I thoroughly enjoyed your story and the documentary "Dreamcatcher." Brenda Myers-Powell and Stephanie Daniels, I thank God for you. You two are amazing women who change people's lives for the better. I hope the Dreamcatcher Foundation receives all of the donations it needs to make your dreams a reality. I thank you both for having the courage to see God's Promise fulfilled in your own lives. Thank you for inspiring people regardless of their circumstances. You two are strong Black African American Sisters who are catching dreams one person at a time. I salute you two and love you for all the good and positivity you bring into the world. Thank you for demonstrating to white America that we are more than our problems, disgraces, habits, etc....if given the right help and opportunities.

A tough memoir for those that like that where the author relates her tough life story that will have you laughing and crying at the same time. Myers-Powell lived a childhood full of abuse that led to a life of prostitution at the young age of 13. The troubles don't stop there: drug addiction, incarceration, health issues, and custody loss. Through a strong faith in God and Divine Providence, Myers-Powell escapes the life she was born into and starts a non-profit called "Dreamcatchers" that provides counseling and refuge for children and young women who are victims of human trafficking.

This is quite simply a story of human resilience. As they say, a story that will stay with you.

Leaving Breezy Street is a raw, honest look at Brenda’s life of prostitution and drugs from the streets of Chicago to the coast of California. She shares her childhood, which was full of abuse and poverty that led her to the streets as a young teen. It was hard to listen to and my heart broke for her. And yet, she now runs a nonprofit called Dream Catcher to help educate young girls about the dangers of human trafficking and to help others get out of that system.

Her story is inspiring!

I listened to the audiobook version, and thought Karen Chilton gave an outstanding performance and I would highly recommend giving it a listen. I found the storytelling to be very compelling.

Brenda aka Breezy, gives an account of her childhood, how she ended up as a sex worker, her struggle with drug use, and eventually when she got straight and off the streets.

I found this to be a very raw, no holds barred reading/listening experience that may be difficult for many, especially anyone who may be triggered by the subject matter. However, I think it's incredibly important to learn about sex work and addiction from those who have lived experience with those things because every path is different.

***Thank you to Macmillian Audio for providing me with a copy of the audiobook for free via NetGalley for an unbiased review.

The audio version of this book was simply perfect. Great narration and speed. Highly enjoyed. This was an inspiring read that showed a world that I’ve never seen. It was well written with descriptions and stories to make even the most privileged begin to understand the depth of what was being faced.

Raw, emotional, vivid, heartbreaking, and eye-opening. This memoir will be difficult for some readers to handle, but I feel that it's a very poignant read that details horrific acts that happen far too often in our society.

This book also has hope and forgiveness and is a reminder of the resilience and determination of human beings when placed in impossible situations.

Leaving Breezy Street is a book you won't forget once you read it.

Honest, brutal and raw - the best way I can describe much of what author Brenda Myers-Powell shares here in her memoir. Absolutely nothing sugar-coated here, not even the language she uses to expose this dark side of life that some people, like her, were, and continue to be forced to suffer. So thankful Myers-Powell was able to escape the cycle of violence and abuse. She is a born storyteller. Excellent writing here.

For the audiobook, the narration by Karen Chilton is absolutely perfect.

I received a copy from the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Leaving Breezy Street felt like a "no holds barred" recollection of 25 years of prostitution -- including the circumstances that led to "Breezy" becoming a sex worker and how she was ultimately able to leave that life, and now work to help other victims of human trafficking.

Brenda Myers-Powell and co-author April Reynolds describe Brenda's life in a conversational style; it often felt like sitting down at the kitchen table with a new friend. A friend who has been through a lot -- an abusive home life, rape, crack addiction... Brenda shares her pain and heartbreak with the reader.

But she also shares her hope. I loved hearing about her meeting with then-Senator Barack Obama. As well as all the times she managed to persevere, despite having to deal with things no one should have to go through.

I thought the audiobook production was well done. It did take me about a month to read Leaving Breezy Street -- given the subject matter, I found there were certain times of day/certain moods better-suited to reading this book. It's not for the faint at heart, though I do recommend it for an eyes-wide-open look at human trafficking.

(You might recognize Brenda's name from Dreamcatcher, a documentary about the foundation she and her friend founded to prevent the sexual exploitation of at-risk youth and to help current victims. I haven't watched it yet, but the pages on her advocacy work were a great part of this book.)

Thank you to Macmillan Audio for a free ALC of this title for review.

Amazing story though harrowing and painful. The narrator had a smooth and beautiful voice that made the hearing of the trauma that this woman experienced slightly easier though no less powerful. A first person account of life on the streets as a sex worker over the course of decades and in different cities like Chicago, New York and Los Angeles. An ethnography of sex work.

