THE MANY LIVES OF MAMA LOVE
The Many Lives of Mama Love: A Memoir of Lying, Stealing, Writing, and Healing by Lara Love Hardin
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© Jul 6, 2023
*Thank you, NetGalley/Simon & Schuster, for giving me a free copy of the ebook in exchange for my honest review. This did not affect my opinion.
3.5 I'm glad this book came across my radar, and I hope others will pick it up to read. Even though I felt like some of the more complicated parts of her story were cleaned up by an editor it still gives an inside look at the reality of her situation, troubles, actions, and the time afterwards! Many of us have a friend, a family member, or know of someone who has had or continues to have addiction problems, so while Mama Love's story ending may be the exception...her story will offer hope!
Read from: Jul 02, 2023 - Jul 06, 2023
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I feel honored to be among the advanced readers of this brilliant piece of work! This was an incredible story, told so well. I learned a lot about myself as I read about the many lives of Mama Love ❤️ Lara's storytelling had me feeling every emotion! Sadness, fear, disappointment, joy, flat out elation, etc... This is definitely one that will stay with me!

I'm not normally given to effusive praise, but this book was fantastic. I couldn't put it down once I started. Having read and loved The Sun Also Shines, by the time Bryan Stevenson and Anthony Ray Hinton arrived on scene, I was giddy to share the joy in the metaphorical room - and eager to tell all of my other friends who've read the book "You have to read this! You need to know the backstory!" Not only does Mama Love shine in telling others' stories, but especially in telling her own. I look forward to reading anything else she writes, no matter what the topic. I think she could make even her grocery list engaging, funny, and memorable!

Copy provided by Netgalley.

What a great novel The Many Lives of Mama Love is. This is a work of nonfiction about Lara Love and her incredible experiences before , during, and after being released from jail with a lengthy felony record. Lara is a heroin addict who isreal and commits identity theft in order to support her habit. She is arrested and loses custody of her children. She is sent to jail where she experiences many atrocities. The author bears her soul to tell the reader the honest truth about her life. She makes no excuses for the mistakes she makes and boldly begins to change her life once she is released from jail. There are so many good things to say about this novel. It is destined to be a best seller! Thank you to Lara Love Hardin, Simon and Schuyler and NetGalley for allowing me to read an advance copy of this remarkable story.

I do not have the words to describe just how much I loved this book. Every page held my attention and each chapter was a rollercoaster. Lara’s story is incredible and should be heard by everybody. I was completely absorbed into her story. This is a must read and I will be buying a copy of this when it officially releases.

Lara “Mama” Love is a gifted author with a rich and complex past. In her memoir she shares her journey from a convicted felon and “neighbor from Hell” to becoming an author and collaborator of the Dala Lama and Bryan Stevenson (author of “Just Mercy”). Along the way the reader learns the inner workings of prison and courtrooms, the trap of addictions, and about how complicated and unfair the probation system is. Lara is blessed with guardian angels that support, advocate, and exemplify love and forgiveness. This was a wonderful memoir and I would recommend this. Thank you to NetGaley and Simon & Schuster for the digital ARC.

This book gripped me from the first page and wouldn't let me go. Even though we know the outcome (for the most part), the details of the journey keep the reader engaged and eager to know more. Lara's emotional recount of her experience in prison, struggles with addiction, and the road to recovery are told with endearing sincerity. Whether or not you have gone through what Lara has gone through, all mother's can relate to the mom guilt, the desire to be better for your family, and the complexities of how to truly change your life for the best.

Hardin's account also shines a light on the obstacles that one must trudge through once released from prison. One of my favorite reads this year.

The Many Lives of Mama Love really sucked me in. It is a story about drug addiction, prison for drugs and identity theft, a custody battle for her youngest child and carrying on with life after becoming clean against many odds. I would say Lara Love succeed in life after hitting the bottom.

