Nighttime Reading Center: Memoir

Showing posts with label Memoir. Show all posts

July 3, 2025

Book Review: Too Hurt to Stay

Book Title: Too Hurt to Stay
Author: Casey Watson
Genres: Nonfiction, Fostering, Biography, Memoir, Based on a True Story
Publisher: HarperCollins
Publisher Date: 23 April 2013 (304 Pages, Paperback)
Series:

Eight-year-old Spencer takes himself to social services and demands to be taken into care. It’s a desperate act, a cry for help, but his parent’s reaction – good riddance – speaks volumes. Casey’s hackles are immediately up for this poor child. Spencer is the middle child of four siblings. His parents claim all their other kids are ‘normal’ and that Spencer was born ‘vicious and evil’. Casey and her family are disgusted – kids aren’t born evil, they get damaged. Although when vigilante neighbours start to take action and their landlord threatens eviction, Casey is stretched to the limits, trying desperately to hold on to this boy who causes so much pain and destruction. Casey is determined to try and understand what Spencer is going through and help him find the loving home he is so desperately searching for. But it’s only when Spencer’s mother gets in touch with social services for the first time that gradually everything starts to make sense.

Disclaimer: I purchased the book because I had not received it from the publisher, although I won it through LibraryThing Early Readers for an honest review. My thoughts and opinions are my own.
Want To Buy: Amazon | BH Publishing Group | Lifeway |
Add To: Goodreads

We are introduced to Casey and her family at the beginning, and we learn that she was on a break when she received a call.

That call seems to be from John, who is a link to some of the children who need help.

But will Casey and Mike take on this little boy?

We see a boy named Spencer and his way of life. We see he is polite and friendly. However, that may not be all it seems.

We see Spencer having a side, but he seems to be stealing and taking. However, there is a hole in their bedroom where he is sleeping. What is the cause of Spencer's behaviour?

We see a bit more of Spencer and his behavior. He seems to follow the rules. However, he also has a habit of stealing and taking things that belong to others.

What could be causing the home to do this? And Why? We see more of Riley and her two children. We also see Kerion and his girlfriend Lauren. Kerion seems to have Asperger's. I'm not sure if we can find that out in one of the author's earlier books. It was a surprise mention in this book.

When Spencer School calls and finds that Spencer may be stealing, I can understand Kieron when he is a bit upset.

Well, we see what Spencer is up to, and he gets a little weekend away. However, its antics and behavior seem to come to a sudden halt.

When he goes to visit this family, something is off about his mother. And when they come back to get him. He's gone, where did he go, and what about his mother not stopping him? Though Casey may have found something of interest when they came to the door. They want to talk to Kerry's husband. What's going to be like?

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September 15, 2015

6:30 AM By Lindz No comments Edit This

Asia New Wings

Book Title: Asia New Wings

Author: Clifton & Michellle Cottom
Genres: Non Fiction, Self help, Memoir,
Publisher:
Published Date:
Buy the book: Amazon ~ Barnes & Noble
Disclimer: I recieved this book from +Laura Fabiani iRead Book Tours for a book tour and to give my honesty review
Discription: Asia Cottom lived eleven short years on this earth. Her tragic death on Flight #77 on 9/11 is forever etched in the hearts of the countless people who loved her. But her wise and influential life, her positive attitude, and profound faith in God are her true legacy.

You may love God with all your heart and soul, yet not understand what He is doing. In Asia’s New Wings, Clifton and Dr. Michelle Cottom, along with family and friends, walk beside you, sharing their thoughts and offering compassion to help you come to a place of acceptance, when trying to make sense of suffering great loss. The people in this book have learned to come to terms with what God allows, and are now in a place where they can help heal others. If you have gone—or are going through—the “valley of despair,” you will find comfort and empathy from those who care. You will also find hope and the strength to move forward as you rediscover your life.

What Asia's parents and all those who loved her went through, healed from, and learned will bring comfort and relief to those who travel down the road of loss. Reading and experiencing Asia's story will truly bring healing and life to all who turn these pages.

This is a lovely book. It shows how her parents dealt with their little girls death. It shows the process of how each person who loved Asia began healing.

It also helps other parents who had to deal with loss. What a way to celebrate a child's life in the best way. It talks about the foundation they created in her name.

It references Asia saying's though out the book. It surely amazing that what Asia said to her parents or mother came true as Asia had known she be leaving this world.

I really enjoyed it. It sure has the history of that day. It tells the story of September 11, 2001. It is told in a way a parent loses someone special. The children are more loss to any parents and this book is meant to help them deal with it.

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June 3, 2015

2:00 AM By Lindz No comments Edit This

Out from the Underworld by Heather Siegel + Giveaway

Out from the Underworld by Heather Siegel, Memoir Base off a true story Book Cover

Book Title: Out from the Underworld
Author: Heather Siegel
Genres: Non-Fiction, Memoir, Non Fiction, Family
Publisher: Greenpoint Press
Publisher Date: 2015/04/30 (174 Pages, Paperbook)
Disclaimer: I received this book from +Laura Fabiani iRead Book Tours for a book Tour and an honest review
Author Interview: Heather Siegel Interview
Description: Heather Siegel was six years old when her mother disappeared, sending her father into a tailspin that took Heather and her siblings down with him— from a comfortable suburban home to a barely habitable basement apartment, a dark world they soon found themselves fighting to return to from the exile of foster care, then fighting even harder to escape.
Forty years later, Heather Siegel tells the remarkable story of how she and her siblings, Jaz and Greg, banded together to find out what happened to their mother and fight their way Out from the Underworld with nothing but their wits, determination, unbreakable bonds and gifts for humor and compassion to sustain them. A wrenching, inspiring story filled with heartbreak, hope and love, Out from The Underworld will move you to laughter and tears.

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The story starts out by having Heather with her daughter and visiting her father. Heather starts the story of her childhood from when her mother left them. The story is painful but intruding at the same time.

We get the authors view of things through her eyes. We also learn about how she and her sister Jazz needs to deal with grieving. We learn about her life in foster care with her brother and sister. Heather has a hard time with her mother's loss.

We see what happens when their father has to make his decision. The siblings have a bond together. We also learn about their father background and the family history. I learned that the siblings had a strong bond with each other. They can not seem to understand why their father does not want to escape the basement.