A compelling story of a mother, wife, daughter who is embroiled in her addiction loving for her next high. The author tells her story of heartache, pain, loneliness, and despair in detailed prose. We walk the halls of jail with her cheering her on all the way. She learns how to fight for her children and work the system while keeping her demons at bay. Even after the justice system treats her so horribly she doesn’t fight back. She embraces her reality and finds a passion on writing. She heals her family and herself in the process. A beautiful testament to her Mama Love.

I LOVED this book and will be encouraging others to read it upon release - have already left a glowing recommendation on Instagram. While it carries a heavy topic, the writing is light, like you're sitting in a living room talking to a friend over coffee. There is a good balance of the struggle and challenges, with hope and humor. and YES i need a second book about the surprise family mentioned in the acknowledgments!

I received an ARC of this book from Netgalley in exchange for my honest review.

REVIEW TO FOLLOW.

The many lives of Mama Love
By Lara Love Hardin
I receive this ebook I. Exchange for a honest review!
This book is Startling memoir of how a typical suburban mom fell into the life of addiction, theft to feed her and her husbands addiction that them landed her in jail. This was a good book, that focused on how life’s circumstances can upend lives, which is exactly what happened to Lara love aka mama love. It was sad in that the children suffered without their mom and the author just kept getting pushed into that life. Ot is also a reminder with hard work and dedication you can achieve your dreams. And for mama love she was working to get back to bed babies. It was very well-written and captured my attention from start to finish.

Riveting non-fiction account of how a typical suburban mom fell into addiction an ended up in jail. This was an excellent book. It was very well-written and captured my attention from the start. I’ve already recommended it to a few friends.

This is one of those stories that is just hard to believe it’s real. Like, are we sure this isn’t some outlandish Lifetime movie where anything and EVERYTHING goes wrong for the person? The answer is no. This is Hardin’s real life, and like a train wreck, I couldn’t look away.

A suburban mom to 4 boys, Hardin seemingly has it all. A housewife with a million dollar house on a cul-de-sac, she also has a drug habit and an identity theft problem. Arrested in front of her four-year-old son and sent to jail, she is eventually accused of 32 felonies.

This is the story of her fall…and her incredible rise from the bottom. Her story is about resiliency, courage, and forgiveness of herself. She goes from a jailhouse “shot caller” to ghostwriting for some pretty cool authors and having lunch with Oprah. In fact, she’s connected to a lot of amazing people - the Dalai Lama, Desmond Tutu, Bryan Stevenson, and Anthony Ray Hinton.

In addition to her own story, she also talks about the failures of our justice system and how hard we make it for people to re-enter society after convictions - important topics that need to be added to the conversation of rehabilitation.

While her story is sad and heartbreaking, it’s also hopeful and inspirational - and you won’t want to miss it! This one doesn’t publish until Aug 1, but the good news is it’ll give you a memoir to put on your tbr and look forward to!

I'm not sure this book breaks any new ground but it is definitely interesting and enjoyable. Some bits were a little glancing to me and I would I have liked more. I appreciated that Lara Love Hardin didn't go to far into the faith part of recovery. I also appreciated her acknowledgement of her privilege, even if her road was also difficult.

When you read about individuals landing in prison because of crimes they committed due to addiction, you think, oh that could never be me, but Lara Love shows you just how easy it can happen. Despite her love for her kids, especially her youngest, time and time again she succumbs to addiction and ends up sabotaging herself. This is an unflinching look at addiction and all that it does to a family as well as an education about the justice system and how it unfairly treats women and mothers.

Thanks to Netgalley for the arc to review.

This book was so good! I think everyone can relate to feeling the shame of the worst thing we ever did and then trying to overcome that identity to grow and blossom into something more authentic. It also highlights that addiction can happen to anyone, the strength it takes to overcome it and the way our prison system is set up to fail. This book covers so much that is so important. I hope everyone will read it!

