Somebody’s Daughter by Ashley C. Ford is a book you are going to see everywhere this year. I suspect it will be on a lot of “best” lists and bookshelves. I listened to the audiobook and I highly recommend reading it this way. Ford narrates the book and she does it beautifully. I love hearing someone’s story in their own voice, and when it’s a voice like Ashley C. Ford’s, even better. There was something about the way she told her story that particularly touched me. Several times I wanted to reach through my phone and hug the little girl that was going through so much. She wanted nothing more than to be cherished but couldn’t understand that the pain the adults in her life were experiencing was not her fault, although she took the brunt.

Without giving too much away, we learn of young Ashley being raised by her single mother and grandmother, single because Ashley’s father had been incarcerated for most of her life. I found it ironic that despite her father being incarcerated for a violent crime, he was the main source of warmth and acceptance in her life. Even though, or maybe because, she had so little contact with him, she always felt treasured by him and that she was a source of great pride for him. In contrast, her mother, who to be fair had been through a lot herself, was brutal to Ashley physically and mentally. But at least she was there…for the most part. And when her mother struggled, her grandmother was there to step in.

The main theme of this memoir is family. Ford touches on the importance of family to your own identity and standing by the people you are closest to. But she also learns that sometimes it’s ok and necessary to step away from toxic relationships or at least define them on your own terms. This book is also about resilience and how it’s possible to overcome negative events and childhood messages. Ford doesn’t present herself as a victim, but as a survivor, and you can’t help but cheer for her.

Beautifully written and told, I hope this memoir is a great success. Thanks to MacMillan Audio for an advance audiobook via NetGalley.

This was so well written and so well told on audio. I couldn’t stop listening and finished this in one day. Ashley does so well at detailing complicated and troubling family dynamics.

Somebody’s Daughter caught me by surprise, and it will go down as one of my top reads of 2021. I went into reading this well-written memoir knowing very little about the author. This story of her life is equal parts powerful and beautiful and painful.

I am so grateful for the chance to listen to Ashley share her story in her own voice.

Thanks to NetGalley and Libro.fm for the opportunity to listen to an advance copy of this memoir.

I needed to sit on this book for a week before I could write the review. I love memoirs more than any of category. This book did not disappoint!! I related to several of Ashley's stories from growing up. Alot of women suffer in silence from things that happen as kids/teens. Ashley gave the reader/listener her raw childhood and these are the stories that people need to read and learn from. Thank you Ashley for sharing a piece of you!

Somebody’s Daughter was an honest and moving Memoir! Ford’s writing skills will draw your into the story right away. She talks openly about her family, her life experiences, and the relationships in her life. Understanding how she developed into the woman she is today, her relationship with her father who spent the majority of her life in prison, and how her family defined who she was. I devoured this book in two days and have found myself thinking about it since I finished.

Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC of this memoir. I didn’t know much about the author before reading this personal book about her complicated childhood. Ashely comes from a close-knit family but struggled with her often-times angry and abusive mother while dealing with the reality of her father being incarcerated for her entire childhood and early adulthood.

The audiobook is narrated by the author so I felt even more of a connection to the book hearing her speak her own words and truth.

I love reading memoirs because I believe everyone has a unique story to tell and it opens my eyes and heart to people whose lived experiences are different than mine. We are all human and trying to do our best.
My only complaint is that I wish there had been another chapter – or an epilogue to tell us what happened after the big event in Ford’s life that the memoir leads up to. Perhaps it’s too private and persona for Ford to share with the world.

This was a memoir both written and narrated by the author. While I enjoyed the book, parts of it were just so sad. And then to imagine the pain of the author as she narrated it..it’s just heartbreaking. It was very well written and I’m impressed by this author!

I loved this book. I found I could relate with Ashley C. Ford on MANY subjects. The story telling was engaging and flowed easily. Her relationship with her Grandmother was moving. I was very inspired by her spirit and her honesty. I could not put this book down. Thank you @netgalley for another wonderful book!

Ashley Ford’s Somebody’s Daughter is a powerful coming-of-age memoir. Readers should take the trigger warnings for this book seriously because Ford will rip your heart out again and again. But despite the hard moments and topics in this memoir, Ford’s writing style was a breeze and made this book very easy to listen to. The chapters are episodic, so there are some gaps in her life story, which the reader than has to catch up to. However, this doesn’t take away from the power and memorability of this book. I highly recommend this book. The journey is worth it but proceed with caution. 4.25 stars.

I received a free digital ARC from NetGalley and Macmillian Audio in exchange for an honest review.

