This is a really solid collection of essays about having a drinking problem. I feel like a lot of these books can reek of privilege and a woe is me attitude, but Sarah Levy tells her story in such a no nonsense way that it really does focus on how much of a mess your life can turn into without you noticing.

Sarah doesn’t pull any punches about how she made it to the bottom and turned her life around. And she doesn’t lie and say it was easy to do.

I think this is a really great read.

Reading this book, I saw myself in the author. I used to binge drink A LOT from the time I turned 18 until I was 21. It’s a surreal feeling of shame, guilt, and embarrassment. Not knowing what what I said or did the night before, or who’s house I ended up at. I’m lucky that my friends and I didn’t get alcohol poisoning, end up hurt, or in jail. So glad those days are behind me. Unlike the author I can still drink socially, but I can see where it would be easy to slip back in. You have to keep yourself accountable, and have great support behind you. Drinking Games was like a flashback to my early adulthood which I never really put two and two together. I was an alcoholic back then, and I never wanted to admit that. My mom is one, her dad was one… and thankfully I got away from alcohol before I actually ruined my life. This book touches on things that are not talked about enough, but need to be. It has to be. It will help so much with young adults and the nuclear family going forward.

Reading this book felt like opening up with a best friend about a secret you both had shared but were both too ashamed to be the first one to broach the topic. It feels like a sigh of relief and the proof you couldn't get yourself to believe- that it really isn't just you. So many of the reasons why Levy let her drinking go too far are so deeply relatable on a human level- caring too much about what others think, feeling afraid and intimidated by others at work, wanting to escape intense grief- and it makes for an honest retelling of a life that readers who don't struggle with alcohol will get just as much out of. I appreciated the author being open in explaining how alcohol had affected multiple facets of her life and how difficult it can be to not simply replace the emptiness with things like work, social media, the wellness industry, etc. I think it's more relevant than ever to be discussing the phenomenon of replacing one addiction with another, or buying the right things to craft our perfect selves/fix ourselves with the increase in tiktok/instagram aesthetics peddling the latest microtrend under the guise of 'self care'. Overall I believe and hope her honesty is going to help a lot of women in a similar position that haven't allowed themselves recovery yet.

I can understand where some other readers come from in terms of not loving the format/timeline of the stories; the journey through Sarah's life was very much nonlinear and often revisited certain ages more than once and revealed certain childhood elements later in the novel. I also agree with other reviewers that marketing this as a collection of essays would set readers up with a better idea of what's in store!

I love this take on alcohol. From a young age I saw it as the adults way of "winding down". While drinking games ended with my first child, I definitely remember the days.

Special thanks to the author, stmartinspress, & netgalley for my advanced readers copy!!!

Trying to get more into memoirs and thought this one would be interesting. I have a close family member that battles with alcoholism so I enjoyed reading about Sarah’s personal experience and journey to recovery.

The author was very honest and showed vulnerability with being open about her addiction and how it almost ruined her life. I loved the insight she provided with what it was like for her. It takes courage to not only admit you have a problem but to actually do something about it.

It seemed as though she used alcohol as a coping mechanism for her insecurities. In her mind drinking made her feel more self-assured around others and like the girl all guys wanted. But the drinking became so excessive she’d experience blackouts and have no recollection of what occurred prior.

She loss her job, friendships, even a little self-respect for her actions. The lying also got out of hand with multiple attempts to cover up the addiction like saying she was hit by a car. When in actuality she had a blackout and was unsure of how she ended up in the hospital. But it was easier to lie than face the truth or judgement from loved ones.

The author covers a lot of other topics: Addiction, Trauma Bonded Friendships, Depression, Recovery, Self-Doubt, Limiting Beliefs, Acceptance, Suicide, Imposter Syndrome, Manifestation, and Mental Health

Overall, her memoir was cool didn’t really read like your typical memoir. That actually helped me get through it rather quickly. It’s great she chose sobriety before it really destroyed her life because the situations she ended up in were wild. My only downside was the repetitiveness and her timelines were a bit scattered.

