I read Michelle Darne's Parent Deleted several months ago and had a hard time pinpointing my overall view of the book. As a lesbian I have seen the cruelties that can occur in the legal system especially around divorce and custody issues. Given the lack of knowledge and sometimes outright homophobia in the court system it is not surprising that Ms. Darne received no help from them. It is admirable that she fought so hard and for so long and still the results were heartbreaking. She taught me so much about parent alienation and as a former therapist I saw this dynamic between toxic couples or when one half of the couple was influenced by a new relationship.
While I felt horrified by what happened to Ms. Darne I also felt distant from the author, and at times, I was surprised that I lacked empathy towards her. I felt that she was inaccessible to her wife and as the spouse who worked much more outside the home and earned more money (which she would point out to her wife) she didn't seem to understand her wife's position when she was lonely or wanting time with her and ignored how unhappy she was. It seems like this contributed to a breakdown of the couple’s bond. Nevertheless the heartlessness of losing her children with the support of the legal system is horrifying, beyond inhumane and it is wrong.

Thank you to Edelweiss for allowing me to review this book for an honest opinion.

Fully a third of the way through the book, what we hear about the most is the author's work history and work life. I guess she's trying to show the kind of person she is? It's hard to believe there will be a meaningful message; I mean, we hear more about her assistant than we do about her spouse. It also seems like this is for a certain audience, for people who share more life experiences with the author. I'm a 30-something professional woman, but I live in a town of less than 20,000 and work 37.5 hours per week. I'm not in the same place as a 30-something professional woman who lives in New York City and works 16-hour days. I'm married and have a child, but I'm not very brown, I've never been divorced, and I'm not a lesbian. The author doesn't do anything to help people understand where she's coming from; she doesn't help the reader empathize much either, talking mainly about the actions she undertook to move her career forward.

Hi Korina
I started this book, but tbh, I was so bored at the 'I'm so wonderful/me, me, me' tone to it that I couldn't bring myself to read it beyond the point that that the author left the fire service to avoid random drug testing.
I edit for several award-winning authors in the LGBT genre and think thst better pacing and content editing could have made this an interesting read.
Thank you for giving me the opportunity to review the book.
Kr
Rita Roberts