Reviewed by K.C. Finn for Readers' Favorite

Bike Riding in Kabul: The Global Adventures of a Foreign Aid Practitioner is a work of non-fiction in the memoir and cross-cultural writing subgenres. It is best suited to the general adult reading audience and was penned by Jamie Bowman. In this revealing and fascinating work, we discover what it means to work in legal consultancy on an international scale. Attorney Jamie Bowman’s amazing life experiences have taken her to some of the world’s most dangerous and complex countries, from Kosovo to Rwanda and everywhere in between. This memoir offers tales from some of the most unusual cross-cultural experiences, but also a deep insight into the dedicated work Bowman does in putting a stop to corruption and encouraging reform.

Jamie Bowman holds nothing back in this detailed, heartfelt, and emotionally open memoir about the thrilling and rewarding – but also sometimes nerve-wracking – world of consultancy. The work has a really clear focus on bringing together the culture shock elements of an American working abroad with the challenges of being an attorney, and especially a female attorney, in places where sentiments of freedom, justice, and honesty are not as we expect them to be in the western world. I enjoyed the fact that we also saw the softer side of Jamie’s life with her supportive partner and had an insight into how she decompresses to put such stressful situations aside when she returns to ‘normality’ in her life. I would highly recommend Bike Riding in Kabul as a must-read to fans of work-based memoirs, but also those who are fascinated by international legal issues and cross-cultural viewpoints on the modern USA.

Reviewed by Maria Victoria Beltran for Readers' Favorite

Ivy Lodge: A Memoir of Translation and Discovery by multi-linguist and professional translator Linda Murphy Marshall is a unique memoir triggered by the death of the author’s parents. Returning to Ivy Lodge, her childhood home in the Midwest, with her siblings to sort out the family’s belongings, she tries to make sense of her life. Going through the objects in each room brings back childhood experiences that she now translates, looking for signs and subtexts as it relates to her relationship with her family and her life. What follows is an exciting recollection that starts on the day the family moved to Ivy Lodge in 1960. Ivy Lodge is a regal-looking Tudor home with an impressive façade, but its walls hide the dysfunction of a middle-class family that seems perfect from the outside.

Linda Murphy Marshall’s Ivy Lodge: A Memoir of Translation and Discovery is a captivating journey into the author’s past. Written in the first person point of view, it is a deeply personal and honest account that captures the reader’s heart early on. While we accompany the writer in sorting out the contents of Ivy Lodge, we also experience and relive the emotional impacts of the moments as they are recalled. This book is a masterpiece of social observation and self-scrutiny. It is a translation of the snapshots of the author’s life woven together by the debris of a difficult family past. It is about the lessons the author has learned from re-creating her personal story that she now shares with her readers. Highly recommended.

Reviewed by Gordon D. Durich for Readers' Favorite

Inside Passage: A Memoir is a story told by an unwitting young gypsy, Keema Waterfield. In this memoir set in Alaska, the author tells of traveling with her free-spirited twenty-something mother on the folk music festival circuit. Dealing with the fallout from her absent pot-dealing pa, she is enmeshed in the past belonging to her mother. Joining the adventures and the misadventures a-la-Anchorage circa 1980 are colorful characters - musicians, drinkers, and more. Waterfield wants a home. Instead, she is forced to endure a lifestyle of unpredictability and insecurity.

Keema Waterfield’s touching and moving memoir Inside Passage is a vivid work. Reminiscent of a Mark Twain tale, with its unique wild setting and colorful real-life characters, I enjoyed it. Her beginnings in an Alaskan trailer gave her material for a riveting storytelling opportunity. And it worked. Growing up in unusual and remote Alaska would not be everyone’s idea of bliss. Having traveled to Alaska, I could visualize the setting, although that was in greater comfort. I love the notion of a freeform existence, and know a fellow artist and writer who travels the country living in his van called “Bertie.” My late mother-in-law Louise lived a similar bohemian lifestyle and the book reminded me of her. It made me wonder what it would be like to live in such an unconventional way. Music played by guitar, cello, and fiddle can almost be heard in the background. It would make for a wonderful audiobook.

