Review: The House of My Mother by Shari Franke

Author: Shari Franke
Publisher: Gallery Books
Publication date: January 2025

 Shari Franke’s childhood was a constant battle for survival. Her mother, Ruby Franke, enforced a severe moral code while maintaining a façade of a picture-perfect family for their wildly popular YouTube channel 8 Passengers, which documented the day-to-day life of raising six children for a staggering 2.5 million subscribers. But a darker truth lurked beneath the surface—Ruby’s wholesome online persona masked a more tyrannical parenting style than anyone could have imagined.

As the family’s YouTube notoriety grew, so too did Ruby’s delusions of righteousness. Fueled by the sadistic influence of relationship coach Jodi Hildebrandt, together they implemented an inhumane and merciless disciplinary regime.

Ruby and Jodi were arrested in Utah in 2023 on multiple charges of aggravated child abuse. On that fateful day, Shari shared a photo online of a police car outside their home. Her caption had one word: “Finally.”

For the first time, Shari will reveal the disturbing truth behind 8 Passengers and her family’s devastating involvement with Jodi Hildebrandt’s cultish life coaching program, “ConneXions.” No stone is left unturned as Shari exposes the perils of influencer culture and shares for the first time her battle for truth and survival in the face of her mother’s cruelty.

I will start this by saying this is is not a critique of the content of the book. The House of My Mother is the author's lived experience.  This is more just a review of the writing itself.  For those who don't know, this is written by the oldest daughter of former mommy Vlogger Ruby Franke.  Shari shares her experience growing up in the Franke household and being a part of the 8 Passengers YouTube channel. It's not pretty and she does give us a real and raw peek into her upbringing.

I think this book is really for people who don't really know the story of Ruby Franke and Jodi Hildebrandt.  For me, I didn't really learn much new information about the family or overall story.  With the exception of the abuse Shari endured by a married member in the church, I think I already knew most of what was shared in this book.  I feel like the arrest and trial was really glossed over in the end.  I would have liked more of an update in how her siblings are doing.  I know she didn't name them because they are underage, but an update on their healing would have been nice.  I thought the book was fairly well written. I listened to the audiobook and the author did a great job of narrating it herself.  I would recommend this one.

Blog Tour: Spot 12 by Jenny Jaeckel

Author: Jenny Jaeckel

Publisher: Raincloud Press

Date of publication: October 2016

Spot 12 delivers the gritty details of a new mother and her newborn daughter, Asa, during a five-month stay in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit in this visually gripping graphic memoir by Jenny Jaeckel. A routine prenatal exam reveals a dangerous problem, and Jaeckel and her husband find themselves thrust into a world of close calls, sleepless nights, and psychological crises. Surrounded by disagreements and family tensions, death, and questions of faith, Jaeckel struggles to maintain a positive frame of mind.

Against the antiseptic, mechanical reality of the NICU, the dedicated doctors and nurses are drawn as sympathetic and wry animal characters. Doctor Eyes and Nurse Gentlehands are two of the caring individuals who do all they can to save Baby Asa. At times Jaeckel and her husband battle feelings of helplessness and despair, but their determination, hope, insight, bravery, and connection ultimately helps keep their little girl alive.

 Spot 12 is an account of the author's experience with the five months she spent with her daughter in the NICU.  The book is unique as it is presented in a graphic novel-like format with the text and drawings created by the author. I haven't myself had any experience with my own child in the NICU, but I have had friends and family members who have spent time there with their newborns. Everyone's experience is different, but I can guess that some of the fears and feelings that all parents have while their child is in the NICU are the same.

For the most part, I liked the format  The story flowed very quickly and the author was able to get the emotion and fear that she felt across to the reader very well.  I think that it would be a good account for other parents going through the same thing to read.  Maybe it would help them to know they aren't alone in their feelings.  I liked how she gave the nurses, doctors and techs names that matched their personality and job.  It made me feel more connected to them.  I did feel like some of the cartoons didn't fit what was going on in the panel, but those were very few and far between.  There is an epilogue in the end that catches you up on Asa's progress into 2015.   I do recommend giving this one a try.  I think a lot of people would benefit from reading it.

