You can see all my reviews here: Books Are The New Black

I grew up with Jessica Simpson and Britney Spears. I have to say, Britney was always all over the place. I learned more about Jessica when she was on Newlyweds, which I loved. Now, I’m so sad that most of it was just fake. I mean, most reality tv is anyways. Looking behind the scenes is not always so great.

I had this book recommended to me a few times. I am on a memoir audiobook binge lately and had this one come up at the library. This was so good. I flew through this one because I just found myself pushing play whenever I got a chance.

Jessica is so honest, real, and raw in this book. Do I think she’s victimized herself a little? Maybe. It does take two in a relationship to build or destroy, most of the time. Since I listened to her narrate, you could really get her feelings through this book. She had so much emotion in her voice that I could really feel for her. This poor girl has been through a lot. I always thought it was so unfair to always put her up against Britney. They are both such different artists.

I’ve come to really respect her more as a person. I’ve learned a lot about her that I never even knew. Her relationship with John Mayer has solidified my dislike of him. I’ve never really been a fan of his because I felt like he came off as a jerk and I was right.

“There are so many firsts to raising kids, and parents are told to catch them all. But they don’t warn you about the lasts. The last baby onesie. The last time you tie their shoes. The last time they think you have every answer in the world.”

The later chapters, after she’s become a mom, were really brutal. She’s an alcoholic and she’s so honest about it all. I also love her being honest with her pregnancy issues and how breastfeeding is not MAGICALLY done. It was such a hard experience for me and I didn’t really have the support. I didn’t give up though and it’s been 14 months! Anyways, I am just now changing my son’s wardrobe from 12 months to 18 months. The quote above hit me like a truck. His last onesie is so close and it’s just depressing me. She’s so right. The firsts are important but so are the lasts.

I do wish we would have gotten a little more about her sister. She wasn’t a big presence in this book but it is about Jessica. I can’t complain too much.

Overall, this was such an amazing memoir. I am now starting to struggle with ratings for memoirs because they are so personal. I went back and forth with 4 to 5 but realized that I need to be way more generous with memoirs because of the personal nature. Anyways, if you want to know more about Jessica and her life then you need to pick this one up.