Blog Archives
Deserving of Grace
Should Have Told You Sooner follows a museum professional navigating the complexities of motherhood, the aftermath of divorce, and a career opportunity that leads her abroad. Where did the idea for this novel come from?
The idea for Should Have Told You Sooner came to me while I was immersed in a book of Welsh folk tales. One story in particular, “The Lady of Llyn Y Fan Fach,” captivated me and set my imagination racing. In it, a young farmer named Gwyn visits the lake named in the title, and while he is there, a most beautiful fairy rises from the water and speaks to him. She is Nelferch, and in an instant, Gwyn is in love. Nelferch agrees to marry him, sacrificing the watery world she knows for a life with him on dry land, but their union ends in disappointment and pain. Long after finishing the story, I kept thinking about Nelferch and Gwyn and all the ways we might harm those we profess to love. It wasn’t long before I stopped thinking about the folk tale characters and began imagining a more contemporary pair.
What is one pivotal moment in the story that you think best defines Noel?
After Noel leaves a heart-to-heart talk with Henry, the young artist she’s been working with, she makes a side trip to an art museum instead of returning right back to work. Their conversation has shaken her – and I won’t say why because spoilers! – and as she’s walking through all the London neighborhoods that were her haunts while she was a student, both Henry’s words and her memories are running through her head, and she’s letting them. Until this moment, she’s been the person who put her memories in a box and closed the lid tight on them because the idea of revisiting that part of her life was too painful. I think it becomes clear here how hard it’s been for her to live with the memories and also how hard it’s been to live without acknowledging them, and not only for herself. She realizes something has to change.
Is there any moral or idea that you hope readers take away from the story?
I always hope my stories make readers think about how complex and flawed and yet deserving of grace we all are. That living is all about change and growth and doing the work that helps us heal both ourselves and our relationships with others.
What is the next book you are working on, and when will it be available?
I’m currently working on the sequel to Should Have Told You Sooner, and I have two other novel projects that are in early planning stages. If the sequel is finished within the year, it could be out as early as 2027.
Author Links: GoodReads | Facebook | Instagram | Website | Amazon
While studying art history at a London university, Noel Enfield falls passionately in love with aspiring artist and art school student Bryn Jones. Shortly after Bryn leaves for a five-month painting trip through Italy, Noel discovers she is pregnant. She is ecstatic and believes Bryn will be too—they have plans to marry, after all. But mishaps part the two lovers, and a desperate Noel makes a split-second choice to move forward in a way that will change not only her life but also the lives of everyone she loves.
Three decades later, when she is offered a six-month secondment to a London museum, Noel decides it’s time to prove she really has moved on from that difficult period by returning to the city where she met and lost Bryn. But rather than proving she has persevered, the move lands Noel in the thick of London’s insular art world, with only one or two degrees of separation from her past and the people she once loved. After she reconnects with an old, dear friend and learns finally what kept Bryn from returning to her all those years ago, the very underpinnings of her life are rocked to their core. Some decisions made in the past can never be put behind her, she realizes, and armed with this new understanding, she sets out on a journey to reclaim what—and who—she left behind.
Divorced at 50 F**K, Now What?
Lara Portelli’s Divorced at 50 is a raw and heartfelt memoir that begins with a stolen childhood, winds through a troubled marriage, and lands in the fragile yet powerful territory of self-discovery after divorce. She writes with candor about cultural expectations, coercive control, and the painful silence of a life lived for others. Yet, woven through the heartbreak is a strong thread of resilience. The book is both a personal story and a guide, filled with reflections, small lessons, and hard-won hope. At its heart, it is about reclaiming one’s voice after decades of suppression.
I found myself pulled into Lara’s honesty. She does not sugarcoat her experiences, and that makes her words feel alive. At times, I felt angry for her younger self, trapped in a world where duty outweighed love. Other times, I found myself smiling when she described small moments of joy, like driving with the window down or noticing a flower left on her desk. The writing is simple and unpretentious, but it carries a deep emotional weight. It often feels like sitting across from a friend who has decided to tell you the truth, even the parts that hurt. That vulnerability is what makes the book so powerful.
