Download Changing Habits Debbie Macomber 9780778307945 Books

Product details Mass Market Paperback 432 pages Publisher MIRA; Original edition (February 26, 2019) Language English ISBN-10 0778307948

Changing Habits Debbie Macomber 9780778307945 Books Reviews

• I was gravely disappointed to find that the author approved this ABRIDGED edition. I also read the true edition. The author left out one charcactor throughout the whole book except a glimpse of her at the last chapter...why even bring her it then???????????
  I felt that this really did a diservice to the whole story. a VERY POOR CHOICE. and it also took away from the story....along with some of the other details about the other 2 main characters.
  Debbie, THINK next time.
  It seems that Harper book co really does NOT care about the quality and integity of their work and about their customers. Beware!
• I'm only about 25% of the way through this book, but already I'm stuck. As in, I feel like I ought to finish he book, having bought it, but I don't really want to finish the book.
  
  First off, I can't really empathize with the characters; they seem flat and one-dimensional. Their "calling from God" doesn't feel at all realistic. I'm not Catholic, but I am a deeply committed liturgical Christian, and these women's relationship with God (or lack thereof, really) made me cringe. I guess the author wanted to show that their "calling from God" was the way each of these going-to-be-nuns justified her decision, but I found it depressing that someone could choose a lifetime of service to the Lord merely because she wanted to emulate a favorite teacher, had been conditioned by her family from a young age that being a nun was "her vocation", or because she wanted to put an unhappy love affair behind her. Even the nuns in the motherhouse seemed to be much more secular characters than I expected.
  
  The other difficulty I have with this book are the many inconsistencies. For example, Angelina visits the convent during her senior year in high school, which motivates her to join the convent. When she joins the convent, the author states "This trip to Boston was the first time Angie had traveled anywhere outside of New York State.." It also made no sense when the Postulant Mistress instructs Angie that she's to remain silent from the rising bell until after Mass - but tells her to kneel and recite the Our Father as soon as she hears the bell. Plus how in the world do you celebrate Mass in silence? Mass is full of spoken and/or sung responses.
  
  Finally, the writing is choppy and the plot is unrealistic. For instance, Joanna's situation before she joins the convent seems totally unbelievable. (SPOILER ALERT) She's engaged to a man who goes to Vietnam for a year (pretty sure Army enlistments are at least two years long) while she plans their wedding; his letters become infrequent and terse; her possessive fiancé surprises her by saying it's okay if she goes out with friends; he gets released from the military early with no explanation; and finally, his mother (get this) says she doesn't want Joanna to come to the airport to meet him. (Of course Joanna goes anyway.) Can you see it coming? Sure enough, he gets off the plane with a very pregnant wife, apparently the daughter of a very influential member of the government who brought pressure to bear on the guy's Commanding Office to get him to marry the girl - who is, by the way, a shrewish vixen towards Joanna, which is nothing like the gentle, soft-spoken Asian girls of that time.
  
  Overall, I felt like the author was just writing as fast as she could to churn out a book and make a deadline, and I had to wonder at the publishing house that would let a book go out without better editing.
• What a great job Debbie Macomber did with this story. Brought back so memories of being a young Catholic girl myself and going to Catholic Grade school and love being around the nuns. There was always a mystery that surrounded the nuns as to what they did behind those close doors. I grew up during their transition of the habits. It was a great story of three young women from different backgrounds with the same goal in mind.
  
  Highly recommend this to anyone who grew up during this time of the transition of the nuns.
• Debbie Macomber never disappoints. It is so easy to become just one of the cast of characters in her stories and Changing Habits is a prime example. I truly enjoyed embracing the characters in the story and sharing their experiences. A definite read.
• This story is about 3 women who all make the decision to become nuns in the 1950's and early 60's and we follow their lives as they struggle with their own hearts and decide if they decide if they made the right decision over the decades. It's a heart warming story that touches your heart as most of Debbie MacComber's story's do. You won't be sorry you picked up this book.
• This is a bit of a change for Macomber, being basically historical fiction. That being said, the story is as much fun as her others, and gives a really good look at a portion of history that does not often get attention----changes in cloisters and in the priesthood in the US in the '60's. I would recommend this book to anyone.
• So well written and i had a hard time putting it down long enjoy to get other things done.
  I recommended it to a couple of friends and they said they really enjoyed it and hard the
  same problem i had they couldn't put it down
• I downloaded this book without really knowing a lot about it. When I realized what it was about I probably would not have chosen it,
  which would have been my mistake, because I thought it was a very interesting book about a subject I knew nothing about. Debbie Macomber
  had to have done a lot of research but presented it in a way that was a pleasure to read.