Reviewed by K.C. Finn for Readers' Favorite

Lost In Beirut: A True Story of Love, Loss and War is a work of non-fiction in the memoir subgenre. It is aimed at mature readers and was penned by author team Ashe Stevens and Magdalena Stevens. The book follows Ashe Stevens, an actor on the rise in early 2000s America, who accepts an invitation to visit his dear friend Danny who is working in Lebanon. The trip takes a turn for the fateful when a conflict breaks out that traps Ashe in a deadly warzone. His only hope is to make it to the Syrian border but dangerous threats are waiting at every stage of the journey.

Memoirs live and die based on the willingness of the author to be vulnerable with their reader, whether they can truly and honestly share a painful part of themselves and allow the world to see it. In this work, we see such a willingness from the dynamic duo of Ashe and Magdalena Stevens, who openly share the painful and profound parts of the story in equal measure and in doing so create an unforgettable journey through danger and spiritual enlightenment. The real-life conflict experienced through the events of the story provides a powerful backdrop to the author's journey of self-discovery as the real world outside the safety of Hollywood prompts them to grow in important and powerful new directions. Overall, Lost In Beirut takes the retelling of a painful experience for the author and uses it as an opportunity to shine a light on some of the more beautiful aspects of the real world, telling a tale as it does so that will inspire readers to go out and get to know themselves better.

Reviewed by Viga Boland for Readers' Favorite

Today, as a grandmother, my memories of how my two daughters tried my patience and drove me to despair when they were squabbling, misbehaving youngsters have grown dim. As I read Keri Williams’ memoir But, He Spit in my Coffee, I couldn’t help but wonder if I would say that if my child-raising days were even remotely close to Keri’s. This memoir about adopting a child, Devon, with Reactive Attachment Disorder, is eye-opening, but almost as chilling as a horror novel…except this story isn’t fiction. When Keri and her husband, Delano, who already had other young children, decided to adopt a pair of siblings, looking at 3-year-old Devon’s sweet face, they had no idea that behind his captivating smile was a child who had experienced neglect, possibly abuse, and separation during the critical stages of his development in the first three years of life. As he grew, Devon’s behavior became more uncontrolled and manipulative. His violent outbursts, which Keri eventually learned were “rages”, not mere “tantrums”, proved dangerous to his adopted siblings, classmates, and Keri herself. Keri wanted to believe, like her mother and others, that all Devon needed was lots of love. But love alone was far from a cure because while “…it’s possible for children with RAD to heal, most will continue to have some personality and relationship issues into adulthood.”

Though Devon’s behavior was appalling, what was even more appalling were the attitudes of other adults…Keri’s husband, mother, hospital personnel, even therapists…to what Keri was experiencing daily. While she was falling apart at the seams as she tried to cope between work obligations and keeping her other children and herself safe from Devon, she was made to feel like a bad, incompetent mother. She was also guilt-ridden with shame for almost hating Devon, for wanting to lash out at him in response to his rages toward her and others. If nothing else, He Spit in My Coffee is a strong cautionary message to those thinking of adopting. As the author points out in her epilogue, she and Delano jumped into adopting “heart-first”, but because children with RAD “don’t know how to be in a healthy relationship, they feel safer pushing people away.” 

Since adoptive parents don’t already receive training and support for dealing with developmental trauma, too many of these RAD children end up in treatment centers that “are virtual incubators for violence, churning out angry, dangerous young people.”
Keri Williams has written this important memoir in an easy-to-read style, initially taking readers gently from the earlier happier days when Devon was still little. But as Devon grows and becomes more violent, Williams’ writing becomes hard-hitting and in-your-face, much like Devon’s behavior, making her story delivery that much more unforgettable. If it’s true that children are our future, and if you, like Keri and her husband, are thinking of adopting, you MUST read this memoir. Being forewarned is fore-armed. Consider yourself warned as both readers and future adoptive parents.