DRINKING GAMES is one of those memoirs that you’ll resonate with in some shape or form. Whether you’re a 20-something-year-old trying to find your place in the world, or a recovering addict yourself, Levy writes in such a way to make you not feel alone.

Depending on where you are in life will determine how well you resonate with Levy’s words. I found myself reminiscing of my lost days, a baby drinker who didn’t know her limit and absolutely made a fool of herself. I still cringe at the memories. While DRINKING GAMES is an honest and raw trip down memory lane on Levy’s personal journey, some readers may not take anything away. But as Levy said at the end of her book, she’ll feel accomplished if she can help just one person who needs it. And not just those who may be alcoholics. She details how her additions spanned across social media, food, becoming work obsessed, etc.

One thing I appreciate about Levy’s words is not only her honesty about what it takes to be sober, but also the amount of privilege she know she has. She has a support system, a job, a loving family, and so much others with addiction don’t. Now, with me saying that, it’s never a compare game as people live very different lives, but Levy understands people don’t have the things she does.

An additional point of appreciation for me was the fact she wasn’t preaching or telling readers what to do or not do if they find themselves in similar situations as her. She simply said “hey, this is what worked for me and this is how I got help.” But in the sense of getting help, she didn’t touch a lot on her recovery. It’s safe to assume it wasn’t a walk in the park and there were more struggles than what she shared, but in a way, it sort of came off as easy with the amount she didn’t say.

If you’re someone who feels lost or unsure of yourself, this book might be for you.

Big thank you to St. Martin’s Press for the gifted copy!

Content warnings: alcoholism, cancer, death, suicide, eating disorder, body shaming

This was a tough read due to the subject matter and personal experience. A relevant and necessary addition to most libraries.

I immediately identified with Sarah Levy's memoir/essays on alcoholism in DRINKING GAMES (StMartinPress). I come from a family of problem drinkers, really all kinds of problems, so this hit home. It brought me back to my 20s living a fast life in New York City. I worked hard, played hard and drank hard. Blackouts were more often than not and I met a lot of men I never saw again.

Sarah comes from a privileged background, something I can't relate to and she was able to live her life in Manhattan with no restraints. Eventually she recognizes alcohol is no longer working for her, so she goes about trying to find ways to become sober. Any alcoholic can tell you all the so-called "tricks:" drinking a glass of water between drinks, no hard liquor, just wine, only four drinks at the bar, drink only on weekends, the list goes on, and what do these "tricks" have in common? Quick fixes, don't work.

Once Sarah realizes getting drunk doesn't attract a man for the kind of relationship she desires, but rather, it blocks it from happening, healing begins. Instead of thinking about all the ways she's different from other people at 12-step meetings, she begins to connect.

I'm glad Sarah was able to get sober and has written this book for others who may be struggling. I'm sure, once she decided to go to 12-step meetings only for women, she finally found herself being honest in a safe environment.h

In Drinking Games, we find Sarah Levy who is somewhat newly sober after years of binge drinking herself into blacking out almost every single time she drank alcohol. I am the same age as the author, and found myself relating to her stories and essays so much, not necessarily the blacking out drinking stories but about some of the struggles that we have as individuals who belong to the millennial generation. I felt like she did such a fantastic job describing some of the common things that people struggle with, through addiction to the "wellness industry" and even the affect that social media has had on our generations upbringing. She took such a good hard look at her life when she was binge drinking, and how she used alcohol to mask almost every feeling in her life. I know so many people could benefit from this memoir, and I am eager to pass it on to my friends and family. Levy was genuine and vulnerable, and reading about her transformation to a sober person was awe-inspiring. Her story was compelling and one that I will think about often.

Thank you to the publishers and NetGalley for an advanced copy of this beautiful memoir. All the opinions included are my own.

