Month: September 2024

Title: The Many Lives of Mama Love

Author: Lara Love Hardin

Genre: Memoir

Thank you, NetGalley, for this book.

I think this is the first time I’ve gotten a random book from NetGalley that ended up an Oprah Book Club selection. When I started reading this book, I had no idea what it was about. I assumed the author was writing about her mother.

I soon realized that the author was telling her own story about her addiction to various drugs, her time in jail (not prison), and her efforts to get her life back on track, mostly motivated to be reunited with her children.

A well-off woman who struggles with addiction isn’t a new story. But the parts of this book that resonated with me were the stories of how to manage probation, multiple court appearances each week, drug tests, holding a full-time job, having no car or home, and jumping through more hoops than one can imagine. Probation is no joke and clearly needs to be reformed because most people end up back in jail because they don’t have outside resources to help with all the jumping of hoops.

I really enjoyed this book and felt Lara’s story was important, but she had more help than other people do. I’m curious to read a story of someone who doesn’t have a wealthy mother-in-law to fund bail and an apartment. How do those people manage to make it on their own?

Title: The New One

Author: Evie Green

Genre: sci-fi/dystopian

Thank you, NetGalley, for this book

I LOVE dystopian books, so when I find a new one, I’m excited to read it but also nervous because some are so bad and poorly written. But this book was awesome. I absolutely loved it.

Ed and Tamsyn’s daughter, Scarlet, after an accident, is in a coma and not expected to survive. However, they are given an option to “reanimate” Scarlet using AI and Scarlet’s tissue, creating a better version they name Sophie. The family is moved to Geneva, where the best medical resources are and Ed, Tamsyn, and Sophie live together while Scarlet lies in a hospital. However, when Scarlet actually wakes up, no one quite knows how to handle it. This isn’t the entire plot, though. Some great twists are ahead.

Not only was this book well-written, the actual plot reveal was excellent. I definitely recommend this for any fans of the genre. Great book.