I also admired how she framed her journey not just as an escape, but as a rebuilding. She writes about health, self-worth, and the importance of surrounding yourself with the right people. Her focus on words and mindset gave the book an unexpected layer. Some sections lingered on personal analysis, but in a way, that rhythm mirrored her process of working through years of pain. It felt real, not polished for effect.
By the time I finished, I was left with both sadness for what she endured and hope for what she found. Divorced at 50 F**K, Now What? will resonate most with women who feel stuck, whether in a marriage, a job, or even a set of old beliefs. It’s also for anyone standing on the edge of change, afraid of what comes next. Lara shows that the unknown can be terrifying, yes, but it can also be the beginning of everything you’ve been waiting for.
Pages: 76 | ASIN : B0FLPL17MT
Life Is Lifey: The A to Z’s on Navigating Life’s Messy Middle
Sarah Shahi’s Life Is Lifey is a raw, funny, and unapologetic blend of memoir and advice that doesn’t pretend to have all the answers. The book weaves through her personal journey of divorce, self-discovery, and career pivots, while also doling out blunt yet compassionate lessons about courage, boundaries, aging, sex, self-love, and learning to actually live your own life rather than the one others expect. It feels less like a self-help manual and more like sitting down with a brutally honest big sister who mixes tequila shots with therapy sessions, making you laugh even as you cry.
Reading this book felt like an unexpected jolt of energy. Shahi’s writing is conversational, raunchy, and full of personality, which is what makes it so compelling. I loved how she knocked down the polished façade of self-help and leaned into the chaos instead. Her stories are sometimes shocking, sometimes tender, and always relatable. The honesty is refreshing. I found myself nodding, laughing, and pausing to underline lines that hit uncomfortably close to home. It doesn’t read like something written from a pedestal, and that made me trust her voice even more.
I enjoyed the boldness, but sometimes I wished the narrative slowed down so that certain insights could breathe. The profanity and sex-heavy sections might turn off some readers, but for me, that unfiltered edge is exactly what gives the book its charm. Shahi’s refusal to sand down her experiences into something polite is what makes it ring true. She is vulnerable without being sappy and hilarious without being flippant, which is a balance that not many writers can pull off.
Life Is Lifey isn’t for people who want a neat list of steps to fix their life. It’s for those who are tired of pretending everything is fine, who want to laugh through their tears, and who need a reminder that the second act of life can be wilder, richer, and more authentic than the first. If you’re someone who craves honesty laced with humor, and you’re not afraid of a little mess, this book will feel like a permission slip to live unapologetically and on your own terms.
Pages: 256 | ASIN : B0DYZZDKHG
Creating Community
In The Break, you share with readers your experiences battling addiction and codependency and offer an intimate look into the unraveling of your marriage. Why was it important for you to write this book?
It was important for me to write The Break and share my experiences with codependency as my ex-husband and I came to terms with his alcoholism because I remember how alone I felt as I looked for community and understanding. I found more stories of people becoming sober than I found of those caring for someone going through alcoholism. The examples of alcoholism that were readily available were stories of various forms of abuse, mood swings, police interactions, empty bank accounts and houses built on fear. None of that was my story and I wanted to show others what high functioning alcoholism can look like. As I looked for my community, I realized there were more programs to assist the individual going through addiction than there were to help guide the loved ones. Alcoholism is a full life disease – it affects family, friends, co-workers and acquaintances – so I found it very odd that there was not just as much support for those around the alcoholic. I wanted to add to that community and that conversation because we, the co-dependents, need a strong support system as well.
I appreciated the candid nature with which you told your story. What was the hardest thing for you to write about?
