Wednesday, July 1, 2015

Book Review: Three More Words by Ashley Rhodes-Courter

Publisher: Atheneum
Publish Date: June 30th, 2015
ISBN: 9781481415576
Pages: 290
Series: Sequel to Three Little Words
Source: ARC from publisher for honest review

Goodreads Synopsis:

In the sequel to the New York Times bestselling memoir Three Little Words, Ashley Rhodes-Courter expands on life beyond the foster care system, the joys and heartbreak with a family she’s created, and her efforts to make peace with her past.
Ashley Rhodes-Courter spent a harrowing nine years of her life in fourteen different foster homes. Her memoir, Three Little Words, captivated audiences everywhere and went on to become a New York Times bestseller as well as a movie produced by the team who brought you Twilight. Now Ashley reveals the nuances of life after foster care: College and its assorted hijinks, including meeting “the one.” Marriage, which began with a beautiful wedding on a boat that was almost hijacked (literally) by some biological family members. Having kids—from fostering children and the heartbreak of watching them return to destructive environments, to the miraculous joy of blending biological and adopted offspring.
Whether she’s overcoming self-image issues, responding to calls for her to run for Senate, or dealing with continuing drama from her biological family, Ashley Rhodes-Courter never fails to impress or inspire with her authentic voice and uplifting message.


My Review:

I was interested in reading this memoir because this genre has been intriguing me ever since I heard about My Brain on Fire: My Month of Madness, and thought that I should throw some of these books into my mix. So it was perfect that Simon & Schuster would send along Three More Words. I was going to start at the beginning with Ashley Rhodes-Courter's first book, Three Little Words but I was on a tight schedule with everything and wouldn't have had the time to read that one along with book #2 before it was released, so I caught up as much as I could online. Googling her story, reading excerpts, reviews, I figured I wasn't missing out on anything that was crucial going into book 2. 
The story behind Three More Words is a good story but to be honest, I found the writing a little dry and it did not flow very well. I found it very hard to get into her story. It read almost like point form, and it seemed to bounce all over and unfortunately it didn't grip my attention. I flipped to the pictures and saw enough there to kind of figure out most of the story. Sadly, I was kind of glad when I flipped to the last page and could move on to something else. I haven't read a lot of memoirs, because I am worried about my attention span with them, but this has been the first one that hasn't been able to hook me until the end. Don't get me wrong, the story that Ashley Rhodes-Courter is telling is a great one. The foster care system and how it deals with these poor children being torn from their only family (brothers/sisters if they have them) and moving them from one place to another is tough but no one is truly alone. What Ashley Rhodes-Courter is doing - the public speaking, writing books, advocating for others and showing them that they can beat the foster care system is inspiring. I would encourage anyone who needs to, to reach out and read this book, contact her or someone like her and know that there is hope for adoption, a life and a happy ever after.

While Three More Words was not the book for me, I know it will change the lives of many others out there, and that is all that matters.

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