Hands down one if he most honest, raw, and believable memoirs I have read in quite sometime.
I am a lover of real life stories and memories. Minka Kelley did the work, sat in the uncomfortable, felt the sadness and poured it all out for us word by word. I commend her on being so open and honest. I did not know much of her celebrity prior to this memoir, only that she was a beautiful face with a few hits, but I can see her now from a new lense.
I appreciate the sincerity, the hard truths and the moving forward, hers was not an easy story to finally tell.

I have been on a nonfiction kick recently and this one stood out for many reasons. I loved the honesty and emotion. I felt like I was in the moment with the author and I felt like the articulation of the circumstances were easy to understand which I appreciated with such a complex issue.

Wow. This memoir was heartbreaking. If you're looking for a book that will give you the inside scoop on Kelly's dating life, or time on "Friday Night Lights," this is not it. Minka Kelly dives deep into her childhood, her toxic relationship with her mother and her devastating home life. I had no idea about any of this and it was truly heartbreaking and eye opening. I'd recommend this to anyone - even if you're not particularly a fan of the actress.

Tell Me Everything by Minka Kelly I believe is a memoir that will help many girls who can fall into the pitfalls of being preyed upon because of being vulnerable and left unprotected many girls fall into that space.

Minka, I love her name, pulled out all the stops and pulled out a massive cart of things that have happened in her life that have shaped her, traumatized her, and haunted her. Talking about things that you've done that you're not proud of in this climate is nothing short of brave. One wonders why one would decide to. I think in this case it's cathartic and after the MeToo movement for Minka to share her experiences is not just helpful but needed.

Many women fall into the pitfall of blaming themselves instead of the why and Minka talking about her extensive therapy and therapy needed because of her traumatic childhood is such a needed story to tell. She doesn't hold back in talking about her privilege in her beauty or about her later life income to pay for it but she does talk about the amount of money it does cost to have the amount of therapy needed for trauma and also being beautiful has it drawbacks because you can be preyed upon more.

Minka's life is one of abandonment, neglect, poverty, witnessing things a child should never see or hear, and being abused by a very toxic group of males, especially one boyfriend when she was in her teens that later tried to sell a private recording and then sell it to the highest bidder. My blood boils when I think about how unprotected she was throughout her whole life and the huge cost to her because of it.

I think she is very forgiving of her parents, former Aerosmith Rick Dufay and Maureen Dumont Kelly. They both failed her tremendously. But I think one has to come to terms with what is and not what we had and do it for healing. There is a point where Minka says, every relationship she has had in her entire life is affected because of her parent's neglect but also that her mother's choice to keep her was for someone to love her but not so much for her mother to love her or do right by her. Heartbreaking but is such a universal issue especially right now.

I'll never forget this memoir. And I'll always now hope nothing but the best for Minka Kelly. She has written something that can be handed to girls in trouble or girls who perhaps not fully understanding what toxic relationships are. May Minka have the blessing life should have awarded her from the beginning. She sure has worked and earned it now. May she have the peace she should have always had. I thank her for the bravery and vulnerability it took for her to write this memoir.

I would like to thank NetGalley, the publisher, Henry Holt, and Minka Kelly for the opportunity to read and review this astonishing memoir Tell Me Everything by Minka Kelly.

A book for all especially those who have been traumatized.

I really didn’t know much about Minka Kelly’s life before reading this book. I’ve seen a couple episodes of Friday Night Lights and a few seasons of Parenthood (I know, I need to watch more of both) but other than that I really didn’t know anything about her. Her story surprised me and moved me. It is tough, heart-breaking, and inspiring all at once. She has lived a life you never would guess from what little we see from the outside. Highly recommend a read!!

Thank you to Henry Holt & Company and NetGalley for a free eARC in exchange for an honest review.

Minka Kelly's writing in this book is really beautiful, which is not always something I pay attention to. But there was something about her writing that often had me wishing I had a physical copy in front of me to highlight in this one.

Minka Kelly did not have an easy life. She grew up impoverished, with a mom who was addicted to some sort of drugs and had inconsistent access to money. When they were living with the man she grew up calling dad even though he's not her dad, there was a lot of domestic violence. Her biological dad was in and out of her life as a kid. Basically, her life was very chaotic and involved being bounced around from place to place for such a long time. I really appreciated how she recognized, repeatedly, how that inconsistency made it difficult in her adult life to figure out how to be in a healthy relationship.