If you would have told me that I would be unable to stop listening to a book that was based on a drug addicted prostitutes’ life prior to recovery I never would have believed you. I truly believe that April Reynolds narration of this story made the book for me. She is fantastic and I will be on the lookout for future narrations that she produces.

I find it extremely difficult to rate a memoir since it essentially feels like you are rating and reviewing someone’s life. While this book deals with extremely heavy topics (think trigger warning for everything you can possibly think of) it was done in such a way that left you routing for “Breezy” the entire time. I found the story of Brenda’s life and what led her to prostitution a topic of discussion that I think as a society we need to expound on.

Breezy, can we be friends?

A big thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for allowing me to listen to an advanced copy of this book!

Wow, what a heartbreaking story that Brenda went through. She had a tough childhood that led her to prostitution, drug abuse and physical abuse. This was a memoir that was so raw and real. She didn’t sugarcoat her past. Her story is difficult to read but she is a very strong woman that has overcome many obstacles in her life. I listened to the audiobook and loved the way that narrator read. It felt that she was sitting right next to me telling her story. This was a story about pain and suffering as well as survival and reinventing herself. If your heart can handle it, I suggest you read or listen to this memoir.

Brenda Myers-Powell's memoir is her own raw and unflinching account of the obstacles she faced in her earlier days. She struggled to overcome some of the hardest things a woman could face: abuse, drugs, prostitution, and ongoing heartache. Her words are unfiltered. She recounts her story in graphic detail. After ultimately finding a way to move forward in her life, she moved on to help other girls and women who faced similar adversities. Through her work with The Dream Catcher Organization, which she founded in Chicago, she works to fight human trafficking. She continues to do public speaking and maintains effort to help women and raise awareness. I fully appreciate the power, bravery and courage of a woman who is a survivor and puts her efforts and energy into helping others.
Karen Chilton did an excellent job of narration in the audiobook.
Thank you to Macmillan Audio and Henry Holt and Company for the audiobook version Advance Readers Copy.
#NetGalley #LeavingBreezyStreet

Leaving Breezy Street by Brenda Myers-Powell is a colorful, instructive and compelling story about struggle, survival, and prevailing against all odds. It is a testament to the power of the human spirit, never giving up despite setbacks, doing the hard work to create the life you wish you had, and constructively channeling personal experience by giveing back to the community through mentoring and advocating for others. I was struck by how much the descriptions of the author’s childhood reminded me of Terry McMillan’s first book Mama, in terms of growing up in a vibrant, boisterous, energetic, challenging household, and despite enduring some of the worst life has to give, the journey leads to a personal renaissance that is a full circle joyful embrace of the past with the present, and a celebration of family and faith.

Author Myers-Powell notes, “Respect. That’s how I lived my life. Needing respect, demanding respect and actually, that’s how I got into a lot of trouble I found myself in.” The words in her book convey her truth, and as she states, “It starts in the family.” She grew up a child in an adult world, the 60s in Chicago, got lots of spankings, remembers the first person who “tried to mess with her,” couldn’t play outside, didn’t have friends, knew how to be invisible when adults were doing inappropriate things, and “trained to be a ho, before she knew what one was.” Her mother was dead, her favorite uncle was a criminally brutal bully who lovingly shared fried bologna sandwiches as well as biscuits and syrup with her.

In the home and on the streets, violence and love are two mercurial players who appear and disappear at a moment’s notice, repeating their capricious danse macabre in a way that wreaks havoc in the mind and heart of a child. Young Brenda yearns for freedom, and seemingly independent women dressed smartly on street corners catch her attention. She states, “It looked powerful, and when you are in pain, you’re looking for some power and control.” She is 14 years old when two pimps pick her up and terrorize her to stay with them.

Brenda needs rescuing from the human commerce of truck stops and seedy backroad motels, but didn’t realize at the time no one looks for young black girls. Her story of life inside the insulated bubble of human trafficking, using drugs to mask fear, hurt, and enormous frustration, unfolds in a way you rarely see in any book. It is a story of one of many young women whose plight is a global inconvenient truth, sponsored by a quietly burgeoning industry, that capitalizes on vulnerable women with few choices for survival; no one is looking for them when they disappear. No one is rescuing them, there are few resources of sanctuary available, and no one advocates for them in the seats of state and national government.

The balance of this book is a journey of self discovery in the darkest of personal moments, and shines light on life’s blessings. After making the decision to evict toxic influences from her life, she “started dating herself,” loving herself, eating right, grooming herself with care, getting stronger, healing, eating out and going to movies alone, because she knew her love and focus needed to be on the author of her life...herself. Her pilgrimage toward self fulfillment leads to a purpose greater than herself in advocacy work with others trafficked for revenue. She becomes known in Springfield, Illinois as the “senator slayer,” building that reputation during trips to the capitol, tireless and determined in her efforts to lobby for people with few fighters in their corner.

