Lara Love Hardin was an unlikely drug addict. A married suburban mother raising children in a blended family, she had a beautiful home and a business. But an addict she was. Nothing, not even the horror of losing her children, could stop her from chasing that next high. (โ๐ ๐ฌ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ธ ๐ ๐ธ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ญ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ธ ๐ฎ๐บ๐ด๐ฆ๐ญ๐ง ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ง๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ต ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ข ๐ฃ๐ถ๐ด ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ด๐ข๐ท๐ฆ ๐ฆ๐ข๐ค๐ฉ ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฆ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ฎ๐บ ๐ฃ๐ฐ๐บ๐ด. ๐ ๐ธ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ญ๐ฅ ๐ด๐ข๐ค๐ณ๐ช๐ง๐ช๐ค๐ฆ ๐ฎ๐บ ๐ญ๐ช๐ง๐ฆ ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ช๐ณ๐ด, ๐ฃ๐ถ๐ต ๐ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ถ๐ญ๐ฅ๐ฏโ๐ต ๐ด๐ต๐ฐ๐ฑ ๐ถ๐ด๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ฅ๐ณ๐ถ๐จ๐ด ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฎ. ๐ ๐ฅ๐ฐ๐ฏโ๐ต ๐ฌ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ธ ๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ธ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ค๐ช๐ญ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ด๐ฆ ๐ต๐ธ๐ฐ ๐ต๐ณ๐ถ๐ต๐ฉ๐ด.โ)โฃ
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This book is a mesmerizing and unflinching look at the illness of drug addiction and how it permeates our society. I simply could not put this book down. My heart ached for Lara and her children as they entered the criminal court and family court system in our country, which is in need of serious reform. Even when Lara inevitably slid back into using again, I was oddly uplifted by her struggle and the dignity with which she carried herself. โฃ
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I donโt know how Lara survived jail but she did. (“๐๐ข๐ช๐ญ ๐ช๐ด ๐ข ๐ค๐ญ๐ข๐ด๐ด ๐ด๐บ๐ด๐ต๐ฆ๐ฎ, ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ข ๐ด๐ต๐ถ๐ฅ๐บ ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ณ๐ข๐ค๐ช๐ข๐ญ ๐ด๐ฆ๐จ๐ณ๐ฆ๐จ๐ข๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ธ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ต๐ฉ๐บ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐๐ฐ๐ถ๐ต๐ฉ ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ 1950๐ด. ๐๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ข๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ณ๐ถ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ด ๐ ๐ฅ๐ฐ๐ฏโ๐ต ๐ฌ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ธ. ๐ ๐ด๐บ๐ด๐ต๐ฆ๐ฎ ๐ ๐ค๐ข๐ฏโ๐ต ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ฅ. ๐ ๐ฉ๐ถ๐ด๐ต๐ญ๐ฆ ๐ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ท๐ฆ ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ข๐ณ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ฅ. ๐ ๐ฑ๐ฐ๐ธ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ด๐ต๐ณ๐ถ๐ค๐ต๐ถ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ช๐ด ๐ด๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ต๐ธ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ข๐ฏ ๐ข๐ฅ๐ฐ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ด๐ค๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต ๐ด๐ญ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฑ๐ฐ๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ฑ๐ข๐ณ๐ต๐บ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ชn๐จ ๐ซ๐ถ๐ฎ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ช๐ฏ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ข ๐จ๐ข๐ฏ๐จ.โ)โฃ
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Told with darkly funny prose, you canโt help but be in awe of how she survived the nightmare of this season in her life.โฃ
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And once she was finally released and put on probation, that became a whole other set of insurmountable challenges to face. Our probation system is basically set up for people to fail, and I was so relieved when Lara was finally able to get a job and be reunited with her children.โฃ
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This book is a must-read for everyone to understand how woman are treated in our criminal justice system and to understand the true liberation of forgiveness. 5 stars!โฃ
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(๐ ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ค๐ฆ๐ช๐ท๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ข ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฑ๐ญ๐ช๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต๐ข๐ณ๐บ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฑ๐บ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐ฃ๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ฌ ๐ง๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฎ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฑ๐ถ๐ฃ๐ญ๐ช๐ด๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ. ๐๐ญ๐ญ ๐ฐ๐ฑ๐ช๐ฏ๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ด ๐ข๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ฎ๐บ ๐ฐ๐ธ๐ฏ.)
About the Book:
New York Times bestselling author Lara Love Hardin recounts her slide from soccer mom to opioid addict to jailhouse shot-caller and her unlikely comeback as a highly successful ghostwriter in this harrowing, hilarious, no-holds-barred memoir.
No one expects the police to knock on the million-dollar, two-story home of the perfect cul-de-sac housewife. But soccer mom Lara Love Hardin has been hiding a shady she is funding her heroin addiction by stealing her neighborsโ credit cards.
Lara is convicted of thirty-two felonies and becomes inmate S32179. She learns that jail is a class system with a power structure that is somewhere between an adolescent sleepover party and Lord of the Flies . Furniture is made from tampon boxes and Snickers bars are currency. But Lara quickly finds the rules and brings love and healing to her fellow inmates as she climbs the social ladder to become the โshot caller,โ showing that jailhouse politics arenโt that different from the PTA meetings she used to attend.
When sheโs released, she reinvents herself as a ghostwriter. Now, sheโs legally co-opting other peopleโs identities and getting to meet Oprah, meditate with The Dalai Lama, and have dinner with Archbishop Desmond Tutu. But the shadow of her past follows her. Shame is a poison worse than heroinโthere is no way to detox. Lara must learn how to forgive herself and others, navigate life as a felon on probation, prove to herself that she is more good than bad, and much more.
The Many Lives of Mama Love is a heartbreaking and tender journey from shame to redemption, despite a system that makes it almost impossible for us to move beyond the worst thing we have ever done.