Growing up in a predominantly Mormon community in Cardston, Alberta, Cathalynn Labonté-Smith was surrounded by the stories and culture of the Church of the Latter Day Saints. As an atheist teenager, she was envious of the strong bonds between the members of the Mormon community and wanted desperately to belong, especially when she fell in love with a Mormon boy. In I’m Not a Mormon (Anymore): An Outsider’s Journey in Loving & Leaving the Church, Labonté-Smith revisits her decision to become a Mormon and how she discovered it wasn’t everything she expected. She returns to the raw, sometimes awkward journals of her youth and includes firsthand accounts from former schoolmates in Cardston, including Mormons, ex-Mormons, and non-Mormons who experienced varying levels of bullying. Against this backdrop, Labonté-Smith explains her complicated relationship with the church and their rules that eventually led to her leaving Mormonism.

In this hard-hitting and honest memoir, Labonte-Smith wades through the attraction and perils of religion, discovering how it can serve as fertile ground for abuse, misogyny, and bigotry, but also kindness and forgiveness.