Praise

“A memorable and beautifully executed memoir of a newborn’s difficult first months.” —Kirkus Reviews

“It’s a sad, lovely, tragic story. It reminds us how close we are to tragedy at any moment in our lives…” —Tom Hart, author of Rosalie Lightning

“Spot 12, the novel, a unique combination of text and remarkable drawings, was able to completely hold my interest. The topic of parenting a critically ill newborn in the NICU is not a new one…But Spot 12 was matchless in its comic book format associating pictures with feelings….It is very impressive.” —Anita Catlin, for Advances in Neonatal Care

Purchase Links

Amazon | Barnes & Noble

About Jenny Jaeckel

Jenny Jaeckel holds a Bachelor of Arts in Creative Writing from The Evergreen State College in Olympia, Washington and a Master of Arts in Hispanic Literatures from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. She is a certified interpreter and translator (Spanish) and teaches illustration. She lives in Victoria, Vancouver Island in British Columbia with her husband and daughter.

Jaeckel is the author and illustrator of three graphic memoirs: Spot 12: Five Months in the Neonatal ICU, which won a 2008 Xeric Grant (printed in Canada, to be released in the US in 2016 in both English and Spanish), Siberiak: My Cold War Adventure on the River Ob (published in 2014), and Odd Pieces: Memoir of a Childhood (to be published in 2017). For the Love of Meat: Nine Illustrated Stories is her first collected fiction (2016).

Find out more about Jaeckel at her website, and connect with her on Twitter.

Tour Stops

Monday, October 10th: Ms. Nose in a Book

Tuesday, October 11th: Wall-to-Wall Books

Wednesday, October 12th: 5 Minutes For Books

Thursday, October 13th: Readaholic Zone

Monday, October 17th: Tina Says…

Tuesday, October 18th: Helen’s Book Blog

Wednesday, October 19th: nomadreader

Thursday, October 20th: Real Life Reading

Monday, October 24th: A Lovely Bookshelf on the Wall

Wednesday, October 26th: Show This Book Some Love

Thursday, October 27th: Dreaming Big

Monday, October 31st: Rebecca Radish

Tuesday, November 1st: Musings of a Marfan Mom

Wednesday, November 2nd: From the TBR Pile

TBD: Book Hooked Blog

Blog Tour: Marrow by Elizabeth Lesser

Author: Elizabeth Lesser

Publisher: Harper Wave

Date of publication:  September 2016

The author of the New York Times bestsellerBroken Open returns with a visceral and profound memoir of two sisters who, in the face of a bone marrow transplant—one the donor and one the recipient—begin a quest for acceptance, authenticity, and most of all, love.

A mesmerizing and courageous memoir: the story of two sisters uncovering the depth of their love through the life-and-death experience of a bone marrow transplant. Throughout her life, Elizabeth Lesser has sought understanding about what it means to be true to oneself and, at the same time, truly connected to the ones we love. But when her sister Maggie needs a bone marrow transplant to save her life, and Lesser learns that she is the perfect match, she faces a far more immediate and complex question about what it really means to love—honestly, generously, and authentically.

Hoping to give Maggie the best chance possible for a successful transplant, the sisters dig deep into the marrow of their relationship to clear a path to unconditional acceptance. They leave the bone marrow transplant up to the doctors, but take on what Lesser calls a “soul marrow transplant,” examining their family history, having difficult conversations, examining old assumptions, and offering forgiveness until all that is left is love for each other’s true selves. Their process—before, during, and after the transplant—encourages them to take risks of authenticity in other aspects their lives.

But life does not follow the storylines we plan for it. Maggie’s body is ultimately too weak to fight the relentless illness. As she and Lesser prepare for the inevitable, they grow ever closer as their shared blood cells become a symbol of the enduring bond they share. Told with suspense and humor, Marrow is joyous and heartbreaking, incandescent and profound. The story reveals how even our most difficult experiences can offer unexpected spiritual growth. Reflecting on the multifaceted nature of love—love of other, love of self, love of the world—Marrow is an unflinching and beautiful memoir about getting to the very center of ourselves.

I was really intrigued by the synopsis for this book and decided to try it out. I found Marrow to be both a mix of self-help and memoir.  But at its heart it is a beautiful tribute to the author's sister and their relationship. It's always hard to critique someone's writings of their personal experience, though. In the end I loved parts and didn't  like others.

My favorite parts of the book were the snippets from Maggie's journal and writings.  The peek into her thoughts were compelling and I would have loved to read more.  The parts of the book that I tended to skim over were when the book started to feel like a self-help book.  Those kind of dragged for me.  But, then I'm not really into self help.  Of course, this is a hard book to read.  Not "hard" as in big words or understanding.  Hard as in heartbreaking and bittersweet. Having lost a friend to cancer, I found the book hit close to home.  At the same time, it brought up fond memories of my friend and made me glad I got to say goodbye in the end.

