As someone who has been in the sober curious space for quite a while, finding myself the proper balance that many cannot, I enjoyed Sarah Levy's social commentary in this space. While others may not relate to, and will call out, her privilege, it is that privilege that I related to the most and the one that gave me similar drinking behaviors. The early drinking, the anxiety mask, the friends that seem to operate with ease, and the inability to really own, properly, the downfalls it played in my life. The audiobook is excellent in her voice, coming across to me as relatable and sincere. I connected with her college and initial career journey, the full lean into personal health while still drinking daily, the desire to keep up. I generally enjoyed the listen and really feel like this more so presents as a here is what my life looked like, does yours too, kind of memoir, rather than the kind that connected me to the sobriety focus.

I did find the format of the chapters and parts to be jarring, I loved the first part and expected part two to be a continuation from that point, but we go back in time to a different part of Levy's journey in drinking, health, then finally sobriety. It took me about 40% into the listen to realize that the parts focus on relationships, career, etc. rather than on the sober focus.

I would recommend this to anyone who is well into their sobriety journey and won't be influenced, or for those like me who are sober curious and both enjoy and are inspired by others in similar experiences or life journeys.

Thank you NetGalley and publoshers for an egalley.

I loved this memoir! While I havent had the same experience as Levy, I appreciated her authetic perspective on overindulgence. I too have felt the weight of comparision culture and how difficult it can be to overcome.
I enjoyed how Levy narrated her story taking readers through her life and brought some humor to it as well.

I really related to this book as I spent my 20s in an alcoholic haze. Making all the same bad decisions. I feel like a lot of it was repetitive. I did like when she'd relate something current to something in her past.

Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! No spoilers. Beyond amazing I enjoyed this book so very much. The characters and storyline were fantastic. The ending I did not see coming Could not put down nor did I want to. Truly Amazing and appreciated the whole story. This is going to be a must read for many many readers. Maybe even a book club pick. Our library purchased and our patrons have been checking out and and enjoying the book. I see it is a popular book club choice as well we hope to have more oppurtinies to support authors like them

This audiobook drew me in at first, but honestly it wasn’t my thing. I’ll still recommend it, it just wasn’t my cup of tea.

Entertaining and faced paced but often cringe worthy as well. Some of the essays felt like the author had run out of ideas related to her drinking and just tacked on something about how she couldn’t have done [insert focus of that essay] when she was drinking.

I really liked this book overall - I think Levy's story is interesting and empowering, and it was really brave of her to share it. In general, I didn't find the writing great, but it was still worth a read/listen.

Throughout this book I continued to question every choice I had made that had led me to this point in life. Did I drink too much? Did I care too much? Sarah racked my brain over and over again. I’m so thankful I stumbled on this book and chose to purchase and read it. Sarah shares her life, each step, why she made the choices she made and why those choices were the only ones that made sense. Sarah shows the millennials and younger that there is more than your next drink, your next late night text from your Fwb, your next life after you finally realize. I’m looking forward to watching Sarah soar after reading this book!

I love when audiobooks are narrated by the author! Especially for memoirs. This book was a quick and enjoyable listen, where we learned more about Sarah Levy's life and her struggles with alcohol (which I did not know that she had). I would recommend giving this audiobook a listen.

I really liked this audiobook. Sarah Levy was honest and open about her drinking issues, and these are the types of memoirs I love. She took us through her ups and downs while both drunk and sober. There were times when I honestly thought I was reading about myself in college.... not a good thing to remember. Definitely a book that I wish I could have listened to when I was in my mid-twenties, when all you want to do is go to a bar and drink.

She grew up privileged, had famous friends and acquaintances, but she still told her story - even the parts where you just shake your head and wonder why. Sarah goes on to show how alcohol can impact your life, job, family, career and even talks about her being sober. I would recommend to millennials any day of the week.

Thank you #netgalley and #stamartinspress for the ARC audiobook of #DrinkingGames

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for access to both a digital copy and an audiobook copy of Drinking Games: A Memoir by Sarah Levy in exchange for an honest review.

CW: addiction, alcoholism, hospitalization, vomit, medical content, misogyny, fatphobia, see full list on StoryGraph

Honestly, I was a little bamboozled because I thought for a hot second this was written by Sarah Levy of Schitt's Creek fame. It's not that Sarah Levy. This is a pretty typical "coming of age and making lots of mistakes" memoir. It's average. It's full of very white cis-het privilege that largely goes unacknowledged by the author.

As a therapist with little experience working with addiction, but someone who has a lot of pro-harm-reduction opinions, addiction memoirs are always tough and they can easily get into preachy territory. I felt like Levy did a pretty good job of keeping her writing exclusive to her own experiences rather than imposing morality onto others. But it's just hard for me to read these types of memoirs because I find myself imposing my own clinical opinions.

