Book Review: This is Me: A Reckoning by Hayden Panettiere

Title: This Is Me: A Reckoning

Author: Hayden Panettiere

Series/Standalone: Standalone

Genre: Memoir, Nonfiction, Adult

Pages: 320

Publisher: Grand Central Publishing

Year Published: 2026

Format: Audiobook

"Heroes and Nashville star Hayden Panettiere reclaims her story in a remarkably candid memoir.

Hayden Panettiere's career in entertainment began before she could talk. From her first gig as a Michelin baby to roles in cult classics like Remember the Titans and Raising Helen, as well as popular soap operas Guiding Light and One Life to Live, Hayden built an impressive resume by the time she entered middle school. Throughout the early 2000s, she starred in millennial favorites like Racing Stripes, Heroes, and Scream 4 & VI and earned two Golden Globe nominations for her starring role of Juliette Barnes in Nashville. The squeaky-clean face of Neutrogena, she was Hollywood's girl next door and subjected to all the fame, attention and expectations that came with it. In an era of relentless paparazzi with an appetite for celebrity breakdowns, naysayers were certain this young starlet would crash and burn. Not one to disappoint, she did. 

In this irreverent, intimate and inspiring memoir, Hayden holds nothing back. What started as a fun job for a child took a decidedly darker turn as she came of age. She exposes the pressure and exploitation young stars face before they're old enough to know themselves, and how easy it is for them to lose control of her own narrative and, ultimately, their lives. Hayden was a target of brutal tabloid headlines picking apart her body, and she performed storylines onscreen that mirrored her real-life trauma. She suffered post-partum depression, addiction and recovery, domestic abuse, and the loss of her beloved little brother. Despite everything, Hayden managed to take these experiences, which she called "lifequakers" and emerge from them stronger, no longer afraid to use her voice or show her true self. She's played the part of a misfit hero, a superstar, a survivor, a cheerleader, and an all-American fresh face. In This is Me, Hayden stars in her most heart-wrenching and unforgettable role herself. This is her story on her terms."

My Rating: 3.5/5

It's kinda hard to rate a nonfiction memoir/biography as is. I find it that much harder when the author has passed away. Hayden Panettiere was incredibly young when she passed. Her life as a child actor shaped who she became, but she was brave enough to tell her story, to share each part that made her who she was. The good, the bad and the ugly. I listened to the audiobook, which was narrated by the author, which always brings the biography to the next level. It reminds me that oral history is a tradition. 

Sidny

Book Review: Over the Influence by Joanna "JoJo" Levesque

Title: Over the Influence

Author: Joanna "JoJo" Levesque

Series/Standalone: Standalone

Genre: Biography, Nonfiction, Adult

Pages: 341

Publisher: Da Capo

Year Published: 2024

Format: Audiobook

"Signed to a major recording deal at just 12 years old, JoJo catapulted to the top of the pop-and-R&B-infused charts in the mid 2000's. The relatability of her youth and appeal of her cool-girl mystique earned her millions of fans around the world. JoJo was an undeniable superstar and pop culture fixture, spanning roles in major studio films, omnipresence on Top 40 radio, frequenting magazine covers, and appearing on national TV. Then, out of the blue, everything came to a halt and JoJo seemingly stepped out of the spotlight, leaving many fans to wonder What happened to JoJo?

In OVER THE INFLUENCE, JoJo holds nothing back as she brings her against-the-odds story of adversity and triumph to center stage. From being raised by parents who were both battling addiction and depression, to emerging victorious in a never ending lawsuit with her record lable, to putting the fragmented pieces of herself together after a maddening period of rebellion and self-betrayal, she takes the reader through turbulent years that led her to where she is releasing new music under her own imprint, pperforming in shows and festivals around the world, headlining a Broadway show, and beyond. In this raw, behind-the-scenes look at her life, both personal and professional, JoJo's unflinching vulnerability allows readers to connect with her on a whole new level through stories of success, heartbreak, redemption and resilience."