The hardest part for me to write about was our wedding and accepting the fact that I really didn’t want to get married at the age of 25. It wasn’t that I didn’t want to marry my now ex-husband, it’s simply that I felt like I was up against societal standards and I was behind. I felt like I needed to get married because it was the next right step. Yes, I loved my now ex-husband and I should not have gotten married. While it was the next right step based upon societal measures, it was not the next right step for me and I was too young and too scared to recognize that truth.
What is one piece of advice you wish someone had given you when you were younger?
There is a lot of advice that I wish my younger self had been told, however it does not mean I would have been ready to accept it. If someone had told me that I didn’t have to get married, that there is always another way and to make sure I take the time to listen to myself, I can’t say I would have fully listened to them or understood what they meant. Especially since all the women close to me modeled a very different belief system. Even the women in the news were heralded more for their looks and who they were dating, than the accomplishments they created on their own.
What is one thing you hope readers are able to take away from The Break?
The biggest take away that I hope readers carry with them after reading The Break,is to give that inner voice space. Take the time to listen to the quiet nudging and pulling that says Try this or Are you sure?. It can be scary to give that voice a chance to be heard, especially if she’s been quieted for so long, AND it will be very worth it.
Author Links: GoodReads | Websites
This quieting leads us towards a life out of alignment with our truest and most authentic selves. This leaves us feeling anger, exhaustion and constantly stuck. A life the author was too familiar with as she struggled to accept her then husband’s alcoholism and the part she played in the cycle.
The Break is a story of Brandee’s unlearning, seeking truth and finally allowing herself to trust her inner own knowing. The journey back to herself was not easy and it was completely necessary. This story is shared with the hope it will guide you back to your own inner knowing as well.
Themes in this book include:
Addiction
Separation
Learning to trust ones self
Strengthening your inner knowing
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The Break: Rediscovering Our Inner Knowing
The Break is a raw and soul-baring memoir about the unraveling of a marriage caught in the quiet storm of high-functioning alcoholism and the slow rebirth of a woman learning to trust her own voice. Brandee Melcher takes readers on an intimate, winding journey through love, codependency, addiction, motherhood, and self-liberation. The book is structured in short, potent chapters that trace the trajectory of her life — from a childhood shaped by domestic violence to a marriage strained by denial and rules designed to fix what couldn’t be fixed. With startling honesty, Melcher offers readers not a step-by-step how-to, but a companion in the dark. This is a book about listening to the gut, especially when the heart wants to pretend everything is fine.
I enjoyed Melcher’s writing. I liked how sharp and tender it is all at once. She doesn’t hide from the uncomfortable. She walks right into it, like in Chapter 7, “The Long Ending,” where she describes the heartbreak of discovering that her husband had lied about drinking. Her rage, disbelief, and exhaustion are palpable. And yet, she never lets herself or the reader off easy. She owns her part, too — the enabling, the rationalizing, the excuses, the countless “rules” in Chapter 4 that were made and broken. There’s no polish here. No clean endings. Just someone standing in the ruins of what she thought marriage should be, slowly sweeping up the truth. I felt her weariness. I felt her clarity when she says, “It became too much to keep up with… and I was tired of the discussions.” That kind of fatigue isn’t just emotional — it’s physical. And she writes it like it is.
And then there’s the bravery — not just in leaving, but in staying so long and still trying. In Chapter 10, “Soul Break,” Melcher recounts the moment her partner admitted he drank simply because “he wanted to.” There’s no villain here, only a man in pain and a woman who couldn’t carry both of their stories anymore. I admired how she didn’t demonize him. She held grief in one hand and compassion in the other. And in doing that, she gave readers permission to feel both at once, too. Melcher’s ability to distill big, messy truths into plainspoken sentences is one of her greatest strengths.
This isn’t a book for people looking for easy answers or perfect closure. But if you’ve ever doubted your own instincts, if you’ve stayed too long, if you’ve bargained your way through a relationship thinking “at least he doesn’t…” — then The Break will feel like a mirror and a lifeline. I’d recommend this book to anyone healing from emotional exhaustion, codependency, or the quiet heartbreak of unspoken truths. Especially women. Especially mothers. Melcher’s voice is a steady hand on the shoulder — one that says, “You’re not crazy. And you’re not alone.”
