Virginia Buckingham's true story in On My Watch: A Memoir was a heartbreaking tale. I highly recommend it. Five stars.

An emotional and at times heartbreaking read from someone involved in and directed affected by the tragedy that was/is 9/11. I can't imagine what Virginia goes through every day and the mental demons that she has to deal with, even when they are quiet they are still there.
The book is a page turner, and a very different perspective of what happened on that tragic day. Thank you for the opportunity to read this ARC.

This was a really heartfelt book and a perspective I believe needs to be told. The author is quick to disclaim what she can and can’t own in the whole scenario and focuses more on the impacts to her rather than the event itself. The writing is not as fluid but the story is powerful.

On My Watch is an interesting story... for awhile. The first half of the book is fascinating and engaging, as the author Virginia Buckingham describes the horror of the 9/11 attacks from her perspective as CEO of Logan Airport in Boston. Buckingham became the scapegoat for the ordeal by political figures who needed someone to blame. She was deeply pained by the attacks, and deeply shamed by the view that it was her failure to put security safeguards in place, that enabled the attacks. Each time she is "exonerated" by a journalist, a commission or a trial, she regains her emotional footing, only to be knocked off balance again the next time someone holds her personally responsible. I usually enjoy a book that includes a psychological study of a public figure, but Virginia's descriptions of her seesawing emotional state is ceaselessly repetitive. She randomly decides to end the story with the 10-year anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, when she seems to be no better or worse off than she was 6 years prior.

Buckingham seems to feel the need to convince the reader that she is well-connected and worthy of all the positions she gains through the relationships she has formed with powerful people, but rather than lending her credibility, her posturing makes makes the reader question the wisdom of a governor appointing an airport CEO who knows nothing about aviation, and makes her seem a bit unlikeable. Buckingham might have approached the story instead by describing the hard work and creative thinking she had to do in order to achieve her great successes.

Big thanks to #NetGallery for providing me with a copy of #OnMyWatch for review.

I was deeply moved by Virginia Buckingham's memoir "On My Watch".
A heartfelt, interesting and beautifully written account of the woman in charge of the Massachusett's Port Authority at Boston's Logan Airport at the time of the 9/11 horrific tragedy.
Two of the hijacked planes that destroyed the Twin Towers departed from her airport. In turn, she was blamed by the media and political leaders for presumed airport security negligence. She was also sued for wrongful death by the family of a 9/11 victim.
This memoir is Virginia's unimaginable journey through blame, self-doubt, trauma, unwarranted guilt and ultimately working through it to find herself again and move forward.
An exceptional read!

Thank you to NetGalley and Cavan Bridge Press for an arc of this novel in exchange for my honest review.

Powerful and interesting book. We all know where we were that day, this is even closer.

Thanks to author,publisher and Netgalley for the chance to read this book.. While I got the book for free,it had no bearing on the rating I gave it.

" On My Watch" authored by Virginia Buckingham. Not at all like any of the other books written about 9/11. We all know where we were when we watched and or heard about this horrific tragedy! We all were forever changed! This book is heartfelt and soul searching account of and by Virginia Buckingham, head of Massachusetts 's Port Authority at Boston's Logan international Airport. It is raw, intensely personable. Factual. And, informative and from an entirely different view. I highly recommend it!

On My Watch by Virginia Buckingham is so much more than “just” another 9/11 memoir, and deserves every five-star review it gets. Stop now and pick up a copy.

On September 11, 2001, the author was the head of the Massachusetts Port Authority, and Boston’s Logan International Airport. Two of the four planes that were hijacked by Islamic extremists that morning left the airport on her watch, and, like countless others, her life was forever changed.

Within hours, America and the world was looking for someone to blame — many inexplicably chose the author.

On My Watch is a powerful and deeply personal memoir about fragility and blame, about self doubt and trauma. Yes, there are nuggets of insight into the tragedy of 9/11, but the focus is on a much more subtle tragedy — what happens when we are faced with the reality that control is a myth?

The author is a superb storyteller and writer. Nearly every scene moves the story forward, informs the overall message and deepens the reader’s understanding and self awareness. The voice is authentic as she grapples — emotionally, intellectually and physically — with the trauma she experienced on that one horrible day, but also on the days, weeks, months and years that followed. She is relentlessly honest in describing her PTSD, in exploring the shattering impact of the press, in being the scapegoat for a nation and individuals desperate to place blame somewhere, anywhere, so they can go back to their comfortable pre-9/11 existences. But the author’s finest and most relatable work is in digging through her own sense of responsibility and the crippling blame it creates.

Structurally, the narrative of Not on My Watch is supported by media sound bytes, which provide an almost visceral gut punch that leaves the reader somehow more vulnerable and more conscious of the power of words — regardless of their source.

This is a great book.

I shared bits of it with a friend who lost a child a few years ago, and her reaction was humbling. The blame, she said, never goes away, but she — like the author — is learning to let go, learning to embrace the fragility, and moving forward forever changed.

Again, On My Watch by Virginia Buckingham is so much more than “just” another 9/11 memoir , and deserves every five-star review it gets. Stop now and pick up a copy.

The review is based on an advance copy read.