I absolutely LOVED this!! I love Kerry Washington soooo much and this was such an amazing story to read!! This woman is honestly one of the greats!! Thank you guys for sending me the audio of this!! Literally life changing

I recently participated in my first ever listen along hosted by @tandemcollectiveglobal .
I was excited to be part of this as I really enjoy memoirs as audiobooks. Im happy to say that this one was no exception.

Kerry took us on a personal journey which was raw and emotional, she dealt with so much growing up. There were challenges in her parents relationship and the situation with the ‘boy’ in her sleep, which taught her that her trauma was less important than the feelings of others.
** Please check trigger warnings before reading.

I went into this book knowing absolutely nothing about Kerry Washington. I’ve throughly enjoyed watching her in films, Save the Last Dance, Ray, Fantastic Four, and I loved Little Fires Everywhere. School for Good and Evil and Scandal are high on my to be watched list. But I knew nothing about Kerry as a person. Because of this I knew none of the twists or drama in her life and in this book. I was totally hooked.

Thicker than Water is a must read for anyone who loves a celebrity memoir and the audio is superb 👌🏼

3/5 Stars

Thicker than Water is the story of Kerry Washington, so far. It is a frank look at both her personal and professional life, to a certain degree, of the truths she wishes to share.

It was interesting, for me, as I didn't realise how many films/TV shows of hers I had already seen. I also feel that having had the audio version of this book, read by Washington herself, another layer is added as she can stress the parts that were important to her, and you hear the inflection as she meant it to be heard.

Overall, I would recommend this to fans of memoirs/biographies. It's not one I feel you could stumble into accidentally, and it certainly isn't for people who dislike non-fiction reads.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. I love a celebrity memoir audiobook read by the author. There is an added layer when you hear them reading their words about their life.

I thought this cover was haunting. And the story lived up to the cover. Kerry doesn’t shy away from hard topics as she recounts bits of her life that made her who she is today. She recounts traumatic events, her path to acting and moments from her career including Scandal.

I admire her courage to examine her past and her family to see how her experiences shaped who she is today. She was brutally honest at times as she reflects on not only her successes but also her struggles.

I loved getting a glimpse into the woman that shared my Thursday nights with me.

Thank you to Tandem Collective Global for hosting the listenalong and to Hachette Audio and Little Brown for this one. An interesting account and insight into the life of Kerry Washington. I really enjoyed the fact it was in audiobook format and hearing it from Kerry herself was a great way to listen. I would definitely recommend to anyone who enjoys autobiographies. Thanks again!

Profound, important, relatable. Narrated in Kerry’s own voice, this memoir helped me understand someone of another background and experiences.

I’m a bit late to some of the authors work, cough … scandal, but was looking forward to hearing her memoir.

I really liked that we went back and forth through timelines, it made it so interesting, I especially enjoyed her childhood and career - especially the Save The Last Dance’ days.

A must for any fan!

Thanks to @tandemcollectiveglobal and Little, Brown Audio, I had a chance to listen to Kerry Washington's memoir THICKER THAN WATER, narrated by the author!

I remember loving Washington's character Chenille in SAVE THE LAST DANCE and then being excited to see her helm SCANDAL. She also did a lot of work in between/before and after, and she covers lots of other projects from her long career. I loved hearing her talk about her early work, including her indie film debut OUR SONG, and her work on RAY, where she knew that Jamie Foxx was an Oscar contender from the start. You can tell how passionate she is about creating authentic characters.

In addition to her career, the memoir also covers Washington's family history, including a big secret her parents kept from her (it's been in the news, but I won't spoil it here in case you haven't heard), as well as her struggles with an eating disorder. I could feel the emotion in her narration as she struggled to process everything - someone in our listening group said it felt like having wine time with a friend! Because of the closeness/immediacy of hearing her tell her story, I definitely recommend listening to this one. I was really impressed by her honesty and candor about life and show business.

Many thanks to my friends at @hachetteaudio and @tandemcollectiveglobal for this #gifted audiobook and including me in this #tandemlistenalong .

The very best way to ingest a memoir: listening to the author tell the story in their own voice.

And Kerry Washington’s narration, full of flare and emotion and nuance, truly made her story come alive.

From the family feel around table reads at Scandal to the community swimming pool where she dominated the water, Washington’s story brimmed with authenticity and kept me fully entertained.

It’s an intimate look at the deeply personal struggles she had to overcome while navigating a career and public presence.

💧Part behind the scenes with just the right amount of details and name dropping.
💧Part raw honesty in discovering who she is at her core.