I would recommend this book to anyone really. Any reader can find something to connect with in this journey between two sisters.  I am glad that the author shared their story with the world.   

About Elizabeth Lesser

ELIZABETH LESSER is the author of The Seeker’s Guide and the New York Times bestseller Broken Open. She is the cofounder of Omega Institute, recognized internationally for its workshops and conferences that focus on holistic health, psychology, spirituality, creativity, and social change. Prior to her work at Omega, she was a midwife and childbirth educator. She lives in the Hudson Valley with her family.

Find out more about Elizabeth at her website, and connect with her on Facebook.

Purchase Links

HarperCollins | Amazon | Barnes & Noble

Tour Stops

Tuesday, September 20th: BookNAround

Wednesday, September 21st: Ms. Nose in a Book

Friday, September 23rd: As I turn the pages

Monday, September 26th: Kritters Ramblings

Tuesday, September 27th: Show This Book Some Love

Wednesday, September 28th: Back Porchervations

Thursday, September 29th: Literary Quicksand

Friday, September 30th: Emerald City Book Review

Wednesday, October 5th: Rebecca Radish

Monday, October 10th: Bookish Realm Reviews

Tuesday, October 11th: From the TBR Pile

Wednesday, October 12th: Books on the Table

Thursday, October 13th: Mom in Love With Fiction

Friday, October 14th: Thoughts On This ‘n That

TBD: A Musing Reviews

Blog Tour: Greetings From Utopia Park by Claire Hoffman

Author: Claire Hoffman
Publisher: Harper
Date of publication: June 2016

When Claire Hoffman’s alcoholic father abandons his family, his struggling wife, Liz, tells five-year-old Claire and her seven-year-old brother, Stacey, that they are going to heaven—Iowa—to live in Maharishi’s national headquarters for Heaven on Earth. For Claire’s mother, Transcendental Meditation—Maharishi’s method of meditation and his approach to living the fullest possible life—promises world peace and Enlightenment just as their family is falling apart.

At first this secluded utopia offers warmth and support, and makes these outsiders feel calm, secure, and connected to the world. At the Maharishi School, Claire learns Maharishi’s philosophy for living and meditates with her class. With the promise of peace and Enlightenment constantly on the horizon, every day is infused with magic and meaning. But as Claire and Stacey mature, their adolescent skepticism kicks in, drawing them away from the community and into delinquency and drugs. To save herself, Claire moves to California to live with her father, breaking from Maharishi completely. After she works for a decade in journalism and academia, the challenges of adulthood propel her back to Iowa, where she reexamines her spiritual upbringing and tries to reconnect with the magic of her childhood.

Greetings from Utopia Park takes us deep into a complex, unusual world, illuminating its joys and comforts as well as its disturbing problems. While there is no utopia on earth, Hoffman finds, there are noble goals worth striving for: believing in belief itself, finding inner peace, and reaching a firm understanding that there is a larger fabric of the universe to which we all belong.

Greetings from Utopia Park is a memoir about the author's time growing up in the Transcendental Meditation Movement headed by Maharishi.  The largest headquarters in the US is centered in Iowa.  Her story is one of poverty, trying to fit in and figuring out how meditation can help her in her life.

I have read other memoirs about growing up in cults/religious organizations and I really enjoyed them.  While this one was well written, I had a hard time connecting with it.  I think I was expecting more of something along the lines of Troublemaker by Leah Remini.  I'm not sure after finishing the book that I really got a sense of the organization as a whole. The author hints several times at possible scandals but never really provides a lot of background on them.  I also got the sense, that while she questioned a lot of the teachings and rituals put forth by Marharishi, she was reluctant to really commit to saying anything bad about it.  

I am not a meditator, but I have friends who do and they fully believe that it helps calm them and focus them throughout the day.  I was glad to see that while the author doesn't live in "Utopia" anymore, she does still use mediation.  The ending was a bit fast.  I would have liked to see her life with her father in California and college to see how it contrasted with life in Iowa. But sadly, that is kind of glossed over.

I think that people who like memoirs will find this one interesting.  While it isn't the best memoir I have read, I still felt compelled to read the whole book.  