This book shows how opioid addiction can destroy lives. People do not think much about a soccer mom going from the cul-de-sac to prison. The book starts with Lara Loves decline because of the drug addiction. She learns that her so called friend are fair weathered friends and flee when the going got tough. She has a whole new set of friends in prison that take a new skill set to to win over and build allies. Mama Love has a third journey after she leaves prison and has to start life over with a felony on her record. She finally catches a break and becomes a ghost writer for some amazing people.

I enjoyed this book and until I read this book, I did not realize that I have read several of the books Lara Love Hardin helped write. Lara learned to love herself and forgive herself for her years of addiction. Her journey was difficult but shows people can come out on top after addiction.

Congratulations Lara Love Hardin for coming out on top! It took courage to write this book and I wish you the best.

Thank you to NetGalley for an advance copy of The Many Lives of Mama Love. I highly recommend this book which will be published on August 1st, 2023. #NetGalley #LaraLoveHardin #theManyLivesofMamaLove

This is one of those books that doesn't seem real, but is also so real you can't wrap your brain around it. Having worked with individuals who have experienced substance use and navigating the county systems, my heart broke for Mama Love. The judgments passed, and the overall injustice, is awful in this country, and someone who genuinely follows the rules should be treated better.

In regards to the book, it was very well written and kept me reading, waiting (and hoping) for a happy ending for all the strife the author went through. I appreciate the honesty in the book and the commentary on the (in)justice system in America. This is a great book to read to gain more perspective on the people we consider "criminals" and how people can earn a second chance.

This is a gripping, very well-written book. Although I haven't had the same experiences as the author, she wrote her story in a way that I found very relatable. It was also so frustrating to read about how broken all the official systems are, and how difficult they make it for a person to succeed. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This memoir was a journey into the dark side of addiction and back out of it. This story tells the life of a woman who had many layers and how she was able to be live such a life until she hit rock bottom and had to crawl her way out and back to who she wants to be in her life.
Drug addiction thru the eyes of a woman who can tell her story is quite a journey to go with her on. She was able to get herself back to a life she wanted but it had a lot of people trying hard to push her down.
Thank you NetGalley, Lara Love Hardin and Simon & Schuster for the ARC
Of The Many Lives of Mama Love. This is my personal review.

Lara Love Hardin recounts her slide from soccer mom to opioid addict to jailhouse shot caller and her unlikely comeback as a highly successful ghostwriter in this harrowing, hilarious, no-holds-barred memoir.

In this book, Hardin recounts her descent from respected soccer mom to opioid addict, committing crimes to feed her habit. She discusses frankly how her addiction not only impacted her life, but the lives of her children. It is easy to judge Hardin for thinking her addiction was hidden from her family. Her addiction leaves her blind to the risk to her family as she commits crime after crime to feed her growing habit.

Eventually, Hardin is caught, and she goes to jail. It is in jail that this story becomes interesting, a story of strength and resilience. She shows strength in beating her addiction for herself and her children and resilience in jumping through all the loopholes put in place by an unsympathetic system once she is on probation.

In reading her story, one may think that if Hardin can succeed after jail time, any one can and those that don’t succeed are either lazy or born criminals. Hardin herself address that, making it clear that although she struggled, she had it easier than most. She is a well-educated with a talent for writing and a support system that helped her succeed. This in no way diminishes her many accomplishments. If only the other women she encountered in jail had a similar support system, perhaps more of them would succeed out in society like Hardin.

Thanks to NetGalley and Simon & Schuster for the opportunity to read the ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review. The book is scheduled to be published on August 1, 2023.

Wow. I loved this so much. I was not expecting to like it because I am not a big memoir person. But midway through I double checked that it was a memoir and not fiction because it was so entertaining. I rooted for Lara for most of the book and really felt like she did a great job describing how unfair the system is. It did feel at times that she did not do enough to fight back when it came to DJ. But such is life. I really enjoyed the retelling of Lara’s story and would recommend this to anyone.

Reading this memoir hit all the marks for me. This book is very well written. The words flow which makes it easy to read and submerse yourself in what Hardin is conveying rather than getting tripped up with confusing diversions or unnecessarily long explanations. Her writing is succinct and to the point which I liked. She also helped me to pause and recognize all the things I take for granted in my everyday life. It was such an important reminder of all the things – the sunlight, the grass, the trees, the sky, the freedom – that we forget to be grateful for as we move through our everyday lives.

