I loved her in America’s Got Talent and I love her in this book. Mandy’s story is emotional and encouraging. One everyone can learn something from.

Mandy Harvey has an impressive list of achievements for someone under thirty. She's a talented jazz vocalist with three albums to her credit, she writes original music, she has performed at venues like the Kennedy Center, and she's about to add published author to her accomplishments. She also happens to be deaf. This book tells her story, but it's also full of encouragement for readers to overcome their own obstacles and pursue their dreams. The book is primarily self-help/motivational, but it also includes advice for interacting with people with disabilities, with a particular emphasis on invisible disabilities. While Harvey is open about her Christian faith in the book, she isn't “preachy.” She offers wisdom and sound advice for people of any faith or of no faith. Harvey's audition for America's Got Talent went viral earlier this summer. This book should find an audience among the many viewers who are eager to learn more about this talented young woman who turned the world on with her smile.

This review is based on an electronic advance readers copy provided by the publisher through NetGalley.

What would you do if the thing you enjoyed most in the world, your dream and your passion, was taken from you?
This was the reality that talented singer Mandy Harvey had to face as just a few months after beginning a music degree at Colorado State University her hearing deteriorated, until by the end of her freshman year, she was profoundly deaf. She sank into a deep depression and thought that her hope of a career in music was gone forever.
Fast forward ten years though, and the outcome has been very different.
I first heard about Mandy and her story when a friend sent me the link to a video clip showing her performance on America's Got Talent earlier this year, which earned a Golden Buzzer from Simon Cowell.
I was fascinated to find out more about Mandy's story and how she is able to sing on pitch and in time without being able to hear, so I was pleased to have the chance to review this book.
It is a quick and easy read but it is filled with helpful insights. As well as telling her story, Mandy shares wisdom she has picked up along the way, and each chapter ends with some questions for reflection, inviting the reader to consider their own story and how they can move forward in their own lives.
It is an inspiring story and definitely worth a read.

This is written by a wonderful young lady that I was pleased to have the chance to see on America's Got Talent one evening when she sang and when I learned that she had planned to make music a career with her perfect pitch singing voice, and then became ill and lost her hearing, but persevered and learned to sing again by vibrations, and performed despite that, it actually brought me to tears. It was simply such a stunningly good performance I couldn't help myself, I was so moved. And she won the Golden Buzzer to boot! I'd only seen the show once or twice and wasn't even sure what that all meant, but I was thrilled for her and felt she certainly deserved it. When I saw this book I wanted to learn more about her story and was glad to get a chance to do so. She has a great attitude and the book helps explain why. I was given an advance ecopy of the book to review.