The Empty Side of Our Bed by Bill Beckett

The Empty Side of Our Bed is a heartfelt exploration of life after loss—a raw and honest account of the profound journey through grief, from the painful “firsts” to the quiet moments of survival. In this follow-up to Love, Family, Cancer, Bill Beckett opens up about the emotional aftermath of losing a spouse, capturing the loneliness, the sorrow, and the strength required to face each new day.

This book is for anyone who has experienced the devastating loss of a loved one and is searching for understanding, healing, and hope. With unwavering transparency, Bill shares the painful process of adjusting to a life without their partner, the heart-wrenching “firsts” that follow, the bad days that seem to never end, the duality of memories and the quiet victories of rebuilding a new life after the old one is gone.

The Empty Side of Our Bed doesn’t shy away from the dark days but also offers a message of hope: that even in the midst of unimaginable loss, it’s possible to find new strength and create a life that honors the past while embracing the future. 

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The Empty Side of Our Bed: A Journey Through Love, Loss and Moving Forward: Beckett, Bill: 9798291181683: Amazon.com: Books

 Bill Beckett is a former IT and digital forensics professional who turned to writing after the loss of his wife, Bonnie, in 2020. He is the author of Love, Family, Cancer, a heartfelt account of their journey through illness. His current project, The Empty Side of Our Bed, is a deeply personal memoir about grief, healing, and rediscovering identity.

A self-described "logical deep thinker" and Highly Sensitive Person (HSP), Bill writes with raw honesty, offering a unique perspective to fellow widowers and anyone navigating profound loss. His insights have been featured on the Open to Hope, Solo Dad, and HSP podcasts, and his work on the "firsts" of grief will be featured in the April 2026 issue of the publication Journeys. Bill is a father, grandfather, and storyteller who believes in the quiet power of words to help us carry on.

Eva And Eve By Julie Metz

 

In this unforgettable and “essential feminist memoir of women’s lives” (Sarah Wildman, author of Paper Love) the author of the New York Times bestselling memoir Perfection unearths her mother’s hidden past in in Nazi-occupied Austria.

To Julie Metz, her mother, Eve, was the quintessential New Yorker. Eve rarely spoke about her childhood and it was difficult to imagine her living anywhere else except Manhattan, where she could be found attending Carnegie Hall and the Metropolitan Opera or inspecting a round of French triple crème at Zabar’s.

After her mother passed, Julie discovered a keepsake book filled with farewell notes from friends and relatives addressed to a ten-year-old girl named Eva. This long-hidden memento was the first clue to the secret pain that Julie’s mother had carried as a refugee and immigrant from Nazi-occupied Vienna, shining a light on “a story of political repression, terror, and dissolution...full of astonishing and unlikely twists of fate showing again that individual destiny may be the greatest mystery of all” (Dani Shapiro, author of Inheritance).

“A gripping and intimate wartime account with piercing contemporary relevance” (Kirkus Reviews), Eva and Eve lyrically traces one woman’s search for her mother’s lost childhood while revealing the resilience of our forebears and the sacrifices that ordinary people are called to make during history’s darkest hours. 

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Eva and Eve: A Search for My Mother's Lost Childhood and What a War Left Behind: Metz, Julie: 9781982127985: Amazon.com: Books

Julie Metz is the New York Times bestselling author of PERFECTION. Her new release is EVA AND EVE: A SEARCH FOR MY MOTHER'S LOST CHILDHOOD AND WHAT A WAR LEFT BEHIND. Julie is the recipient of fellowships at MacDowell, Yaddo, and the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts. She has written for publications including The New York Times, Dame, and Salon and essays have appeared in THE MOMENT and THE HOUSE THAT MADE ME. She lives with her family in the Hudson Valley. Follow on Instagram: @juliemetzwriter Info on upcoming events at: juliemetz.com 

My Thoughts...

I was reading this and it was as if I was reading a fiction book it was so well written. And the family history was unbelievably well done.

I did not want to put this book down. I was so enthralled with every word.

This is a 4 star must read.

 The Mary Reader received this book from the publisher for review. A favorable review was not required and all views expressed are our own.

Finding Freedom By Erin French

 From Erin French, owner and chef of the critically acclaimed The Lost Kitchen, a TIME world dining destination, a life-affirming memoir about survival, renewal, and finding a community to lift her up

Long before The Lost Kitchen became a world dining destination with every seating filled the day the reservation book opens each spring, Erin French was a girl roaming barefoot on a 25-acre farm, a teenager falling in love with food while working the line at her dad’s diner and a young woman finding her calling as a professional chef at her tiny restaurant tucked into a 19th century mill. This singular memoir―a classic American story―invites readers to Erin's corner of her beloved Maine to share the real person behind the “girl from Freedom” fairytale, and the not-so-picture-perfect struggles that have taken every ounce of her strength to overcome, and that make Erin’s life triumphant.

