Books in Review: Happy, Happy, Happy & 100th Book Review Celebration

9/21/2023

I have been a casual fan of Duck Dynasty since the first few years of the show. I’ve even had to chance to hear three different members of the Robertson family speak at a few different events (Alan, Missy, and Sadie). Since that time, I have been interested in reading some of the books that have been written by the Robertson family and admittedly own a few of them that I haven’t read. But when I learned that they were going to be releasing a biopic movie about Phil Robertson’s godless years called The Blind, I knew that I wanted to read Phil’s personal story first. When I found this book in Goodwill last week (two weeks before the movie was to be released), I knew it was a sign that it was time to read this book. In the end, I was not disappointed. I found Phil’s writing to be honest, witty, and gospel-oriented. I’ve come to admire Phil before that I had before for all he overcame, his heart for the gospel, and his determination to live a simple life. Reading this book has made me look forward to watching The Blind and reading some of the other books by the Robertson clan in the future ~ Bethel

In his first book, Happy, Happy, Happy, Phil Robertson of the popular reality show Duck Dynasty shares the good, the bad, and the ugly of the journey that led him to become known as the Duck Commander. He describes his humble beginnings living in a log cabin house, where he learned to work hard and live simply off of the land. He eventually met Kay Carroway and fell in love, getting married when he was 16 and she was 15, having their first son before she graduated high school. Not long after, even as their family was growing, Phil fell into a period of living wild and recklessly, struggling with drinking, drugs, and lawlessness that was common in the cultural revolution of the 60s. It was a difficult, dark, and uncertain time for their whole family, especially his wife and their three sons. It wasn’t until he ran all of them out of the house that he realized that needed help and was finally open to hearing the gospel. He was baptized shortly after and his life and family were never the same. He eventually went on to revolutionize the hunting industry with his duck calls and founded Duck Commander, which eventually became a multi-million dollar company. However, he never forgot his roots and chose to do his best to live simply while also growing in his faith and loving his family. All of this story is shared in the context of a lot of practical wisdom, honest opinions, and solid gospel truth. You will hopefully be moved, inspired, and a little amused by Phil’s story. Get a copy or plan to go see the movie The Blind, in theaters on September 28, 2023 (check out the movie trailer below).

Teen Rating. While there are some difficult elements of Phil’s story (especially a portion told from Miss Kay’s perspective), they are told in a tasteful and appropriate way. As long as they are emotionally mature, I wouldn’t have a problem recommending this to a teenager if they were interested. I would recommend it for those 15 and older.

Personal Rating. While the stories within are not totally linear (which is my preference when reading autobiographical books), I enjoyed reading this book and felt it was a fairly easy read. This book is definitely worth checking out, especially if you are a fan of Duck Dynasty

Interested in purchasing this title? If you purchase it from Amazon using the link below, Abiding Grace Ministries will receive a small commission from the sale at no cost to you.

Purchase Happy, Happy, Happy: https://amzn.to/4fhmDK7

Celebrating My 100th Book Review

This review is special because it happens to be the 100th book I’ve reviewed on this blog (There have been a few unofficial reviews I did of supplemental material to other books that would put me over 100 earlier this year, but I am counting mostly full reviews that explore the content and give my recommendation of a book). It’s hard to me to believe that I have reached this milestone. When I started this blog in late 2014, I didn’t really have much direction for it until I was accepted onto a social media book team for the first time and eventually started reviewing books. Within a few years, that became the exclusive focus of this blog. This blog has been a fascinating journey, leading me to meet many great people on their pages (and in some cases real life), learn so many valuable life lessons, and support some great authors in the process. I also had no idea when I started how writing these reviews would become training ground for my eventual work as a self-published author, teaching me about the publishing industry, review site systems, and book marketing strategies. I am so grateful for this continuing journey and everyone who had supported it along the way, especially the authors who have inspired me.

Me with Bob Goff, author of Love Does and Everybody Always

Me with Jon Jorgenson, author of Authentic Love and Created to Create

Me with Jefferson Bethke, author of Jesus > Religion and It's Not What You Think

Juli Slattery's and Dannah Gresh's autograph for Pulling Back the Shades, the first book I reviewed on this blog

A personalized card I recieved from Kristen Clark and Bethany Barid (now Beal) of GIrl Defined Ministries for being a part of their first book launch team