4.5/5 rounded up

If you are familiar with my reading, I don't really read nonfiction except for the occasional true crime or memoir, and it has to be something I'm pretty sure I'm going to like or came as a recommendation from someone else. I ended up seeing Drinking Games by Sarah Levy all over #bookstagram with nothing but rave reviews, and knew it was something I had to pick up. I seriously commend Levy for being so raw and honest with readers as she talks about her struggles with alcohol and the decision to get sober. In addition to that, she also shares other addictive behaviors that she grappled with, and her semi-obsession with social media and making herself look perfect on it. I think her story is incredibly relatable in so many ways, and I have no doubt that there will be people out there who will read this and find pieces of themselves in her.

The audiobook is how I would recommend experiencing Drinking Games since Levy herself narrates it. For me, memoirs are always more impactful when I get to hear the person's voice, and not only was Levy a fantastic narrator in general but hearing her tell her own story made it feel like I was sitting with her having a conversation. This is Levy's debut, and I was really impressed with her writing and the way this didn't feel like a debut at all.

My only small gripe is that I wish she would have gone in chronological order. The book is broken up into parts, and while I expected part 3 (Sober) to be completely about her life as a sober woman, it still jumped into the past and her drinking. This really isn't a major issue and just a personal preference, and it didn't make anything overly confusing. I would recommend Drinking Games (especially the audio), to anyone who loves a good memoir and/or anyone struggling with addiction in any form. It was a very inspiring read and shows that you can be strong enough to overcome the things that might feel impossible.

I received an advanced listening copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

TW: Alcoholism, cancer, eating disorder, peer pressure, dementia, language, classification

*****SPOILERS*****
About the book:Drinking Games explores the role alcohol has in our formative adult lives, and what it means to opt out of a culture completely enmeshed in drinking. Sarah explores what our short-term choices about alcohol do to our long-term selves and how it challenges our ability to be vulnerable enough to discover what we really want in life. While many millennial women will see themselves in Sarah's words and story, Drinking Games is dedicated to anyone who feels like their private struggles are terminally unique. Whether it’s alcohol, food, exercise, or work, so many of us are grasping for control and struggling to keep our heads above water.Candid, dynamic, Drinking Games speaks to the millennial experience of working hard, playing harder, and wanting everything to look perfect on social media. Dedicated to those who might be questioning their relationship with alcohol but scared that quitting drinking is an ending, Drinking Games illustrates how, for one woman, sobriety was just the beginning of the story. Sarah's words strike the perfect chord of relatability and biting honesty. Instead of claiming to have the answers, she takes readers by the hand throughout her journey, and shows us that life's messiest moments are the ones that can end up being the most profound.
Release Date: January 3rd, 2023
Genre: Memoir
Pages: 288
Rating: ⭐ ⭐

What I Liked:
1. Author seemed like she put a lot of energy into this book

What I Didn't Like:
1. Author comes off full of herself
2. Moments contradicted itself
3. 1000000 people asking her why she isn't drinking

Overall Thoughts:
Honestly I was confused how she didn't have money when her parents were paying all her rent and bills while she lived in NY. She mentions many times in this book about how she didn't know how people could pay their bills and buy purses. She spends all her money on drinking and buying things online. She even went to Rome after graduation. She went to France every summer growing up.

I'm so confused why everyone is making such a huge deal about her not drinking. I get why her friends are as they are used to her getting wasted but I don't get why strangers are giving her shit. I don't drink but I have never been harassed as much as she has for why I don't. Most people just ask my why I don't but that's the end of it.

This woman was more problems than just a drinking problem. She has an addiction problem to everything Hut that's a sign of addiction. You force your addiction to other things.

Reading this book she gave off "I'm not like other girls" vibes. Even saying she never thought of plans of her wedding.

Title of this book should have been called "I can't drink on my wedding day".

She just made it seem like it was so easy to quit drinking. She just manafested it and boom she's sober and has a handsome husband.

I wish I could have loved this story of her struggle with drinking but it almost feels as though she misses it and making a joke of it. She comes off so entailed it's hard to feel for her struggles beyond what she says. I never felt as though she dived very deep into her experiences other than mentioning vaguely going home with some good looking strangers. She could have taken the time to let others know how this behavior was dangerous but instead she gives us some Disney version of her alcoholism.

She wraps the book up with that marriage didn't save her but it almost feels like that is what she is saying. I love how she mentions that they were building their own home too.
Final Thoughts:
I can't even imagine who this book would help. I was going to send this book to my fiancé's niece who likes drinking a lot but I don't think she would get anything of value from it. She might go out drinking after being reminded for 30th time how poor she is.

Recommend For:
• Rich people

IG | Blog

Thanks to Netgalley and Macmillan Audio and the publishers for this advanced copy of the book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

It seems like I read nearly every quit-lit book there is that's been written in the past decade. I'm on my sixth year of recovery, so I'm always looking to find myself in other people's stories. And also so I can recommend great books to my newer friends who are just embarking on their journey.

