The Many Lives of Mama Love: A Memoir of Lying, Stealing, Writing, and Healing by Lara Love Hardin

The Many Lives of Mama Love: A Memoir of Lying, Stealing, Writing, and Healing by Lara Love Hardin
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This audiobook, narrated awesomely by the author, Lara Love Hardin, was excellent! I did not like Drug fueled Lara and I rooted for her sobriety and a normal life. I love her journey and also the book she co-authored with Anthony Ray Hinton, The Sun Does Shine, which is a MUST READ too!

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What the Fireflies Knew by Kai Harris

What the Fireflies Knew by Kai Harris
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This debut novel is a coming of age story about 2 African American sisters sent to live with their grandfather after their drug addict father is found dead and they lose their home. As their mother enters a treatment facility to deal with her depression, KB and her sister Nia wonder why they are dumped with this grandfather who is mostly silent and reads the bible. Told from KB's POV; she is 11 years old and has experienced much turmoil in her short life---and she has many questions that no one seems to want to answer. As she navigates the summer--she gets to know her grandfather, falls out with her beloved sister, and goes back and forth in her feelings about everything. I rooted for KB as she tries to make sense of what she knows, what she finds out, and how she moves on.

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In the Wild Light by Jeff Zentner

In the Wild Light by Jeff Zentner
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This was such an achingly beautiful, sorrowful book with two protagonists, who are each other’s best friends and support group and their first year at a prep school. Jeff Zentner’s writing is always so full of soul, deep yearning, and powerful messages. Through Cash, the beauty of Sawyer, Tennessee is found in the water, the land, Papaw and Mamaw. With parents addicted to drugs, Delaney and Cash met each other at a meeting and a forever friendship begins and is cemented over the years. Cash despairs as his beloved Papaw is struggling with emphysema, and he must decide if he will attend Middleton Academy with Delaney. Cash is such a good, good person and his love for his grandparents, Delaney, and his Middleton friends is deep, devoted, and courageous. Readers will love Cash’s sincerity, fear of failure, despair, grief, and his whole persona as he looks back on his life with a drug addicted mother, his deep insecurities, his profound love of Mamaw and Papaw, and struggles daily in his new life at Middleton Prep with his crush, his friendship with Alex Pak, taking up crew and writing poetry, and always worrying about Delaney. This is a must read and the mentions that harken back to each of Zentner’s other books made my heart pound with so much love. Highly recommended!

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The Wild Path by Sarah R. Baughman

The Wild Path by Sarah R. Baughman
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Thank you to @sarahrbaughman, #BookJunkies, Little, Brown Books for Young Readers for allowing me to be an early reader of The Wild Path by awesome author, Sarah Baughman, in exchange for an honest review. Oh, did I love this book! I read this sad, ultimately hopeful middle grade novel in one day which crushed me and pulled me back to a positive place; I could not put it down! Readers will love Claire; how she deals with the loss of her brother, Andy, the angst of the support meetings she must attend, her quest to find out more about twelve-year-old Jack Hamilton and his horses, and her resolve to win first place in her History Project to save her beloved horses. Claire is truthful, introspective, and doing her best to weather a storm. With parents who care but are dealing with their fear for their son and their inability to pay bills, Claire understands but fears life without her beloved horses, Sunny and Sam. Sarah Baughman’s detail to plot and characters dealing with challenges, the depth of these characters, the beauty of nature, tackling drug addiction and family dynamics, proves this is an authentic book. Claire’s epic struggles with family issues, how she deals with her grief and pain while her brother is in rehab, the imminent loss of her beloved horses and finding an old box containing mysteries, and maybe answers, make this a must-read book!

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Long Bright River by Liz Moore

Long Bright River by Liz Moore
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

While I could not put this book down, I struggled with narrator Mickey through the whole book (I do not like unreliable narrators) her internal struggle between being the smart sister, now a cop with dignity, a responsible mother to young son Thomas, was always fraught with her trauma from childhood, her feelings of insecurity at work that stopped her from being a really good cop, her need to keep silent about everything (stopped her from getting answers about her sister, Simon, the search for a killer, and partner, Truman who is on disability) and this constant pushing away of people or thoughts made her constantly a target---of despair, insecurity, and betrayal (she betrays herself over and over). The opioid struggle in Philadelphia is depicted starkly, authentically by Liz Moore, while also providing the reality of class struggle, drugs, alcohol, and the disintegration of families and society. While Mickey's sister, Kacey struggles throughout with drug addiction or being missing I found her to be bigger than life when she appeared on the pages toward the end of the book; she is a lifeline to Mickey, always sticking up for her, and always being honest with Mickey (about Simon, the Fitzpatrick & O'Brien family) whether Mickey believes her or not. I loved Mrs Mahon her landlady and Thomas her son and saw those two characters as pivotal to keeping Mickey focused and on track about her parental dignity and self worth. A compelling mystery touching on family ties, family dsintegration and the opioid crisis in Kensington (and everywhere else).

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Even If Your Heart Would Listen: Losing My Daughter to Heroin by Elise Schiller

a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/44540937-even-if-your-heart-would-listen" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px">Even If Your Heart Would Listen: Losing My Daughter to Heroin by Elise Schiller
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

My heart ached as I read Elise Schiller's account of her daughter, Giana's life with her illnesses of asthma, her drug addiction and her sudden death from a heroin overdose. With the world gripped by opioid addiction, Elise's heartfelt agonized story is needed. There is much agony and anger that goes along with addiction and this book tells the truth about what Elise feels, what she learns and how she is continuing to deal with the loss of her daughter.

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Hey, Kiddo by Jarrett J. Krosoczka

Hey, Kiddo by Jarrett J. Krosoczka
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Wow, I just loved this graphic novel & memoir as the author describes his life being raised by his grandparents, never seeing his mother and never knowing his father---sounds bleak doesn't it? Add the argumentative, harsh grandparents and life must be pretty tough for Jarrett---but it isn't ---this memoir is a love song to his devoted grandparents who raised him with love, support, and deep pride. When Jarrett is given art lessons as a gift by his grandparents---he wants to make them proud too. This book is heartbreaking but it is also uplifting---Jarrett has a loving family without his mother (he misses her desperately as a child) ---he has cousins, aunts and uncles. As he grows up---he is told more about his mother (she is a drug addict and in jail---but she loves him deeply) and later in the book, meets his father and 1/2 sister and brother and builds and adds to his meaning of family. I especially loved the Author's Note---it made me cry (a happy cry) because Jarrett has learned through his wife, therapy, his children and the backdrop of his loving grandparents how necessary a stable family is for love, laughter and memories. A raw, honest must read YA readers will identify with, talk about and pass around to their friends!

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Beneath a Meth Moon by Jacqueline Woodson

Beneath a Meth Moon by Jacqueline Woodson

My rating: 5 of 5 stars



Laurel lost her mother and grandmother when they wouldn’t leave during a hurricane, Now is it just so many sad memories as Laurel alternates chapters about her life before and her life after. For two years, Laurel, her father and little brother live with an aunt, but now there is a good job and they move to another town. With her best friend Kaylee, Laurel makes the cheerleading squad and falls forT-Boom, eleventh grade basketball co-captain. T-Boom pulls out the meth (moon) and holds it out for Laurel to sniff hard. In that instant, Laurel is hooked and as her life slides out of control with her addiction, she betrays her best friend, drops out of school, runs away from home and sinks deeper into life under the meth moon. Woodson’s words are intense, reluctant readers will love this slim novel with no easy answers.



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