Addiction Memoirs

In 1929, in the blue-collar city of Portsmouth, Ohio, a company built a swimming pool the size of a football field; named Dreamland, it became the vital centre of the community. Now, addiction has devastated Portsmouth, as it has hundreds of small rural towns and suburbs across America—addiction like no other the country has ever faced. How that happened is the riveting story of Dreamland.

Pennies from Heaven for Kevin is a remarkable story of a man whose life spiraled out of control after the death of his two-year-old son, Kyle. Blaming himself and ridden with pain and guilt, Kevin went on a downward path spending a total of seven years locked up in nineteen different jails and prisons, along with numerous rehabilitation centers over twenty years for alcohol and drug addiction. At one treatment facility, Kevin found a penny on his nightstand. The year of the penny was the year Kyle was born. Money was not allowed at the facility and, in that moment, the spirit of Kyle filled...

Behold the final saga in the chronicles of a gay alcoholic's quest for enlightenment, recounting twenty-six years and culminating in the wisdom and gratitude he achieved during those tumultuous decades. Charlie Gray concludes his tale of recovery from addiction and embracing his identity by exploring where it all began and journeying back to the summer of 1996, age ten, on Truman Lake at his family’s quaint fishing resort. A brief glimpse of Charlie’s idyllic childhood unfolds before it is abruptly brought to an end by the untimely death of his mother shortly after his thirteenth ...

Tara Blair Ball thought she had it all: a handsome husband, beautiful infant twins, and a great house in the suburbs. But then came a discovery that worked just like a grenade lofted into the middle of her superficially serene life: her husband had been secretly abusing drugs for years, he had a secret card, and he'd embezzled from his job. After trying to work things out and having two devastating miscarriages, she'd then commit her own great betrayal: having an affair. Told with suspense, humor, and unflinching honesty, The Beginning of the End captures the agonies and joys of one ...

She was known to the world as Emily Doe when she stunned millions with a letter. Brock Turner had been sentenced to just six months in county jail after he was found sexually assaulting her on Stanford's campus. Her victim impact statement was posted on BuzzFeed, where it instantly went viral. Now, she reclaims her identity to tell her story of trauma, transcendence, and the power of words.

Growing up on the streets of East L.A., Luis Rodriguez narrowly escaped a serious jail term and then struggled to overcome his powerful addiction to heroin and alcohol. Eventually, Rodriguez embarked on a career as a successful journalist and a highly regarded poet. In It Calls You Back, Rodriguez describes with heartbreaking honesty his challenges as a husband and a father and his difficulty leaving his criminal past completely behind.

Author and advocate Mary DeMuth urges the church she loves to rise up and face the evil of sexual abuse and harassment with candor and empathy. Based on research and survivors' stories, along with fierce fidelity to Scripture, DeMuth unpacks the church's response to sexual violence and provides a healthy framework for the church to become a haven of healing instead of an institution of judgment.

Weight loss advice, laughter, and inspiration from the delicious, caloric, yet uncomfortably large life experiences of a formerly fat man. Allen Zadoff spent years believing that a big, healthy man should have a big, healthy appetite and that his rapidly increasing girth was just a regular guy thing. However, at 350 pounds, it became clear that what had started as a minor weight issue was now threatening his well-being. In a desperate search for a new way of living that would guide him toward a healthier future, Zadoff began to focus less on what he ate and more on the physical and ...

For decades, Demi Moore has been synonymous with celebrity. From iconic film roles to high-profile relationships, Moore has never been far from the spotlight - or the headlines. Even as Demi was becoming the highest paid actress in Hollywood, however, she was always outrunning her past. Throughout her rise to fame and during some of the most pivotal moments of her life, Demi battled addiction, body image issues, and childhood trauma that would follow her for years - all while juggling a skyrocketing career and at times negative public perception.

In 1996, Scott was nineteen and lost in adulthood with an endless job and no future ambitions. Teenage Degenerate is his story about drug addiction, music and growing up. Over the course of ten months, he quickly descends into the dark and dangerous world of crystal methamphetamine. Scott experiments with crystal meth in a dark, deserted parking lot in the suburbs of Denver, Colorado and soon after his crew of misfits will do almost anything for their next high.

Khalil Rafati went to Los Angeles in the 1990s and had it all. He was working with Hollywood movie stars and legendary rock musicians, but it wasn't long before he found his way into the dark underbelly of the City of Angels. When he hit rock bottom-addicted to heroin and cocaine, overtaken by paranoia and psychosis, written off by his friends and family - he grabbed a shovel and kept digging. So how does someone with nothing, who feels like they deserve nothing, and who just wants to end it all turn their life around?

