Book Review: Mary-Elizabeth Briscoe: The First Signs Of April

The First Signs of April: A Memoir

This may contain spoilers

Author: Mary-Elizabeth Briscoe

Title: The first signs of April

Genre: non-fiction, biography, autobiography, memoir,

I signed up for poetic book tours and l was email off Serena Agusto-Cox about reviewing this book.

First of all I would like to say a big thank you to Mary-Elizabeth Briscoe for sending me this book and giving me the chance to read it. I want to say a big thank you to Serena Agusto-Cox for contacting me and taking the time to email me.

I would tell people that you should step outside your comfort zone with books because it is good to add more authors and genres to your reading portfolio even if you do not read books like this.

I normally read books of this genre but l also stepped outside my comfort zone. I am so glad l did because l have read so many great books and come across some great authors.

I highly recommend this book.

This book has 256 pages and 32 chapters.

Book Dedication: For aunt Pat and Mugsey, - Infinite love.

For anyone who finds healing in our story.

Poems from the start of every chapters.

We do not heal the past by dwelling there; we heal the past living fully in the present. - Marianne Williamson.

Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter. - Dr Martin Luther King Jr.

Life must be understood backward, but it must be lived forward. - Soren Kierkegaard.

Sometimes our light goes out, but is blown again in to instant flame by an encounter with another human being. - Albert Schweitzer.

Life changes fast. Life changes in an instant you sit down to dinner and life as you know it ends. - Joan Didion.

Life shrinks or expands in proportion to one's courage. - Anais Nin.

Just living is not enough... One must have sunshine, freedom, and a little flower. - Hans Christian Anderson.

The ache for home lives in all of us, the safe place where we can go and not be questioned. - Maya Angelou.

Sweet is the memory of distant friends. Like the mellow rays of the departing sun, it falls tenderly, yet sadly, on the heart. - Washington Irving.

I go out there so l can look in to myself and when l am there I can see myself standing still and the rest of the world going mad. - Des Lavelle.

It is our darkest moments that we must focus to see the light. - Aristotle Onassis.

There is no grief like the grief that does not speak. - Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.

Sometimes the questions are complex and the answers are simple. - Dr. Seuss.

But that is their image of us, so we stay tense, holding are breath, hoping we won't be found out. - Ebine Yamaji.

That broken thing you keep trying to put together can not even compare with that beautiful thing that's waiting to be built. - Mandy Hale.

Throw your dreams in to space like a kite, and you do not know what it will bring back, a new life, a new friend, a new love, a new country. - Anais Nin.

You are off to great places!, today is your day your mountain is waiting, so get on your way. - Dr. Seuss.

I was falling. Falling through time and space and stars and sky and everything in between. - Jess Rothenberg.

Never be bullied in to silence never allow yourself to be a victim. Accept no one's definition of your life, but define yourself. - Harvey Fierstein.

Heavy hearts, like heavy clouds in the sky, are relieved by the letting go of a little water. - Christopher Morley.

Fly free and happy beyond birthdays and across forever and we will meet now and then when we wish, in the midst of the one celebration that can never end. - Richard Bach.

Clouds come floating in to my life. No longer to carry rain or usher storm, but to add color to my sunset sky. - Rabindranath Tagone.

Whatever end finds us, it would not find us separated. - Stephanie Meyer.

The pain is there, when you close one door on it knocks to come in some where else. - Irvin Yalam.

No tragedy of life, no form of death arouses allencompassing and inconsolable grief than does a suicide no other kind of death turns those left behind so fiercely against themselves, no other kind leaves such lasting scars. They need to be able to wonder out loud what they did wrong and go over and over the details in an effort to make sense for themselves out of a senseless act. They suffer most when they must suffer alone with their hurt and humiliation. - from too young

to die, by Francine Klagsburn.

Do not be dismayed by good-byes. A farewell is necessary before you can meet again and meeting again, after moments or lifetimes is certain for those who are friends. - Richard Bach.

While the person who commits suicide dies once, the loved ones left behind may die a thousand deaths wondering why. - Anonymous.

And the day came when the risk to remain tight in a bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom. - Anais Nin.

Sometimes what a person needs is not a brilliant mind that speaks, but a patient heart that listens. - Unknown.

Death ends a life, not a relationship. - Robert Benshley.