Hardin did not make excuses for the addiction and behaviors that led her down the path she ultimately travelled. What I found so compelling was how Hardin was able to show how those who are at their lowest point, those who need our help the most, are often shunned, rejected, and are given faux second chances. Yes, she took advantage of people and paid for what she did, but she was also taken advantage of with no recourse, no justice for those apparently “acceptable” crimes committed against her like the false reporting of crimes she did not commit for which she also paid for. Hardin also acknowledges that her experiences are through the lens of privilege, and that she is speaking only through that lens, but that there are so many more stories to be told by those currently incarcerated and those who are imprisoned by our society long after they have been released. She discusses the unpaid labor of women, and how the system is set up to conveniently ensure there is a steady stream of incarcerated women to do that unpaid labor and that without it, the system could not survive.

This is a memoir with so many facets, so many compelling points that make the reader stop and think: maybe all is not what it seems with our justice system. Maybe we need to open our eyes and our minds instead of pretending it doesn’t affect us. We, as a society, always assume the guilty rightfully are incarcerated and we can just forget about them and move on with our lives feeling just a little bit safer. But what about those wrongfully convicted? What about those who serve their time and are left on the street with nothing and no way to get a job, no way to find a decent place to live, no options but to return to their previous life or return to incarceration no matter how hard they have tried to change their circumstances? What about those where incarceration is the safest place for them to be because of all the abuse they have suffered throughout their lives? What does that mean about us as a society? About our humanity? Our system isn’t broken. It is very intentional. There is nothing to be fixed. It needs a complete overhaul – a brand new system. Unfortunately, as a society, we love to leave those issues to someone else to deal with because “it doesn’t affect us.” But I have seen firsthand the damage incarceration can do to a person, and it is a life-long trauma that is not easily overcome compounded by the enormous fees, fines, loss of driver’s licenses, loss of the right to vote, and the myriad things that can be done to them by our justice system long after they have paid the price for their actions. It is redeeming to see Hardin’s hard-fought success, but she points out that many do not have the privilege, education, or opportunity that gave her the small chance of success that she had. We see her privilege and how extremely difficult it was for her, and we have to wonder, what is it like for those who don’t have those privileges?

This is a beautiful story about redemption and second, and third, and fourth chances. It's also a brief glimpse of the broken justice system. I can't imagine having to negotiate everything that this woman had to do in order to keep everything in line once she decided to make the choice to straighten out her life. The fact that one person's unproven statement could completely derail everything is unbelievable. It's also a brief look at what white privilege can do for someone. The system is broken. I'm happy for Lara Love Hardin and that she could turn her life around and be successful. Many women she came in contact with likely didn't fare as well.

I read this book due to a podcaster giving it high praise. It was unfortunately not the book for me.

Lara Love Hardin's memoir about her drug addiction, felonies, incarceration, and rehabilitation reads like fiction. I could not turn the pages fast enough. This is one of the best books I have read this year. Lara's journey will stay with me for a long time. I want my book club to read this. We will have a lot to talk about.

Thank you, Simon & Schuster, and Net Galley for the advanced copy of this amazing book. The comments expressed are my own.

(3 1/2). Pretty amazing memoir. We all know someone, a relative, a friend, a child of a friend who has addiction problems. The life, the bad decisions, the experiences that Lara Love had and is having are truly amazing. .A very compelling read. Yes, the ending is a little too perfect but she earned it, and not in an easy way. Good stuff.

I really appreciated this book. As a Probation Officer I get to know a lot of addicts and often they're really nice people but went down the wrong path because of drugs. It's nice that there is a book that really shows how it'll ruin a person's life until they take steps toward recovery. Drugs don't discriminate! Thank you for the ARC!

I loved this book the ending was a bit slow for me to get through but I loved it such a big eye opener for me. As a mother that had her kids go through foster care it hurt my soul to read that. But I didn't expect to enjoy the book like I did.