Helena Dea Bala has compiled a selection of essays based on confessions made by mostly anonymous posters on Craigslist. These essays are based on a variety of themes, such as love, regret, secrets, memories, etc. It was interesting to read such raw and honest stories from real people, and it makes you wonder what secrets those closest to you are hiding.

Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC. All opinions are my own.

A deep and intriguing set of stories. Craigslist Confessions really gives us a glimpse into the lives, fears, regrets, and hopes that these individuals shared with a stranger. I think Helena Dea Bala did a fantastic job of bringing each persons unique voice to their stories.

This book was great. I love how the stories are anonymous and the book is divided into sections. I also loved how diverse the stories are even when they are under the same category.

I highly recommend this book.

I was expecting a compilation of stories that represented the human experience. This book delivers that, but it left me feeling down. It wasn't the uplifting, hopeful part of being human. Mostly, just the depressing parts. I enjoyed the stories, but felt like I needed a few more joyful messages peppered in. Overall, it was a good read, but I don't think I'd read again.

Thank you to the author, Gallery Publishing and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I am a long-time fan of Studs Terkel and his oral history books, and checking the Postsecret website every Sunday has been a ritual for years, so I knew I wanted to read this - and it did not disappoint. I liked the way the author grouped the "confessions" into five overarching themes (Love, Regret, Loss, Identity and Family). Yes, much of this book could be called depressing at a first glance - the stories are emotionally raw and may be triggering for some. This is not light fare, but dark and deep, and it left me feeling privileged to be allowed a glimpse into other's lives, struggles and thoughts.

Craigslist Confessional is based on the idea that sometimes it is easier to tell a secret to a stranger that to somebody close to you. The author has become a repository for such secrets and has chosen a selection ,loosely based on themes like Love., Loss, Regret and Family , to include in this collection. In the introduction to the book she explains her motivation to publish the book and how she originally came up with the idea while working as a lobbyist in Washington DC yet struggling with feelings of isolation and invisibility despite her apparent success. This led her to start wondering about what lay beneath the surface of the image people present every day, and she decided to post an ad in the Craigslist Personals section asking people to tell her about themselves, which eventually led to her meeting some of the respondents in person, and the idea for this book.
As you might imagine there are many sad and difficult to read stories in the book, and in terms of trigger warnings the list is long including rape and sexual assault, suicide, infant death, addiction, homophobia and probably several more. We are getting the raw unvarnished truth of people's lives, and at times that does make for difficult reading, but I did appreciate the honesty of the people who told their stories , even when they were less than flattering. The author has done a good job of recording their stories without judgement and while we don't hear much of her voice in the book, which I think is a good thing given its nature, she is clearly a remarkable and compassionate woman, and people find it easy to open up to her,

Author Helena Dea Bala discovered something wild and fascinating in the year she took off work as an underpaid lobbyist. After posting a Craigslist ad for people to share whatever they desire, openly, honestly and in confidence, hundreds of people came out of the woodworks to get their deep-rooted secrets. There are tales of infidelity, abuse, racism, as well as stories of love, hope and regret. With each confession revealed, I literally could not book this book down! It’s mesmerizing, heartbreaking and incredibly raw. Although I felt terribly sad after reading many of the perspectives, I am walking away with greater appreciation for the hardships and triumphs everyone endured.

Thank you NetGalley and Gallery Books for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

A unique book. A collection of confessions that strangers gave via Craigslist to the compiler through various methods.

Each confession is quick to read. Some stay with you for a lot longer than others.

The stories are divided into five themes - Love; Regret; Loss; Identity and Family.
Some stories are heart-wrenching because they deal with abuse - sexual; emotional; physical and substance and also various addictions and disorders.

Because people prefer to keep their darker secrets hidden, the format of the book lending itself to a more anonymous approach means that people are more keen to share their darkest secrets and this doesn't make this the easiest of books to read. I would not advise reading this book in one sitting as it can leave a person feeling rather "down". This is mostly the reason why I'm giving it a three star rating as it took me two months to get read as I stopped whenever I felt the stories weighing down too heavily on me - the worldwide situation of lock-down and sickness due to corona-virus did not help alleviate the atmosphere either.

I found all 40 something stories in this book so compelling. I think all readers will find a story or more to relate to. A great insight into the power of listening to listen, not to respond.

Thank you to Netgalley for providing me with this book in exchange for my honest opinion. This book will be available on July seventh.

I was originally intrigued by this book because it was described as appealing to readers of Postsecrets. For those who don’t know, the concept behind Postsecrets is this: people write their secret, whatever it may be, on a postcard and mail it anonymously to an address. The postcards are collected and printed. The secrets range from sad to uplifting. Craigslist Confessional feels like a longhand version.

First of all, people like the author of this book are rare. To be able to just listen to someone tell a story, without offering advice or judgement, is a skill that not everyone has. It’s apparent throughout that author Helena Dea Bala really cares about the people she speaks with, and it makes the book even better.


This book is really, really good. It’s also really sad. Often, the stories not shared by people are left untold because they’re so hard to tell. The book contains tales of drug use, death, and regret. However, there are also stories of triumph and encouragement. Five minutes in, I was tearing up. I don’t often cry at books (although when I do, I completely fall apart), but this book got to me.