My Rating: 5/5

As someone who was growing up in JoJo's era of music, I was always curious what happened to her, but I figured that maybe the spotlight was not what she wanted, and I hoped that if that was the case, she was happy just being a normal teen/ adult later in her life. Learning that that was far from the case came as a surprise to me. This book really covers the inner workings of the music industry, a look at the 2000s teen fame industry and what it means to really work through our parents' demons. Being able to break generational curses/traumas is a big theme in this novel, so if you're not on board with that, I wouldn't recommend it, but as someone who understands that on another level, it felt like I was seen. JoJo manages to do all this, but still keeps humour in the story. Truly remarkable, and I look forward to seeing what comes next from her. 

Sidny

Book Review: A Newfoundlander in Canada: Always Going Somewhere, Always Coming Home by Alan Doyle

Title: A Newfoundlander in Canada

Author: Alan Doyle

Series/Standalone: Standalone

Genre: Nonfiction, Biography, Canada

Pages: 244

Publisher: Doubleday Canada

Year Published: 2017

Format: Audiobook

"Armed with the same personable, candid style found in his first book, Alan Doyle turns his perspective outward from Petty Harbour toward mainland Canada, reflecting on what it was like to venture away from the comforts of home and the familiarity of the island.

Often in a van, sometimes in a bus, occasionally in a car with broken wipers, "using Bob's belt and a rope found by Paddy's Pond" to pull them back and forth, Alan and his bandmates charted new territory, and he constantly measured what he saw of the vast country against what his forefathers once called the Daemon Canada. In a period punctuated by triumphant leaps forward for the band, deflating steps backwards and everything in between- opening for Barney the Dinosaur at an outdoor music festival, being propositioned at a gas station mail-order bride service in Alberta, drinking moonshine with an elderly church-goer on a Sudny morning in PEI- Alan's few established notions about Canada were often debunked and his own identity as a Newfoundlander was constantly challenged. Touring the country, he also discovered how others view Newfoundlanders and how skewed these images can sometimes be. Asked to play in front of the Queen at a massive Canada Day festival on Parliament Hill, the concert organizers assured Alan and his bandmates that the best way to showcase Newfoundland culture was for them to be towed onto stage in a dory and introduced not as Newfoundlanders but as 'Newfiers'. The boys were not amused.

Heartfelt, funny and always insightful, these stories tap into the complexities of community and Canadianness, forming the portrait of a young man from a tiny fishing village trying to define and hold on to his sense of home while navigating a vast and diverse and wonder-filled country."

My Rating: 5/5

As a Canadian, I've listened to a decent amount of Great Big Sea, but I didn't realize that Alan Doyle has so many books. The audiobook of this was amazing as it was narrated by the author, so you get the full accent, the full amazing storytelling ability of Alan Doyle. I loved the content, the writing, and mostly the humour. I look forward to reading more from the author. 

