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Reviews tagging 'Emotional abuse'
God Bless This Mess: Learning to Live and Love Through Life's Best (and Worst) Moments by Hannah Brown
3 reviews
jessgreads's review against another edition
emotional
funny
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
slow-paced
3.5
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐✨⬜
Title: God Bless This Mess: Learning to Live and Love Through Life's Best (and Worst) Moments
Author: Hannah Brown
Genre: Memoir
Setting: Alabama / Los Angeles, California
Month Read: April 2022
Book Type: Audiobook
Publication: 2021
Publisher: HarperCollins
Pages: 277
TRIGGER WARNING-
Sexual Content / Alcohol / Murder / Grief
No Spoiler Summary:
God Bless This Mess is a memoir by former Bachelorette and Dancing with the Stars champion, Hannah Brown. The book details her life from childhood through the beginning of the pandemic in 2020. She discusses pageantry, school, dating, her time in the Bachelor Franchise, and her time on Dancing with the Stars. Filled with fun Hannah quips you've come to love, and filled with a lot of emotion, trauma, and anxiety, you learn who Hannah Brown really is.
Review:
I'm really surprised that there is so much to Hannah Brown you don't know, especially when she's been a public figure you've followed for years. I loved learning about her family life, her early dating history, and all the work she's done publicly and behind the scenes since her time on my tv screen.
This book contains a lot of juicy tids about the men on her season, and I'm not shocked to find that the majority of her final 3 are sort of trash humans. Hearing her side of how Tyler and Peter treated her after their time on her season really made my heart hurt for her, and it really shines a light on how bad the lead should have a therapist during the filmings of their season.
Nothing is really off the table in this book, and I loved how absolutely candid she is. I thought this book would be more religion heavy, and as someone non-religious I was concerned about listening to this--- but I ended up loving how thoughtful and honest she is, and how many times she's sort of fallen in and out of her faith. It's inspiring in ways to see how much she has really fought to be who she is, and for what she wants to belive in for herself.
If you're a fan of Hannah, or of the Bachelor franchise, you should definitely read this book. I thought it was a great inside look, and loved that she was the audio narrator.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Toxic relationship, Gaslighting, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Toxic friendship, Child death, and Chronic illness
Moderate: Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual content, Body shaming, Grief, Religious bigotry, Alcohol, and Cursing
readingwithmeredith's review against another edition
emotional
funny
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death
Moderate: Eating disorder and Emotional abuse
onkenzisshelf's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
informative
fast-paced
3.75
I don’t like giving star ratings to memoirs, but of course, to count in my stats, I have to, BUT I’ll tell you my thoughts overall. I love Hannah. She’s one of my all-time favorite people from the Bachelor franchise because I think she comes across as incredibly real compared to other people. This book was no different. She shared struggles and hardships that shaped who she is today and gave us a glimpse into the real Hannah Brown.
I will say, a lot of this book read as kind of whiny and “woe is me” (like come on, being bullied for dimples felt like a stretch), but this girl did face a lot of horrible things that she never got help with so I feel for her. I felt like the reasoning for a lot of this stemmed from some religious trauma and the way the South views human worth. It was also kind of nice to learn that the Bachelor franchise didn’t use some of her most horrible traumas as storylines in the show. This book wasn’t the most well written, but it felt pretty honest and it was a quick read.
Overall, I did enjoy this one, but if you’re not a Bachelor fan, I wouldn’t pick this one up, as it read like I felt a “memoir” about the show itself would read. It was also super faith-based, so if that isn’t your thing, I’d avoid this one. Also TWs for eating disorders, a lot of weight talk, abusive relationships, homophobia, and murder. I wouldn't necessarily say Hannah herself was homophobic in this book, but there were quite a few times when either internalized or even society-fueled homophobia was pretty obvious.
I will say, a lot of this book read as kind of whiny and “woe is me” (like come on, being bullied for dimples felt like a stretch), but this girl did face a lot of horrible things that she never got help with so I feel for her. I felt like the reasoning for a lot of this stemmed from some religious trauma and the way the South views human worth. It was also kind of nice to learn that the Bachelor franchise didn’t use some of her most horrible traumas as storylines in the show. This book wasn’t the most well written, but it felt pretty honest and it was a quick read.
Overall, I did enjoy this one, but if you’re not a Bachelor fan, I wouldn’t pick this one up, as it read like I felt a “memoir” about the show itself would read. It was also super faith-based, so if that isn’t your thing, I’d avoid this one. Also TWs for eating disorders, a lot of weight talk, abusive relationships, homophobia, and murder. I wouldn't necessarily say Hannah herself was homophobic in this book, but there were quite a few times when either internalized or even society-fueled homophobia was pretty obvious.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Domestic abuse, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, and Fatphobia
Moderate: Homophobia
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