About Claire Hoffman

Claire Hoffman writes for national magazines and holds a Master’s degree in Religion from the University of Chicago, and a Master’s degree in Journalism from Columbia University. She was a staff reporter for the Los Angeles Times and has reported for the New York Times. She serves on the board of her family foundation, the Goldhirsh Foundation, as well as ProPublica and the Columbia Journalism School. She lives in Los Angeles, California.

Find out more about Claire at her website and follow her on Twitter.

Purchase Links

HarperCollins | Amazon | Barnes & Noble

Tour Stops

Tuesday, June 7th: Book Hooked Blog

Thursday, June 9th: A Lovely Bookshelf on the Wall

Monday, June 13th: Life By Kristen

Wednesday, June 15th: Tina Says…

Monday, June 20th: From the TBR Pile

Wednesday, June 22nd: Rambling Reviews

Thursday, June 23rd: Becklist

Monday, June 27th: I Brought a Book

Monday, June 27th: Back Porchervations

Tuesday, June 28th: Sharon’s Garden of Book Reviews

Wednesday, June 29th: 5 Minutes For Books

Thursday, June 30th: Read. Write. Repeat.

Friday, July 1st: Thoughts On This ‘n That

Tuesday, July 5th: Ace and Hoser Blook

Thursday, July 7th: Book Addiction

Purchase Links

HarperCollins | Amazon | Barnes & Noble

Blog Tour: White Dresses by Mary Pflum Peterson

Author: Mary Pflum Peterson

Publisher: William Morrow

Date of publication: September 15, 2015

In this riveting, poignant memoir of  three generations of women and the white dresses that adorned them—television producer Mary Pflum Peterson recounts a journey through loss and redemption, and her battle to rescue her mother, a former nun, from compulsive hoarding.

As a successful television journalist at Good Morning America, Mary Pflum is known as a polished and highly organized producer. It’s a persona at odds with her tortured childhood, where she watched her emotionally vulnerable mother fill their house with teetering piles of assorted “treasures.” But one thing has always united mother and daughter—their love of white dresses. From the dress worn by Mary’s mother when she became a nun and married Jesus, to the wedding gown she donned years later, to the special nightshirts she gifted Mary after the birth of her children, to graduation dresses and christening gowns, these white dresses embodied hope and new beginnings.

After her mother’s sudden death in 2010, Mary digs deep to understand the events that led to Anne’s unraveling. At twenty-one, Anne entered a convent, committed to a life of prayer and helping others. But lengthy periods of enforced fasting, isolation from her beloved students, and constant humiliation eventually drove her to flee the convent almost a decade later. Hoping to find new purpose as a wife and mother, Anne instead married an abusive, closeted gay man—their eventual divorce another sign of her failure.

Anne retreats into chaos. By the time Mary is ten, their house is cluttered with broken appliances and stacks of unopened mail. Anne promises but fails to clean up for Mary’s high school graduation party, where Mary is being honored as her school’s valedictorian, causing her perfectionist daughter’s fear and shame to grow in tandem with the heaps upon heaps of junk. In spite of everything, their bond endures. Through the white dresses, pivotal events in their lives are celebrated, even as Mary tries in vain to save Anne from herself.

I will admit that I almost didn't finish this book.  The start was very slow and I wasn't sure where the book was headed.   At first, I was convinced the book was just trying to justify a person's bad behavior because of their background.  But, in the end, I am so glad I stuck with the book.  White Dresses is definitely a labor of love.  I can tell that this was a very difficult book for Ms. Peterson to write.  I am very glad that she shared her story with the world.

The memoir traces through her mother Anne's  life as she grows up in a strict household filled 

with  rules and a lack of nurturing, to her heartbreak and depression in college, her abusive time in a convent then subsequent abusive and loveless marriage, and finally through her decent into the horrible world of hoarding.  Through this view into her mother's life, Ms. Peterson was trying to find out the answer to why her mother let herself be consumed by her house and her stuff.  

This book was a wonderful tribute to the author's mother.  Yes, she is brutally honest about the things that her mother goes through throughout her life.  But, she does it in a loving and respectful way.  Despite everything, Anne was a caring, loving and forgiving person.  That is evident through the amount of people that attended her wake. With all of the kind words, you would never know she hid such a horrible secret at home.   Each chapter opens with a white dress that sparks off a new occasion.  For Anne, white dresses were a sign of a new beginning filled with possibilities.  

I highly recommend this book.  I commend and thank Mary Pflum Peterson for sharing her mother with us.  I know her mother would be proud of her today!

