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A special thank you to Atria and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review. Love the cover!

We all fell in love with Jennifer Weiner's fictional stories; from her very first book to the present. Her signature wit and honesty once again gives readers an inside look at the talented author (the woman behind the words) and her incredible journey. A total reveal.

A huge Weiner fan, having read all her entertaining books (and short stories), HUNGRY HEART further reiterates the author’s passion and talent. Where no subject is off-limits in her essay collection: from sex, weight, image, money, motherhood, lesbianism (mother), love, dating, daughters, childbirth, social media,and her estranged father’s death.

Weiner’s first memoir is deeply honest and insightful- An empowering personal account of the author's childhood to adulthood and everything in between. Readers will laugh and cry, caught up in Weiner’s witty and heartfelt stories, and reminded of our favorite reads. You will find yourself drawn to different parts which are relatable.

"You fall down. You get hurt. You get up again. Women stories matter. They tell us who we are, they give us places to explore our problems, to try on identities and imagine happy endings. They entertain us, they divert us, they comfort us when we’re lonely or along. Women’s stories matter. A women matters, too."

Weiner always delivers stories which matter - from the heart. From her childhood dream of becoming a published author, she has taken stands, and taken the heat, and has changed the world. From a father who left, a mother which came out of the closet, her girls, a marriage.

Stories of hunger. Wanting something from the world: love, approval, a boyfriend, a husband, a sense of belonging, a way of doing some good. We all want something. Wanting is the human condition. The ifs. Seeking perfection. Learning as we get older- there is no finish line, or if there is, it keeps moving.

Jennifer entertains readers while leading us through successes, failures, fears, and dreams. She makes us laugh. Her books, and adventures– the ups and down.

I particularly enjoyed the parts about Florida and Nanna (can relate). The parts of pain, guilt, shame and sorrow, and spinning them into fiction. How they took life. From Good in Bed about weight screwed up funny families and finding happiness in spite of it all.

My Favorite Parts:
• Her second book, and one of my favorites of Weiner: (and movie), "In Her Shoes": weight, sisters, family labels. Filming in FL, south of West Palm Beach and her Nanna -ninety at the time, making sure she was featured; to rank her as the number-one grandchild. (Cameron Diaz, Toni Collette, and Shirley MacLaine).

• "A Few Words About Bodies" Learning to tell the difference between hungry and sad, angry and bored. Honor each of those feeling wit what it requires. Eat when you’re hungry, cry when you’re sad, deal with your anger and boredom, but don’t stuff them down with food, or booze, or men, or pills, or whatever else might be available.

• "Mean Girls in the Retirement Home" (NYT 2015) Again, a story about Nanna. I can relate since I live in Florida in a senior independent living where everyone is so caddy. Hilarious!

• "Letters to her daughters: Lucy and Phoebe" (Time, 2015) What is coming next.
"Within the next few years, some people- not all, but some- will stop seeing you as you, and start seeing just your surface; your face, your hair, your body. They will reduce you to a body instead of seeing you as a person. If you succeed, they will whisper, or write, that you must have slept with someone important to have gotten whatever you go."

"If you speak up, they will try to shame you into silence, because—and it breaks my heart to write these words—that’s the way some people think women ought to be. My prayer is that you’ll never lose sight of yourself—all of yourself.” “Love your bodies for what they can do.”

My least favorite part of the book was the tweets (not a fan of The Bachelor). However, commend her for loving social media. “It’s where movements coalesce, where evildoers are exposed, where wrongs are righted and justice prevails.” Twitter, 27,000 funny tweets--of course, is also a "cesspit of crude, hateful misogyny, insults and name-calling and poorly considered tirades, delivered in impulsive and regrettable hundred-and-forty-character blurbs."

It is a place where she hopes, she has done some good, and a place where for sure she has had fun, a place where she has been horribly humiliated, and made mistakes and said things she regretted.

Just as her fiction has entertained women for years,HUNGRY HEART, Adventures in Life, Love, and Writing -the memoir will charm and inspire you, just as much. It is powerful, insightful, funny, smart, and courageous.

She turns herself inside out for the world to see. The woman behind the books, furthermore affirming her special gift and talent as an author, mother, and a powerful feisty woman we all admire and respect. We love you!

PS. I want to see more Jennifer Weiner action, on Younger!

JDCMustReadBooks