Thanks for reading,

Sidny

Book Review: You Never Know by Tom Selleck

Title: You Never Know

Author: Tom Selleck

Series/Standalone: Standalone

Genre: Nonfiction, Biography

Pages: 352

Publisher: Dey Street Books

Year Published: 2024

Format: Audiobook

"There are many miles from the business school and basketball court at the University of Southern California to 50 million viewers for the final episode of a TV show called Magnum P.I. Tom Selleck has lived every one of those miles in his own iconoclastic and joyful way. Frank, funny, and open-hearted, You Never Know is an intimate memoir from one of the most beloved actors of our time, the highly personal story of a remarkable life and thoroughly accidental career. In his own voice and uniquely unpretentious style, the famed actor brings readers on his uncharted but serendipitous journey to the top in Hollywood, his temptations and distactions, his misfires and mistakes and, over time, his well-earned success. Along the way, he clears up an armload of misconceptions and shares dozens of never-told stories from all corners of his personal and professional life. His rambunctious California childhood. HIs clueless arrival as a good-looking college jock in Hollywood (from the Dating Game to the Fox New Talent Program to co-starring with Mae West and escorting her to black-tie social functions). What it was like to emerge as a mega-star in his mid-thirties and remain so for decades to come, an actor whose authenticity and ease in front of the camera connected with audiences worldwide while embodying and also redefining the cliches of onscreen manhood. In You Never Know, Selleck recounts his personal friendships with a vivid army of A-listers, everyone from Frank Sinatra to Carol Burnett to Sam Elliot, paying special tribute to his mentor James Garner of The Rockford Files, who believed, like Selleck, that TV protagonists are far more interesting when they have rough edges. He also more than tips his hat to the American western and the scuffy band of actors, directors and other ruffians who helped define that classic genre, where Selleck has repeatedly found a happy home. Magnum fans will be fascinated to learn how Selleck put his career on the line to make Thomas Magnum a more imperfect hero and explains why he walked away from a show that could easily have gone on for years longer. Hollywood is never easy, even for stars who make it look that way. In You Never Know, Selleck explains how he's struggled to balance his personal and professional lives, frequently adjusting his career to protect his family's privacy and normalcy. His journey offers a truly fresh perspective on a changing industry and a changing world. Beneath all the charm and talent and self-deprecating humor, Selleck's memoir reveals an American icon who has reached remarkable heights by always insisting on being himself."

My Rating: 3.5/5

Growing up, my mom would often put on reruns from her childhood, or my grandma would be excited to show us what shows they had enjoyed. Magnum was a frequently played show in our house, but it wasn't ever in order, so it was interesting to hear about the ideas behind the show. Also, Tom Selleck is, with all due respect to him and his intelligence, a heartthrob. Even though he is a handsome man. Reading this book really showed the underside of acting, the times, etc. I think it would be great for anyone in the industry. As someone who is just a fan, I was surprised that this was so much about the work and little about the personal life. That being said, I can't imagine the constant scrutiny that the famous are under. It makes me think about how much entitlement fans seem to feel over artists, musicians, actors, etc., as though they are not people themselves.

Thanks for reading,

Sidny

Book Review: Marsha: The Joy and Defiance of Marsha P. Johnson by Tourmaline

Title: The Joy and Defiance of Marsha P. Johnson

Author: Tourmaline

Series/Standalone: Standalone

Genre: Nonfiction, Biography, LGBT History

Pages: 306

Publisher: 

Year Published: 2025

Format: Audiobook (Library Copy)

"Black transgender luminary Tourmaline brings to life the first definitive biography of revolutionary activist Marsha P. Johnson, one of the most important and remarkable figures in LGBTQIA+ history, revealing her story, her impact, and her legacy.

'She is the preeminent and foremost scholar on Marsha P. Johnson... To us, Tourmaline is the expert.' - Janet Mock, Allure.

"Thank god the revolution has begun, honey.' Rumor has it that after Marsha P. Johnson threw the first brick in the 1969 Stonewall Uprising, she picked up a shard of broken mirror to fix her makeup. Marsha, a legendary Black transgender activist, embodied both the beauty and struggle of the early gay rights movement. Her work sparked the progress we see today, yet there has never been a definitive record of her life. Until now. 

Written with sparkling prose, Tourmaline's richly researched biography Marsha finally brings this iconic figure to life, in full color. We vividly meet Marsha as both an activist and artist. She performed with RuPaul and with internationally renowned drag troupe The Hot Peaches. She was a muse to countless artists from Andy Warhol to the band Earth, Wind & Fire. And she continues to inspire people today. 

Marsha didn't wait to be freed; she declared herself free and told the world to catch up. Her story promises to inspire readers to live as their most liberated, unruly, vibrant and whole selves."

My Rating: 5/5

I think that as we start to rediscover history, we will find more and more of what has been whitewashed and hidden away. People who society at that time deemed undeserving of having their stories told, people who truly led revolutions, and impacted society greatly, but due to any amount of diversity were erased from their own narrative. 

