After going through a prolonged and difficult divorce process, I was finally ready to hear Allison’s story. I do feel connection between others who have endured but ended on being better because of it.

I got a good sense of how cathartic this was for her to write her story and how brave to then release it to the masses.
Overall though it didn’t ignite the spark in me that I get when I read from memoirs.
2.5 stars rounded up

This book was different to what I thought it was going to be. I feel the last chapter explains the authors positioning and should have been brought to the beginning so you can clearly see that her views are slightly 'out of touch' with 2021 which she openly admits - she was raised thinking that true happiness for a woman is in a relationship. I think this book would be really good if you'd recently divorced and for someone with her views however I personally felt some of her views were outdated and there wasn't anything new here.

Having said that I did like the layout of the book and enjoyed the exercises.

Thank you for the arc.

Allison Carmen shares 12 point guide to inspire and empower women to be the first version of herself. What i loved about this book was how relatable it was going through a breakup and separation with someone you thought had your back. With this the lessons to learn from this is applicable in every aspect of your life as long as you're a woman. I would totally totally recommend this book to anyone looking to change and rebrand themselves and their business

This insightful book is written as Allison unexpectedly and unintentionally spent a year living and working with no males in her circle after her husband decides he no longer wants to be married and she takes a job in which women make up the dynamic of the company.

Allison is very clear in her book that this isn’t a “man bashing” book but it’s a book of self discovery over the course of a year on breaking free of societal norms and learning what works best for each individual’s journey both personally and professionally.

I have four daughters and to me nothing is more exciting than seeing their growth into adulthood and watching how they are achieving their own happiness and success. I appreciate how this book is a relatable tool for both myself and them.

I enjoyed the way the book is laid out in chapters marked by each month of Allison’s journey. Allison does a nice job of integrating both personal and business topics in the chapters. I also love that fact that through Allison’s story I was able to find pieces that I felt were part of my story.

Allison has a “Try this Exercise” at the end of each chapter and I like it because they are not just question/answer tools but very introspective resources. This book is a reference and learning tool for me that I will continue to use long after today’s review.

Allison made a brave decision when she decided to write this book, and then again when she decided to go ahead and publish it. Working through difficult times that may be life changing is hard. Knowing that others have gone through similar hardships and challenging emotions and are finding ways through to a new and happy life can help us find our way too.

Baring the most painful year of her life so others can see that they aren’t alone and that they too can get through heartbreak took real courage. I am grateful for Allison’s openness and honesty. I gained a lot of comfort and useful coping strategies that I can use in my own life and share with others should the need arise.

Her book shows us that we can all be tougher than we think is ever possible. There’s no denying that life’s ups and downs change us. but we can all choose how we work through them. Allison shows us that we can deal with the hardest times with grace and integrity and emerge on the other side different but no less whole and even honed closer to our own true selves. Thank you Allison.

The thing about self-help books if you want to be able to connect to it. There were certain aspects of this book that I connected with very easily. The author did a great job sharing her personal experiences and creating exercises to put into practice. However, there were some points that failed to connect to the business aspect for me. Overall interesting read.

I thought this was so relevant after this last year in quarantine, A lot of my friends including myself went through relationship difficulties and it seems the general complaints were that issues we normally skate around were put at the forefront of our lives since we were spending all of our time together.
It was a well timed read that I think a lot of women who found themselves struggling would find interesting.

I am gay, so while the title itself wasn't of interest, I was curious about the memoir of recovering from her year from hell. And the book gives you that. As you would expect, it's emotional, it's angsty, but it does propose solutions with the 12 Steps. I expect it would be of interest to people whose relationships are ending. Thanks to NetGalley for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I didn't really like this book. I wanted to feel bad for the author because her husband left her, but she didn't really come across as genuine to me. Like she would say just enough to bring up her point and she kept mentioning her trauma without talking about her trauma. And while she talked about the discrepancies between men and women in the work place, I didn't really feel like she brought anything new to the conversation, or told me anything I didn't already know. It just didn't go anywhere for me.

This book seems like it would be extremely cathartic to a recent divorcee or anyone that has struggled with the aftermath of a long-term relationship. While reading, I had the feeling I was talking to an old friend talk about their life after divorce and how they have moved on to better things. I can see myself using the strategies and exercises proposed here in my life, even in scenarios outside of romantic relationships. Although I have never been married and might not relate to every facet of this work, I think there is something for every woman to take from this book.

I enjoyed about 10% of this book. The author’s description of the actual divorce and living after it process is quite good. The exercises at the end of the chapters are okay. The rest is simply unbearable generic considerations about women and their place in society. Just a discombobulated plethora of mainstream thoughts that have been better described and discussed by other people many a times.

As a recent widow, I wanted to like this book. The concept presented - that women can function quite well without a man - was appealing. I wanted to read more about this. However, most of the book chronicles the author's bitter divorce from her husband. That's not what I wanted to read. This book might be therapeutic for those in the middle of a divorce or trying to recover from divorce, but it wasn't for me.