That being said, this book will not be for everyone. Parts of it are incredibly harsh. To be honest, I skipped a couple of the stories, once I realized where they were going. I did that to avoid things that might upset my mental well being. Even though I had to skip a few of the stories, I loved the rest of the book. It is a reminder that, even though we don’t all share the same experiences, we all share the same emotions. We can all relate.

If you can handle reading about the tougher subjects, I recommend this book.

I love being a fly on the wall and catching glimpses of other peoples' lives. Craigslist Confessional is reminiscent of Humans of New York in that these short stories give you just a small window into the myriad ways life turns out for others. Voyeuristic without feeling icky, it's a reminder how unique and interesting we all are.

Trigger warnings: every one you can think of.

So if you couldn’t tell by the trigger warnings, this book is not a happy one. Definitely not a good book for me to read during quarantine, because once this is over I’m not sure I’ll ever want to leave my house again. This book is full of people who have got the short end of the stick and felt the need to confess everything to a random stranger they found through Craigslist. It’s funny how our society is so fucked that we’ll tell a stranger something so personal to us and not a therapist, family, or a friend.

Though this is incredibly sad, I ate this book up like Halloween candy. This book is crack for nosy people like me and some of these stories tell about the most fucked up parts of our society. Some stories are shallow and a bit repetitive but I envy these people for speaking their truth. I really hope there will be another book like this in the future.

Thank you to Net Galley and Gallery Books for the advance copy of this book in exchange of my honest review.
It’s nice to find yourself so wrapped up in a book that you think about when you aren’t reading, and can’t wait to get back to it. These stories from people of all walks of life are so raw, real, and brutally honest. These stories made me feel heartache, sadness, grief, happiness and admiration. Each story is written so well and is short and easy to follow. I found myself connecting with these strangers and wishing I could know more. I would highly recommend this book to anyone! I think this is exactly what I needed right now. Although some stories were tough to digest and my heart hurt for many of these people, it reminds me that we are all human and we are all going through something. May we all be more empathetic to the people we don’t know, as we never know what is going in their life.

This book was wildly entertaining. It made me feel every emotion from fear to happiness to completely devastated to proud. There was only one story that was very confused and the author prefaced that it would be. I would love to read even more of these!

If you could share a powerful, forbidden secret with a complete stranger with no fear of reprisal. . . would you? And if many, many people share secrets so big, so huge, what might those stories look like? Well this book is exactly that. A confessional.

I ate this book up like candy! It is incredible how powerful an admission is, knowing you won't be found out. I think Bala had an incredibly unique idea, to post an ad on Craigslist, allowing anyone who would want to contact her. Some people truly just need someone that will listen to them.

This was a book unlike one I've ever read.. and if you'd like a completely different reading experience, than this is for you!

I’ve always been a huge fan of the “Post Secret” website and book collection, and this book reminded me so much of that, yet it also brought a deeper sense of commiseration for me as a reader.⁣
Unlike the brief secrets that are mailed in, the author collected her stories after placing an ad on Craigslist, first receiving them by email and then bravely meeting the subjects in person. Over time, she realizes that she has become a sort of therapist for these strangers, and she can often see the weight being lifted from them after they have unburdened themselves. ⁣
While there are some positive stories within, many of these confessions deal with heavy subject matter including abuse, rape, SIDS, homophobia and bigotry, so a trigger warning is in effect for those readers who are sensitive to these topics. My heart often broke for many of the people Helena talks with, and I commend them for their strength in speaking their truth. I saw myself in a certain number of these strangers, and it was reassuring to know that I am not alone in my feelings or experiences. ⁣
I enjoyed the way the book was set up, as it felt like you were sitting across from these people just like the author was. Helena makes it a point to transcribe the conversation exactly as it was told to her, so that it came across as real as it is. As disturbing as some of these confessions were, I do hope the author has more material for a second installment. ⁣

Thank you for the opportunity to review Craigslist Confessional by Helena Dea Bala. This seemed, from description, to be intended to be a light, entertaining read. It largely lived up to that description/assumption. Is it my favorite book of 2020? Nope. Is it one I'd think of when recommending to friends? Probably not. But I wouldn't caution people against it, either. It's fine for what it is.

A woman meets with people through a Craigslist ad and i to share a story without judgment. She shares forty of these stories in five categories: Love, regret, loss, identity, and family.

Some stories were hard to read but it helps one to see how different life is for some people and how fortunate I have been to live the life I have.

I'd not read Dea Bala's column, nor heard of her project before, of letting the unheard be heard. Such a wonderful concept. We're surrounded by stories, but we seldom hear them. Dea Bala changes that, and good for her. The stories in this collection are short, about four pages each, and they are heart-wrenching, educational, hopeful, though-provoking, and important. Dea Bala presents them well, retaining the voice of each author while obviously editing for clarity. This is a book to keep on your nightstand for occasional reading, as trying the chew on more than a few essays at a time is enough. It's an excellent way for us to get to know the neighbors we'll never meet, or at least hear the stories our friends won't tell us. I thank Net Galley for a review copy in return for an honest review.

I love having a peek into the lives of others. This book is perfect for all my fellow nosy people. Some stories are very heartbreaking and you may relate to some. I think this would make a great coffee table book or a book that you take your time with and read a couple entries a day or so.