This appears to be the case of Marsha P. Johnson. While I am a white, cis woman who is starting her journey in reading more historical nonfiction, I would say that I am learning more and more about just how often this has happened. While I can't change the actions of the past, I can acknowledge the horrors and injustices and do better going forward. Part of doing better is learning, learning about things that are cut out from school, past histories and more. I think this book is incredibly important to read, as we watch documentaries about this time to gain a better understanding of the freedoms and world we see today. The work is far from over, but understanding the buildup in history helps us fight tomorrow's battles. 

Thanks for reading,

Sidny

Book Review: My Fight/Your Fight by Ronda Rousey

Title: My Fight/ Your Fight

Author: Ronda Rousey

Series/Standalone: Standalone

Genre: Nonfiction, Biography, Adult

Pages: 302

Publisher: Regan Arts

Year Published: 2015

Format: Audiobook

"'The fight is yours to win'

In this inspiring and moving book, Ronda Rousey, the Olympic medalist in judo, reigning UFC women's bantamweight champion, and Hollywood star charts her difficult path to glory.

Marked by her signature charm, barbed wit, and undeniable power, Rousey's account of the toughest fights of her life- in and outside the Octagon- reveals the painful loss of her father when she was eight years old, the intensity of her judo training, her battles with love, her meteoric rise to fame, the secret behind her undefeated UFC record, and what it takes to become the toughest woman on Eart. Rousey shares her hard-won lessons on how to be the best at what you do, including how to find fulfilment in the sacrifices, how to turn limitations into opportunities, and how to be the best on your worst day.

Packed with raw emotion, drama, and wisdom, this is an unforgettable book by one of the most remarkable women in the world."

My Rating: 4/5

While listening to this audiobook, I felt a variety of emotions. Empowered as a woman, determined to get in better shape, confused, unsure and mad for Ronda. Whether or not you are a fan of UFC, I think that this book is interesting as we hear about the first UFC women's champion and someone who influenced the sport.

Thanks for reading,

Sidny

Book Review: Greenlights by Matthew McConaughey

Title: Greenlights

Author: Matthew McConaughey

Series/Standalone: Standalone

Genre: Nonfiction, Memoir, Biography

Pages: 289

Publisher: Crown

Year Published: 2020

Format: Audiobook

"I've been in this life for fifty years, been trying to work out its riddle for forty-two and been keeping diaries of clues to that riddle for the last thirty-five. Notes about successes and failures, joys and sorrows, things that made me marvel and things that made me laugh out loud. How to be fair. How to have less stress. how to have fun. How to hurt people less. How to get hurt less. How to be a good man. How to have meaning in life. How to be more me.

Recently, I worked up the courage to sit down with those diaries. I found stories I experienced, lessons I learned and forgot, poems, prayers, prescriptions, beliefs about what matters, some great photographs, and a whole bunch of bumper stickers. I found a reliable theme, an approach to living that gave me more satisfaction, at the time, and still: If you know how, and when, to deal with life's challenges- how to get relative with the inevitable- you can enjoy a state of a success I call "catching greenlights."

So I took a one-way ticket to the desert and wrote this book: an album, a record, a story of my life so far. This is fifty years of my sights and seems, felts and figured-outs, cools and shameful. Graces, truths, and beautifies of brutality. Getting away with, getting caught and getting wets while trying to dance between the raindrops.

Hopefully, it's medicine that tastes good, a couple of aspirin instead of the infirmary, a spaceship to Mars without needing your pilot license, going to church without having to be born again, and laughing through the tears.

It's a love letter to life.

It's a guide to catching more greenlights- and to realizing that the yellows and reds eventually turn green too.

Good luck."

