Many thanks to my friends at @simonbooks and @librofm for the #gifted copies of this book.  

 

Raw and vulnerable.  Heartbreaking yet laced with dark humor.  This is a story of resiliency and overcoming.

 

As a mom, I consider motherhood a sacred calling.  I also consider life to be sacred.  

 

But WOW.  I think… dare I even say… I’m glad her mom died too.  Yikes.  It sounds so wrong.  And yet, the manipulation… the generational trauma…  the downright abuse… 

 

Freedom from that was a gift.  Is a gift.  One that this brutally honest memoir proves is not wasted.  

 

McCurdy candidly recounts her story with boldness and a raw vulnerability.  Thrust into fame at an early age, Jennette lived out her mother’s dream.  But while her mother thrived in the spotlight, Jennette fell into a dark spiral.  

 

Only after her mother’s death was Jennette released from the years of abuse and able to embark on healing.   

 

While this is McCurdy’s first foray into writing, it’s apparent that she has a love of it and the chops to back it up.  I wouldn’t be surprised to see her story of healing continued in a further memoir.  Or to see other works writing from her in the future.   

 

In total honesty, I didn’t know anything about Jennette prior to this book, but her story will stick with me long after iCarly reruns are forgotten.  

 

🎧 I partnered my physical and audiobook copies for this read.  Memoirs are truly best when narrated by the author, and that is absolutely true of this one.  If you can only grab one format, go for the audiobook.