This is a generous memoir, narrated by the author, who reveals a life of challenges. Under the imprint of Oprah, which is guarantee of success, Ashley C. Ford tells her own story which concerns more her relationship with her mother than her imprisoned father. But she also points out that her parents were very young when she was born, and the reasons for her father's incarceration are not revealed to the reader or her until late in the story. They are left deliberately murky since the real focus here is the family dynamic in the face of an incarcerated man. What these people did share above all was love for one another.

Audiobook narrated by the author. She did a great job and I highly recommend listening to this as an audiobook.
I’ve only read a few memoirs and I enjoyed them all. This one felt very close to home. I had a similar mother.
The author describes her life that is completely relatable. Her honesty is commendable. I thought this would be about her father but its more about her mother. I say that to say that this sentence, sentenced all of them. It was a trickle down effect of many things going wrong. A broken family.
My husband had a life sentence for murder so I know about the struggle. Life moves on without them. And then they get out. I think most people will enjoy this.
Thanks Macmillan Audio via Netgalley.

This is an audiobook review; read by the author. Ms. Ford has an AMAZING VOICE - and I mean that in every sense of the word. Prior to listening to this audio, I had never heard of Ashley C Ford - now, I would actively seek out anything that she has a hand in. This was a great memoir, as she read the "story" of what made her who she is today, I could HEAR the different aspects of her personality (if that makes any sense) - I could hear her as a child and then as a young adult, and so on. I think one of the best parts of this audio, is, that the author read it herself and to me, that always lends an air of authority and authenticity to it that can't be duplicated by anyone else. And bonus - she has a mesmerizing voice! I received an advance audio copy of this book from the author, publisher and Netgalley.com. The opinions expressed in this review are my own.

Ashley Ford's memoir is a perfect example of what an insecure attachment style looks and feels like in the life of a child. Somebody's Daughter recalls Ashley Ford's abusive childhood and her relationship with her mother and incarcerated father. This was a beautifully written memoir, full of heartbreak and longing for love and stability. It is raw, painful, and full of remarkable self-awareness.

I cannot imagine the amount of emotional work and self growth it took to write this book. This type of introspection is so draining, and it takes tremendous courage to write one's soul so bare. Just for that, this memoir is breathtaking. It was a privilege to be invited into Ashley's inner world in the pages of Somebody's Daughter. Truly stunning work.

A memoir that everyone should listen to. Beautiful, heartbreaking, yet hopeful. I teared up numerous times while listening to Ashley share her childhood trauma, but also about the people in her life who made her strong.

Thank you to NetGalley and MacMillan Audio for this advanced listener's copy of Somebody's Daughter, read by the author, Ashley C. Ford.

Wow, now this is a memoir. As a huge memoir fan I knew that I would more than likely enjoy Somebody's Daughter but I didn't know that I would LOVE it so much. Somebody's Daughter is Ashley C. Ford's life story, told from her perspective and narrated with her own voice. Ford recounts her life, growing up and becoming an adult while her father serves a long term in prison. I began this story not knowng much abou the author other than being aware of her name. Now, I am in awe of her ability to tell her story, every good and bad thing that she remembers, in a way that made me feel like I had known her my whole life. We will never meet in real life but I will always feel like we are close friends, which is the magic of a beautifully-written memoir.

I consider myself extremely lucky to have been able to hear this book before it's offical release. I have already told all of my reader friends to pre-order this one, it's going to be on all of the best of 2021 lists, I am sure of it.
Don't miss out, pre-order now so that you can start reading it on it's release date, June 1st.

Somebody's Daughter by Ashley C. Ford is a memoir that is powerfully written. This story will make you cry and be amazed of what one young child can go through. It tells the story of Ashley growing up as a black child without out her incarcerated father while living with her abusive mother. There are several trigger warnings (rape, physical and mental abuse) that you should be aware of. She doesn't learn the reason for her fathers incarceration until later in life and it is very impactful. Ashley you are a very brave and remarkable women.

I listened to the audio book from NetGalley. Ashley did her own narration and that made it even better. I give 5/5 for the narration.

The only thing I didn't enjoy about the book was the audio kept stopping and I would have a difficult time getting it to play again, This has happen on other audio books from NetGalley and in no way hurt my thoughts of the actual author or narration.

I highly recommend this book (gave it a 5/5 on goodreads) and I cannot wait to pick up more of her books. Thank you NetGalley for this opportunity.

Somebody’s Daughter is an exceptionally powerful and moving memoir by Ashley Ford. I’ve been a fan of Ford for a number of years when she was a guest on various podcasts such as For Colored Nerds and Longform. In some of those podcast episodes she mentioned about the book she was writing and I was excited about reading it from the get-go. In her memoir, Ford writes about various phases of her life beginning with her childhood and leading up to a momentous event she experienced as an adult. She describes her complicated relationship with her mother, her no nonsense and loving grandmother, her siblings, and her father who is serving a lengthy sentence in prison for reasons that are revealed in the book. This is a coming of age story that you think you have heard before and think you know how it will end, but you haven’t and you don’t. Ford writes about her coming into womanhood with complete honesty. She writes about how grown men gawked and propositioned her, how her mother verbally criticized how her body and clothes looked, and how an incident with a high school boyfriend fundamentally changed her.