Disclaimer: I was gifted this book in the form of an ARC for netgalley and I am leaving my review voluntarily.
I want to say before I start: There was a period in my life where I struggled with binge drinking. It was causing a lot of problems for me, to put it simply. Alcoholism and binge drinking is a big issue in my family, and I made the decision in November 2021 to pour out all my liquor. I needed to step back and analyze my behavior, and why I was doing it. As of a few months ago I have reintroduced it with conditions--i only allow myself one drink a week, IF I'm in the mindset to do so. I've seen far too many times what alcohol can do to people, and I wasn't an exception. Lately I've not even really thought about it. It doesn't appeal to me. Unfortunately, not everyone can do that, though. Alcoholism is very ingrained into our culture here in the US, and it's viewed as almost expected--at parties, big events, or even just at home with friends. I think Sarah Levy did a really good job at painting this picture for us readers. She talks about rock bottom and what it means to decide to cut it out completely--and how hard that can be to accept. What it means to make that decision, and how many challenges come with it. I felt as if I could empathize with her because of my own experiences. I really enjoyed reading this and I want to thank netgalley for this opportunity.

I received this ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Didn't really care for this one. I don't really drink, and I'm too old to understand/care about her issues with booze. Not amusing, not deep and profound. Maybe others will get something from this.

I've read a number of 'why and how I got sober' books -- it's a genre that fascinates me -- but this is the first I read that really spoke to my millennial soul (which feels like a very millennial thing to write, but hey). While I'm geographically nowhere near NYC, and while I hit the husband-job-house stage of life earlier, the godawful hangxiety of college felt very familiar. The pressures, the worries, the pop culture -- it's all relatable. It's interesting to read a memoir like this from someone who seems to be around my age because so often these are reflective, I drank 'till middle age and realized how much I messed up' books versus someone taking control while still fairly young.

My sole complaint is that there are a few moments that took me out of this being a cohesive book versus a collection of themed essays -- namely, references in further chapters to things that had been deeply explained and explored earlier (specific example: a chapter delving into Levy's work experience and her infatuation with her boss, followed by a chapter that again introduces the situation as a setup to something else, as if we didn't just read a deep dive).

It's a minor issue, because even as individual essays, the book is solid and compelling.

Thanks to NetGalley and St Martin’s Press for an advanced readers copy.

Look this book was never not going to get five stars from me. I found Sarah Levy this past year on social media when I was 28 and considering getting sober. Her story immediately resonated with me and has often given me confidence as I’ve tried to find my way without alcohol. I really wish I could meet her someday to tell her what her voice has meant to me. This book is probably not for everyone. But if you’re a young woman in your 20s or 30s questioning the relationship you have with alcohol I think this book could really do something for you. It certainly has for me.

Sarah unpacks a lot of the ways many millennials are conditioned to curate their lives and numb unending social anxiety with alcohol. There were so many lines that I highlighted about identity and the experience of feeling lost in my 20s. This book also just gives me so much hope about the types of relationships she’s been able to build in sobriety.

I’m sure I’ll reread the physical copy and annotate it, but if you’re looking for quit lit or considering a sober curious life this book could be a really great place to start.

Thank you NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for accepting my request to read and review Drinking Games.

Author: Sarah Levy
Published: 01/03/23
Genre: Biographies & Memoirs | Nonfiction (Adult)

Memoir displayed across the front cover and I missed it. I honestly was expecting a mystery. I Googled Sarah Levy when I saw memoir. She is a Canadian actress and part of a successful television show that I did not watch.

The title, Drinking Games, I found to be a perfect fit. She played games and recognized her problem with alcohol through embarrassment and games she made up. She does take responsibility for herself, and I didn't feel like she whined or made excuses. She wanted a balance.

If you are needing encouragement, maybe you will relate to the author.

Thanks so much to the author, St. Martin's Press, and Netgalley for the gifted advanced e-copy of this book in exchange for my honest thoughts. And thanks as well to MacMillan Audio for the gifted advanced audio copy. All opinions are entirely my own. { partner } All of my reviews can also be found on Instagram @Tackling_TBR and on my blog at tacklingtbr.home.blog

TW: addiction/alcoholism

I would like to start off this review by saying a couple of things.
The first is that I gave this book a 3-star rating, because I have a hard time assigning star ratings to memoirs. These are true stories of the author's life, so who am I to decide if they are 5-star worthy or not? Whether or not I enjoyed them, this is the author's life.
The second is that I am not someone living a sober lifestyle, and don't see a need to start doing so at the moment. This book is about the author's journey to sobriety, and I don't have much to contribute from my own real life experiences. So take everything that I say here with a grain of salt.