The truth is, unless you forgive yourself, unless you forgive the situation, unless you realize the situation is over, you can not move forward. - Steve Maroboli.

I know you are not far away. I feel your presence around me. Our love binds us together always. We two are one eternally. - Unknown.

Only the wounded healer can truly heal. - Irvin Yalom.

Your life is a sacred journey. It is about change, growth, discovery, movement, transformation, continuously expanding your vision of what is possible, stretching your soul, learning to  clearly and deeply, listening to see intuition, taking courageous challenges at every step along the way. You are on the path. Exactly where you are meant to be. Right now. And from here, you can only go forward, shaping your life story in to a magnificent tale of triumph, of healing, of courage, of beauty, of wisdom, of power, of power, of dignity, and of love. - Caroline Adams.

Praise for the first signs of April.

Review by other people.

Reading the first signs of April is like sitting in front of a fire with a old friend: Briscoe starts telling her story and all of a sudden the sun is up and you feel as if you have not blinked once. This book will become that friend who stays with you for life. - Melanie Braveman, author of east justice and red.

The first signs of April is an inspiring story about life, death, and how connected we all remain – but only if we are open to listening to the wisdom waiting for us. Mary-Elizabeth Briscoe shows us the power of friendship, and the ways we can heal by embracing all life has to offer. - Linda Joy Myers, president national association of memoir writers, and author of song of the plains: a memoir of family, secrets, and silence.

By living and writing her truth, Briscoe shares her healing journey of loss and love. A compelling read that grabs your attention and will not let you leave. - Priscilla A. Hutchins, licensed psychologist – doctorate, retired.

Synopsis: shut down and disconnected, Mary-Elizabeth Briscoe has lived her life in silence in order to stay alive, her grief is buried, and shame is the skin that wraps around her bones but then, following the brutal murder of a local teacher, she is forced as a grief counselor to face her lifetime of unresolved sorrow will she finally be able to crack the hard edges of her heart and allow in the light so real healing can occur?.

Review: I found this book really easy to get in to and harder to put down. I was hooked on this book after reading the synopsis. I was sad to read that Mary's auntie Pat had cancer but it was nice of Mary to help her auntie and uncle around the house and Mary sounds like a great niece as not many young people would help their family. I loved all the poems in this book and l love that there was one at the start of every chapter. I can not put in to words how great but heartbreaking at the same time. It did not take me long to finish reading this book. Mary sounds so brave telling Joy how she feels about her. I was sad to read that Joy was abused but glad she told Mary. When l was reading this book I would put some essential oils in my humidifier and put the lights on my humidifier on and chill on my bed and listen to music or something on TV. I sometimes light a candle when l am reading this book. When l am reading this aswell as cuddling my kitten Oreo or one of the other kittens that live with me (there are three not including mine). It is good to chill reading a good book. I also took a picture of this book to share it to my Instagram that l made just for pictures of my books it is called donnareviewsbooks. I write book reviews at my desk in my bedroom that is also my lining room, library and office. Sometimes I sit on my bed writing book reviews I sometimes put earplugs in so l can read or write book reviews in peace. I was sad to read that Joy committed suicide and Mary feels if she told somebody about the gun that Joy would still be alive. I think Mary should not feel like that as Joy would not want her to feel like that and Joy did not want to hurt Mary or her family. Mary sounds like a great family member to have and a great friend to have too. Her family should be so proud of her and I would have loved a friend like Mary when l was younger because there was no kids like Mary when l was younger. When this book review is posted it is my birthday but it does not feel the same without my grandad who passed away two years ago. I feel Mary's pain as l have lost lots of family members my first loss was my sister Shirley. I feel like my grandad and my cat (who passed away a year ago) is still around my grandad was a smoker too and l smell smoke in my bedroom and l do not smoke myself and when l was reading about Mary visiting a psychic to see if anybody had any messages for her my bedroom smelt like somebody was smoking in it I think/feel like my grandad was telling me he was still around. Stuff would fall off my shelves and at the time I had no cats and I would feel a cat jump on my bed and l would wake up and nothing would be there and it still happens and it is not any of the kittens we have now. Sleeping and reading helped me through my grief. I like that Mary become a grief counselor. I was really sad to read about the murder of Melissa Jenkins. I was sad to read that Joy's parents never give Mary Joy's letter I wish Mary had got to read it as she needed to know how much Joy loved and did not want to her. The christmas gift Mary made Joy sounded nice and Joy gift to Mary was perfect for a writer and I would tell people to read this book for themselves to know how great but heartbreaking it really is. I would love to read more from Mary-Elizabeth Briscoe. I am glad this book is on my book shelves I would love to buy some of Mary's other book as l got this one for free. As it is getting colder I read under my quilt reading. Sometimes l can not read as l suffer from migraines or a headache. Reading this book makes me feel like l am not alone with grief and that it is okay to cry for lost loved ones. I love reading memoirs and about people's life and l love the title of this book and my Nan is also called Mary and my mum is also called Pat. I am really in love with this book. I was sad that it finished l wish it did not end or there was a follow on to it. I would happily read this book again and again. I love that Mary and her sister got tattoo's l have five tattoos myself but me and my sister are planning to get matching tattoos. Memoirs are one of my favorite type of books to read and sometimes when l am typing up book reviews one of the kittens watch me from the window or on my knee. I love the book dedication. I was sad to read about all the death in this book. I reviewed this book on amazon UK and US and goodreads and my blog.