About Mary Pflum Peterson

Mary Pflum Peterson is a veteran multi-Emmy-Award winning producer at Good Morning America, the nation’s number one morning news show. Her work at GMA has taken her to papal funerals in Rome, to the ravaged remains of New Orleans in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, to the royal wedding in London and to numerous Oscar ceremonies in between. Prior to joining GMA, Pflum Peterson was a producer and reporter for CNN, where, from her post in Istanbul, she traveled in and out of numerous warz ones, including Afghanistan. Today, her war zone of choice is Manhattan’s Upper West Side where she resides with her husband, Dean, and their four young children, ages 1 to 7.

Purchase Links

Amazon | IndieBound | Barnes & Noble

Mary’s Tour Stops

Tuesday, August 18th: bookchickdi

Wednesday, August 19th: 5 Minutes For Books

Thursday, August 20th: Sara’s Organized Chaos

Friday, August 21st: Snowdrop Dreams of Books

Monday, August 24th: Novel Escapes

Tuesday, August 25th: From the TBR Pile

Wednesday, August 26th: BookNAround

Friday, August 28th: Kritters Ramblings

Wednesday, September 2nd: Raven Haired Girl

Thursday, September 3rd: Thoughts on This ‘n That

"Not So" Throwback Thursday: As You Wish: Inconceivable Tales from the Making of The Princess Bride by Cary Elwes

(Kind of ...)

Author: Cary Elwes, Joe Layden, Rob Reiner (Foreword) 
Publisher: Touchstone
Date of publication: October 2014

From actor Cary Elwes, who played the iconic role of Westley in The Princess Bride, comes a first-person account and behind-the-scenes look at the making of the cult classic film filled with never-before-told stories, exclusive photographs, and interviews with costars Robin Wright, Wallace Shawn, Billy Crystal, Christopher Guest, and Mandy Patinkin, as well as author and screenwriter William Goldman, producer Norman Lear, and director Rob Reiner.

The Princess Bride has been a family favorite for close to three decades. Ranked by the American Film Institute as one of the top 100 Greatest Love Stories and by the Writers Guild of America as one of the top 100 screenplays of all time, The Princess Bride will continue to resonate with audiences for years to come.

Cary Elwes was inspired to share his memories and give fans an unprecedented look into the creation of the film while participating in the twenty-fifth anniversary cast reunion. In As You Wish he has created an enchanting experience; in addition to never-before seen photos and interviews with his fellow cast mates, there are plenty of set secrets, backstage stories, and answers to lingering questions about off-screen romances that have plagued fans for years!

With a foreword by Rob Reiner and a limited edition original poster by acclaimed artist Shepard Fairey, As You Wish is a must-have for all fans of this beloved film. 

I know it's not a true "Throwback" book, but seeing as how it's a book about a movie from the 1980s, I thought it seemed fitting to review it today.  I am a HUGE fan of The Princess Bride.  I think I have seen the movie hundreds of times and only recently shared it with my own children.  My husband and I were very pleased to see that our kids (11 & 9) found the movie just as funny as we did.  If you haven't seen the movie, I urge you to watch it before reading this book.  I'm not sure it can be fully appreciated by someone who isn't familiar with the movie. 

As You Wish: Inconceivable Tales from the Making of The Princess Bride was such a wonderful book.  I ended up listening to the audio book which I highly recommend.  It is narrated by Cary Elwes with the voices of several of the actors narrating their own comments that appear in the book.  I thought that Mr. Elwes did an amazing job of capturing his wonderful experience while on the set of this amazing film.  His anecdotes and stories had me laughing on more than one occasion.  It was so cool to hear him talk about being star struck as he was really just kind of starting out in films.  It makes you realize that all big actors started somewhere.  I think one of my favorite stories was when he talked about working as a production assistant on the movie Octopussy and having to  drive Roger Moore to the set  each day.

You can also tell from this book that it was a very special and unique experience for all of those involved in the movie.  Mr. Elwes shows true affection for all of his fellow cast and crew members and that really comes across in the book.  The only thing that I missed from the listening to the audiobook was not having the photos to look at, but I will be seeking out the book to remedy that.  I can't say enough about this book and think that everyone should read it!  I know now that I will watch the movie with new eyes.