Great book - great writing - true story
The Many Lives of Mama Love is the author's story of a well to do suburban housewife living a wonderful life with her family until she and her husband's drug addiction leads her to steal credit cards and money from her neighbors to feed their habit. Her 3 sons from her first marriage are taken in by her first husband and his wife. Her toddler son is in the system, but thankfully is also taken in by the husband and wife. The book is not only about how addiction can take charge of your life, but also the how the prison system is so unfair. To be clear this is not an Orange is the New Black kind of story, this is about how Mama Love beat her addiction, helped other inmates,was finally released, but still had to face unfair obstacles to be able to get custody of her son, get a job, a place to live.
I will definitely be reading other books by this author.
Thank you NetGalley for the opportunity to read this ARC copy of this book

The opening passage of The Many Lives of Mama Love hooked me. Lara Love Hardin describes reading as her first addiction. Then, she goes on to detail how it wasn't the books, per se, but the escape. That her main addiction was always escape; the means of escape just get increasingly more dangerous as Lara ages.

This book was wow. Lara's writing is so good. I didn't want to highlight sentences; I wanted to highlight whole pages of text. The way she strings words together is beautiful and nuanced. But what's beautiful writing without a story arc? Well, The Many Lives of Mama Love has both. Lara Love Hardin's life is deeply sad and a tale of turning surviving into thriving. I'm sure this will be compared to Orange is the New Black - a suburban white woman's time in jail - but they're not the same (why must every book be compared to another?). Lara is clear that she was a criminal. She may not have committed all 32 felonies she went to jail for, but she committed so many others (and so many smart crimes!).

Lara's observations of her time in jail are unique. She deftly learned to navigate the system and the hierarchy in her favor - both will personnel and other inmates. Lara explains that doing something for nothing is suspicious, so even if you don't want something in return, you must ask for something in return. Lara describes the relationships she forms and how she supports her peers by writing letters on their behalf.

The most appalling things to read about were. at least for me, Lara's life post-discharge. Lara had to jump through a seemingly endless number of hoops to meet probation, family court, drug court, and work discharge requirements. It's unfathomable to think about doing all she did to stay out jail, given how poor her resources were.

Then, wow, Lara's life after she gives up drugs and her husband DJ for good. It's quite the tale. I won't spoil it, but needless to say, she turns her life around. It is beautiful to read and her gratitude, alongside her fear of her past, is palpable. Overall, highly recommended. 5 stars. Thank you to the author and publisher for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I appreciated this raw and honest story of Love going through jail, addiction, and fighting for recovery. The writing was compassionate towards Love's and other's struggles.

This was such a great book of the life of Lara Love. I was so interested just based off the description but reading about her life before/during drugs, being in jail, and her life after was mesmerizing. I loved that this book showcased what Lara learned even after she had relapsed. She picked herself up, learning from her mistakes, and make a life that she had always wanted. This is a great book for people who may not understand addiction and the back story of people who have been in jail. I also loved the theme of forgiveness throughout this book, not only outward forgiveness, but self-forgiveness too.

What a powerful memoir. As outraged as I was at the judicial and probation systems, I cannot imagine having to navigate it. How does an average inmate released do it?

And the addiction story was devastating yet spot on. I highlighted so much. This was more than a war story recitation with a redemption bow tying it up. Lara tells about what is underneath the addiction. Because it's never really about the substance, right?

I don’t think words can’t aptly describe how I feel about this book. For the sake of context, my mom died less than a year ago after a long struggle with alcoholism. Any memoir that has addresses addiction has a tendency to hit me hard because I’ve personally experienced the hurt and pain that comes with it- for the addict and the people around them. That being said, this book blew me away. This is the type of book that everyone should read, no matter who they are or what their history is. It avoids any feeling or “lecturing,” while still sharing magical nuggets of inspiration. Lara Love has been through a lot- a lot has been done to her and she’s done a lot to herself. Her journey through the legal system, remedying relationships with family and others, finding her footing in the world and then, lastly, accepting who she is and what she has done to find real and true JOY…. It’s all just amazing.

Like I said, no words. Just wow. Really, really beautifully done.

A well-deserved, inspiring 5 stars.

Lara Love Hardin's memoir takes a look at the grittiest, darkest parts of her life, opening on a scene where she desperately tries to use a stolen credit card to get a hotel room for her and her young son Kaden. She's desperately trying to keep her head above water, attempting to make sure her older three sons with her ex-husband can see her, while simultaneously being dragged down by her current husband DJ as he only encourages their drug dependency. Ultimately, it ends in their arrest and Kaden being forcibly separated from his mother; this is, she notes, the rock bottom moment of her life.

