Finally. A spiritual memoir that won't make you roll your eyes. This book is fantastic. I love the author's voice, honesty, humor. All of it.

In this hilarious and heartbreaking memoir, Leticia Ochoa Adams reminds the reader that you don't have to be perfect or pure to be a Catholic--Jesus loves you in all your hot messness.

She talks a lot about generational trauma and how it informed her own life--which included sexual abuse from the ages of 5 to 9, teenage pregnancy, divorce, and her son's suicide. In fact, the suicide of her oldest child, Anthony, is a recurring topic throughout the book (for obvious reasons). That she has survived and even thrived, despite the difficulty of her life, is a testament to faith. Some more conservative Catholics might find some of her stories shocking, but she represents the best of the new Catholic church. #OurLadyofHotMesses #NetGalley

Ms. Ochoa Adams is honest and real and her witness and style would appeal to many people. The vulnerable sharing by the author of her families background, experiences, triumphs and tragedies is moving . insights that she has gained while getting healthy are awesome. In the trenches ,every woman point of view and no fear of touching on hard topics make this author relatable .written in a very impact ful way while also !making the reader feel like they are sitting around the table listening.

I am a convert to Catholicism so I am drawn to people's stories, especially where their Catholic Faith plays a big part in their life or helps them survive unimaginable events. I have long followed Leticia Ochoa Adams on social media and was very happy to be approved to read an ARC of her story.

Adams talks about her life in the book. Her childhood, her teenage years, and both being married and being a single mom. Just one aspect of her story is enough to make many people wonder how she still moves forward. When you put the whole story together and add to it the death of her oldest son, what is in the pages is a story that is heartbreaking, powerful, thought-provoking, and for Catholics in particular, an example of just what our faith represents and the power in living out the Catholic faith even when the last thing we want to do is talk to God.

I highlighted so many things in this book that struck me and cannot wait to see how this book resonates with other readers. Adams gives us a chance to get a big look into her life and how events in her own life have shaped her into the person she is. Her story is a reminder that we have have event that have shaped us. The important part is what we do with those events, what we allow our lives to be as a result.

I voluntarily received a copy of this book from Ave Maria Press. All views are simply my honest opinion.

This book was a wild ride full of heartbreaking events and ultimately the best hope for the future. I really didn't know what to expect from this book and it was the first time I've read something like it so far out of my normal confort reading patterns. Despite all that, Adams does an amazing job telling her story and having it be engaging and captivating.

I received an ARC of, Our Lady of Hot Messes, by Leticia Ochoa Adams. This in not your typical Catholic conversion story, not at all. Leticia's story is inspiring, the loss of her son, and the way she became a Catholic through all of it, is amazing.

The brilliance begins with the title: Our Lady of Hot Messes: Getting Real with God in Dive Bars and Confessionals. If that doesn't pique your interest, I don't know what will!

I have to admit, I raced through this book like a pilgrim heading to the Promised Land. I so wanted to learn what kind of hot messes author Leticia Ochoa Adams had to deal with, and how she managed to find holiness where adult beverages are consumed.

Adams does not disappoint. Her candor and transparency are truly refreshing. Hers is not an Ivory Tower Catholicism, but one that meets people where they are--even if that happens to be on a barstool.

She has overcome family trauma and tragedy to become an eloquent champion of evangelization. Her persistent faith in the midst of trial is truly inspiring.

This is a book of grit and integrity, of honesty and second chances. For those of us who have encountered our share of hot messes, this work of modern-day holiness is a true treasure.

I have to confess that I sort of stumbled into the idea of doing book reviews. As a longtime film journalist, I went through a period in late 2019 when I was hospitalized and would end up experiencing a limb amputation that made attending movie screenings in person quite difficult. While some studios adapted and made sure that I was able to check out these films from the comfort of my own home, others were less accommodating.

In those days, weeks, and months of recovery, I began returning to my former love of books when the church I was attending at the time began a series on Harry Potter - I'd never read the books and decided to do so. Because I'm so naturally inclined to share my opinions and my experiences as a film critic, I began using Goodreads to share these same opinions and experiences with books.

People began to resonate with my reviews because I tend to write from a more personal place. I naturally write both critical evaluation and personal experience.

The more I wrote, the more offers I received to write. Much like film, it seemed like I could write about books even in those times when a book was outside my own worldview.

I could be fair. I could be funny. I could be honest, real, critical, empowering, and I seemed to have a way of equipping readers to make their own decisions about a book.