I wish that there had been a little more about her time on the set of Friday Night Lights, but at the same time, what she did share made it clear that she spent a lot of her time on the set of the show being separate and holding herself apart from people, intentionally or not. Plus, her mom was really sick while she was filming the show. I really appreciated all of her talk about therapy and mostly, after reading this book, I just really wish Minka Kelly the best. She seems to be on the right track and I just really hope that everything goes well for her in the future.

I love Parenthood and Friday Night Lights and really enjoyed Minka in both series. Beyond that, I didn’t know much about her so I was excited to read her auto-biography.

I don’t know about you, but usually I pick up these types of reads as I want to know more behind the scene information about the show or the co-actors.

When a book doesn’t represent the work that made the celebrity popular, it really frustrates me.

In the case of Minka’s book, FNL’s was just barely mentioned and Parenthood wasn’t mentioned at all! :(

So from that angle, I thought this read was very disappointing.

However!

Minka’s story was actually so absorbing that, in the end, it didn’t even matter.

I grew up with a mother that was an addict. And to this day, I’ve never read anything that really hit so close to home or someone who understands that type of mother/daughter relationship.

I usually don’t seek out stories, fiction or non, like this as it brings up too many memories. Minka’s story took me by surprise though and I actually feel like it was a blessing in disguise.

For me, I was riveted to her story and finished this in a day. I honestly don’t even remember what else I did that day! ☺️

⭐⭐⭐⭐/5

• celebrity memoir
• very open writing
• trauma, not tea

Right off the bat with the prologue, I knew this book would be hard to read. You could feel the pain in her words on the page. She had an upbringing no child should ever have to endure (sadly, way too many do). A heartbreaking yet inspirational read.

🗣️ Thank you to @netgalley and @henryholtbooks for the opportunity to read and review this book via gifted eARC! All opinions are honest and my own.

Tell Me Everything
By Minka Kelly
Review and Rating 4 ⭐️

Wow! I was really impressed with this memoir. Being a fan of Friday Night Lights and only really knowing of Minka Kelly as Lyla Garrity from the series, I was not familiar with her personal story at all. At times gritty and shocking, she does not hold back.
Tell Me Everything is Ms. Kelly’s personal recollection of her childhood as well as the abuse, neglect, and abandonment she suffered. A central component to Minka’s story is her mother, who had Minka as a single mom, worked as a stripper to support her, and struggled with addiction. I felt this book was in a way therapy and finally a love letter of forgiveness to her mother.
She also highlights reconnecting with her father and her relationship with him today.
Although she goes in to some detail in this book about how she became an actress, and how she landed her role on Friday Night Lights, the portion of the book devoted to her time on the show and her relationship with Taylor Kitsch, who played Tim Riggins on the show, is actually quite small.
She also doesn’t mention names or go in to too much detail about more recent events in her life, so if you are expecting this to be a juicy tell all with lots of hot gossip, sorry you will be disappointed.
If you are looking for a well written memoir, about overcoming adversity and childhood trauma, and now using that resilience to help others, I think you will enjoy this book. Just be forewarned there are plenty of strong themes that may be troubling to some readers.
Once again the old adage is true “never judge a book by its cover”.
I want to thank Henry Holt and Company and #NetGalley for an eARC. All opinions expressed in this review are my own.



Book Rating Key
⭐️ Not Recommended
⭐️⭐️ Readable Book
⭐️⭐️⭐️ Good Book
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Excellent Book
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️Near Perfect Book

***Note*** I seldom give ⭐️or ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ ratings. If I feel a book is a ⭐️sometimes I just prefer to not finish reading it and not rate it. As for 5 ⭐️books, I think of those as books I would want to take with me to a deserted island 🏝️, and this means I read a whole lot of ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️star books. Happy Reading!

Real. Emotional. Horrifying. Transparent. Minka Kelly’s memoir is all of that, but what I liked most about it was that it is generous, full of grace for the imperfect people who populate her life. The relationship Minka had with her mother is central and informs every other relationship she has. From inception, her mother’s choices affect Minka. Single, with an unplanned pregnancy, Minka’s mother chose to keep her baby. The plan was to rear Minka with the help of her mother. Not only did that plan disintegrate, it was the first in a series of threads being pulled from an unraveling sweater.

