DESTINATION; REMARKABLE.

In this memoir, a woman recounts achieving business success and finding God.

Born in 1983 and raised in Valparaiso, Indiana, Grothe was the daughter of an actor and opera singer father and a classical pianist mother. The couple opened a performing arts school, and the author grew up participating in theatrical productions. But the beauty of music could not disguise a dysfunctional home life filled with anger and economic struggles. According to Grothe, her mother was an alcoholic, given to frightening explosions of rage. The author’s father, who was always supportive of her, was accused of inappropriate sexual behavior with co-workers. Chaos reigned. When Grothe was 14 years old, her parents lost their business and their house and moved the family to Boulder, Colorado. More turbulent times followed. But she learned at an early age that the one way to receive praise at home was to be a super-achiever—onstage at her parents’ school as an outstanding student. It was an imprint on her psyche that would eventually motivate her professional life. After years of working a variety of low-end jobs—exotic dancer, waitress, bartender, and receptionist—the turning point came when she was 22 and scored a position with “PayCo” (a pseudonym), selling payroll services. She soared as a salesperson, eventually opening her own company. Still, she remained plagued by her demons, among them the abuse of alcohol. Then a friend introduced her to Jesus. Grothe’s memoir awkwardly combines the absorbing story of her remarkable achievements in business with a heavy dose of extolling the joys of rediscovering herself as a newly born Christian. At one point, she recalls: “Coming to the Lord and accepting him as my savior was the greatest decision I ever made.” The most intriguing and revelatory sections of the account detail her increasing financial successes as an employee of PayCo and as an entrepreneur as well as the blunders and compulsive work habits that led her close to physical and emotional collapse. And despite an excessive focus on recounting her monthly monetary triumphs, her prose is composed with an engaging honesty. She deftly displays a musician’s control of rhythm and cadence.

A vivid, engrossing account of spunk, determination, and forgiveness that’s hampered by Christian proselytizing.