Bad Habits: Confessions of a Recovering Catholic

Dearest Reader,

By now you might be wondering: Jenny McCarthy has more to say?! After six New York Times bestsellers, I've talked about pregnancy, autism, and motherhood. I hope you've enjoyed it. I hope it's made you laugh and cry and all those things that bestselling books about such topics are supposed to do.

But this book is about something entirely new--a subject that has pervaded my life since birth and confused the f*ck out of me for about the same time: Catholicism. As I enter into adulthood (play along, thanks), I think I may have finally figured out this faith thing. And what it means to me. But first, I had to reflect on my life. And my memoir, Bad Habits, is the fruit (not the Eve's apple kind) of that labor.

Bad Habits is my journey from aspiring nun at an all-girls Catholic school in the suburbs of Chicago, to Playmate of the Year, to autism awareness activist, to bestselling author, to host of my very own talk show... and all the Hail Marys in between. After reading this book, you'll know why you should wear underwear to church, why Jesus was my Justin Bieber, and why I had to give up giving shit up for Lent.

Bad Habits is also my personal examination of faith and how it turns out to surprise us at the most unexpected moments. It is a book of confessions about confession! I've tried to be brutally honest though it might read as more like embarrassingly entertaining, and I'm always outlandish so that's in here too; but truly, this book is sinfully hilarious (My publisher made me say that).

Bless you my children,

Jenny

Confessions About Jenny McCarthy

"Like spending an afternoon with your best friend"

--Susan Jane Gilman, NPR

"McCarthy brings you in and makes you laugh."

--Booklist

"McCarthy is undeniably crass but funny"

--Publishers Weekly

"Hilarious."

--Time Out New York

"...disarming, funny and so boundless..."

--Arizona Republic

"After six bestsellers, the former Playboy Playmate might be running out of material: she repeats several stories she's told in previous memoirs, including about her big break into nude modeling and the birth of her son. Other stories stretch credulity, including an account of sneaking into the Vatican to see the pope's private quarters. However, the beginning section, in which McCarthy recounts growing up as one of four daughters in an Irish-Catholic family in the Chicago area, is more intriguing, perhaps simply because the idea of the brash, occasionally crude sexpot attending mass is so amusing, or because McCarthy, as she writes, 'continued to do what I always do best, which is question things that don't make sense' (as when asking the forbidding Sister Grace Downey why they shouldn't, like Jesus, be Jewish). Indeed, all the Catholics here, except for one 'sexy beast of a hot priest,' come across as close minded and in need of McCarthy's questioning to see the pitfalls of their faith. But without exploring the honest desire for a meaningful religion, and by reducing some of Catholicism's teachings to inanity, McCarthy fails to make the case for her own, superior spirituality. B&w photos. Agent: Jennifer Rudolph Walsh, William Morris Endeavor. (Oct.)" Publishers Weekly Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.