About the author: Mary-Elizabeth Briscoe, LCMHC, CCTP is a licensed mental health counselor currently on sabbatical from her private psychotherapy practice in northeastern vermont. After spending a year living on the dingle peninsula, Ireland working on her next memoir she is currently splitting her time between cape cod, vermont and Ireland. Mary-Elizabeth has a masters degree in clinical mental health counseling from Lesley university and is a licensed clinical mental health counselor and certified clinical trauma professional. In addition, she has worked as a lecturer at springfield college school of professional and continuing studies St. Johnsbury, vt. Campus. She is a regular contributor to cape women online and sweatpants and coffee magazines. Mary-Elizabeth loves riding her motorcycle and spending as much time as possible with her dog Fergus.

About the book: I love the book cover and the branches with the changing colours. I love that the writing is in white because it makes the writing stand out more.

Star Rating: Five Out Of Five Stars.

I wish l could rate this book more then five stars because it is worth more than the five stars l rated it.

Book Review: Hassan El-Tayyab: Composing Temple Sunrise Overcoming Writer's Block At Burning Man

Composing Temple Sunrise

Author: Hassan El-Tayyab

Title: Composing Temple Sunrise: overcoming Writer's Block at Burning Man

Genre: Arts and Photography, Music, Theory, Composition and Performance, Self-Help, Communication and Social Skills, Humanities, Performing Arts, Memoir,

I got this book for free in exchange for an honest review. Somebody on the behalf of the author contacted me through my book reviewing blog asking me to review this book.

First of all I would like to say a big thank you to Hassan El-Tayyab for sending me this book and giving me a chance to read it. I also want to say a big thank you to Serena Agusto-Cox who contacted me and thank you for taking the time to email me.

Thanks To:

Front and back cover art by Alice Guo.

Cover design by Melody Shirazi and John Peterson.

Photos in the book that were turned in to sketches by Hassan El-Tayyab and Gretjen Helene.

Sketches by Stephanie Wong.

Introduction by Jess Hobbs.

Transcription of temple sunrise by Colin Sapp.

Back cover photo by Amal Dar Aziz.

Edited by Faith Adiele, Marisa Belger, David Colin Carr, and Kayli De Saussure.

Arabic Translation Assistance by Devon Peterson.

Dedication: To all the amazing people I have met, and continue to meet on this journey.

This book has 224 pages and 32 chapters in it.

I would tell people that you should step outside your comfort zone with books because it is good to add more authors and genres to your reading portfolio. Even if you do not read books like this.

I normally do not read books of this genre but l stepped outside my comfort zone with authors and genres I am so glad I did because I have read so many great book and come across some great authors.

I highly recommend this book.

Quotes In This Book:

All growth is a leap in the dark, a spontaneous unpremeditated act without benefit of experience. - Henry Miller.

As you navigate through the rest of your life, be open to collaboration. Other people and other people's ideas are often better than your own. Find a group of people who challenge and inspire you, spend a lot of time with them, and it will change your life. - Amy Poehler.

I think it is in collaboration that the nature of art is revealed. - Steve Lacy.

All that we see or seem, is but a dream within a dream. - Edgar Allen Poe.

