Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the e-ARC. A friendly and warmly written guide to writing through tough times and using writing as a reflective tool. Some useful tips and prompts.

When I was a kid and then again in high school, I went through some difficult, traumatic experiences. My therapist introduced me to writing therapy to help me work through and process them. Reading this book reminded me of that kind of healing which has helped me through many dark times. Writing became such a powerful tool for me back then and it's something I still do today!!

This seemed like the perfect writing reference/inspirational book, exactly the kind of thing I'd recommend to my audience of, primarily, aspiring writers. It's about writing one's story and performing "story healing" on oneself, which is very much in line with today's trend of shadow work, parts work, and trauma-informed autonarrative. That said, it was a tough entry because it's very heavy on the author's personal history to start. Yes, it's important to understand her journey and know where she's coming from, but at the same time, this doesn't always translate to useful material to engage writers, even though there are prompts to guide them. After about 20%, I found this to be out of balance between the author's experience and actionable elements for the target audience. The faith element may also attract some readers/writers, but it was a bit heavy for my personal taste.