After Visiting Friends: A Son's Story by Michael Hainey

Author: Michael Hainey
Publisher: Scribner
Date of publication: February 2013

Michael Hainey had just turned six when his uncle knocked on his family’s back door one morning with the tragic news: Bob Hainey, Michael’s father, was found alone near his car on Chicago’s North Side, dead, of an apparent heart attack. Thirty-five years old, a young assistant copy desk chief at the Chicago Sun-Times, Bob was a bright and shining star in the competitive, hard-living world of newspapers, one that involved booze-soaked nights that bled into dawn. And then suddenly he was gone, leaving behind a young widow, two sons, a fractured family—and questions surrounding the mysterious nature of his death that would obsess Michael throughout adolescence and long into adulthood. Finally, roughly his father’s age when he died, and a seasoned reporter himself, Michael set out to learn what happened that night. Died “after visiting friends,” the obituaries said. But the details beyond that were inconsistent. What friends? Where? At the heart of his quest is Michael’s all-too-silent, opaque mother, a woman of great courage and tenacity—and a steely determination not to look back. Prodding and cajoling his relatives, and working through a network of his father’s buddies who abide by an honor code of silence and secrecy, Michael sees beyond the long-held myths and ultimately reconciles the father he’d imagined with the one he comes to know—and in the journey discovers new truths about his mother.

So, I did it, I tried another memoir type book. After Visiting Friends is the story about the author's attempt to find the true story behind his father's death.  As an adult he notices inconsistencies in the obituaries and the explanation given to his mother by his uncle for how his father died.  Over the next few years, Michael uses his investigation skills to get to the truth.

The book ended up being just an OK read for me.  For one, I thought it was a little longer than it needed to be.  The author's tends to ramble on about the his childhood often switching gears abruptly.  I was hoping for something more intriguing than what I got in the book.  The truth of what happened the night he died was kind of underwhelming and I guessed it about halfway through the book. That was disappointing.  I did feel bad for Mr. Hainey though.  I thought his father's newspaper friends took loyalty a little too far in hiding the truth from the family, especially after so many years had passed.

I think fans of books like this one will enjoy it.  But, don't go into the book expecting a major mystery.  Instead you will find a book about a man who lost his father too soon and his trying to reconcile that man he though his father was with the man he turned out to be.

Blog Tour: Daring: My Passages by Gail Sheehy

Author: Gail Sheehy
Publisher:William Morrow
Date of publication: September 2014

The author of Passages, a book that changed millions of lives, now lays bare her own life passages in a captivating memoir that reveals her harrowing and ultimately triumphant path from groundbreaking 1960s “girl” journalist to fearless bestselling author who made a career of excavating cultural taboos—from sex, menopause, and midlife crisis to illness, caregiving, and death. Daring to blaze a trail in a “man’s world,” Gail Sheehy became one of the premier practitioners of New Journalism at the fledgling New Yorkmagazine, along with such stellar writers as Tom Wolfe, Gloria Steinem, and Jimmy Breslin. Sheehy dared to walk New York City’s streets with hookers and pimps to expose violent prostitution; to march with civil rights protesters in Northern Ireland as British soldiers opened fire; to seek out Egypt’s president Anwar Sadat when he was targeted for assassination after making peace with Israel; and to break the glass ceiling in a media world fueled by testosterone, competition, and grit.

Daring: My Passages is also the beguiling love story of Sheehy’s tempestuous romance with Clay Felker, the charismatic creator of New York magazine and the mentor who inspired her to become a fearless journalist who won renown for her penetrating character portraits of world leaders, including Hillary Clinton, both Presidents Bush, British prime minister Margaret Thatcher, and Soviet premier Mikhail Gorbachev, among others.

Sheehy reflects on desire, ambition, and wanting it all—career, love, children, friends, social significance—and coming to terms with waiting until midlife to achieve it all. With candor and humor, she describes her early failures; the pain of betrayal in a first marriage; her struggles as a single mother; the flings of an ardent, liberated young woman; the vertigo of becoming an internationally bestselling author; her adoption of a second daughter from a refugee camp; the poignant account of Clay’s decline; and her ongoing passion for life, work, and love.

Fascinating and no-holds-barred, Daring: My Passages is a testament to guts, resilience, and smarts, and offers a bold perspective on all of life’s passages.

My thoughts:

The long summary above gives you the basic run down of what you will find amid the pages of Daring: My Passages.  What I will tell you is that Ms. Sheehy has given us a fascinating glimpse into her career and her personal life.  I'm really not a reader of biographies/autobiographies. I don't usually find anyone's life fascinating enough to read about other than a wikipedia blurb.  But, I decided to go outside of my comfort zone and give this a try.

