This memoir is stunning. In The Many Lives of Mama Love, Lara Love Hardin shares her journey from her arrest to navigating life after incarceration. It reads so easily. Not only is Mama Love a beautiful storyteller, she is also a vulnerable one. We get to read the ups and downs of her story, and she doesn’t shy away from sharing her struggles. I felt myself getting frustrated following her cycle of addiction, but in doing so, I felt (in st least a small way) how it could feel to be someone trying to support someone through their struggles with addiction.

I love when a book points me towards some issue plaguing us in the real world, and Mama Love does this so well. In talking through her own difficulties navigating the penal system, she lets us see how corrupted the sytem is. I also really appreciate it that she mentions, more than once, that if it’s this hard for her, the suburban white lady, how much harder it must be for people who are in marginalized group. Thinking about how the system perpetuates itself makes me sick to my stomach, and I hope it does the same for others.

I want to read every other book that Mama Love is a part of. She has suh a way with words, at least telling her own story, that I don’t doubt she has done swimmingly with her others, especially the ones she mentions in the book. I want so many people to read this book. Maybe i’m a memoir girly now.

This was a very inspirational story of a woman who hit the rock bottom and found her way back. The author tells us the story of her incarceration and the struggle to bring her life back to a place of peace and success despite a system that is not designed to help you succeed.

Memoir of Suburban Mom’s Addiction, Crime, and Redemption

The Many Lives of Mama Love is a memoir by Lara Love Hardin that chronicles her tumultuous journey from a suburban soccer mom to a heroin addict and ultimately to a jailhouse shot-caller. The book begins with Hardin's seemingly perfect life in a wealthy neighbourhood, which quickly unravels as she becomes addicted to opioids and starts stealing from her neighbours to fund her addiction. After being arrested and spending time in jail, she manages to rebuild her life, eventually becoming a successful ghostwriter and bestselling author.

Overall, The Many Lives of Mama Love is a profound and widely recommendable masterpiece that offers a raw and insightful look into the struggles and triumphs of overcoming addiction and rebuilding one's life. It is a memoir that not only tells a story but also imparts valuable life lessons.

Thank you, NetGalley, for this book.

I think this is the first time I've gotten a random book from NetGalley that ended up an Oprah Book Club selection. When I started reading this book, I had no idea what it was about. I assumed the author was writing about her mother.

I soon realized that the author was telling her own story about her addiction to various drugs, her time in jail (not prison), and her efforts to get her life back on track, mostly motivated to be reunited with her children.

A well-off woman who struggles with addiction isn't a new story. But the parts of this book that resonated with me were the stories of how to manage probation, multiple court appearances each week, drug tests, holding a full-time job, having no car or home, and jumping through more hoops than one can imagine. Probation is no joke and clearly needs to be reformed because most people end up back in jail because they don't have outside resources to help with all the jumping of hoops.

I really enjoyed this book and felt Lara's story was important, but she had more help than other people do. I'm curious to read a story of someone who doesn't have a wealthy mother-in-law to fund bail and an apartment. How do those people manage to make it on their own?

“The Many Lives of Mama Love is a heartbreaking and tender journey from shame to redemption, despite a system that makes it almost impossible for us to move beyond the worst thing we have ever done.”—Lara Love Hardin, The Many Lives of Mama Love.

Soccer mom Lara Love Hardin had a seemingly perfect life until the police knocked on the door of her million-dollar home. Behind her suburban facade, she was funding a heroin addiction by stealing her neighbors’ credit cards. Hardin’s memoir, The Many Lives of Mama Love, blends despair and comedy as she recounts her journey. “I carefully pick through the bottom-of-purse debris until I find some small brown chips... I don’t know if I’m smoking heroin or food crumbs or lint…,” she writes.

Her crime spree came to a screeching halt with a conviction of 32 felonies and a prison sentence. In the women’s correctional facility, she confronts her choices and quickly adapts, climbing the social ladder to the top. Jailhouse politics aren’t much different from PTA meetings.

Hardin doesn’t shy away from critiquing the criminal justice system, exposing its flaws and the stigma ex-cons face when reentering society. She sheds light on the challenges of finding work and rebuilding a life post-incarceration. However, parts of the memoir, like a Shaman scene, the author’s worship of Oprah Winfrey, and Buddhist thought made me uncomfortable. 4 stars.

** Thanks to the publisher for a comp. The opinions expressed are my own.

I can see why people would have mixed opinions on this book, but I really enjoyed it! Candidly and honestly portrays how hard it is (1) to overcome an addiction and (2) to successfully avoid recidivism one you are criminal justice system involved.

Lara Love was the typical mom next door -- until she became the "neighbor from hell". When she wasn't stealing the identities of those in her community to create new credit cards she was taking theirs right from their purses -- to buy necessities for her kids because her and her husband spent all their money feeding their heroin addiction. Once she is finally caught she is sentenced to county jail, where her rock bottom moment of being separated from her kids spurs her to get clean once and for all and to reconnect with her first addiction instead -- writing.