Faith is taking the first step even through you do not see the whole staircase. - Martin Luther King Jr.

when one door closes another door opens: But we so often look so long and so regretfully upon the closed door, that we do not see the one's which open for us. - Alexander Graham Bell.

He who is not busy being born is busy dying. - Bob Dylan.

When written in Chinese the word 'crisis' is composed of two characters one represents danger, and the other represents opportunity. - John Fitzgerald Kennedy.

Sometimes you have to play for a long time to be able to play like yourself. - Miles Davis.

Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work. - Thomas Edison.

A goal is not always meant to be reached, it often serves simply as something to aim at. - Bruce Lee.

Home is where one starts from. - Ts Elliot.

My great concern is not whether you failed, but whether you are content with your failure. - Abraham Lincoln.

He is not a lover who does not love forever. - Euripides.

As we look ahead in to the next century, leaders will be those who empower others. - Bill Gates.

Every artist was first an amateur. - Ralph Waldo Emerson.

A poem begins as a lump in the throat, a sense of wrong, a homesickness, a lovesickness. - Robert Frost.

A house is not a home unless it contains food for the mind as well as the body. - Ben Franklin.

Every dream begins with a dreamer. - Harriet Tubman.

Music happens to be an art form that transcends language. - Herbie Hancock.

To walk safely through the maze of human life, one needs the light of wisdom and the guidance of virtue. - Buddha.

A good artist should be isolated, if he is not isolated, something is wrong. - Orson Wells.

It is not the strongest species that survives, nor the most intelligent who survives it is the one that is the most adaptable to change. - Charles Darwin.

The world as we have created it is a process of our thinking. It can not be changed without our thinking. - Albert Einstein.

The word enlightment conjures up the idea of some superhuman accomplishment, and the ego likes to keep it that way, but it is simply your natural state of felt oneness with being. - Eckhart Tolle.

If any human being is to reach full maturity both the masculine and feminine sides of their personality must be brought up in to consciousness. - Mary Esther Harding.

Tell me and l forget, teach me and l may remember, involve me and l learn. - Benjamin Franklin.

Et Tu, Brute. - Julius Caesar.

Old friends pass away, new friends appear. It is just like the days. An old day passes, a new day arrives. The important thing is to make it meaningful. A meaningful friend – or a meaningful. - Dalai Lama.

Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindness. - Mark Twain.

It seems no work of man's creative hand, by labour wrought as wavering fancy planned, but from the rock as if by magic grown, eternal, silent, beautiful, alone!. Not virgin-white like that old Doric shrine, where erst Athena held her rites divine, not saintly-grey, like many a minster fane, that crowns the hill and consecrates the plain, but rose-red as if the blush of dawn, that first beheld them were not yet withdrawn, the hues of youth upon a brow of woe, which man deemed old two thousand years ago, match me such marvel save in eastern clime, a rose-red city half as old as time. - Johann Ludwig Burckhardt.

Through forgiveness, which essentially means recognizing the insubstantiality of the past and allowing the present moment to be as it is, the miracle of transformation happens not only within but also without. - Eckhart Tolle.

Just as a candle can not burn without fire, men can not live without a spiritual life. - Buddha.

The grand show is eternal. It is always sunrise somewhere, the dew is never dried all at once, a shower is forever falling, vapor is ever rising. Eternal sunrise, eternal dawn and gloaming, on sea and continents and islands, each in it's turn, as the round earth rolls. - John Muir.

What is commonly called “falling in love” is in most cases an intensification of egoic wanting and needing. You become addicted to another person, or father to your image of that person. It has nothing to do with true love, which contains no wanting whatsoever. - Eckhart Tolle.

Where there is love there is life. - Mahatma Gandhi.

Synopsis: This is a memoir by musician Hassan El-Tayyab and recounts his trip across the US looking for that elusive muse. He arrives in Berkeley and hooks up with a group creating a metal sculpture called FishBug. They go to burning man in the Nevada dessert and here he writes the musicial piece temple sunrise. Hassan is a musician singer/songwriter with his group American Nomad. This is a book of travel, personal exploration, community, and that elusive finding of the creative source. A beautiful song comes of this journey as well as a beautiful, insightful book.