I came away from Washington’s memoir with a deeper respect for the way she cultivated her career and a fresh reminder of why I loved Scandal so much! It’s time for a rewatch! 🍿🍷

“Blood may be thicker than water, but love is thicker than blood.”

I found this memoir so interesting, both in terms of the ways it explores the workings of casting and the film industry and Kerry’s discussion of her own upbringing and personal circumstances.

I absolutely adore Save the Last Dance and Scandal and I loved hearing her speak about these roles and what they mean to her.

Kerry shares some extremely personal information about her family, experiences in her childhood that affected her, her experiences of pregnancy and motherhood, plus her thoughts and feelings about her own body and her struggles with eating and body image. This was really inspiring to hear her being so open and honest about issues that have affected her life, how these issues subconsciously affected her choice of acting roles, and how she has been able to move forward.

I love listening to memoirs/autobiographies
narrated by the author as it adds so much more depth and emotion.

It's been a long time since a book truly resonated with me and I didn't expect this to in the way it did. The last memoir I read was Matthew Perry's and although blatantly honest and as much as it can't have been easy to write, I came away from it feeling a bit hopeless and with very little respect for the author. However Thicker than Water is so incredibly inspiring. We are hearing from someone who has been through everything and has come out of the other side with a positive, motivated attitude to life, love and family. She's a celebrity I hear you say? How can she moan? But celebrities have lives before they're famous and continue to live them after. Money isn't the key to happiness. Washington approaches her memoir with such vulnerability and whereas with some celebrity memoirs you get the 'oh poor me' feeling, I didn't get that once. What I was hearing was a woman who was incredibly for the life she had been given but is open enough to admit that she, like us, has her demons that made her feel less whole. Having some similarities between myself and the author obviously helped with my feelings towards this book but that's not always a positive thing. I've read books that have triggered me before and I've had to put them down. But her philosophy of life has actually made me stop and think...maybe I should deal with some things and come out the other side too?
Needless to say, I loved it. Its inspiring and a very admirable piece of writing.

This did everything you could hope for from a memoir, and was heavy and emotional and uplifting and lovely. I really enjoyed my read—hearing the book in Kerry’s own voice was a fantastic and immersive experience, and I thought she was incredibly open and vulnerable with all that she shared. If you enjoy memoirs and/or are a fan of Kerry, I definitely recommend picking this one up!

CW: sexual assault, miscarriage, infertility, eating disorder, cancer

I knew Thicker Than Water would be my perfect first audiobook. Especially since Kerry Washington is narrating her own memoir. Her voice demands attention and I seek to listen. I was riveted to my tv, first with Save the Last Dance. Next with her smash hit with Scandal and onto Little Fires Everywhere. She is a force to be reckoned with and her memoir reminds me of swimming up from the depths of the ocean. As your vision clears and you wipe the water from your eyes. Finally able to see clearly.

Washington offers up her life to you. She is raw, venerable, and does not leave any stone unturned. No subject is left off the table. The first half of the book I could not move from my seat. She has a way of turning a phrase and delivering it to you powerfully in your ear. She demands respect, and in return she offers you a piece of her.

Thank you to Tandem Collection for having me take part in this listenalong. It brought even more depth and meaning by having an entire group to discuss and to have their take on different events and issues. Thank you to Little Brown, Little Brown Spark, and Hachette Audio for my gifted copy of this audiobook.

Thank you to Tandem Collective and Little Brown for a copy of this book and having me on the read along.

Kerry Washington is definitely someone I have admired from afar. I've watched lots of her movies and always enjoyed them and appreciated her ability to bring characters to life through her acting. She has an amazing ability to make her characters feel relatable. What I have never known is anything about her own life or story so I was excited to read her memoir.

This book is not a tell all. It's not full of celebrity gossip and salacious tales of fame. It is instead a beautiful telling of Kerry's life, her family and her craft. She is a very private person; which is her right, so I thought it incredibly brave for her to share the stories that she did and I admire for her courage and strength in doing so.

I find reviews for memoirs really difficult to write, because who am I to critique another person's truth? I cannot and will not. However I will say that I thought this book was well written, emotive and inspiring. Catch me binging Scandal for the foreseeable!

I loved Kerry Washington as Olivia Pope on the TV show Scandal but I this book taught me so much more about her life and experiences. It made me appreciate her even more. I listened to the audiobook which she read herself and that made it even more special. She is a strong woman that has overcome challenges, but she also loves her job as an actress! If you are a fan of Kerry Washington I recommend this memoir!