys she dates, and she does go to Mass every week.
Her fatal flaw isn’t so bad either. She struggles in her relationship with her mother who is constantly after her to get married and find a respectable job. As a result, she can’t bring herself to tell the guys she dates that she is an auto mechanic. She tells them she is a lobbyist or a personal trainer because she doesn’t want them to judge her. She is pretty guarded. I get it, I am too.
I really like to read books set in New York also. I live in southern Indiana and New York just seems so glamorous to me. I always imagine myself living there and going broke because my experience of New York is of being a tourist.
She has two cars, an everyday car as well as a restored 1965 Mustang that she only shows special people in her life. Other than Jerry Seinfeld, I haven’t seen many characters actually drive in the city. She rides a bike, walks, and hops on and off public transit throughout the book. She is paid hourly as a mechanic and discusses her financial choices accordingly, that rang true with me. I really hate it when characters live the high life and it is just so unrealistic.
I like Lebak’s style, it reminds me of Janet Evanovich’s “Stephanie Plum” series. Stephanie is a pretty average heroine who gets into reasonable scrapes.
What I didn’t like
I admit, I was impressed with the knowledge that Lee has as a mechanic and general fix-it girl.
She makes two pretty impressive toilet repairs in the novel, but after a while, I just skipped those parts. I didn’t think the description of her fixing a car had enough detail for me to use to tune up my car, and they sure weren’t interesting for me to read. When my husband talks about things like that, I start mentally making a list of the items I need to pack for my next vacation. I suppose it did help make Lee appear authentic.
The other aspect that didn’t wow me was Lee’s taste in music. Fleetwood Mac?
The “Rumours” album came out in 1977 when I was in high school. Why would an angel be impressed with that? Bucky has been alive since God created the earth, surely he has better taste than 1970s rock n roll.
Personally, after Stevie Nicks came out in 2020 talking about how glad she was that she aborted Don Henley’s baby early in her career because the world wouldn’t be the same if she hadn’t made all that music, I lost all respect for her and the band. It just turns my stomach to think about how so many young women will chose abortion thinking they are making a noble choice like Nicks. I hope Bucky’s taste improves.
How will it change me?
I am sure that I am going to ponder my guardian angel more as a result of reading this. I ordered a kindle copy of the first book in the “Lee and Bucky” series to read next.
I think it will help my writing too. Currently, I am “working” on a young adult fiction novel. I will take some direction from Lebak and try to remove anything preachy from it and allow my characters’ good morals just shine on their own without sending them to Mass or confession. I also like the fact that Lee doesn’t get into big trouble all the time. It was still interesting to me even though it is pretty tame.
Have you read any good Catholic novels lately?
Where do you find them? Do you want the Catholic novels you read to be “authentically Catholic” through and through?
Have you read any good angel books lately?