Review By Other People:

in this candid, inspiring memoir, singer/songwriter Hassan El-Tayyab of American Nomad takes us deep in to the heart of what it means to chase a creative dream. After experiencing multiple losses (family, home, love, job, self-confidence), El-Tayyab sets out on a transcontinental quest that eventually lands him in Nevada's black rock dessert, his vivid descriptions, paired with artist's renderings, capture both the vast, surreal landscapes of the burning man festival and the hard practice of art-making. Composing temple sunrise is both a page-turning adventure and a road map for anyone struggling to forge their way. - Faith Adiele: an inward odyssey: editor of coming of age around the world: a multicultural anthology.

Going to burning man for the first time can be a powerful, life-changing experience. That is particularly true when someone is involved with building a major art installation, and even more so when that person is wrestling with personal demons and searching for a new life path, and so it was in 2009 when struggling teacher-turned-musician Hassan El-Tayyab found himself in a strange warehouse in a new city, buzzing with preparations to bring FishBug to the playa in a few weeks. - Steven T. Jones, author of the tribes of the burning man: how an experimental city in the dessert is shaping the new American counter culture.

Review: I found this book really easy to get in to and hard to put down once l started reading it. I was hooked after reading the first page. I really enjoyed reading this book I was sad to finish this book. I loved reading about building the FishBug and the team who built it. I was sad to read that Rebecca's brother committed suicide. I loved reading about burning man and all the people that met each other there. I was sad to read that Hassan's father lost his eye when he was young and he left home and dropped out of school to go to Germany to get his eye sorted out because he thought the doctors was better there Hassan's father now has a glass eye. It was to read that Hassan's parents split up and then they lost their home when his grandparents passed away. Hassan worked as a special education teacher but he lost his job. I love the quotes in this book I was sad to read that Hassan's bike was stolen. It did not take me long to finish this book. Hassan's father slept on the streets of Germany just so he could get his eye sorted and l think he was very brave doing so. The temple that was built to burn at burning man they was load's of messages wrote on the wood so when it was set on fire all the names and messages would go up in smoke. Hassan wrote his ex-girlfriend's name so he could move on and get over his broken heart. Hassan's mother sounds so brave and Hassan sounds like he is very close to his sister Sara. I can not put in to words how great this book is l would tell people to read it for themselves to know how great it is. I am glad Hassan over come his writer's block. I was happy that Hassan wrote a song and got a band together. I am glad Hassan never committed suicide. As his family and friends would miss him. I would love to read more about Hassan, his family and friends. Hassan sounds like a great guy. I could not get enough of this book. I love reading memoir. I loved reading about Hassan, his life and his family and friends. I wish this book would finish. I would love to read more books from Hassan El-Tayyab. I got this book in paperback. I am glad I read this book and glad it is on my bookshelf. I would happily read this book again. I love reading books about other people's life. When l was reading this book I would chill out on my bed listening to magic. I fell in love with this book and it took me away I easily got lost in this book. I loved that Hassan made lots of friends after he put a ad on Craigslist looking for someone to drive cross country with him so they could take turns at driving and share the prices of petrol and then he met the FishBug crew and helped them build the FishBug and their become friends. The pictures in this book was drawn by Hassan and his Gretjen I think they both are really good at drawing. My sister is currently reading this book as I am writing up my review. This book is a must read.

About The Author: Hassan El-Tayyab is an award-winning singer/songwriter, author, teacher, and cultural activist currently residing in San Francisco, California. His critically-acclaimed Americana act american Nomad performs regularly at festivals and venues up and down the west coast and beyond. In addition to performing Hassan is also a music educator, having taught songwriting and guitar classes for the freight and salvage and the east bay center for the performing arts. Hassan has also guest lecturer on songwriting at the university of California, Berkeley. You can follow Hassan and his music at www.americannomadmusic.com

About The Book: I really love this book cover and the pictures and the colours on this book cover.

Star Rating: Five Out Of Five Stars.

Book Review: Tressa Middleton: Tressa: The 12-year-old Mum: My True Story

Tressa: The 12 Year Old Mum: My True Story

Author: Tressa Middleton.

Title: Tressa: The 12-year-old mum: My True Story.

Genre: health, family and lifestyle, families and parents, motherhood, pregnancy and childcare, women's health and lifestyle, biography, autobiography, memoir, true story, nonfiction.

I bought this book as a treat for myself.