My Rating: 3.5/5

I didn't know what to expect from this memoir, but it was certainly fascinating to hear about how this incredible author a) got his start and b) how he varied in his work while c) what he believes behind it all. In my teens, I mostly watched Matthew McConaughey in romantic comedies, and I had seen him in a few more dramatic roles since then, but hearing about his methods and also how he travelled and is a little bit of a hippy, was surprising. I had a good time reading it, but it wasn't a favourite, I would recommend if you want to know about the man behind the actor, or maybe need a kick in the ass to go and chase your dreams. Fun, entertaining and in some ways inspiring I enjoyed it overall.

Thanks for reading,

Sidny

Book Review: The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot

Title: The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks
Author: Rebecca Skloot
Series/Standalone: Standalone
Genre: Nonfiction, Biography, Science
Pages: 370
Publisher: Crown Publishing Group
Year Published: 2010
Format: Audiobook

"Her name was Henrietta Lacks, but scientists know her as HeLa. She was a poor Southern tobacco farmer who worked the same land as her slave ancestors, yet her cells- taken without her knowledge- became one of the most important tools in medicine. The first 'immortal' human cells grown in culture, they are still alive today, though she has been dead for more than sixty years. If you could pile all the HeLa cells ever grown onto a scale, they'd weigh more than 50 million metric tons- as much as a hundred Empire State Buildings. HeLa cells were vital for developing the polio vaccine; uncovered secrets of cancer, viruses, and the atom bomb effect's; helped lead to important advances in vitro fertilization, cloning and gene mapping; and have been bought and sold by billions.

Yet Henrietta Lacks remains virtually unknown, buried in an unmarked grave.

Now Rebecca Skloot takes us on an extraordinary journey, from the 'colored' ward of Johns Hopkins Hospital in the 1950s to stark white laboratories with freezers full of HeLa cells; from Henrietta's small, dying hometown fo Clover, Virginia- a land of wooden slave quarters, faith healings and voodoo- toe East Baltimore today, where her children and grandchildren live and struggle with the legacy of her cells. 

Henrietta's family did not learn of her 'immortality' until more than twenty years after her death, when scientists investigating HeLa began using her husband and children in research without informed consent. And though the cells had launched a multimillion-dollar industry that sells human biological materials, her family never saw any of the profits. As Rebecca Skloot so brilliantly shows, the story of the Lacks family- past and present- is inextricably connected to the dark history of experimentation on African Americans, the birth of bioethics and the legal battles over whether we control the stuff we are made of.

Over the decade it took to uncover this story, Rebecca became enmeshed in the lives of the Lacks family- especially Henrietta's daughter Deborah, who was devastated to learn about her mother's cells. She was consumed with questions: Had scientists cloned her mother? Did it hurt her when researchers infected her cells with viruses and shot them into space? What happened to her sister, Elsie, who died in a mental institution at the age of fifteen? And if her mother was so important to medicine, why couldn't her children afford health insurance?

Intimate in feeling, astonishing in scope, and impossible to put down, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks capture the beauty of drama of scientific discovery, as well as its human consequences."

My Rating: 4/5

I am not an extremely educated woman. I don't know much about science particularly. I read this book as a part of an online book club through Goodreads. I was super interested in this story and the rights people have to their bodies/cells/tissues. It was upsetting to hear about the past treatment of African American people in hospital and medical care. I knew that it wasn't going to be a happy story or even a hopeful one but this was depressing to read about. And while we've come along way in society we just haven't come far enough. How is it that a person's cells can be used for research and their children are unable to get the coverage they need for their own medical expenses. I don't understand this at all. I would also like to note that I am privileged in multitudes of ways. I am caucasian, I am a middle-class woman and I am a Canadian citizen. These are the facts so while I don't know everything that other people go through, but its important to shine lights on the discrimination of the past as we as currently. In fact, the facts are that privileged members of society have the ability to shine lights on discretions of the past and present in order to change the world for the better. Especially in times such as now, with a global pandemic being announced. We need to stand together to better understand the use of science, research but also the different barriers each other face in order to access healthcare, medication or even groceries that we need. 

In times such as these, be thoughtful, be kind and be there for each other.

Thanks for reading,

Sidny