The journey out of Mormonism is not an easy one, especially when still believing family and friends take your departure personally or now consider you lost to the promptings of Satan. Maintaining relationships with Mormon family or friends can also prove to be challenging. This book contains many suggestions and approaches that help avoid the many pitfalls and unexpected challenges in navigating an exit from the LDS church. If you've been on the fence with Mormonism and unable to make a break for not knowing how, this book is for you.

Perhaps the most compelling thing about this concise and highly readable work is that McAllister, who is the founder of Life After Mormonism, does not devote any time to disputing the claims of Joseph Smith, niggling over problems with the LDS Church’s official version of its history, or otherwise proving that the church is “false.” In fact, he doesn’t even describe his own exit process, other than to say that he grew up in a large, believing Mormon family and then left the faith at the age of 29.

Instead, he begins with the premise that his reader has already made the decision to leave, and he respects the reasons behind that decision, whatever they may be. Once established, that spirit of mutual respect between McAllister and his reader expands to include respect for the believer as well. Because, after all, that’s the point. Everybody has a right to his or her own beliefs.

From there, McAllister goes on to cover every aspect of the unique ordeal of escaping both Mormonism and its mindset. He discusses practical how-to’s like composing a resignation letter, requesting “no contact” from the bishop, buying new underwear, brewing coffee, and ordering that first cocktail. He offers helpful advice on navigating the inevitably dicey social situations; such as, breaking the news to family, establishing boundaries, and finding a new community. Perhaps most importantly, he deals with the emotional challenges a new ex-Mormon may face. For example, losing the left-over guilt, learning to communicate assertively, and above all, learning to love one’s self. Read more

Micah takes great care in explaining what will happen as you embark on your journey out of the Matrix, I mean Mormonism. Beginning with the idea of leaving Mormonism behind with dignity, he sets the stage for the topics that follow. The first being discovering fraud. Mainly the fraud of the Mormon church but also fraud in general. The book then goes onto discuss a couple exit plans for leaving the church along with the pros and cons of each.

A very enlightening and empowering chapter is "Owning your journey and permitting others to do the same". The author does an excellent job of explaining that life after Mormonism is confusing. He lends suggestions on how to take the reins of your life and make the best of it. Read more (including the whole book online) here!