Reviewed by Maria Victoria Beltran for Readers' Favorite

Midpoint: A Memoir by Patricia Angeles, Sebastian Cudicio, and Issam Ghazzawi Ph.D. is an inspiring memoir of an immigrant woman as she looks back at the major milestones of her life as a young girl in Manila, an immigrant in Los Angeles, a banker, and a mother. The memoir is divided into two parts namely: Manila (1984-2005) and Los Angeles (2005-present). Patricia grows up in a loving and closely-knit family under the watchful eye of a strict father. The only girl in a brood of four, she has fond memories of playing games outside from sun up to sun down during the summer days. Her love affair with books starts when she is eight years old. Starting a journal in sixth grade, her writing ability is recognized in school. Immigrating to the US after graduation from college, she struggles to keep jobs until she lands a position in the banking industry where she thrives. She gets married and becomes a mother to three girls. She writes this memoir to reflect on her past as she plans for the future.

Patricia Angeles’ Midpoint is one woman’s assessment of her life experiences as she tries to give meaning to her existence. Reaching a milestone in her life, this memoir is also a letter to her children so that they will get to know her better. Medium-paced and lyrical, the author vividly conveys a range of emotions so that it is easy to relate to her as she struggles in the different phases of her life. Her simple and gripping writing style keeps readers engaged throughout. In telling her story, she inspires her readers to pursue happiness and to always aspire to live life to the fullest. At times amusing and touching, Midpoint is one woman’s honest recollection of her journey in finding her place under the sun.

Reviewed by K.C. Finn for Readers' Favorite

When I Was Her Daughter is a work of non-fiction in the memoir and family social issues subgenres. It is best suited to mature adult readers owing to themes such as grief and abuse, and was penned by author Leslie Ferguson. In this harrowing and often heartbreaking account of children growing up in the shadow of their mother’s mental illness, we see Leslie and her brother struggle to live within the confines of a broken reality. When their mother becomes convinced that unseen forces are out to kill them all, she develops an extreme solution to ensure her children’s safety. But even the interventions of well-meaning outsiders can cause more problems along the way.

Author Leslie Ferguson is to be commended for the insight, honesty, and raw emotion with which she writes about her troubled childhood, and indeed the knock-on effects that such an upbringing has had on her adult life. I felt as though the narrative never strayed into sensationalizing the contents or offering shock value, but was always grounded in understanding the psychology of both her mother and the children at the time. It felt like a deep dive into the world of child welfare, abuse, and mental illness from a totally unique perspective, and it was delivered with the eloquence and emotional balance of someone who wants to help others whilst sharing her experiences. Overall, I would certainly recommend When I Was Her Daughter to memoir fans seeking something unique, well-penned, and meaningful for their next eye-opening read.

Reviewed by Foluso Falaye for Readers' Favorite

Captain Doug Chamberlain was "living the dream" as a teacher and coach when he got drafted into the United States Army but instead enlisted into the Marine Corp. in the spring of 1965—which led to an experience he would remember and puzzle over for decades. Betrayed by the system he trusted to protect all those who carried out its missions, Chamberlain had to question his role in the US Marine Corp. In his touching and gripping memoir, Chamberlain leaves it to readers to develop their own opinions regarding a controversial event in the Viet Nam War as he tells the story from his perspective. Bury Him: A Memoir of the Viet Nam War takes readers through the heat of the Viet Nam War as American soldiers battle with ambushes, biting insects, snakes, substance abuse, and other serious circumstances.