Pages: 83 | ASIN : B0CH94Q63N
Failure is Part of Learning
The Ultimate Other is a mix of memoir and self-reflection examining your experiences as a woman, a mother, a Jew, and a professional through a deeply personal and thought-provoking exploration of identity, otherness, and self-reinvention. Why was this an important book for you to write?
This was an important book to write for 3 reasons:
- It was a cathartic process for me to understand and give a narrative to my own experiences
2. It was important for me to be able to support others and share my learnings, to try and alleviate some of the difficulties of others going through a paradigm shift in their life, personal or professional
3. It is a thought piece about the importance of understanding yourself, having empathy for yourself, being kind to yourself and letting go. In my view, this is the first stage of a self-actualization process that will then allow space to have empathy for others. Once you understand your own values, triggers, and biases, you are in a much better position to have empathy for others – at home, at work, in teams and community. I believe this is the first step to reducing polarising and improvising social cohesion in our fragmented workplaces and society.
I appreciated the candid nature with which you told your story. What was the hardest thing for you to write about?
The most difficult thing to write about was my failures – the vulnerability and humility required to see my own contributions in the things that went wrong was very hard. Also writing about my family, my Jewishness, and including the word Jew in the title, at this moment in history was a very difficult decision to make.
What were some ideas that were important for you to share in this book?
The primary idea in the book was about positioning yourself as the problem to solve and having empathy for yourself to do so. Seeing failure as learning and being able to iterate and try something else to get you to where you want to be is also important.
What do you hope is one thing readers take away from your story?
That the most important measure of success is your own, and you get to curate and narrate your own story.
Author Website
As the primary carer for three children and stretched by competing identities, her sense of otherness was first created by her gender. Like many professional women struggling to fulfil their potential, after her divorce Jackie began rebuilding her identity and trying to understand her internal narrative. And then the thread that had been there the whole time – her Jewish identity – was brought to the fore by events in the Middle East. Combined with her status as a divorced woman, she became The Ultimate Other.
A curious, lifelong learner, Jackie delved into the world of design thinking and discovered that she could use these powerful identities to reconstruct her life – by treating herself as the work in progress that needed to be iterated. Using design thinking, Jackie learned to treat herself with empathy and embrace her otherness.
In this deeply personal and vulnerable book, Jackie lays out the reflections, processes and activities that she utilised and experienced on her journey, and offers readers the opportunity to do the same.
The Ultimate Other
Jackie King’s The Ultimate Other is a deeply personal and thought-provoking exploration of identity, otherness, and self-reinvention. Through a mix of memoir, self-reflection, and design thinking, King dissects her experiences as a woman, a mother, a Jew, and a professional navigating a world that often forces her into the margins. She uses design thinking as a framework to reconstruct her life, breaking it into phases: empathize, define, ideate, prototype, and launch. The result is a raw, honest, and incredibly relatable account of what it means to find and reclaim oneself.
One of the most compelling aspects of this book is King’s vulnerability. She doesn’t sugarcoat her struggles, whether it’s the suffocating burnout of motherhood, the financial insecurity of divorce, or the alienation of being an outsider in various aspects of her life. In one of the most gut-wrenching sections, she describes waiting nine months for her PhD results, only to be dismissed by a male interviewer who tells her she “wasn’t the right fit” because she had taken time off to raise her children. The way she captures the slow, grinding erosion of confidence in spaces that fail to value women’s experiences is both infuriating and deeply validating.
Another standout theme in The Ultimate Other is the power of reframing failure. King doesn’t present a linear success story but instead embraces iteration, failure, and self-discovery as part of the process. She recalls her first experience as a consultant, where she undervalued her own expertise, only to have a client double her rate and push her to see her worth. These moments make the book feel like an encouraging nudge rather than a set of rigid self-help principles. King shows how stepping away from predefined expectations, whether in relationships or careers, is a necessary act of self-preservation.
