Quick Synopsis: Treska grew up in the Boston area with a family that was affiliated with the Winter Hill Gang. With her family members addicted to drugs and a father who was in jail and absent from her childhood, she always felt like she was taking care of everyone around her. After returning to Boston for her aunt’s funeral, Treska comes to terms with her childhood and just how special her hometown and family really are. 

Strong Points: The plot wasn’t anything new or exciting, but the writing kept me reading. She gave the perfect amount of description, leaving the reader feeling as if they knew the family and where she grew up. Also, loved the cover!

Weak Points: I would have liked for the author to delve more into her family’s mob connections.

I enjoyed reading the author’s memoir, it just appealed to me. She tells what living in her world was like in a refreshing fashion. Many of us know what it’s like to grow up with unusual family members, but maybe can’t relate it so well.

I enjoy reading about others as they experience their own life’s journeys So memoirs alway fascinates me.
This books has its ups and down at times I found myself drifting away from the story however I don’t want to mislead you into thinking I didn’t like it. It is an interesting memoir just at times a little slow.
Thank you netgalley

My whole life has been about "breaking even" and hustling hard for every dollar and every minute of free time I could afford. So the title and cute, clever cover captivated me and I was thrilled to read this book. But, it was..... lacking. I'm not quite sure how to explain it. There is something missing. It is not intriguing. The writing is poor. The sentences don't flow. The big picture is clunky. The narrative which could have been fascinating, was done in such a way that it was "meh". It's not the worst book in the world, but it was nothing special or interesting.

This was a book that intrigued me by the cover and title alone. I went into this with a certain idea of want to expect. But it was nothing like what I imagined. I thought it would be more true crime in details. It is more memoir without the crime part. Nice read and shows how we can all be forgiven by those we love.
#simonandschuster
#netgalkey

Treska is a storyteller who carries on her family's sordid past with eloquence, humor, and honesty. It resonates with the scrapped-up, messy life parts of me.

Let me preface this by saying that the further I got in to the book, the more I realized I am probably not the target audience. I will also issue a spoiler alert because I can't talk about what did and did not work for me without describing portions of the book as such. So, setting aside the minor word placement errors (is it printed like that or just on the E-Book copy?), I sometimes had trouble with the flow of the book because the sentences did not jive for me. I'd have to reread again and again to decipher what was trying to be said.
I requested this book because the cover was appealing, and a memoir sounded interesting. Sometimes they say that everyone has a story, you just have to listen. Well, I was ready to listen, but it seems like all the good parts were left out. Nuggets of information about Mom and Phil - give me the entire rundown. Lindsay! That story needs to be told. I want to know everything about getting in to that relationship, suffering with an addict, and getting out. Aunt Loretta! The description of her while giving the girls a bath - so enticing - she has a hard life. Tell me that story!
The book timeline itself was also problematic for me. So much jumping back and forth in time. Not just between chapters, but sometimes within the chapter. I was lost and eventually just rolled with it because who knows where and when I'm supposed to be. The summary made me believe there were going to be many, many more stories (and when I say stories, I mean in depth stories) about Boston and the mob ties that the family had. That was all just a thin layer throughout the book and not explored enough for me. Other storylines: The apartment and Airbnb. Renting out the apartment for weeks at a time then months at a time. Where did you go for months while you were renting? When you moved out, where did you go? That one apartment couldn't have been the only home ever in New York. If you moved around so much, why not market the book as a cross country childhood instead of leaning so much into Boston, where it seemed your family lived and not you. The Turk. Why was he included at all? There was nothing special or truly significant about him. A relationship that doesn't work out. He ghosted? OK, let's move on. Based on the acknowledgements at the end of the book, the author is married to James. Who is James? Where is that love story?
There were funny, throwaway lines throughout that gave me a chuckle, so that was good. But how about a trigger warning before the basement story with the creepy neighborhood brothers? Because that is not something I was expecting, at all, whatsoever.

A well written memoir but I did find myself beginning to lose interest at the halfway mark. It's always hard to pass a personal judgement on someone's memoir, and while I felt Nicole's was beautifully written and I enjoyed the history aspects, I struggled to connect with it on the whole.

Thank you to Simon and Schuster and NetGalley for the ARC. This book is cool! I’m from New England so the history about Boston and the surrounding areas is interesting. It’s weird to write a review for someone’s autobiography. I can’t really judge their life and thoughts. It’s someone’s experiences and feelings written down for everyone to view and judge. I can only say that I’m glad I got to read about her life!