With the skill of an expert storyteller, the patience of a teacher, and the empathy of a war survivor who experienced loss and death on the battlegrounds of the Viet Nam War, Captain Doug Chamberlain reminds us of the value of peace and caring about every single life. Bury Him contains an intricate collection of information for readers who wish to look into some questionable actions carried out by the US Marine Corp. during the war, including news reports, extracts from different books, and conversations with other concerned individuals. I was fully absorbed by the story as I imagined the joy of reaching home by radio, the fear of the soldiers as they dodged bullets and bombs, the thrill of flying aircraft, and other clearly described scenes. This powerful memoir will remain fresh in my mind for a good while, and the lessons are worth remembering for a lifetime. Don't miss it!

Reviewed by Jamie Michele for Readers' Favorite

Raising, and Losing, My Remarkable Teenage Mother is a non-fiction memoir written by Stacey Aaronson that chronicles the life of a young mother and her daughter, the author being the daughter. Bree finds herself pregnant just after she turns sixteen, and not long after she and her boyfriend had broken up. Despite not being in love, they marry at the strong urging of their parents. It does not last but Stacey has a loving father and Bree is a mother with an 'anything goes' approach to parenting. From the start, Stacey displays old-soul style thinking and is a beacon of responsibility in an unusual mother-daughter relationship. As Stacey grows up, we see her flourish in this role by accomplishing the unthinkable, such as reaching out to a doctor herself when she suspects a mental health issue and helping her mother find a piece of her past. But it is when Stacey's mother is diagnosed with cancer that Stacey realizes there are some problems in their lives that even she cannot fix.

As someone who was also born to a teenage mother, and whose mother died far too young, I was immediately drawn to Raising, and Losing, My Remarkable Teenage Mother by Stacey Aaronson. My mother died from breast cancer at the extremely young age of forty-three, and it was wonderful to read that Stacey had almost a couple more decades with her mother. As a child of the 70s, I enjoyed a lot of the pop-culture references that a Gen X kid would connect with, like a nod to the movie Uncle Buck, and similarities I could relate to like being confused as sisters, and also sustained us with a “diet of compliments for a few decades...” Bree is a woman who has been dealt some serious life blows, the worst being the diagnosis of two illnesses that are almost impossible to reverse independently, and it is hard not to feel like the universe is lashing out at her. This is the part of the storytelling where Stacey shines. Stacey is strong and self-aware, but so is her mother. She chooses her own path by basically forging a new one, and the bond shared between mother and daughter is beautiful. This is a difficult memoir to read because it does have great loss, but the overriding theme of love makes it worth the tears. Have tissues handy. Very highly recommended.

Reviewed by Iza Grek for Readers' Favorite

Blind Pony: As True A Story As I Can Tell by Samantha Hart is a true story about a young girl who runs away from home and sets out to make it on her own. In her memoir, Samantha invites us to join her in her many adventures which take her to some dark places, including a couple of life-threatening situations. Emerging in one piece, she proves she is made of stronger stuff and continues to confront a range of challenges and crosses paths with a number of characters – most of them unsavory. Her relationship with her mother and her father evolves from the abuse suffered at the hands of her grandfather. While Wild Bill, her father, rises to heroic status in her eyes, the road to reconciliation with her mother is a long and arduous one. In Blind Pony, Samantha Hart is met with an uncanny amount of good and bad luck in equal proportion.

The title Blind Pony reflects the theme of ‘not being good enough’ which is why Samantha Hart constantly tries to prove herself. Although a true story, the plot reads like fiction with twists and turns. She has an incredible knack for talking herself out of tricky situations in a way that serves her self-promotion. Her sexual and drug binges make for interesting reading if only to imagine how she can recall the details of her life under this mind-altering condition. Despite her dependence issues, Samantha secures one job after the other and eventually builds a career. The unexpected outcomes keep you hooked, hoping for Sam’s run of bad luck to end. A real page-turner, Blind Pony delivers vivid characters that evoke strong emotions. She writes beautifully, with rich detail and sensuous word pictures. The expression ‘truth is stranger than fiction’ is true in Blind Pony where some of the experiences are almost unbelievable. It’s an easy read and will provide hours of entertainment for the non-fiction enthusiast.