Daria Burke is a beautiful storyteller. This memoir shares her childhood experiences and the choices she made to overcome the trauma she uncovered through adulthood. I think this memoir will be especially helpful for others grasping for hope and resilience to find a way to navigate their own circumstances. I personally found it a little bit difficult to connect with Daria's story, because it's a little tough for me to be invested in a story of a real person that I do not know. If Daria ever writes a fiction novel, it will be an automatic purchase from me, because I really did love her writing style and storytelling skill in Of My Own Making.

Thank you NetGalley and Grand Central Publishing for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

eBook ARC - 3 Stars
This was an interesting memoir about a successful woman who has overcome her childhood trauma [and folks, some of it is V E R Y traumatic]to live a very full *AND* fulfilling life.

I found this to be a pretty interesting read/story [and naturally, cried some real ugly tears for all she lost as a child *AND* as an adult]. Trauma recognizes trauma, no matter who has healed or not] and the work she did to become the very best version of herself was also fascinating, B U T, there were moments for me that were annoying [and that I almost completely disconnected from]; I am honestly very happy for her [anyone who has suffered trauma is almost automatically excitingly happy for those who have made peace with said trauma, and that is what happened here], but not everyone has the privelege she has [that I 100% acknowledge she worked V E R Y hard for] to get the kind of thereapy she had/has [*AND* that not everyone gets to heal, even if they do have the privelege of therapy] and there were absolutely moments that felt very tone-deaf to me, and I didn't really love those parts of the book.

Overall, it was a good read, and I am glad that I read it. I celebrate that she was able to heal and move on and make her life great, and I know that many people will really benefit from reading this book [so many times, all it takes is reading one book, talking to one person, hearing one podcast etc etc for a person who is traumatized to realize it and reach out for help and I applaud that fully] and for that, I both applaud the author and recommend this book to all who need it.

Audiobook ARC - 4 Stars
The author narrates this and while I struggle with most authors who narrate [not all should unfortunately], that was not the case here. Daria Burke is an excellent narrator [and could easily have a second job doing just that] and it was a real joy to listen to her tell her story. I highly recommend you experience this book via audio; it was a really fabulous experience.

Thank you to NetGalley, Daria Burke, Grand Central Publishing/Legacy Lit and Hachette Audio/Legacy Lit for providing the eBook and audiobook ARC's in exchange for an honest review.

Burkes memoir was very raw and vulnerable, and even though it was heavy I could not put it down. The book pulled my attention in from the start - a successful women partying and living her best life and is suddenly triggered by something that caused her trauma in the past. So many of u are going through the days, going by the motions and pushing ourselves but not healing our past. Then, suddenly, everything rushes up and we don’t know how to deal.

I enjoyed reading how Burke healed her cptsd, and how she noticed it even though she always succeeded and was resilient.

I was inspired by Daria’s resilience and identified with how she overcame her childhood trauma. Her understanding and insight into therapy would lead to good discussion among book club members. I found the memoir a bit long, but that would be my only criticism. Daria’s writing is beautiful, both in narration and use of characterization.

Daria Burke's memoir 'Of My Own Making' is a powerful story about healing from generational trauma and finding yourself along the way - the you that you truly are and not the you others want you to be. She opens up about her difficult childhood with poverty and a mother struggling with addiction. Despite these challenges, Burke writes with kindness toward herself and her past, showing how she grew stronger through those experiences. I was deeply impacted at the way Daria, despite being estranged from her mother, sought to understand the girl her mother was and couldn't be as a means to reauthor a truer origin story.

Daria blends personal stories with facts about how childhood trauma affects the brain and how healing can happen. If you liked Stephanie Foo's 'What My Bones Know', you'll connect with Burke's accessible insights on trauma and personal growth. There's a lot of great information in here on rewiring the brain after traumatic experiences as well.

Burke shares how she learned to support her younger self and let go of harmful relationships. She also talks about the pain of saying good-bye to a therapist before she felt ready, which reminded her of unresolved family struggles. Her reflections help readers think about their own emotional healing.

A touching part of the book is her tribute to her late grandmother, whose love stayed with her even after she passed. Burke shows how holding on to good memories is a crucial part of the healing process.

Overall, 'Of My Own Making' inspires readers to believe in healing, even when the past is painful. Burke proves that we can't change our past, but we can take control of our stories and move forward with self-love and honesty. Daria is the leader she is today as a result of her experiences and not in spite of them. I love the self-honor and self-celebration that underscores this work! So many people will be empowered by Daria's story!

This memoir blends personal experience with neuroscience expertise and is a devastatingly clear tale of experiencing adversity and finding the determination to create a brighter future.

Burke takes the reader on a journey from a difficult and painful childhood through becoming an adult creating her own path beyond the adversity and sharing her experience with scientific findings which have helped her to move forward.

This isn’t your typical memoir. In all the best ways.

For the first few chapters, I was a bit restless and wanted more. More story, more background, more information to help me understand how Daria Burke got to where she is today. I found myself skimming, wanting a more straight-forward account from point A to Z, her secrets to her success, her tragedy to triumph story.

But as her story unfolded, mainly in bursts of musings, a mix of psychology and science, sprinkled with memories from the past, I realized this was the perfect way to tell her story.

There’s no glorification of trauma, no blaming of her past or the things that have happened outside of her control. There is instead, a raw vulnerability and a deep sadness mixed with hope that comes across on every page.

Burke is more than a culmination of her successes and is worthy of knowing regardless of her success, regardless of her traumatic past. Had her memoir been a simple account of tragedies and obstacles overcome, it would have been at odds with this fact.

Highly recommend.

Thanks to Netgally for the advanced reader e-book.

pretty cool memoir that's well written and very interesting! 4 stars, tysm for the arc, would recommend most likely.