Let's start with the things that I really enjoyed.
This book felt really honest and raw, like the author was pouring her entire soul into this book that feels as much essay as it does memoir, giving us a full deep-dive into her sobriety journey. She didn't sugar coat her drunken stories from her younger years - she remembered and was honest about the bits that were fun, but she was also transparent about the parts that were dangerous and embarrassing. I think that if I were someone trying to make this kind of change in my life that would be very helpful for me. Like allowing yourself after a bad breakup to remember that you had a couple of good times, but not letting yourself dwell on them.

I will also say that I listened to this book on audio, and in my opinion it is definitely the way to go. The author narrates the audiobook, and it really felt like she was sitting across the table from me telling me her stories over a cup of coffee, or like she was acting as the sponsor for the reader's own journey with drinking. It just really felt right listening to her tell these personal stories herself, and I would highly recommend this format to anybody wanting to read this book.

Jumping to something that I didn't enjoy quite as much. At one time in the book she is talking about an article that another sober author had written about AA, and how it can be a patriarchal and difficult space for women specifically, and can discourage those women from working towards sobriety. Levy condemned this article and the author, saying that it was going to be the cause for it's readers to stay sick in their lifestyle of drinking.
As I said above, I am not someone who has experienced these trials, but I can only imagine that there are about a hundred different paths that someone can take to sobriety, some including AA and some not. While I believe that both that article and this book are written from a place of love and wanting to help folks in the same situations that the respective authors have been through, I don't think that anybody needs to necessarily be discouraging anybody's different path to find sobriety. Just because something didn't work for you, doesn't mean it won't work for somebody else. Everybody is different, and everybody's relationship with alcohol is different, so everybody needs to find the program and path that makes the most sense to them.

Overall I would recommend this book to my friends and fellow readers, specifically anybody who is wanting to work towards sobriety. I think that folks who have that in mind will get much more out of this book than I did. And as I said above, I think that the best way to read this book would be by listening to the audiobook. Maybe with a very large cup of coffee, or as motivation while doing some light exercise or yoga at home.

Sarah Levy delves into her own experiences with alcohol and the effects it has had on her life. She is honest and bares it all in a way that makes readers walk through her experiences. She is candid and doesn't blame anything or tell anyone what to do but simply shares her story.

It was an EMBARRASSING long way through the book that I realized that this was NOT a memoir of Sarah Levy, sister of David, daughter of Eugene. I was into part 4? I think when the younger brother, Eric, was named and I was so stunned and confused. This reader’s misconception aside….


Great read. Anyone contemplating or trying to navigate sobriety, supporting someone into sobriety, coming to grips with their own lives and/or coming of age….this one is for you.

Please don’t expect Schitt’s Creek stories….you won’t find them here 🤦🏼‍♀️

See my audible review. Introspective brave and life changing. Highly recommend to anyone who drinks. And maybe wants to quit

This book was beautifully written - a memoir that made me laugh and cry. Her message is clear- we all have the possibility of living the life we want by taking responsibility for our choices, being authentic and practicing self compassion.

Oh my gosh I have been a fan of Sarah Levy for years, so I was beyond excited when I saw she was coming out with a memoir type book. She was so open and honest this entire book about her struggles with alcohol in her 20s and 30's which ultimately lead her to sobriety and her journey getting to that point.

Even if you don't struggle with drinking, you can take so much from this book. That time of life is always as struggle for anyone on finding yourself and your friends and I was able to relate to so much of her stories.

I loved the audiobook, and getting to hear her stories told in her own voice. I think this would be a great gift for any college girl or graduate that just needs to hear they are not alone.
Thanks to St Martins Press and Macmillan Audio for the gifted copy for review!!