If you’re looking for a memoir that you won’t be able to put down, pick up The Many Lives of Mama Love. Lara Love Hardin is a highly successful ghostwriter of other people’s stories, and in this book, she tells her own story.

Hardin was a suburban mother and member of the community whose experience with addiction led her to jail. As the book cover notes “The Many Lives of Mama Love is a heartbreaking and tender journey from shame to redemption…”

The memoir shares Hardin’s personal experiences and feelings, but also intricately describes the conditions and social order in jail. I love that Hardin highlights stories of women she meets in jail, some of them very young, and how they ended up there and the complex processes that need to happen for them to get out and stay out.

Hardin’s story is worth reading to understand how a mother of four once on the PTA could end up stealing from her neighbors and separated from her children while in jail. Because of her experiences, Hardin can advocate for incarcerated women.

Mama Love’s story is one of the lowest lows of addictions and also of forgiveness and hope.

This review is posted on Instagram @beginandendwithbooks and on Goodreads Michelle Beginandendwithbooks

There is nothing better than a well written memoir. So many memiors fall flat. This one is wonderful. When you read it you can feel the heart of it all. You can really see and feel the author's life and thoughts. So good

I loved this book! i'm a sucker for memoirs! And underdogs! Lara has this way of writing that encapsulates you immediately, I was 12 pages in and immediately started recommending it to everyone. I like mom stories. I like stories that the mom had real problems and monsters and she beats them all. Lara tells a story of her life and doesn't miss a beat and doesn't leave out any detail. She is a addict and a mom and a writer and one doesn't define you and one doesn't explain your whole life. I never once found myself angry with her or confused or wondering what she was thinking. I knew. As a child of an alcoholic, I understood. This is one of those stories that I won't soon forget. Or stop reccommending.

I think this is one of my faves of 2023. This review is late but I wanted to say how much I loved this book and it was so inspiring and heartfelt and raw. I read it on the plane and was crying. Such an incredible story of a woman turning her life around and so much of it--the shame, guilt, lack of self-love--resonated with me (although not due to the same situation). Hardin is a gifted writer and I can't wait for her next book.

Incredible 5 star read. One of my top books of 2023 and probably one of the best memoirs I have ever read. Thank you #netgalley for the opportunity to read this before its release. I have since purchased my own hardback copy so I can share it with friends. 5/5 stars

This memoir was super interesting and well-written in my opinion-- the only reason it's not 5 stars is that the premise of the book was her character development, but other than not being on drugs/change in circumstance, I didn't really see a difference in her throughout the book.

I received this book as an ARC from NetGalley.

Lara Love Hardin has gone through many "lives" in her journey to successful literary agent and ghost writer. Her memoir follows her fall from soccer mom to jail for stealing credit cards, identities, and anything else that wasn't tied down to support her increasing drug habit.

I was fascinated by her description of the hierarchy she found in jail and how she was able to use her intelligence to help others. She had a much harder time helping herself.

Through a combination of skill, luck, and determination she was able to get a job working for a literary agent, where she rose to become a full partner. She co-wrote and ghost wrote books with the Dalai Lama and Bishop Tutu.

As I was reading the book, I realized that I had read and enjoyed "The Sun Does Shine" which was co-authored by Hardin.

After reading Just Mercy and The Sun Does Shine, this was a must read for me. It was such an incredible story and really highlighted the injustices of our “justice” system. Hardin gives and unfiltered, uncensored look into her experiences highlighting growth, forgiveness, and self-reflection.

The Many Lives of Mama Love was a beautifully written memoir. I heard about this book on Sarah’s Bookshelves Live and couldn’t wait to get my hands on it.
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Lara Love Hardin describes her addiction that fueled her crimes that ultimately landed her in jail, trying to get out to get her son back. It’s a really clear view into addiction and the challenges of parole. We also got a really interesting look at her career as a ghostwriter. I definitely look forward to reading her next book that she mentions in her acknowledgements (don’t skip them!)

She wrote one of the most memorable and touching memoirs of all time. I didn't realize how unjust the American criminal justice system is until I read her memoir. Kudos to Lara for getting out of jail and picking up the pieces so she can reunite with her kids and redeem herself. Thanks, NetGalley, for an honest review. I look forward to reading more of her works in the future.

wow! This memoir was so well written and an on point description of the sickness that is addiction. As a sibling of two addicts in recovery, so much of this book was felt deep in my bones. What really stuck out to me was the barriers that stood in Lara's way once she was out of prison. It's amazing that anyone is able to keep their life together with the hoops they are made to jump through.

This book was a great read.I loved the way the author told the whole story from start to finish. I did not know anything about drugs or jail and boy did I Lear a lot of valuable information. I was so happy for Laura that she turned her life around and came out on top. She encouraged all her fellow inmates and others. Her spirit was amazing. This book was a page turner.