As a registered nurse, Gail Stewart Frare knew too well all the terrible medical possibilities that could devastate a person, and couldn’t help but fret over her two sons, Jeff and Christopher. By the time Christopher entered his teen years as healthy as his older brother, her worries subsided. Then the unspeakable happened. While on a spring break trip to visit Jeff, fifteen-year-old Christopher nearly died from a virus-induced heart failure—becoming one of the only six in one hundred thousand people who suffer from post viral cardiomyopathy. Shortly thereafter, he had to undergo heart...

In her 2016 best-seller, A Heart Without A Home, Nichole Carpenter told of her experience living on the streets while her parents battled homelessness and heroin addiction. In this sequel, Nichole and her mother, Madge, continue their story... At the age of 9, Nichole was ripped from her mother's arms as they were each taken away in separate police cars. Nichole to the state children's home and her parents to the city jail. Over the next 3 years her mother would battle between her addiction and her love for her daughter. Only through the power of God's Spirit and the love of their family ...

John Walker was a Miami undercover narcotics agent in the 1970s. Ten years later, he was in prison for smuggling 12,000 pounds of marijuana. In prison, he connected with a South American drug lord who was still running the family operation from inside the federal pen. Within months of being paroled, John began smuggling again—this time uncut Colombian cocaine. And this time, he put everything on the line: his freedom, his family and, ultimately, his life.

Ready to ditch the bottle and embrace a life that doesn't require a constant buzz? Dive into "Uncorked: A No-BS Guide from Boozy Mess to Sober Success," your hilarious roadmap to sobriety. April Adams spills the tea on her messy journey from hot mess to sober queen, serving up a cocktail of brutal honesty and side-splitting humor. This ain't your grandma's self-help book. "Uncorked" is packed with real talk, f-bombs, and practical advice for dodging temptation, surviving sober socials, and building a kick-ass life without liquid courage. From "Oh shit, I drunk-texted my ex" to "Holy crap, I...

On paper, Sarah Levy’s life was on track. She was 28, living in New York City, working a great job, and socializing every weekend. But Sarah had a secret: her relationship with alcohol was becoming toxic. And only she could save herself. Drinking Games explores the role alcohol has in our formative years, and what it means to opt out of a culture completely enmeshed in drinking. It’s an examination of what our short-term choices about alcohol do to our long-term selves and how they challenge our ability to be vulnerable enough to discover what we really want in life.

"Finalist for the prestigious 2016ERIC HOFFER AWARD for Independent Authors & Publishers"He is respected in his community. He is a man of faith. He never had a DUI, spent a night in jail, lost a job due to his drinking, and he was never admitted to a rehab facility. He had never been told by friend or foe that he was an alcoholic; and he never purposely hurt anyone while drinking...or so he thought.This is the memoir of a college-educated business person who made significant income and owned many material "things." It has both humorous and tragic elements describing the author's journey ...

In the polygamous Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (FLDS), girls can become valuable property as plural wives, but boys are expendable, even a liability. In this powerful and heartbreaking account, former FLDS member Brent Jeffs reveals both the terror and the love he experienced growing up on his prophet's compound and the harsh exile existence that so many boys face once they have been expelled by the sect.

It was a Friday evening in May when seventeen-year-old Robin Xavier left his childhood home in Chattanooga, Tennessee, with nothing but a guitar, a stolen credit card, fifty-two ounces of beer, $67.42, fourteen cigarettes, two disposable lighters, two grams of cocaine, one photograph, and a tooth. A raw and unapologetic coming-of-age story, BirdSong follows the journey of seventeen-year-old Robin Xavier from world-class nobody to world-famous rock star. Coming from an abusive childhood home, Robin’s mental and physical scars haunt him incessantly, and the only relief he can find is in a ...

And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony. (Revelation 12:11) Are you battling demons from your past? Feeling bound by the shackles of shame? Do you long to break free from bondage? Kelsey Decker’s memoir is Mary Magdalene meets Damascus Road. A poetic story written for God’s glory. These pages are filled with love, loss, grief, trauma, and abuse. They also overflow with God’s mercy and grace. It’s shocking, intriguing, and beautiful. She is an overcomer of impossible odds, freed from addictions, prostitution, cult abuse, New Age beliefs, ...