In Finding Freedom, Erin opens up to the challenges, stumbles, and victories that have led her to the exact place she was ever meant to be, telling stories of multiple rock-bottoms, of darkness and anxiety, of survival as a jobless single mother, of pills that promised release but delivered addiction, of a man who seemed to offer salvation but in the end ripped away her very sense of self. And of the beautiful son who was her guiding light as she slowly rebuilt her personal and culinary life around the solace she found in food―as a source of comfort, a sense of place, as a way of bringing goodness into the world. Erin’s experiences with deep loss and abiding hope, told with both honesty and humor, will resonate with women everywhere who are determined to find their voices, create community, grow stronger and discover their best-selves despite seemingly impossible odds. Set against the backdrop of rural Maine and its lushly intense, bountiful seasons, Erin reveals the passion and courage needed to invent oneself anew, and the poignant, timeless connections between food and generosity, renewal and freedom. 

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Amazon.com: Finding Freedom: A Cook's Story; Remaking a Life from Scratch (9781250312341): French, Erin: Books

Erin French is the owner and chef of The Lost Kitchen, a 40-seat restaurant in Freedom, Maine, that was recently named one TIME Magazine’s World’s Greatest Places and one of "12 Restaurants Worth Traveling Across the World to Experience" by Bloomberg. A born-and-raised native of Maine, she learned early the simple pleasures of thoughtful food and the importance of gathering for a meal. Her love of sharing Maine and its delicious heritage with curious dinner guests and new friends alike has garnered attention in outlets such as The New York Times (her piece was one of the ten most read articles in the food section the year it was published), Martha Stewart Living, Wall Street Journal, Boston Globe, and Food & Wine. She has been invited to share her story on NPR’s All Things Considered, The Chew, CBS This Morning, and The Today Show. Erin was featured in a short film made by Tastemade in partnership with L. L. Bean, which won a James Beard Award, and The Lost Kitchen Cookbook has been named one of the best cookbooks by The Washington Post, Vogue.com, and Remodelista and was nominated for a James Beard Foundation Award.

My Thoughts...

A memoir with so much heart and a little bit of grit. You can not stop reading it. The food descriptions  were something to savor. I could not read this just once. I read it twice.

The hardship and the overcoming is something else to read about. I have so much respect for French  after spending an afternoon in her memoir.

I can't recommend this enough. 5 stars and please grab a copy.

The Mary Reader received this book from the publisher for review. A favorable review was not required and all views expressed are our own.

Occasional Moments of Happiness By Shana Donyaei GIVEAWAY!

 

All Shana Lesser ever wanted growing up was to be one of the popular, pretty girls sitting at the back of the school bus, flirting with all the cute boys. But that never happened for this shy, lanky girl, voted quietest by her classmates. A perpetual dreamer, she poured out all her secret hopes and fears through the pages of her soul confidant—her journal. Seeking comfort in the confidence of a friend, she learned to be a follower. During her teenage years, she found herself in the party scene, searching for her knight-in-shining grunge rocker, someone to make her whole and fill the empty places inside her. The question being, how many toads would stomp on her heart until she finally found her prince? Occasional Moments of Happiness is a bittersweet and quirky account of one woman’s journey to find lasting joy not dependent on the number on the scale, the guy from the night before who promised to call but never did, or her fizzled supermodel dreams. Set during the eighties and nineties in Seattle’s rainy coffee culture, it’s a roller-coaster ride you won’t want to miss.

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Amazon.com: Occasional Moments of Happiness (9781948089036): Donyaei, Shana, Harrell, Dori, Bonner, Lynnette: Books

Shana Donyaei is a 'city girl' at heart and misses walking to the store in West Seattle and carrying her groceries home. She has spent the last 19 years living in a rural community on the Kitsap Peninsula in Washington state with her husband and three children. As a stay-at-home mom, this setting afforded her time to complete two manuscripts. She looks forward to this next chapter in her life,  after publishing her first book.

My Thoughts...

This reads like a life long testimony from someone who has lots to tell us and share with us.

Memoirs are sometimes not everyones cup of tea. But they are like sitting down and talking to an old friend you learn so much about the person.

I really hope that you will grab a copy and share it with those that you love.

I gave this book 4 stars.

The Mary Reader received this book from the publisher for review. A favorable review was not required and all views expressed are our own.

Hollywood Park By Mikel Jollett

HOLLYWOOD PARK is a remarkable memoir of a tumultuous life. Mikel Jollett was born into one of the country’s most infamous cults, and subjected to a childhood filled with poverty, addiction, and emotional abuse. Yet, ultimately, his is a story of fierce love and family loyalty told in a raw, poetic voice that signals the emergence of a uniquely gifted writer.