The book is an easy read and an easy one to get into.  There is a LOT of name dropping, but that is just a testament to how fascinating her career has been. The number of historical events that she was witness to is amazing.  I loved the story about her taking her sister to Woodstock in an attempt to hide from her drug dealing boyfriend. She admits to the irony of taking a recovering drug addict to what was basically a pot festival with music.  The one thing that I do admire about her is not all of the famous people she met or the articles that she wrote.  It is that fact that she was a single mom who didn't give up.  She didn't come from money and she worked hard to get where she is today.  

Up until I read this book, I really had no idea who Ms. Sheehy was, but I know I want to seek out other works that she has published.  I do recommend this memoir.  I think that lovers of memoirs will find this a fascinating read.

About Gail Sheehy

Gail Sheehy is the author of sixteen books, including the classic New York Times bestseller Passages, named one of the ten most influential books of our times by the Library of Congress. A multiple award-winning literary journalist, she was one of the original contributors to New York magazine and has been a contributing editor to Vanity Fair since 1984. A popular lecturer, Sheehy was named AARP’s Ambassador of Caregiving in 2009. She lives in New York City.

Connect with her through her website,Facebook, and Twitter

Purchase Links

Amazon | IndieBound | Barnes & Noble

Gail’s Tour Stops

Thursday, September 18th: Book Loving Hippo

Tuesday, September 23rd: Read. Write. Repeat.

Wednesday, September 24th: missris

Wednesday, September 24th: Stephany Writes

Friday, September 26th: Bibliotica

Monday, September 29th: Patricia’s Wisdom

Tuesday, September 30th: guiltless reading

Wednesday, October 1st: From the TBR Pile

Monday, October 6th: nightlyreading

Wednesday, October 15th: Under a Gray Sky

TBD: My Bookshelf

TBD: The Feminist Texican [Reads]

Giveaway & Review: Son of a Gun by Justin St. Germain

Giveaway Details:  Just fill out the Rafflecopter below to enter to win a copy of this riveting memoir(US/Canada only).  Good luck!!

Author:Justin St. Germain
Publisher: Random House
Date of Publication: August 2013

Tombstone, Arizona, September 2001. Debbie St. Germain’s death in her remote trailer, apparently at the hands of her fifth husband, is a passing curiosity. “A real-life old West murder mystery,” the local TV announcers intone before the commercial break, while barroom gossips snicker cruelly. But for her twenty-year-old son, Justin St. Germain, the tragedy marks the line that separates his world into before and after.
 
Justin’s journey takes him back to the ghost town of Wyatt Earp and the Gunfight at the O.K. Corral, to the trailers he and Debbie shared, to the string of stepfathers who were a constant, sometimes threatening presence in his life, to a harsh world on the margins full of men and women all struggling to define what family means. He decides to confront people from his past and delve into the police records in an attempt to make sense of his mother’s life and death. All the while he tries to be the type of man she would have wanted him to be.
 
Son of A Gun is a memoir about one man's search for closure to help himself deal with the murder of his mother. When Justin was 21, his mother was shot multiple times by her husband, Ray. Ray disappears only to be found months later having committed suicide.  In trying to distance himself from this mess, Justin tries to create a new life for himself.  As we all know, that never works.

The story that follows is his attempt to figure out why his mother was murdered.   More importantly, how she ended up with someone who would kill her.  He retraces his life by talking to the several men that his mother married or lived with. I thought one of the saddest parts was when he returns to Tombstone with is girlfriend.  As he shows her the historical sites, he only "sees" the sites that  impacted his own history.  

The book is well written and well laid out.  Sprinkled throughout the book, the author includes the history of Wyatt Earp, his fight at the OK Corral and his life after.  The last few pages of the book were just heart-wrenching.  My only hope is that Justin has found some peace through his journey.

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About the author:

Justin St. Germain was born in Philadelphia in 1981. He attended the University of Arizona and was a Wallace Stegner Fellow at Stanford. He lives in Albuquerque and teaches at the University of New Mexico.

To learn more about Justin, visit his website,JustinStGermain.com.

Blog Tour: Guest Post & Giveaway - Any Color But Beige

Today, we welcome author, Cat Larose, who is promoting her book: Any Color But Beige.  Welcome Cat!

Giveaway details:  I have been authorized to give away 1 copy of Any Color But Beige.  Paperback will go to a US or Canada winner, e-copy to international.  Just leave a comment with a valid e-mail address.  Tweet or post on Facebook and leave the link for an extra entry.  This contest will run until Dec. 15th.
Check out details of Cat's own giveaway at the end of the post.