I would tell people that you should step outside your comfort zone with books because it is good to add more authors and genres to your reading portfolio even if you do not read books like this.

I normally read books of this genre but l also stepped outside my comfort zone. I am so glad l did because l have read so many great books and come across some great authors.

I highly recommend this book I would tell people not to judge the book by it cover or title .

Book dedication: this book is dedicated to my little girl Annie, I love you with all my heart and always will, my life will be complete the day I meet my sweet baby once again.

This book has 276 pages and 27 chapters in it.

Quote In This Book:

Some say the world will end in fire, some say in ice. From what l have tasted of desire I hold with those who favor fire but if it had to perish twice, I think I know enough of hate to say that for destruction ice is also great and would suffice. - 'fire and ice' by Robert Frost.

Prologue:

Dear Annie,

I am walking along the woodland tracks in polkement country park, ten minutes from my house. It is beautiful here – the sun streams through the trees and dapples the ground with bright beams of light, picking out the stones and rocks by tinkling stream at my feet. Here it is peaceful and quiet. I come here a lot – especially when the noise of the world gets too loud. I walk through the dense woodland, listening to the babbling of the river at my feet and suddenly I feel calm, and I think of you. The fact is, you are never far from my thoughts. Every day, you are the first person I think of when I wake up and the last person in my mind as l drift off every night. You are the beating pulse of life. In my cupboard I keep the clothes you were wearing when you were just a wee baby. The pink and white babygros I dressed you in, the crocheted yellow cardigans that kept you warm. Everyone says I should get rid of them – but I can not. I suppose I never really learnt how to let go of you, and yet, these words are all l have now. According to your adoptive parent's wishes, we are not allowed any physical contact, and though at the time I felt cheated, today I understand, you see, I have grown up abit since we last meet – when you were just 2 years old and I was fourteen. I have come a long way and though I know I have still got a whole mountain to climb, I feel it is time to tell you a little about me, my life and why we are apart. Because, Annie, my beautiful girl, I do not want you to ever think that I did not want you. I did, very, very much. Alot was written about me back in those days a lot of things were said that just were not true, it is funny how people you have never even met can form an instant opinion about you just because they have read something in the paper. Twelve-year-old mum! - it made a good headline. It was not such a good life. But people did not know the truth back then – they said horrible, hurtful things about me. Later, I realized that I had been used, taken like a lamb to the slaughter. But l am not angry anymore and suppose I do not care, about those people. I have learnt to accept what happened to me in the past and moved on with love in my heart. Here is the truth: Annie, I always wanted you, and l loved you with all my heart. No, I did not want to give you up and even though I was very young, I knew l could take care of you if they just gave me the chance so l fought. I fought all the way to court and in the end the judge convinced me that I was not doing the best thing for you. He said I was being selfish and he was right – I could not give you the life you deserved. I wanted you to have a better life than l had – but I could not give you that. So instead, I gave you away to someone who could. Annie, this is my story, and it is yours too. I hope that it helps you to understand what happened to us both and why I hope that you can forgive me and perhaps, one day, we can be apart of each other's lives again. For now, I just want you to know that I love you – I always have and I always will. You are forever in my heart. - mum x.

Synopsis: nobody knew the truth. For all those years while people judged me, I protected those closest to me. Not it is time for the real story to be told. It is time for healing and forgiveness; Tressa Middleton made UK history when she became Britain's youngest mum in 2006 aged just 12 years and 8 months. Her case provoked shock and outrage – but the truth behind the headlines was far sadder than anyone could ever have imagined. Born in to a life of poverty and neglect, Tressa was forced to grow up fast when she was taken in to care at just four years old. She was returned to her mother's chaotic world but by the age of seven, she was being abused by her own brother and at 11 years old she fell pregnant with his child. For years she kept his dark secret in an attempt to hold her family together until the truth threatened to destroy her completely. In the years since the birth, Tressa has gone through more pain and turmoil than most adults experience in a lifetime – yet today she survives a brave, strong and compassionate young woman. Now, for the first time, Tressa Middleton tells her own harrowing yet poignant story – a story of hop, forgiveness and above all, love.

