Weirdest book I've been granted as a ARC. Read the first chapter, then skimmed the balance. This person obviously is trying to talk herself into "living" despite a setback but (to me) the entire thing was a waste of time. Ugh. Sorry to be so uncharitable with my write-up but I'm not interested in reading books (or diaries posed as novels) of this type.

"Think of grief, anger, worry as bricks or planks of wood. Stop staring at the materials, half believing they were delivered to you by mistake, half expecting a truck to haul them away. Accept that these are your materials right now. Start building. Keep moving."

I was introduced to Maggie Smith's work via Twitter, and her "Keep Moving" affirmations initially reminded me of the "Gmorning/Gnight" tweets of Lin-Manuel Miranda (also now in book form). Smith's messages of encouragement, however, have their genesis in a specific experience: the painful end of her 19-year marriage and the beginning of her new reality. Sections of her "keep moving" exhortations are connected by brief, poignant descriptions of personal moments that inspired these affirmations.

I'd recommend reading this book in small doses; there are only so many pieces of insight that one can meaningfully process in a sitting. I do not say this flippantly;many of Smith's messages resonated strongly with me, and I would absolutely recommend this to anyone struggling with grief, change, and uncertainty. It is a book that I will purchase and return to again.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This is the kind of book that you read a few pages and put down. It seems to be slightly repetitive, basically telling the reader to keep going. What was most interesting where the parts she actually shared stories of her life the bits about her son post divorce but they were few and far apart.

I had never heard of her but she's popular in twitter with her motivational tweets. I liked it. It took about 1 and a half hours to read. It felt like a little pick me up.

Once I saw this was compared to Glennon Doyle and Anne Lamott, I knew I wanted to read it and I was not disappointed.

This is basically a series of pep talks, but it's also a lot more beautiful and profound than that might sound. Tiny Beautiful Things by Cheryl Strayed is my favorite book ever, but this is a great follow up read, too. 

I don't think everything will apply to everyone, but there are a lot that will apply to any given person. I'm so glad this book was pitched to me; I absolutely loved it. (I don't want to share any excerpts because it feels like the worst kind of spoiler.)

This is a very real contender for my favorite book of the year, and yes, I know it's only January.

Highly recommended.