JJ’s Books

1. it’s called a spade

a collection of hard-to-tell true stories

This is a collection of stories about life, about people and God, about recovery and relapse, about heartache and brokenness and the reality that life is hard coupled with the fact that there is hope and healing, even if it comes without answers; healing in ways that can’t be prescribed or used as blanket formulas for every heartache, as each cause for heartache is as different as the heart that is aching.

This is a collection of stories from a girl who almost disappeared in her efforts to be seen, a girl who grew up in a culture that called spades hearts and smiled while bluffing. This is a collection of stories from a girl that drops J-bombs and F-bombs, sometimes within the same breath because she fully believes the truth that life is hard and the occasional F-bomb is necessary, just as much as she fully believes that Jesus heals, recovers, revives and restores.

This is a collection of stories about calling a spade a spade because the truth will indeed set you free if in no other way than just allowing you to breathe again without the strain of trying to hide all of the ugly and hold the pain in.

It’s called a spade. It’s not as pretty as the diamond, as lovely as the heart, or as eclectic as the club, but it is what it is, a spade, vulgar and unattractive as it may be, it’s a spade, and merely calling it what it is makes me feel a little less crazy, a little less like I am living a lie. It points up, the spade, because when you start telling the truth, the outcome may be hard at first, even unbearable, but things do start looking up.

“it’s called a spade” can now be purchased at Amazon.com and BarnesandNoble.com. Thank you in advance for your support!! 

2. Kinda Funny

Stories by a Full-Time Comedian (with Four Part-Time Jobs)

(Publication: April 1st, 2024. Kinda funny, but it ain’t no joke!)

If anyone were to grow up to be a quirky stand-up comedian performing across America, it would be the middle child of a Southern Baptist preacher. JJ Barrows wears many colorful hats and takes them from the comedy stage to the comedic page in Kinda Funny, stories by a full-time comedian (with four part-time jobs), from wanting to fit in with everyone yet also be left alone all the time (extroverted introvert, anyone?), to aging parents, awkward first dates and avoiding the dentist. Wrestling with faith and depression, and finally finding love after looking for thirty-five years in very odd places, JJ navigates it all with humor that eases our own insecurities.

Through her stories, readers are not only entertained but begin to realize the possibility of being fulfilled without feeling complete, leaving room for belief in something bigger than ourselves and the curiosity to dig deeper. As readers feel like they are at a party being told the most entertaining story by a friend, they will find something in each story they can relate to. From awkwardly single as a full-time artist turned part-time barista, to depressingly happy in marriage and pursuing a career in a cutthroat male-dominated industry, JJ uses her experiences to reveal her own understandings of humor, faith, mental health, and what it means to finally “grow up.” 

TONE: 

Story-Driven, Refreshing, Comedy Club Meets Therapy Session, Faith-Dusted

AUTHOR VISION STATEMENT: 

As a preacher’s kid turned comedian, who still wrestles with faith and bouts of depression, JJ’s vision for this book is to help readers find the middle ground in a world full of extremes, reminding them to laugh at themselves and look for the good in even the most difficult of people. Her stories give readers a place to go, offering comfort, sanity, and little to no answers about how to live a better life, but certainly a place to feel a little less alone, and a little more entertained.