Once I started reading this book, I could not put in down. We begin with some intense scenes about drug addiction that were difficult to read and hard to relate to. However, what ensues is a beautiful story about overcoming the odds even when they are stacked against you.

This book made me think a lot about rehabilitation and how we treat criminals. It also made me stand in awe of how Laura refused to let her mistake define her.

I would recommend this book to anyone.

This moving and powerful memoir describes how the author, a suburban mom, ended up in jail after an addiction to pain pills turned into an addiction to heroine which led her to credit card and identity theft. We follow her journey through jail and probation to finally getting her life back together.

This is definitely up there with the best memoirs I’ve ever read. Lara’s story is so compelling, and her writing is wonderful. But beyond that, it’s a book that makes you not just feel so many emotions but also think deep thoughts - about the injustice of our justice system, about punishment vs rehabilitation, about addiction, about forgiveness and self-forgiveness.

I originally started reading this as my “phone book” which is usually a book I read slowly over a period of weeks or even more - but I became so caught up on it that I put my other book aside to just read this one and finished it in just a couple of days - all the while talking about it constantly with my family. So good, this one will stay with me for a long time.

4.5 stars

This memoir provided a realistic look at the US prison system and one woman's journey, family, and career trajectory as a result of her time in prison. It was illuminating and was filled with gripping prose.

I actually did not finish this book - I started, and got about 10% in and realized I just could not take reading about the drug induced behavior of Lara and her husband. I have no idea what happened to her child that was seized and taken to foster care but I just could not get through this book.

The Many Lives of Mama Love. The opening scene is intense as Hardin details how she went from being a suburban mom attending PTA meetings to being arrested for identity theft, addicted to heroin and losing custody of her toddler son. She takes you along through her journey and spares no detail. I devoured this book in a day and a half and felt my anxiety spiking as Hardin’s story unfolded.

While Hardin’s story is very much the exception for what happens to others who are incarcerated, it is an important story to hear. How she was able to atone for her mistakes, while using her gift of writing to help others is inspiring. This is a memoir about how to move past your worst moments and learn from them.

I found this one easy to read and flew through it quickly. I wanted more about how Hardin found herself struggling with addiction, but realize that this memoir is more focused on how she overcame her hardships. I thought the writing was easy to read, but at times felt a little basic, but when it comes to a memoir I'm not one to judge too harshly because someone was brave enough to share their life experiences.

I struggle to rate memoirs because obviously each person's story is their own. So, in this case the issue is not her life but the way she chose to share it with us.

The description of "The Many Lives of Mama Love" feels very different from what the book actually was. "Jailhouse shot caller" seems a bit dramatic.

The early chapters of the book were quite interesting. It began to get flat and boring to me as the book went on. There was a startling absence of introspection. I thought we would have gotten some sort of evaluation about how she ended up where she was, what may have led her to make the choices she made. There was none of that. Almost no discussion of her life prior to her arrest. In the prologue she thanks a new found family and then notes that is a subject for another book. That instantly made me roll my eyes. This might have been a more interesting story if she had talked about aspects of her family - new and old and how all of that contributed to all that she became.

Her ability to rise above her mistakes was indeed admirable but the last at least 1/3 of the book felt like she was name dropping to convince us and maybe herself that she had truly moved beyond the woman who was initially arrested. She did, at least, succeed in convincing me to download one of the books she had written about a wrongly convicted man.

I did appreciate Love Hardin's attempts to highlight some of the issues within the criminal justice system and the ways it is set up to keep inmates from being able to reintegrate into society. However, many times she seemed to take a victim position without owning all she did to end up where she was and all the privilege she had (someone to look after her kids, education, mother-in-law with money, access to an attorney, relatively low sentence, etc) even in her lowest moments.

Overall, though "The Many Lives of Mama Love" was relatively well written, I found it flat and boring and truly felt like a wasted opportunity to explore the many facets of addiction and ultimately redemption.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for allowing me to read an advanced reader copy in exchange for my honest review.

I couldn't put this book down! It's so well-written, engaging, and moving. It's basically about how our society treats people who've made mistakes, and how we don't make a distinction between those who are sorry for their crimes and those who aren't. Based on this book and others I've read, the US criminal justice system seems to be designed to keep people locked up once they've been inside for even a day.

But even though the book is heavy, it also made me genuinely happy for the author and how things turned out for her. It's a sad story, but not a sad book, and it has a happy ending (I promise I'm not spoiling anything; the author clearly wrote the book, so she's okay!).

I don't think you could read this book and not root for Mama Love.

I absolutely loved this book! It is a highly recommend for all of my reader friends. I love memoirs and especially those of addiction. Hardin writes in an honest and vulnerable way and takes her readers along on her journey. I was rooting for Hardin all the way through. The writing is beautiful and simple. It is a fast read and inspiring. I would recommend this for anyone who enjoys the genre of memoir.