I'm Glad My Mom Died - Jenette McCurdy

Jennette McCurdy was six years old when she had her first acting audition. Her mother’s dream was for her only daughter to become a star, and Jennette would do anything to make her mother happy. So she went along with what Mom called “calorie restriction,” eating little and weighing herself five times a day. She endured extensive at-home makeovers while Mom chided, “Your eyelashes are invisible, okay? You think Dakota Fanning doesn’t tint hers?” She was even showered by Mom until age sixteen while sharing her diaries, email, and all her income.

In I’m Glad My Mom Died, Jennette recounts all this in unflinching detail—just as she chronicles what happens when the dream finally comes true. Cast in a new Nickelodeon series called iCarly, she is thrust into fame. Though Mom is ecstatic, emailing fan club moderators and getting on a first-name basis with the paparazzi (“Hi Gale!”), Jennette is riddled with anxiety, shame, and self-loathing, which manifest into eating disorders, addiction, and a series of unhealthy relationships. These issues only get worse when, soon after taking the lead in the iCarly spinoff Sam & Cat alongside Ariana Grande, her mother dies of cancer. Finally, after discovering therapy and quitting acting, Jennette embarks on recovery and decides for the first time in her life what she really wants. 

Reading Wrap up 2023

 

Lesemonat September

Lesemonat August

Divine Rivals - Rebecca Ross

 

After centuries of sleep, the gods are warring again. But eighteen-year-old Iris Winnow just wants to hold her family together. Her mother is suffering from addiction and her brother is missing from the front lines. Her best bet is to win the columnist promotion at the Oath Gazette.

To combat her worries, Iris writes letters to her brother and slips them beneath her wardrobe door, where they vanish—into the hands of Roman Kitt, her cold and handsome rival at the paper. When he anonymously writes Iris back, the two of them forge a connection that will follow Iris all the way to the front lines of battle: for her brother, the fate of mankind, and love.

Nur wir beide - Jo Wilde

 In guten wie in schlechten Zeiten - das haben Julie und Michael Marshall einander vor 35 Jahren versprochen. Die schlechten Zeiten überwiegen allerdings schon lange. Julie will endlich einen Schlussstrich ziehen und ihrem Mann die Scheidungspapiere überreichen. Doch ausgerechnet an diesem Abend verkündet der Premierminister den nationalen Lockdown. Julie und Michael können sich kaum etwas Schlimmeres vorstellen, als auf unbestimmte Zeit zu Hause festzusitzen. Die erzwungene Zweisamkeit birgt jedoch auch eine unerwartete Chance: Kann es ihnen gelingen, an die guten Zeiten anzuknüpfen und einen Neuanfang zu wagen?

Lesemonat Juni