The writing in this book is beautiful and haunting, descriptive and picturesque. Ford makes you feel the way I assume she felt in various scenes of the book: joyful, loved, rejected, betrayed. She is also very funny at times. Another reason why this book is so good is that Ford narrates it herself. She has a nice, distinctive, and comforting voice. She has great voice modulation especially when she recites the dialogue of some of her family members such as her mother and grandmother. I’m so glad that she read it herself instead of another narrator; the book’s authenticity comes out more because of her narration.

The only issue I had with this book was that I did not want it to end. There were storylines and relationships that I wanted more information on. My hope is that Ford writes more books and will continue to bring the raw honesty that she infused in the writing of this memoir.

Readers who can’t get enough of her book should make sure they listen to the bonus feature on the audiobook which includes a conversation between Ford and Clint Smith about their respective books that will be published on the same day. In the hour long track, Ford and Smith mostly discuss about their respective writing and recording processes, and how their books speak to each other and give each other purpose. I especially loved Ford’s encouragement to readers to write about themselves. Ford encouraged others to not be afraid to write about themselves. She argued that it is your divine right to tell and write your own story. Ford has definitely lived out her divine right by writing this memoir.

Truly enjoyed this honest, emotional, and courageous memoir of Ashley Ford. She takes you through an amazing journey of her life, where despite all the difficult challenges she perseveres and comes out a stronger person. She is an inspiration. Looking forward to reading more from Ms. Ford.
Thank you to #NetGalley and #MacmillanAudio for gifting me with an Audio ARC of Somebody’s Daughter by Ashley C. Ford. In exchange for an unbiased review.

I was drawn in by the premise of this memoir, especially being familiar with the author's consistently kind and thoughtful presence on social media, but was not prepared for the power and clarity of Ford's storytelling. The earlier sections that focus on Ford's childhood are especially vivid. In scenes that capture the love and chaos of an upbringing shaped by the traumatized adults (and presumably generations of historical trauma), Ford's younger self is evoked in all her ferocity, tenderness, anguish, and strength. Later sections add increasing perspective, revealing that Ford's mother's violence was intertwined with the single mother of four's fear, shame, and desperation. (Ford notes that at the time she, the oldest child, went to college, her mother was supporting the entire household on $40,000/year. Later, in reference to that period, Ford's mother is quoted as saying, I don't blame you for not trusting me, I was crazy back then!)

Ignoring the pull of moral arithmetic, Ford insists on a view of both her parents as deeply complicated, victims as much as victimizers, pouring their protective love into their children even as the harm of their violent acts stretches far, far, far into the future.

Ashley Ford reads the audiobook of her own memoir beautifully, in an even cadence inflected by the convincingly mimicked rhythms of the various family members (esp. mother, father, grandmother, and her younger self) around whom the narrative orbits.

As in so many contemporary memoirs, chronology responds to memory, such that certain moments, like Ashley receiving the news of her father's release from prison, reappear multiple times. In writing of less precision, such repetitions can feel like poor editing; here, however, Ford is paying attention (a stable character trait, judging from the precision, frankness, and generosity with which she recounts fraught childhood events). Each judicious repetition is welcome, playing differently in the face of new information.

As the book progresses, the context enlarges. Situations that seemed clear enough to dismiss (wonderful father, wrongly imprisoned; violent narcissistic mother) in early chapters gather texture and nuance, emerging ultimately as large impossible questions, such as what true justice looks like and which of our many selves we ought to be held accountable for.

Because of Ford's gift for complexity and restraint with broad-strokes conclusions, it's a bit disappointing that many of the last words about each family member are almost gooey with sentiment, as if Ford is urging the reader to forgive them for her.

While I might have wished for more from the last several chapters, the overall experience was powerful, moving, and clear-sighted. I look forward to reading every last book Ford publishes--so I do hope she has another one or five in the works.

The use of repetition is so judicious that I was excited when such scenes recurred, now possessing enough new information that the tone (her mother's reluctance to hear Ashley's feelings; her anxiety about her father's homecoming) feels dramatically different. What looked at the book's outset to be

This was so beautifully written and stunning.
This is a heart-wrenching memoir about growing up a Black girl in a loving family with some problems!
I couldn’t put it down, and was sad to have finished it. Looking forward to what Ford writes next!Also having a father in prison and what it's like!
I devoured this beautiful book!
Amazing!