#Review & #Giveaway: Teetering On Disaster by Michaela Renee #memoir

Publisher:  Bowker (January 11, 2019)

Category: Memoir/Self-Help/Non-Fiction

Tour dates: March/April, 2020

ISBN: 978-0578430805

Available in Print and ebook, 316 pages

About the book:

Michaela Renee Johnson was just 12 years old in 1992 when a financial slump forced her family to move from an upscale area in Sacramento to a 27-ft trailer in the Sierra Nevada mountain range, with no electricity or running water — so no Nintendo or MTV. It wasn’t exactly the life that every adolescent dreams of, but it was, in fact, their reality.

My review:

I am a fan of memoirs so, this book interested me from the start. I was intrigued to read about a family that went from wealth to virtually nothing and survived to tell the tale. This is how the first half of the book surely was.

The tale she tells is heart-breaking at best and yet inspiring at the same time. Even though today, in the new millineum, her brothers and herself would have found themselves in foster care, her parents did what they had to do. When it came down to it, the fact that they were a close knit family is truly what allowed them to survive.  

Overall, the first half of the book is what I expected to read and yes, she made it out as did the rest of her family, this is not a spoiler but, the truth.

Then came the second half of the book. This section see the author as grown up and wading through the aftermath of growing up poor. She managed it and we are told so but then, the book takes a turn to tell of her love life. A life rot with ugliness and mistakes. A life of confusion and ultimately, what?

I did not like this section and was disappointed in the reading of it. I found it to be like a second memoir, it did not seem to match with the first half, although, I understood.  My heart ached for her at every telling of the lovers in her life that simply did not fit.

I read on though and finished it but in the end, I was left with...nothing. The book seemed to drop off at the end. I wondered who her new husband ultimately was, even though, I could guess. I wondered how she finally ended up with a son. Again, not spoilers but information about her on the back of the book.

I wish I could give the book more than 3 stars because I would like to but this time, I really can't.

The book was just okay for me.


I ultimately wonder...is life now okay for her?

About the author:

Michaela Renee Johnson is a licensed psychotherapist, Be You Find Happy podcast host and an award winning published author. She inspires happiness by encouraging people to speak their truth with grace, and live a courageous life of authenticity.

Her business Be You Find Happy holds workshops and conversations on happiness in spite of life’s setbacks and has landed her speaking opportunities across the nation.

She lives in Northern California with her husband and son. She enjoys traveling and has visited 19 countries; she loves the ocean and everything in it. She rarely finds herself without an activity whether it be hiking, yoga, tinkering the garden, golfing, reading or spending time outside.

In her most simplest she loves poetic quotes and all things metaphysical.

Website: http://www.michaelarenee.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/michaelareneej

Amazon

Giveaway:
a Rafflecopter giveaway This giveaway is for one autographed print copy and 2 ebook copies of the book. Print is open to the U.S. only and ebook is available worldwide. There will be 3 winners. This giveaway ends April 21, 2020,midnight pacific time. Entries are accepted via Rafflecopter only.