But despite the hardships—and truly horrible experiences Minka suffered—this beautiful young woman most people know as Lyla from Friday Night Lights or Samantha on Euphoria managed to eke out an existence. It’s clear as Minka writes that she’s had effective therapy. She honestly shows us the pain, dysfunction, and grief without portraying herself as a victim.

I was captivated by this memoir, which is further proof that you cannot know what’s going on inside another person. Minka looks like a young woman who has it all—beauty, talent, and career breaks. But beneath that, there’s a woman who has persevered despite the seemingly overwhelming strikes against her. She’s refused to let sadness, heartache, and continuing challenges define her and that’s refreshing.

Wow. I read Tell Me Everything in one sitting. I was shocked, saddened and in awe of Minka Kelly. I love the memoir/biography genre because you get a first-person account of pieces of another person’s life. Watching Friday Night Lights, I had no idea of the resilience Minka possessed or anything about her ongoing struggle. I liked that she was true to herself and her story and didn’t use the book to shine a light and sugar coat her actions or inactions. Wishing her all the best in the future.

A beautifully written book where we see how hard it is to overcome a rough upbringing, how much resilience it takes to live through it & to grow up. Having to navigate so much on her own, Minka Kelly recounts the pain of her childhood with so much heart & an awareness of her own privilege & luck — a confrontation with her past that urges you to do the same with your own. It’s never too late.

This book was absolutely raw, heart-wrenching and incredible. More than anything, while it may not seem uplifting at the onset, I found myself thinking again and again about how miraculous it is that Minka broke the chains of abuse and poverty that were rampant in her childhood. This book has truly meant the world to me.

As a huge fan of Friday Night Lights, I was excited to read this! What a life Minka Kelley has been through. This is a beautiful memoir of resilience and overcoming childhood trauma. The story does jump around some, but Minka brings up a great reason why. The ending was quite abrupt in my opinion. I would have loved to read more about her recent years and work. Overall, I enjoyed reading about Minka and all that she has overcome.

This was a very interesting story about childhood trauma and abuse, and how deeply the effects can last throughout a person’s life. The fact that the author ended up becoming a successful actor is really a side note in her remarkable story. Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This book was good. It was a fast read and so interesting to see what a hard life Minka Kelly had. The writing was ok but interesting plot to keep me reading

I didn’t know much about Minka Kelly’s background, so “Tell Me Everything” was informative and interesting. She had a rough upbringing and her story was an intriguing one that you wouldn’t expect for someone who looks like they had it all. It was honest and vulnerable-something I appreciate in celebrity memoirs. Minka’s stories about her mother were raw and had me close to tears at some moments so I imagine it was quite challenging to write on that topic. She held back some names of some romantic partners that seemingly played a role in some huge times in her life, but otherwise it was a forthcoming, enjoyable memoir. 4 stars ⭐️.

Wow. I would never have guessed that Minka grew up the way she did! She did an excellent job of describing her first party experiences as well as describing her mother and the relationship she had with her.

Friday Night Lights is a comfort show and I've rewatched it multiple times. When I saw Minka was releasing a memoir I was so excited. There's so much about her life that I didn't know about or necessarily expect. It was heartbreaking to read about her childhood and of course get some behind the scenes of her time on FNL and with Taylor Kitsch. Overall this was an enjoyable memoir! I'd definitely recommend if you're a FNL fan.

Tell Me Everything is Minka Kelly's stunning story of overcoming incredible odds, displaying grit and resilience to become a successful actress. I knew bits of Kelly's story - the media loves mentioning her mother Mo, who often worked as a stripper. However, the story is much deeper and more complicated than the click-bait headlines lead one to believe. Kelly's early life was painful and difficult, marred by her mother's addiction, erratic father figures, instability, poverty, exploitative older boyfriends, and other challenges. Kelly is vulnerable and honest throughout the memoir, showing incredible grace to the adults in her early life. I found her story gripping, though there were passages that were written in an amateur tone that would have benefitted from further editing. Overall, though, this is an enlightening memoir that will interest both her fans and those new to her work alike.