title: Embracing Joy
author: Tlucak, Mary Morrow
description: Embracing Joy is the second volume in the Embracing Liberty series. The first book, titled Embracing Liberty, told Libby Somerlin’s story from June of 1997 through July of 2000. It started just before the wedding that didn’t take place because her fiancé was killed. It then detailed the trials and tribulations which resulted from that tragedy, and continued up to her marriage to another wonderful young man. Jake Sutton is an Episcopal minister who is also a clinical psychologist. He helped Libby through a very negative situation in which she found herself after her fiancé’s death. During that process, the two fell in love. As Libby walked down the aisle on her wedding day, with her family around her and Jake waiting for her on the altar, she knew that this wasn’t really the happy ending; it was the beginning. In Embracing Joy, Libby and Jake’s story continues. They were hoping he’d get the rector position at St. James Church in Forestdale, Illinois. He does get it, but on a probationary basis. He tells Libby he believes it’s the senior warden of the church vestry and his wife who didn’t really want Jake, that they wanted an older minister, but had to settle for Jake since the other applicant turned it down. But both he and Libby are confident that they can win the vestry over by doing a great job. They find, though, that doing a great job isn’t as easy as they’d hoped, not with some members of the vestry going against them at every turn. They especially seem to find fault with everything Libby does. But despite the opposition, both Jake and Libby have successes, and hope it will be enough to secure their position at St. James, since both of them love the church and the congregation and want to stay right there to continue their work. But the vestry isn’t their only problem; Libby’s past difficulties which resulted from her first fiancé’s death threaten to follow her to Forestdale. For readers who may not have read Embracing Liberty, volume one of this series, there is an introduction at the beginning of this book which summarizes the story up to the point where Embracing Joy begins.