I love Steve Madden fashion, so I was thrilled to get this ARC Audiobook. What a wonderful look behind the curtain at the struggles associated with his rise to the top. I thought the chapter names were a cute touch. Very interesting to learn more about the man behind the brand. Thank you to NetGalley and HighBridge Audio for a copy of this book for an honest review.

Loved this autobiography. Narrated by Steve himself. He is a great storyteller and each chapter is named after a part of a shoe. Incredible story of an incredible man, both in business and life!

THERE'S NO BUSINESS LIKE SHOE BUSINESS!

Steve Madden's candid account of his rise, fall, and rise was compelling and deeply inspirational - and is a "must-read" memoir.

STEVE MADDEN HAS SOUL. Steve "tells all" in this memoir. Readers learn that he was the youngest of three boys and his mother's least favorite son (ouch!), did poorly in high school and never graduated from college, battled drug and alcohol addiction, suffered from severe ADHD, and made bad decisions early in his career that landed him in federal prison. And while serving time in a "Club Fed" prison, another bad choice resulted in him being transferred to a more "prisony" prison and losing his earned 8-day furlough/reduced sentence.

AN UNLIKELY SUCCESS STORY??? No way!!!! Yes, this emotionally vulnerable college dropout entrepreneur with a chronic substance abuse problem made plenty of mistakes. But Steve Madden's strong work ethic, passion for shoes, keen fashion/trend instincts, and his willingness and ability to hire an astute team to keep his company up afloat during his prison term....are only a few reasons why Steve's story is a VERY LIKELY (AND LIKEABLE!) SUCCESS STORY. Longevity in the fashion industry is a rare feat (no pun intended!)and Steve Madden has accomplished this with flying colors.

Before reading this book, I owned many pairs of Steve Madden shoes so I knew who Steve Madden was and I had also known about his prison sentence. I had also watched a portrayal of him in the "Wolf of Wall Street" movie. This book did a superb job of sharing interesting and relevant information about Steve Madden's journey and his successful shoe/fashion empire -- as well as his love/passion for shoes.  In addition to being a visionary, Steve is a gifted storyteller and this book was impossible to put down.

I listened to the book's audio version that was narrated by Steve Madden. I always love it when an author reads his/her memoir and this was no exception. Steve Madden's narration was superb and throughout the entire book, I felt like I was in the same room as Steve Madden listening to his "truth is stranger than fiction" story.

I was given an ARC of this book by NetGalley in exchange for an honest and accurate review. I highly recommend this book and want to personally thank Steve Madden for sharing his story with us.

As a teenage boy in the 1990s, I was dimly aware of Steve Madden's shoes and their funky, chunky, affordable, stylish aesthetic. I didn't have any idea of Madden's involvement in insider trading (and since I still haven't seen the Wolf of Wall Street, I had no idea of his involvement there either). And I rarely give a business book more than a star or two. All that to say, I am probably not the target market for this memoir. But even so, I enjoyed it because Madden gives interesting insight into what makes him tick, what drives him, what he's done wrong, and what he had to do to be successful. For example, it is both unsurprising that an entrepreneur who battled addiction and built a shoe empire soon controlled the underground economy when he was in prison, and it was fascinating to hear him tell the tale. Madden made for a gruff, expressive, and committed narrator, and I enjoyed hearing him tell his tale.