This was beautifully written- it was raw and vulnerable but interwoven with such hope that the love and grace of God is evident in the author's life. Parts were a little challenging to read and the author may have held slightly different views on certain things, but overall it was still a worthwhile read, dealing with some painful life experiences. I'd recommend for anyone who enjoys autobiographies or Christian non-fiction.
Many thanks to the author, publisher and NetGalley for this ARC in return for my honest review.

This is my first ever Netgalley ARC book! So the biggest thank you ever to Netgalley and BooksGoSocial!!

I am going to preface that by saying that this book is a Christian Autobiography which might not be everyone's cup of tea but I really enjoyed it!

It is a hard think to put a rating on someone else's life story! So all I can say is that I read this book within 24 hours and the story just really pulled me in as I could relate to a lot of what Kristi was talking about. In particular, I enjoyed all the anecdotes about her life and her writing style is smooth and poignant which was perfectly suited to this type of book. Her biblical quotes/references are not overwhelming so I believe that a non-religious person could still enjoy this book but obviously Kristi's faith is a key part of her beliefs and outlook on life as would be expected.

Some questions that were left unanswered for me were:
1. What happened to the biological father of her first daughter? That was not explored in the book at all but this was an important part of Kristi's story. I would have liked more information on her life at this time period but appreciate that perhaps the author did not want to remember or couldn't remember much about the time period.
2. Where is her brother in the story apart from a few casual mentions? I wonder what role he played in her life as we do not get to hear much about him. But maybe I am just being nosy I don't know! But when someone is mentioned to me, I feel the need to know they are doing ok too!

One thing that I struggled a bit with reading is about her first marriage breaking down. Whilst I acknowledge that I was not in her shoes I still found those chapters difficult reading. I think the idea of co-parenting is hurtful to families and children from personal and professional experience - obviously this is my own personal opinion and Kristi is completely entitled to her own outlook on this, unfortunately this just did not gel with me. In my opinion, the best thing for children is for the family to stay together if at all possible and whilst addiction is an awful thing to try and support someone through I believe the decision should have been to support her spouse and remained married. However, that being said, I did not know how bad her day to day life was or what she experienced and felt, but I can at the same time appreciated that my own feelings were very much not in alignment with that particular decision. I also found this sentence particularly jarring: 'The family, in its truest form, isn't about who stay together...' Ummm, that's the definition of a family for me … the people that stay together. I just didn't understand this line at all. I just found this section a bit difficult.

However, Kristi's faith and beliefs have obviously developed over her lifetime and choices she made at 16 or 30 even would probably be different now. We also all make mistakes in our lives and wish we could turn back the clock! With this in mind, I would like to thank Kristi for her story, I enjoyed hearing about her experiences and wish her all the best for the future!

A few of my favourite quotes from the book that spoke to the season of life I am in right now:

'And from that moment on I knew one thing was for sure—God doesn’t always calm the storm. Sometimes, He lets the wind howl and the waves crash so we’ll learn to rise above it.' page 25

'God was shaping something in me I couldn’t yet see. He was writing a story of redemption, resilience, and relentless hope. I didn’t always feel ready. I didn’t always feel seen. But somehow, I kept showing up. And every time I thought I’d reached the end of what I could handle, I found another level of strength waiting on the other side. Maybe that’s how it works for all of us. Maybe the breakthrough comes not in spite of the chaos but because of it. So if you’re in the thick of it right now—unsure, unseen, underestimated—I want you to know this: your story isn’t finished. You’re being prepared for more than you can imagine, so keep going because the next chapter might just be the one that changes everything." page 34

'Every time I thought about speaking up, those harsh words would echo in my mind, paralyzing me. I had internalized the criticism so deeply it began to color every interaction, every relationship. I started avoiding conversations where I might be the center of attention. Social gatherings became daunting. Even with my family, I kept things surface-level, fearing too much sharing would lead to judgment. The silence wasn’t just external; it seeped into my soul. My fear of judgment became a self-imposed prison, and my sentence lasted years.' page 46

'That’s when I turned to Psalm 51, a passage I had turned to in the past, and that day, it spoke to me in a way I had never experienced before. It was in that moment, reading through the Psalm, I began to reconnect with God—not out of obligation but out of a deep desire to heal and to move forward. That Psalm became my path back to the peace I had once felt. It reignited my relationship with God, but this time, it was different. This time, it was more intimate, more personal, and more profound than it had ever been before. It felt like the weight of my grief was lifted—just a little—and I began to feel like I could breathe again. I still miss my mom every single day. There are moments when the grief feels fresh, when the pain of losing her hits me in waves. But I’ve learned grief isn’t something we simply get over. It’s something we learn to carry. We learn to move forward, to find meaning in the pain, and to keep living with purpose. Grief doesn’t follow a timeline. It doesn’t have a set schedule. It doesn’t care about your plans. It hits you when you least expect it, and it can take over your world in an instant. But even in those moments of deep sorrow, we have a choice. We can choose to get up, to rise, and to move forward. We can choose to honor the memory of those we’ve lost by living our lives to the fullest, by carrying the lessons they taught us, and by being present for the people who are still here.' page 94

'I have never been more confident in my own skin than I am today. Not because my life has been perfect but because I have owned it. I have lived it. I have walked through the storms and come out stronger, wiser, and full of a peace no one can take from me. And that is why I share my story. Because I want you to know that no matter how broken your past feels, no matter how many wrong turns you’ve made, you are not beyond redemption. You are not too far gone. You are not defined by your mistakes.' page 99

Thank you all for reading!