After years of living a beige existence, Cat Larose, international color marketing expert, finally added a little color to her own life. All it took was a Paris sunset and a little red suitcase.

Everyone wanted Cat’s life. She had a handsome husband, a stylish home and a fascinating career as an international color-marketing consultant. Work took Cat to some of the world’s most beautiful cities but something was missing: ironically, it was color. One day she found herself in Paris watching a sunset and, in a moment of clarity, she caught a glimpse of her sepia-toned future.

When Cat got home, she did what she’d longed to do for years. She decided to paint her bedroom a magnificent Bordeaux red and put an end to her beige existence and her marriage. That was the beginning of a new life.

My thoughts:
 Any Color But Beige is a well written memoir of a woman who finally finds the courage to walk away from a 20 year loveless marriage and begin to find herself.   Her journey takes her to some interesting places and brings some colorful people into her life.  Worth a read if you like memoirs.

Cat writes:

Baring Your Soul for a Memoir – Cat Uncovered

The secret is out. Now that my life is officially an open book, the world (I have friends on six continents) knows that I am not Wonder Woman. It is an image I struggled for a long time to preserve, but with the publication of Any Color but Beige: Living Life in Color I have given up that struggle. And I feel the lighter for it.

I didn’t intend to write a memoir and I certainly didn’t mean to bare my soul to strangers. Because up until recently, I have often said that I would rather chew broken glass than admit to any vulnerability. Ah, vanity!

On the surface I was calm, cool and confident as I shrugged off life’s slings and arrows, like some superhero in a movie. I’ve travel the world for my job, lived abroad in some very nice cities and had a romantic life that was ripped from the pages of a Harlequin romance novel. It made for some sparkling conversation over cocktails with the girls with whom I put on my game face and pretended that my life was perfect.

But it wasn’t. The truth was I was in a blue funk nursing a broken heart and I didn’t know what to do about it. So I started to write. I poured my heart onto the page because I wouldn’t allow myself to cry. All of the emotion I felt went into my writing, and slowly I began to get my bearings.

Before I knew it, I had 200 pages of perspective. Having gone that far, I sent it off to a freelance editor for an evaluation. The minute I pushed “Send,” I felt a rush of embarrassment. What did I just do? I asked. I’ve sent 200 pages of total nonsense to a complete stranger. I was mortified. It took a month before I heard back from her and each time I thought about it, I’d squirm a little bit in my skin.

Much to my surprise, the evaluation came back positive and with it a long list of recommendations, one of which was to create a blog based on my experiences. The blog helped me build an audience for my book and hone my voice. It also helped me to get over some of the awkwardness I felt when writing about my experiences. I soon learned that what I had to say resonated with readers.

The blog was good practice for writing the final version of the book. Through it, I got used to gradually exposing me and my life. Because the blog preceded the publication of my memoir, and chronicled my life, it felt a lot like the gradual opening of rose – one petal at a time. At its core lay the sweet essence of my book.

Now when I think about the book, I think about the authenticity of its story. Now, rather than feel embarrassed, I feel relieved at having shared it. I used to think I was alone in my experiences. So many people have told me that they have found themselves on its pages

that I realize the feelings of love and loss, happiness and disappointment and, most importantly, optimism are universal. And feelings are always better when they’re shared.

In the words of Terence, “I am human and let nothing human be alien to me.”

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terence

About the author:

Catherine Larose is the author of the popular Café Girl Chronicles blog. In her day job, Cat sells color-marketing tools to paint, cosmetic, automotive and textile industries in Europe, Asia, the Americas, Africa and Australia. When she isn’t traveling, Cat enjoys life in Montreal, Canada.

Any Color but Beige is her first book, and she is busy working on two more books that focus on color and its effect on peoples’ lives.

On Monday,December 19 at the end of her WOW Blog Tour, Cat Larose will be awarding a special Book Club Prize ! The prize includes 10 copies of her memoir Any Color But Beige, a guide on how your book club can enjoy Any Color But Beige, a virtual visit from Cat Larose, and several other surprises. If you want to enter this contest just leave a comment after this post with the words “Book Club Contest” in the message. You can enter to win both the individual contest for one copy of Any Color But Beige and the Book Club Contest but you have to leave two different comments. Don't forget to tell everyone who belongs to your Book Club to enter the contest!