My book reviews are nowhere near as popular as my film reviews, though I am in the process of adding book reviews to my film site and adding additional commentary into the arts. As a writer who also has a disability, I've also become increasingly comfortable using this to encourage diverse voices and other disabled artists.

I had to laugh when I first received approval to review Leticia Ochoa Adams' "Our Lady of Hot Messes: Getting Real with God in Dive Bars and Confessionals," an upcoming Ave Maria Press release chronicling Adams's journey from hot mess to a person of gritty but devout faith.

This approval came with a gentle nudge to remember that despite its grittiness that "Our Lady of Hot Messes" is very much a faith-based book and very much a book written by a Catholic writer and speaker.

Indeed, while much of Adams's childhood and early adult years were filled with trauma, her subsequent years have been spent as an increasingly popular Catholic voice whose willingness to share the difficulties of her life resonates with those within the Church whose journeys have, at times, felt anything but holy. Adams introduces us to a God who sticks around precisely because it has been through many of her own life experiences that she has experienced this for herself.

Truthfully, I didn't need the caution regarding "Our Lady of Hot Messes." I tend to do my own thorough fact-finding prior to requesting a new title though, I suppose, it's also true that I've occasionally been wrong and found myself reading a new book that just doesn't quite click for a variety of reasons usually beginning what I believe the publisher's inaccurate marketing of the book rather than difficulty with the actual book itself.

However, "Our Lady of Hot Messes" is exactly what it projects itself to be - the story of Leticia Ochoa Adams getting real with readers and with God in her life and in dive bars and confessionals.

If you reject all things Catholic, there's nothing in "Our Lady of Hot Messes" that will change your mind even if you tend to resonate with strong survivor stories. Truthfully, "Our Lady of Hot Messes" is much more about Adams's faith than it is about her trauma.

If, however, you find yourself able to immerse yourself in a story of real-life recovery and spiritual transformation whether you agree, or disagree, with that particular journey then you will likely find "Our Lady of Hot Messes" a captivating, engaging, and refreshingly honest reading experience.

As a non-Catholic reviewer who has visited enough Masses to understand and who has a sprinkling of Catholics within my family tree, I found it easy to give myself to Adams's story even if I didn't always agree with her conclusions and what felt, at times, to me like overly broad generalizations. What resonates for me here is Adams's vulnerable and passionate sharing of how her faith made and makes life livable and how she has found the greatest moments of healing in those times when she's gotten real with God in those dive bars and in the ritual of confession which she clearly and deeply embraces.

Confession is good for the soul? Adams clearly believes it and lives it.

Adams's life, especially her childhood and younger adult years, has been difficult and filled with trauma and drama ranging from childhood sexual abuse to an impulsive marriage to a late-term miscarriage to the very event that seems to have triggered Adams's full-on spiritual transformation - the death by suicide of her son Anthony.

"Our Lady of Hot Messes" is much less a step-by-step journey toward faith and healing and much more a simple journey into the vulnerability of Adams's faith and her willingness to trust God and continue believing even when the world around her doesn't necessarily appear to be Godly. Adams shares about her faith in a God who sticks around through the hard times, a difficult aspect of faith for many who tend to equate trauma and drama with a lack of faith. Rather than obsessing with "What have I done wrong?" Adams has learned to surrender to her faith even more deeply and more vulnerably.

Somewhat surprisingly, "Our Lady of Hot Messes" is not a particularly difficult read. While Adams writes about her traumas, giving particular attention to Anthony's death, it's clear that her objective here is less about trauma and more about faith. As a survivor myself, including having my own wife die by suicide in my early 20s, I was occasionally challenged by this as it felt like a glossing over of valuable pieces of Adams's journey. While many of persons of faith will find "Our Lady of Hot Messes" to be raw and gritty, I at times found it to be almost jarringly saccharine in its approach and it feels like a decision was made at some point to water down its grittiness in hopes of reaching a wider audience.

That said, I'll always embrace those persons of faith who are willing to share their journeys of a messier faith and a more complicated faith. Adams vulnerably and with great transparency shares her testimony of surviving and then thriving through her faith and devotion to God. While "Our Lady of Hot Messes" will likely most deeply resonate with those at least familiar with Catholicism and its traditions, rituals, and terminology, Adams for the most part keeps her language more accessible and it can easily be appreciated by others, myself included, who are less familiar with Catholicism.

As a side note, yet worth mentioning, those hoping for any sort of political or social justice perspective on church views will likely be disappointed as Adams entirely avoids these areas and keeps "Our Lady of Hot Messes" about her own testimony and this lady, her hot messes, and the God who loves her through it all.