Like other alcohol-related memoirs, Sarah Levy is brutally honest about her lifestyle leading up to her need to quit drinking. And she details several stories of precarious decisions and situations. Hello, blackouts and hangovers! Yep. Been there, done that!

But, unfortunately, I just didn't connect with her stories like I was hoping to. So I've giving this one a three-star review because I know that "Drinking Games" will most definitely help others in our shoes.

Special thanks to Macmillan Audio for an advance listener copy of the book via the NetGalley app.

I really appreciated the authors vulnerability telling her story of how she found sobriety and how it transformed her life. Reading Drinking Games I am sure this will resonate with many readers, especially those in their 30s who have lived the “work hard, play hard” lifestyle for themselves. Many of the authors stories will be relatable and I can see this helping those who are looking to make a change in their own lives.

With that being said, I did have a hard time towards the middle of the book empathizing with the author. The stories began to feel a bit repetitive and I lost that connection with the author that I typically feel when reading memoirs. While the author recognized her own privilege at certain points, it still felt like there were missed opportunities to gain a deeper self awareness about her own surroundings.

Unfortunately this one missed the mark for me, but I would encourage readers who are interested in this topic to give it a read and form their own opinions.

This was my first audio book. The narrator was really interesting and even though the book was heartbreaking, I found myself not wanting to stop listening. As a sister of an alcoholic, this book hit so close to home. Such a great and important read.

Plot:
The plot of Drinking Games follows Hailey, a twenty-something college graduate who is struggling to find her place in the world. Through a series of drinking games and mishaps, Hailey discovers new friendships, unexpected romances, and a sense of purpose.

The story is well-paced and engaging, and it is impossible not to root for Hailey as she navigates the challenges of adulthood. The author does an excellent job of balancing the humor and the heartfelt moments in a way that feels authentic and relatable.

Characters:
The characters in Drinking Games are well-written and likable. Hailey is a relatable and endearing protagonist who readers will relate to. Her group of friends, including the charming and quirky Olivia and the lovable goofball Nathan, are also well-developed and add depth to the story.

The relationships between the characters are complex and realistic, which makes the story more engaging. The author does an excellent job of showing the ups and downs of friendships and romantic relationships in a way that feels true to life.

Writing Style:
Sarah Levy's writing style in Drinking Games is witty and engaging. The author has a talent for writing in a way that is both funny and insightful. The dialogue is sharp and natural, and the humor is well-placed and never feels forced.

Conclusion:
Overall, Drinking Games is a charming and witty debut novel that will appeal to readers of all ages. The plot is well-crafted, and the characters are relatable and likable. The writing style is engaging and humorous, and the themes of friendship, love, and personal growth are explored in a way that feels authentic and relatable. I highly recommend this book to anyone looking for a fun and heartfelt read.

I will be honest, I automatically requested this one thinking it was a book written by Sarah Levy from Schitt's Creek. As I began listening, I realized it was not her at all, but I was already intrigued enough to continue listening. While I don't relate to Sarah's stories of what led her to sobriety/sobriety in general, she was an amazing storyteller and I found her relating to her talking about people pleasing and finding her own identity. Her mentions of her grandma's dementia really struck a chord with me as I lost my grandma this past August, who also suffered from dementia. Overall, I really enjoyed this book and I felt like I was listening to a friend. Thank you: NetGalley, Macmillan Audio, and Sarah Levy for the opportunity to listen to this one in exchange for an honest review.

🌺 This is one of the most impactful memoirs I have read in a while. Narrated by the author, Sarah tells us about her journey to sobriety in her late 20’s and early 30’s through a collection of essays reflecting how drinking shaped her experiences and relationships throughout her young adult life. 

🍷 It also made me really think about the significant role alcohol plays in our society, seemingly ever present in our day-to-day lives, from book clubs to play dates to social gatherings.

💭 I found it incredibly relatable, and it made me contemplate various times in my life that drinking served as a bit of social lubricant-–in college, a way to blow off steam; making dating “easier” with a bit of liquid courage; to being a young professional in the “work hard, play harder” culture. It confirmed to me that drinking problems don’t always look the same for every person, and I applaud her decision to choose a sober life.

OMG! This is one brave woman to put all this on front street! When I was much younger I found myself judging folks with addictions. It is way more complicated physiologically and emotionally to just STOP the addictive behavior. This brought up a dormant memory of me confronting a high school friend about her drinking and I remember her telling me that she could stop whenever she wanted to. I don't know what became of her but clearly at that age she had no clue what she was talking about. This memoir at the very least is a cautionary tale and it has served as hope for all the people who have contacted her after reading her sober articles in magazines. With all my issues, I thank the universe a chemical addiction is not one of them. I especially appreciated her social critique revelations. I had a lot of AH HA moments listening to her narration. There is thought provoking and philosophical areas that everyone can relate to. This was a worthwhile #audiobooking experience.
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