Review: I found this book really easy to get in to and harder to put down once l started reading it. This book was heartbreaking to read. This book made me want to cry. I was hooked on this book after just reading the first few lines of the prologue. It was sad to read that Tressa's father hit her mother and the only way her mother could get away from him was to put her children in to care which was the hardest decision any mother had to do so she could get away from her abusive husband. I was sad to read that Tressa was abused from the age seven. It was sad to read that she was raped at 11 years old by her brother and she got pregnant with his baby. Tressa wanted to keep her baby I was sad to read that Tressa was used by the papers. I think Tressa would have been a great mother if they had given her a chance with Annie. Tressa sounds like she loved working with children. It took me less than two days to read this book I could not put it down I just wanted to read about Tressa and Annie. I was glad Annie survived when she was born because her lungs was underdeveloped. Jason met his daughter in the hospital when she was in NICU. Tressa's family should have believed her when she told them what Jason did to her and when the DNA test come back saying Jason was Annie's father. They should have not turned against her when she needed them most. I was sad to read that Tressa tried to commit suicide I was glad Tressa had told the truth about who Annie's father was. Tressa made the hardest decision to let her beautiful daughter go so Annie could have a better life Tressa knew she could not give her. Tressa was heartbroken knowing her mother lost her sister and two brothers even though Tressa kept the abuse a secret so she did not lose them because Jason told Tressa that if she told their mother and social workers their mother would lose them all. I was sad to read that Tressa's father picked his girlfriend over his daughter and Tressa got on heroin. I was happy to read that Tressa got off drugs too  and she met a guy named Darren he was on drugs too but they got off them together. Tressa got pregnant again but she lost the baby and her mother within a week which was upsetting to read. Jason was out of jail for the funeral and he was not aloud near anyone under 18 after what he did to Tress. Tressa sounds like a very brave person after everything she been through. I hope one day Tressa and her daughter, Annie are together again. I hope one day Tressa's brothers Ollie and Kai find her. Tressa has her mother's ashes with her as Jason is back in jail. This is a great book but upsetting and heartbreaking. Tressa is very brave telling her story. I am glad someone who makes her happy and she kept pictures of Annie and the clothes Annie wear when she was a tiny baby. I can not put in to words how great this book is l would tell people to read it for themselves to know how great it really is. I wish l could rate this book more than five stars because it is worth more than the five stars I rated it. I hope Annie has the best life and future that Tressa would have wanted to give her. It was horrible that Tressa was called all sorts of name because of her past.

Acknowledgements: firstly, I would like to thank – Katy Weitz – if it was not for you, I would not have had the opportunity of reading this book for Annie so thank you for everything you have done. I would also like to thank our publishers, Blake, Andrew Lownie my literary agent and everyone who have worked on this book – it means so much to me that you all gave me the chance. I would like to thank Annie's adopted parents for giving her the upbringing that l could not and making her in to the person she is today – a very big and heartfelt thank you. I would also like to thank all my workers for not giving up on me when l needed help the most, you did not have to keep giving me all those chances, but you did and without all your amazing help I do not think I would have been able to get to where l am today – a very different place than before. A very big thanks goes to Margaret Scullion and Laura Mitchell – without you both my life would not have been worth living even the times you were very strict with me – I know I needed it and it probably helped to shape me in to the person I am today. Thanks to everyone else who supported me through the years – it means a lot to know that people do care and want to help, so thank you. Finally, words can not express my gratitude to Darren – the person who has had faith in me, and given me care, love and understanding when I needed them. I thank you from the bottom of my heart.

About The Author: Tressa Middleton attracted huge press coverage aged 12 when she became Britain's youngest mum – but the real story behind the headlines was far more complicated and heartbreaking. Tressa was the third child of four born to an absent father and an alcoholic mother who were regularly taken in to care. Tressa was more like a mum to her youngest sister and later to her mother's young sons by other men. The abuse by her brother began when she was seven but he used the family's instability against her. He said that if she ever told, all the children would be taken permanently in to care and they would never see their mother again. To protect them she kept his dark secret. By now her mother Tracey was a heroin addict and unreachable to Tressa. Almost inevitably, she followed her mother down the road of addiction. However, by 2011 she was determined to turn her life around and she has been clean for years.

She says ' I was raised in darkness and fear. Motherhood at 12 was hard but far harder was the loneliness of keeping my brother's secrets. Not l want to share my story to help others overcome fear in their lives'.

Star Rating: Five Out Of Five Stars.