Perhaps the most emotional part of the book is her discussion of generational trauma, particularly as a Jewish woman. The weight of history, her grandfather’s Holocaust survival, the fear that lingers in Jewish identity, and the rise of modern antisemitism shape her sense of self in ways she is still unpacking. She describes visiting Yad Vashem and seeing the name of her grandfather’s aunt, who perished in Auschwitz, carved into stone. That moment cements the idea that trauma isn’t just something inherited, it’s something carried, worn, and eventually understood in personal and political ways.
This book is perfect for women who feel stretched too thin, undervalued, or trapped in expectations they never consciously agreed to. It’s for anyone who has ever felt like an outsider, whether due to gender, religion, or career choices. King’s writing is sharp, introspective, and incredibly human, sometimes heartbreakingly so. She doesn’t offer easy solutions but instead provides a roadmap for navigating discomfort, embracing change, and designing a life that feels authentic. If you’re looking for a book that acknowledges the messiness of personal growth and celebrates the courage to redefine success, The Ultimate Other is a must-read.
Pages: 83 | ASIN : B0DG9BX3Z6
A Feeling of Community
Notes From Motherland: The Wild Adventures of Raising Humans is a heartfelt collection of essays capturing the rollercoaster that is motherhood. Why was this an important book for you to write?
It is easy to feel isolated and alone on the motherhood journey. This book is important because it gives voice to the wide variety of experiences people have as they approach motherhood and while on the path itself. I wanted a resource for people that spoke not only to the joy but to the myriad other feelings people have. Sadly, people often find it difficult to find places to express their more vulnerable feelings about such a common thing as being a mother. My hope is that this collection provides a place for people to get a look into the breadth of feeling and experience that accompanies motherhood, that they find a sisterhood, and they the feel less alone.
What were some ideas that were important for you to share in this book?
That there is not just one “valid” experience of or approach to motherhood, that we are all different and bring different things to the journey and experience of motherhood. Again, my hope is that people find this to be a supportive, informative resource. It’s not a “how to” resource but one that hopefully engenders a feeling of community.
How did you decide what to include and leave out in your collection of essays?
We invited a variety of authors to share their experiences and reflections and it was their choice what to share. So we did not hand-pick the topics or experiences that were offered.
What do you hope is one thing readers take away from your anthology?
I hope readers take away a sense of inclusion, support, and hope that they are not strange or bad or alone in their mothering or in their perhaps ambivalent feelings about the experience. Motherhood is SO complex. I think it is unreasonable to expect people to only feel joy and yet the cultural message that is often delivered is that there is something wrong with us if we have less than happy feelings about it.
Chris Chandler Author Links: GoodReads | Facebook | Website | Amazon
Sierra Melcher Author Links: GoodReads | Facebook | Website | Amazon
Through laughter and tears, these women reflect on the lessons learned, the bonds formed, and the growth experienced through motherhood. Each story is a testament to the strength, resilience, and love that defines the mother-child relationship.
Notes from Motherland is a celebration of the universal joys and challenges of motherhood, offering insight, support, and inspiration to mothers everywhere. Whether you’re a new mom, a seasoned parent, or simply curious about the complexities of motherhood, this anthology is sure to resonate with you. Join these women as they share their stories, reminding us all of the beauty and chaos that comes with raising humans.
Coauthors:
- Chris Chandler
- Jennifer Rhode
- Sandi Phinney
- Audra Romeo
- Sierra Lynn Riddle
- JoEllen Leigh Irizarry
- Jessica Stokes
- Erika Hull
- Brandee Melcher
- Ashley Wize
- Reah Hagues
- Rena McDonald
- Frances Trejo-lay
- Sierra Melcher
LITERARY TITAN 