But things are even harder outside the wall than they were in -- between probation and restitution and reunification with her children she has many balls to juggle and if she drops a single one she will be back to square one.

This is truly a book about forgiveness -- and self-forgiveness in particular (the hardest kind!) It also does a great job highlighting the knowledge and resiliency of children and the areas where our criminal justice system needs vast improvement.

Beautifully written memoir!

Wow! Addiction is a powerful force and this memoir is quite the ride. This provided some much needed inspiration that even the most difficult of situations can be overcome, or at least tolerable. Thank you NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review.

Man, this book was good. It was honest and eye opening and full of great lines that really make you think. I'm glad she was able to turn it around. 5 stars!

This book was full of amazing insight. There were many lines throughout the book that were thought provoking, made me put the book down in order to reflect on my life and my own choices. The love the author had for her children and her determination to get them back after everything pinned against her was incredible. Love this book and will always recommend! Thank you Netgalley!!

This book is a must read and I have already recommended it to several friends. Lara is an inspiration and a reminder that our mistakes do not define our future.

Thank you Net Galley for the advanced copy of this book for the honest review. This was an incredible memoir, beautifully written.

This is a fantastic memoir!

Thank you to #NetGalley and #Simon&Schuster for a free copy of #TheManyLivesOfMamaLove by Lara Love Hardin. All opinions are my own.

The Many Lives of Mama Love is a touching memoir about overcoming addiction and reconnecting with family. Lara Love Hardin's drug addiction ultimately led to jail time and the loss of her youngest child. After many bumps along the way, she ovecame the addiction, regained custody of her son and turned her life around. Flash forward and Lara's working in the literary world, collaborating with Oprah! This is a gripping story of hope, perserverance and not just survival but living your best life, even after unthinkable hardships.

I found this book an easy read. However, I found it hard to accept it as a true story. For one, her story of heroin addiction seemed very contrived. Addicts never put anything above their habit, including their own children. They will lie, steal and prostitute to feed their addiction. She seemed to be one of the rarest exceptions.
Second, her stint in jail also seemed very contrived. She becomes a super star and everyone is her friend and protector. That isn’t the way jail usually works but again, our heroine is the rarest exception.
Third, a new boss trusts her with the keys to the kingdom, knowing full well of her past crimes. Rare but possible.
In general, I did not particularly care for the book. Had it been presented as a work of fiction, I may have thought a little more of it.
Thank you for the opportunity to read it.

What an incredible memoir!
How does a successful woman, wife and mother spiral out of control? And how does she bring herself back from the brink and climb the ladder of success once again?
Lara Love was addicted to heroin and opiates until she gets charged with 32 felonies. She flips her hustle into healing in jail. Her empathy, compassion and education moving her up through the ranks. She acquires the title, Mama Love, and the respect of the inmates.
Returning to the real world is where it gets really hard. Fighting the cycle of addiction, fighting the stigma of being a felon, it seems impossible. Hope and perseverance can light the way.

A beautifully, honest, heartbreaking memoir that reads like fiction. Mama Love shares her story but also the inequity in our court systems in such a heart wrenching way.

Thank you Net Galley for the advanced copy of this book for the honest review.

This was impossible to put down and unforgettable. Such an eye opening look at the prison system and our justice system—and also a personal look at addiction. I think this book will resonate with so, so many people.

Mama Mia. What a memoir.

How does a successful woman, wife and mother, spiral out of control? Drugs will do that to you. Addiction will pin you down and keep you there. At the cost of losing your children. Losing yourself.

Lara Love addicted to heroin and opiates until she gets charged with 32 felonies. She flips her hustle into healing in jail. Her empathy, compassion and education moving her up through the ranks. She acquires the title, Mama Love, and the respect from the inmates.
But returning to the real world is like clawing your way out of a deep, dark hole. Fighting the cycle of addiction. Including those who you surround yourself with. Fighting the stigma of being a felon. Even old neighbours can hold a grudge for years.
However, hope and perseverance can light the way- even when three steps back are required to move one forward.

Lara Love Hardin goes to prison, got being the neighborhood criminal…the one who has stolen her neighbors credit cards in order to fund her and her husband's drug addiction. Turns out, her time away changed her life for the better.

The author is brutally honest about the crimes she committed, the people that she hurt and the step by step process to reclaiming her life. What started as writing letters for other prisoners slowly turned into a ghostwriting career, one that led to her working with Archbishop Desmond Tutu, the Daili Lama, Bryan Stevenson and more.

As if that weren't enough, her lunch with Oprah Winfrey practically changed her life.

I loved every minute of this book, and I wouldn't like to thanks @oprahsbookclfor suggesting it and @laralovehardin for writing it.

If you're looking for a good read, go get this book!

This is one that should be everyone's pick for their book discussion group. The author opens her life in an unflinching, raw way that made me cringe at times and hold my breath in others. It's about addiction and all the ugly details that accompany the horrid disease including family pain and suffering. Go get this one and share with others. Thanks to the publisher for sending me an advanced copy.