I’ve read a lot of quit lit and have found some to be life changing. Sadly, this book wasn’t for me. Less of a memoir and more of a book about AA. The topic of alcohol misuse is so personal and fragile that we will all find different books helpful so this is no way a sleight on this one, I have just personally read others that have resonated with me more.

Thank you to the author, publisher and Netgalley for the ARC.

I liked the first part of this book, which is memoir. It's the author's story of sobriety, which includes her mother's story as well. It was honest, interesting, with a casual tone I appreciated. Then all of a sudden around 40%, the tone changed drastically and it turned from memoir to how-to. The tone is harsh and shaming. As I read the chapter on parenting and drinking I thought, "Holy crap, this is downright mean!" I do not have children, and I would NOT recommend this to any of my friends who are moms.

The middle chunk of the book is full of the author's opinions that are touted as facts. They feel outdated and judgmental. The way she presents this information is insensitive, potentially dangerous, and downright false. First of all, alcoholism is NOT an allergy. That's scientific fact. Second, she says that to maintain sobriety, you can't even take NyQuil or Benadryl to sleep, claiming you won't die from not sleeping. That may be technically true, but sleep deprivation is incredibly harmful - it's used as a form of torture for crying out loud! Then she says if you're prescribed pain medicine, it's okay to take them but only when you really need them and then throw the rest of the way. That's irresponsible coming someone touring the dangers of prescription drugs. I could go on and on about all the little things like this that upset me. Overall, the author pushes 12 Step Programs, and while I understand they are successful for many people, I got sober without one and I know tons of other people who have.

The overall sense of the book is there's a one size fits all path to sobriety and if you don't do that you're a failure. I strongly disagree and see how this can be scary and harmful for women who are looking for help evaluating their drinking.

There are other books out there that are kinder, more accurate and more realistic, particularly Annie Grace's This Naked Mind.

I have been reading a lot of "quit-lit" recently as a social drinker, cutting down on my own alcohol consumption. I was expecting a memoir, and while there were some elements of memoir to this, it at times felt like an almost-evangelical approach to get people to subscribe to AA. 

There are many stories shared in the book alongside the authors, but I didn't really relate to them - all seemed either predisposed to addiction, or else were driven to it by trauma. There was nothing really relatable for someone like me - a social drinker looking for ways to moderate my own consumption. 

While I found it interesting to read some of the accounts, I also found it disappointing that the author didn't consider approaches other than AA, so that some of the impact of the book was lessened as it felt more like an advertising tool than a balanced account. 

I do think however that more serious drinkers would find helpful information here, it just wasn't what i was looking for. 

Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with a free ARC copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This book really makes you think about how many social situations you are are in where alcohol is either present or the star of the gathering. For example when getting together after work with coworkers, it is always at Happy Hour versus getting dinner at a diner that doesn't serve alcohol. It was interesting to read about how intertwined alcohol and socializing have become and about the consequences of this.

Not what I was expecting. Written specifically for folks who drink too much and need a Dr. Phil style talking to. Not really memoir.