Hooked we were! Whether you are a Broadway fan and have been following her for a long time or whether you know her from Younger or have seen her performance in Anything Goes in London a few weeks ago, you are likely to have heard from Sutton Foster by now.

What you may not have seen or known about the dazzling woman singing and dancing in pretty costumes is in this book: from the early days and difficulties of show biz to her agoraphobic mother, heartbreak and the obstacles on her way to creating a family – it is all in between the pages; along with the crafty projects that got her through them.
What matters in life, says Foster, is to have a hobby to get you through. Just how much of a lifesaver it is becomes clear early on in her career and in her book: As a teenager in a touring theatre group, a craft project helped her through the difficult social situations of rivalries and cliques on the road. Crafting was her safety place, and a way to feel connected to her mother, who had cross-stitched when Sutton was younger.
While crochet is currently her go-to, over the years she has used a number of crafts as outlet, starting with cross-stich, but also painting and mixed media.
Whatever your craft of choice is, looking at Sutton Foster´s book she seems to be right: Crafting can save your life. It´s a way of pouring your emotions into something and processing, following a pattern or letting your creativity run wild. Some projects you will finish, others you won´t. But the process of creating and getting a result is what makes crafting so important.

Thank you Hachette for the gifted book I read in partnership with the library audio.

As a fan of Younger and Bunheads I am therefore a Sutton Foster fan and when I saw the title of this memoir I was intrigued as someone who also loves to craft.

I was so enthralled with this book. Told through the projects she has created, Sutton tells the story of her life in a vulnerable but yet still lighthearted way so you are rooting for her, crying with her, and celebrating all her wins.

If you like a celebrity memoir, if you like Sutton Foster, or you love crafting, this is one you should pick up.

Content Warning: Infertility, Death of a Parent, Mental Illness, Language

This was a great book. I'm not a big crafty person, but her story is fun while also compelling. And she's a great storyteller!

What a great idea for a memoir! I really enjoyed this sort of scrapbook format with recipes and crafts interspersed throughout the book. I was already a fan of Sutton Foster, and this book just reinforces that. Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

"From the 2-time Tony Award-winner and the star of TV’s Younger, funny and intimate stories and reflections about how crafting has kept her sane while navigating the highs and lows of family, love, and show business (and how it can help you, too).

Whether she’s playing an “age-defying” book editor on television or dazzling audiences on the Broadway stage, Sutton Foster manages to make it all look easy. How? Crafting. From the moment she picked up a cross stitch needle to escape the bullying chorus girls in her early performing days, she was hooked. Cross stitching led to crocheting, crocheting led to collages, which led to drawing, and so much more. Channeling her emotions into her creations centered Sutton as she navigated the significant moments in her life and gave her tangible reminders of her experiences. Now, in this charming and poignant collection, Sutton shares those moments, including her fraught relationship with her agoraphobic mother; a painful divorce splashed on the pages of the tabloids; her struggles with fertility; the thrills she found on the stage during hit plays like Thoroughly Modern Millie, Anything Goes, and Violet; her breakout TV role in Younger; and the joy of adopting her daughter, Emily. Accompanying the stories, Sutton has included crochet patterns, recipes, and so much more!

Witty and poignant, Hooked will leave readers entertained as well as inspire them to pick up their own cross stitch needles and paintbrushes."

I have been a fan of Sutton Foster's for ages. The fact that she's a crafter makes me so happy.

Oh my goodness! The idea of crafting here is just the "hook" (pun intended) to tie this lovely memoir together. I was absolutely charmed by Foster and her story and will be buying copies of this one for the musical theater fans in my life for the holidays.

I loved Sutton Foster in both Younger and Bunheads so I was so excited to get a copy of her memoir. In this, she tells her story through reflections of various crafts that serve as reminders of the experiences she was going through when she created those objects. It was such a fun way to get to know her - learning about the items she created, why she made them, and what she was going through at that time. We even get some step by step directions on how to make certain items. This book was so honest and Sutton’s life is fascinating. This was a great read!

Thanks to Grand Central Publishing for the gifted copy.

Sutton even says it herself in the book: it's ostensibly a book about crafting but really it's a book about her mother. I came for the crafting, and I appreciated her thoughts on crafting in good times and bad, how crafting connects us to other people, and how things don't always get finished. I was surprised it was less showbiz than I would have expected. Just matter of fact in the roles she was getting and the awards she was winning, and almost nothing expected about the rejections or the determination or that other stuff people tend to think about when it comes to showbiz narratives. I appreciated how personal and vulnerable it was. I don't think I very often see descriptions of how one can end up sort of emotionally/developmentally stunted due in part to unchecked mental illness in a parent, and that really struck me.

Overall it's a very heartfelt book and I gained a lot of appreciation for the author. I definitely recommend checking out her instagram and youtube because her performances are truly out of this world and her crafts and art are all well documented on the 'gram, which was helpful when some of the descriptions made them a little tricky to envision (I suppose some images may make it into the final printing?).

***Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing an ARC in exchange for my honest review.***

So disappointed in this book.

It feels as though the author goes on endlessly about her youth, which I get is important to know because it sets the scene but it is sooooo long.

I struggled with the pace for this entire book.

I am picky about the pacing of books and this one did not have any.

If you know me, you know I am a wardrobe supervisor for broadway tours. I’ve been doing this for about 8 years now and I’ve just come back after our pandemic hiatus to the tour of Come From Away. We are in tech right now and it’s hard to explain just how amazing it is to work in this community, it is just so special.

Sutton Foster is a broadway star and also a crochet master. Just these two things together make her someone I will always root for. This book, Hooked, is her memoir, she combines deep moments of struggle in her life with the various crafts that have helped her though them. In this book she recounts family struggles, career highs and lows as well as personal triumphs. I even learned a little more about a good friend of hers who I have had the pleasure of working with! If you’re into crafting, broadway or just a fan of Sutton’s, this book is for you. She includes recipes, crochet patterns and musings of her interesting life, I highly recommend this one!