Nonetheless, Lara perseveres, finding her footing in prison and learning the complex and unwritten hierarchy and social norms in this isolated world. It is through her long-held love of writing and literature, however, where she's able to pull herself out and stay clean of drugs and attempt to return to the outside world - but this poses its own set of challenges. Having never been in a situation like hers, it was eye-opening to see the biases and obstacles in place for those with felony convictions and how impossible it is to find even one opportunity to have a new chance at life.

This is a triumphant novel that doesn't shy away from Lara's moments of shame and guilt - these are necessary, I think, to fully understand her later successes and achievements. Her writing is simultaneously fierce and emotional, and I was pulled in from the very first sentences through the end of the novel; any reader will cheer her on, hoping for a happy ending. While it is a memoir, she spends time on some very large and pressing topics at large - her own privilege in the system as a Caucasian woman; the the detrimental conditions in prison, like the lack of access to clean water and food; and the nonsensical rules and requirements in incarceration that makes it difficult for many to escape the system; and the societal barriers and prejudices in place against those who have been previously convicted. As an avid reader, it was a delight to find out novels I had previously read that she was a co-author on, which only adds to her strength as a writer.

I know many readers will benefit from and cherish this novel when it's released in August 2023!

Although there were some inconsistencies in pace, this was a compelling story that I'm glad I read. This was absolutely a redemption story and that is always a narrative I enjoy. I found early Lara hard to relate to and connect with initially, but I imagine that is the nature of addiction. It did delay my connection with the story. Overall I enjoyed this memoir.

This book shows up there is no such thing as completely coming full circle around - but this story is close. Mama Love starts out seemingly having it all and then it's gone. Drugs, jail, losing her children - that's just the beginning. She learns to navigate the system with all it's pitfalls. Dealing with others' opinions of your worth and most importantly learning to value yourself.

A fantastic read. Thank you Lara Love Hardin for baring your life. Thank you NetGalley for the chance to experience this.

Wow! What a powerful story!
The “Mama Love” of the title is what her fellow inmates called the author while she was incarcerated for many felonies, including theft of money and credit cards and illegal drug use. While she was locked up her toddler son was taken from her, her three other older children were sent to live with her ex-husband and his evil wife, her house was repossessed and she realized her present marriage was on the rocks. All this arose from her addiction to illegal drugs, starting with Vicodin (up to sixty per day) and progressing to heroin., firstly inhaled then intravenously..
Addiction is such a terrible disease. The pull to use again and again makes recovery so very difficult. But somehow Mama Love beat the drugs. She realized that she would never see her kids again if she continued to use, so she quit. Just like that. While the other inmates continued to smuggle all sorts of drugs into the jail, she kept herself clean. Amazing!
Her lawyer managed to secure a plea agreement, so she was released, but with so many conditions that life was almost impossible. If she messed up in any way she would be back behind bars for a very long time. She participated in drug rehab programs, underwent many drug tests and managed to jump through all the hoops put in front of her.
How did she manage the impossible? Well, she was white, middle class and educated to a Master’s level. She already knew she enjoyed writing and was good at it. And she found a few people who were willing to take a chance on her. And, obviously, she has tremendous determination and strength of mind.
She turned out to be a superb ghostwriter (writing other peoples’ stories in collaboration with the “real author”) and has worked with the Dalai Lama, Archbishop Tutu and a gentleman who was incarcerated for thirty years for a murder he did not commit. Her kids were returned to her and they still seem to love her. She is in a new marriage and she is a productive member of society.
I am totally in awe of Mama Love - I who cannot say no to a jelly donut. How do you keep away from addictive drugs that your body craves? And she can write too. This book, while talking about heavy matters, is easy to read and hard to put down.
I received a copy of this book from NetGalley, for an honest review.

Thank you Netgalley for the opportunity to read The Many Lives of Mama Love! This autobiography about Lara Love Hardin’s fall from upper class suburbia and rise to overcome her addictions and make a new life for herself was fantastic! I could not put this book down, her style of writing really put me in the middle of her trials and tribulations and opened my eyes to the difficulties of assimilating back into normal life after being a convicted felon. Lara’s troubles with the probation and court system really shine a light on the problems with our justice system and why so many offenders end up back in jail because of all the red tape they have to go through just to get back to a somewhat normal life.
Lara learns the in and outs of how to survive in G block and eventually how to live outside of jail again, but reading about her court dates, meetings, community service and random drug tests made me stressed! I would definitely recommend this book!