Title: It’s All Good

Author: Jill Stevens

Publisher: Spring Creek Book Company (Provo, Utah)

Genre: Autobiography

Year Published: 2008

Number of Pages: 308

Binding: Paperback

ISBN-10: n/a

ISBN-13: 978-1-932898-93-4

Price: $16.95

Reviewed by: Gabi Kupitz

Jill Stevens is the modern Renaissance woman. Still in her twenties, she has served as a medic in Afghanistan, run marathons, graduated from Southern Utah University with honors and a degree in nursing and won beauty pageants--including the Miss Utah Pageant which qualified her for the Miss America Pageant in 2007 where the country voted her as America’s Choice. She is a citizen soldier for the Utah National Guard and wears her love of country on her sleeve—literally. Stevens has a firm handshake, is incredibly beautiful, and extremely funny and kind.

She is also brutally honest and has a self-deprecating sense of humor.

Her experiences, funny and not, are to be found in her very readable It’s All Good.

It’s All Good is loaded with photographs of Stevens and her development from a not-so-glamorous girl with a killer “mushroom” hairdo to the last photograph of an elegant and patriotic young woman. Stevens’ ability to incorporate the lessons learned at her mother’s knee and from her family, the discipline derived from tenure in the military, and her own individuality, have empowered her to think outside the box. When was the last time (before Stevens) you saw a Miss America contestant in a one-piece swimsuit or in a gown with sleeves? To stand up to the powers-that-be takes a lot of courage. To be called on by Army security guards to quell an unruly crowd in Afghanistan and to keep a smile on your face for the benefit of your fellow soldiers takes courage. To set a good example without clobbering others over the head with your religious points of view earned Stevens the military rating NFS: Not for Stevens. The “minefield” marathon Stevens elected to run in Afghanistan with some fellow soldiers is a metaphor for the minefields Stevens would encounter after she completed her tour of duty and returned to the States.

The chapters with their subtitles, journal entries, and photographs, flow smoothly. Even the front cover has a story. The last page explains the Afghanistan orphanage project.

To read this book and to meet its author are real treats. Through the gloomiest of days the sun is poised to shine. Stevens is correct: it’s all good!