This story is stunning in its detail of reality for those trapped in a life of human trafficking, and encouraging in its outcome. Myers-Powell speaks with the imperative voice of experience, for those whose stories may remain untold, and so readers can share in witnessing this important, riveting, and timely narrative.

(Note: I received a copy of this audiobook from publisher Harry Holt and Company via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own and not influenced by either the author or publisher.)

The author gives a straightforward, unfiltered account of her life, beginning with being raised by her physically abusive grandmother and experiencing sexual abuse at the hands of frequent visitors and a family member.
Teen pregnancy further complicated her situation, so she turned to prostitution to bring in cash. What followed is a brutally honest narrative of human trafficking, drug addiction, crime and hitting rock bottom.
Just surviving decades of that life is remarkable enough, but the fact that she got out and used her experiences to help young girls in the same boat is what makes her story stand out. As an added bonus, the author’s voice comes across loud and clear and she is able to make the most horrifying situations entertaining and humorous.
I listened to the audiobook and the narrator was great. The only bummer about listening is not being able to see the included pictures.
Thanks to #netgalley and #henryholtandcompany for this ARC of #leavingbreezystreet in exchange for an honest review.

What a real and raw account of a life of prostitution, substance abuse, and continuously breaking the law! The narrator was so good at delivering the at times somber and shocking details without being too grim. Brenda Myers-Powell is brave to capture the events of her life on paper like this, heartbreaking and inspiring. Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for a copy of this audiobook for an honest review.

In a stunningly real account of her life of prostitution, drug use, and the run-ins with the law, Brenda Myers-Powell had me riveted from the start. There's no sugar coating it, this is as gritty a story as there is. But it belongs on our shelves and needs to be read.

“Folks tell me, ain’t all that happen to you,” Brenda writes. “I wish to God I was lying my head off.”

It truly is hard to hear at times, unbelievable at times, raw and rough all the time. But that was Brenda's life. Her "alter-ego" on the streets, "Breezy" helps her to cope with the brutalities that came with her drug use and sordid upbringing. But Breezy must go, and Brenda finds a way to use her awful past to help other women get off the streets.

Memoirs aren't always rich in life lessons and happy endings. Sometimes they exist to help us better understand. They help us open our eyes to experiences beyond our own. "Leaving Breezy Street" was alarming. Alarming and necessary.

The narrator of this audiobook was perfect. The tone and pacing worked really well.
This memoir, at times shocking and tragic, tells the story of how Breezy came to be, and how Brenda was finally able to let her go. Brenda was raised by her grandmother. While she imparted wisdom and her brand of love, Brenda suffered abuse, both verbal and physical at her hand. Her grandmother failed to protect her from other predatory family members who sexually assaulted her and raped her starting at an early age. Breezy, Brenda's alter ego, started turning tricks at age 12, had two children by the age of 14, and became a drug addict while trying to navigate pimps, the streets, and her job as a prostitute. She was shot multiple times, had her face slashed, and was beat up more times than you can count. But Brenda had good times too. Throughout her career, she partied with major stars of the 1960's and 1970's. She traveled across the US and lived in various iconic cities. She experienced events such as the aftermath of the Rodney King trial from a unique perspective. She made life long friends, but lost many friends as well. When Brenda was finally ready to leave Breezy behind, she rebuilt her relationship with her children, got clean, and helped create The Dreamcatcher Foundation to fight human trafficking. Now as co-founder and Executive Director, Brenda Myers-Powell advocates for women through lobbying and policy at the federal level. She is a member of the United States Advisory Council on Human Trafficking.
Thank you to Net Galley and the publisher for the digital ARC of this book.

Heartbreaking but uplifting. An inspiring book.

Thanks to NetGalley for providing an ARC copy for my review.

I received this an audio ARC from Netgalley. Brenda Myers-Powell's memoir of her life is fascinating and heartbreaking at the same time. The raw emotion she puts into telling how she grew up, what led her to prostitution and drugs, and how she managed to turn her life around will grab you from the beginning. Brenda holds nothing back, so there is colorful language and detailed encounters of her time as a prostitute. But I would encourage you to still take a read/listen to her story, you can always skim/skip some things that may be too graphic for you.

From the pain and suffering she experienced for decades, she brought forth an organization to help young girls who find themselves in human trafficking/prostitution: The Dreamcatcher Foundation.

Leaving Breezy Street was not an easy book to listen to. Brenda takes us through her incredibly traumatic early childhood to her teen pregnancies, her many years as a prostitute and drug addict, and getting herself clean and out of this terrible lifestyle even though it's pretty mich all she'd ever known. I dont think there are really a lot of candid stories out there about prostitutes, but Brenda lets us into her life and explains why things went the way the did. She is a resilient woman, and I am glad she shared her story with us, and that she is using her traumatic life experiences to help young girls that are headed down the same path.