We were never young. We were just too afraid of ourselves. No one told us who we were or what we were or where all our parents went. They would arrive like ghosts, visiting us for a morning, an afternoon. They would sit with us or walk around the grounds, to laugh or cry or toss us in the air while we screamed. Then they’d disappear again, for weeks, for months, for years, leaving us alone with our memories and dreams, our questions and confusion. …

So begins Hollywood Park, Mikel Jollett’s remarkable memoir. His story opens in an experimental commune in California, which later morphed into the Church of Synanon, one of the country’s most infamous and dangerous cults. Per the leader’s mandate, all children, including Jollett and his older brother, were separated from their parents when they were six months old, and handed over to the cult’s “School.” After spending years in what was essentially an orphanage, Mikel escaped the cult one morning with his mother and older brother. But in many ways, life outside Synanon was even harder and more erratic.

In his raw, poetic and powerful voice, Jollett portrays a childhood filled with abject poverty, trauma, emotional abuse, delinquency and the lure of drugs and alcohol. Raised by a clinically depressed mother, tormented by his angry older brother, subjected to the unpredictability of troubled step-fathers and longing for contact with his father, a former heroin addict and ex-con, Jollett slowly, often painfully, builds a life that leads him to Stanford University and, eventually, to finding his voice as a writer and musician.

Hollywood Park is told at first through the limited perspective of a child, and then broadens as Jollett begins to understand the world around him. Although Mikel Jollett’s story is filled with heartbreak, it is ultimately an unforgettable portrayal of love at its fiercest and most loyal.

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https://www.amazon.com/Hollywood-Park-Memoir-Mikel-Jollett/dp/1250621569/ref=sr_1_1?crid=31QQLUE63YV9J&dchild=1&keywords=hollywood+park&qid=1593821556&sprefix=Hollywood%2Caps%2C173&sr=8-1

Mikel Jollett is the frontman of the indie band The Airborne Toxic Event. Prior to forming the band, Jollett graduated with honors from Stanford University. He was an on-air columnist for NPR's All Things Considered, an editor-at-large for Men's Health and an editor at Filter magazine. His fiction has been published in McSweeney's.

My Thoughts...
Reading this book is like walking along with Mikel as he experiences  all of the heart wrenching things that he did in his childhood.
I cried so much and hurt for him. I hope that he keeps telling his story so many need to hear it.
I gave this book 4 stars and I recommend reading it.
The Mary Reader received this book from the publisher for review. A favorable review was not required and all views expressed are our own.

Tiny Hot Dogs By Mary Giuliani

From awkward schoolgirl to Caterer to the Stars, Mary Giuliani weaves together a collection of hilarious memories, from professional growing pains to her long journey to motherhood, never losing her sense of humor and her love for everyone's favorite party food, pigs in a blanket.Mary's utterly unremarkable childhood was everything she didn't want: hailing from a deeply loving yet overprotective Italian family in an all-Jewish enclave on Long Island. All she wanted was to fit in (be Jewish) and become famous (specifically a cast member on Saturday Night Live). With an easy, natural storytelling sensibility, Mary shares her journey from a cosseted childhood home to the stage and finally to the party, accidentally landing what she now refers to as "the breakthrough role of a lifetime" catering to a glittery list of stars she once hoped to be part of herself.

Fresh, personal, and full of Mary's humorous, self-deprecating, and can-do attitude against all odds, you'll want to see where each shiny silver tray of hors d'oeuvres takes her next. You never know when the humble hot dog will be a crucial ingredient in the recipe for success, in building a business or simply making life more delicious.

Pick up your copy here...
 https://www.amazon.com/Tiny-Hot-Dogs-Memoir-Small/dp/0762465565/ref=sr_1_fkmrnull_3?crid=2XW56IUMPDPY5&keywords=tiny+hotdogs+a+memoir&qid=1557618880&s=gateway&sprefix=Tiny+Hotdogs%2Caps%2C146&sr=8-3-fkmrnull

Mary Giuliani is an author, party and lifestyle expert, and founder and CEO of Mary Giuliani Catering and Events and Giuliani Social. Mary has appeared on The Barefoot Contessa, The Chew, The Today Show, Good Morning America and is a regularly featured guest on The Rachael Ray Show. Mary's first book, The Cocktail Party (Eat, Drink, Play, Recover) came out in 2015. A graduate of Georgetown University, Mary resides in New York's Chelsea neighborhood and Woodstock, New York with her husband Ryan, and daughter Gala.

My Thoughts...

I must start out by saying I won this book from the wonderful Suzy from SuzyApproved.com. I was thrilled I love Mary and Rachel Ray can't say enough great things about her so you know she is the greatest.
I got this in the mail sat down right there on my steps and started reading it. I laughed so hard when she told where to find her first book in the book store. You have to read that it is in the chapter titled Lists. 
There are some good recipes in this book and the stories are great.
I gave this book 5 stars and I HIGHLY recommend it. It would make a super hostess gift, Just saying.
Thank You Suzy. This made my week. I just had to share this with everyone.