Ava Gardner: The Secret Conversations

by Peter Evans, Ava Gardner

The wickedly candid New York Times bestesller that Ava Gardner dared not publish during her lifetime - the heartbreaking memoir of the ultimate heartbreaker - (Philadelphia Inquirer).

Ava Gardner was one of Hollywood's biggest and brightest stars during the 1940s and '50s, an Oscar-nominated leading lady who co-starred with Clark Gable, Burt Lancaster, and Humphrey Bogart, among others. But this riveting account of her storied life, including her marriage to Frank Sinatra, and career had to wait for publication until after her death—because Gardner feared it was too revealing.

"I either write the book or sell the jewels," Gardner told coauthor Peter Evans, "and I'm kinda sentimental about the jewels." The legendary actress serves up plenty of gems in these pages, reflecting with delicious humor and cutting wit on a life that took her from rural North Carolina to the heights of Hollywood's Golden Age. Tell-all stories abound, especially when Gardner divulges on her three husbands: Mickey Rooney, a serial cheater so notorious that even his mother warned Gardner about him; bandleader Artie Shaw, whom Ava calls "a dominating son of a bitch - always putting me down" and Frank Sinatra ("We were fighting all the time. Fighting and boozing. It was madness. But he was good in the feathers").

"Her story is a raw-nerved revelation. . . . A vivid portrait" (Chicago Tribune).
"Witty, penetrating, unique in its voice, it is impossible to put down - A complete delight" (Philadelphia Inquirer).

Genres: Biography, Nonfiction, Memoir, History, Film, Biography Memoir, Autobiography

293 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2013

Reviews

[Jonathan · Rating 5 out of 5]

When I was about 18 or 19 I had the (perhaps not-too-well-thought-out)idea of taking the train up to London and walking through Kensington Gardens in the hope of catching a glimpse of Ava Gardner as she walked her corgi, Morgan. Being rather shy at the time I would have been too nervous even to say hello, whatever I thought her reaction might have been. I was just a fan, who couldn't believe that she only lived 35 miles away from my home in Kent. Of course I didn't do it, but it did become a bit of a regret when she died a few years later.

It was around this time that Peter Evans was taken on by Ava to ghost her autobiography, and this book is a combination of the tapes he recorded and the notes he made while going over her life with her. It is not a straight biography, more a memoir of his time with her and the discussions they had. Ava eventually had a change of heart about using him and the material he had, and the published book (which i did enjoy at the time) was written with another collaborator.

The reasons this intended version didn't get published are pretty well known (too many uncomfortable secrets revealed, and too indelicate for Ava), so it is great that it has finally made it into print. Peter Evans goes to great lengths in the book to reassure Ava that the material is not too indiscrete, that yes she does indeed swear a lot in conversation, and he seems to have a battle with her most of the time as to whether or not to continue with the project. She does come across as demanding (which we might have expected), funny and playful, but also quite insecure and unsure of herself (but the strokes she had recently suffered were a big cause of this). Alcohol still played a big part in her life, but she also suffered from insomnia, so a lot of conversations were conducted late at night or on the phone very early in the morning. It seemed like a tough job, but one no-one would have wanted to pass up!

There is even a bit of a surprise in the end, which explains more easily why the book didn't come out earlier, but having been given the ok by the Ava Gardner Society, Peter Evans arranged the material he had, and the result was an invaluable addition to the many books about my favourite actress, managing to capture her voice on the page, with several new stories, and great insight into her character during these final years.

[Gary Schroeder · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is not your ordinary, straight-up Hollywood star bio. Rather, it’s an account of the making of a Hollywood star bio...or at least the attempted making of one, for it was never completed. All that remains of Peter Evan’s efforts to write a candid biography of Ava Gardner are the transcripts of his taped mid-1980s conversations with her. It’s this source material that forms the backbone of “The Secret Conversations.”

The conversations between Gardner and Evans, while containing lots of graphic gossip about other famous Hollywood personalities, also sketch a portrait of an insecure, overwrought and morbid Gardner dwelling about her misfortunes and lost youth and health. The transcripts reveal a biographer who’s constantly trying to cajole an undecided and often reluctant subject into staying on target and moving ahead with the project. Gardner, a gloomy, irascible, petulant and mercurial sexagenarian, constantly struggled with herself as to whether or not she really wanted to have a biography written as she was only pursuing it in a desperate effort to generate much needed income.

Evans expresses constant doubts throughout the book as to whether Gardner will stick to the terms of their original agreement. She’s got great gossip to tell but is reluctant to be as brutally frank in print as she is in person, something which exasperates Evans as he tries to sweet talk her into being as revealing as possible. Throughout much of the interaction between the two, it’s often hard to tell who’s being more manipulative with whom; she needs him to write a flattering portrait while he needs her to part with the juicy bits that make for a best seller. It’s an elaborate cat and mouse game chapter after chapter. In this relationship Gardner comes out looking like a pitiable figure, one who was often responsible for making her own problems throughout her life.

The book suffers from being cut short when Gardner unexpectedly pulls the plug on the project. From her ex-husband Frank Sinatra (with whom she never lost contact), she discovers that Evans was named in a libel suit by Sinatra some 15 years earlier for writing something that Frank didn’t care for. Not only was Gardner unhappy that Evans hadn’t revealed this sooner, it’s believed that Sinatra was so worried about what the bio would contain that he offered Ava a sum of money exceeding what should would have made from the proceeds of the book.

“The Secret Conversations” is so graphic and unflattering that it’s clear that it never could have been released while Gardner was alive. And now that would-be biographer Evans (as well as almost every other personality mentioned in the book) has passed on, there’s no one left to be either sued or offended by its publication.

[Jennifer Greenfield · Rating 4 out of 5]

I think too many people are disappointed by this book, because they were expecting it to be something that nobody ever claimed it was. This is not an Ava Gardner autobiography. Neither is it a biography or a tell-all book. It IS a brief glimpse of the real Ava - HER actual words, her personality at that time of her life, insecurities, fears, etc. Through Peter Evans, all of us who will never have the pleasure of meeting her or spending time with her get to do so vicariously through the author. Yes, we all know the facts of her life. They're well-covered territory. The value of this book is that you get her perspective on some of the events of her life. You get a genuine incite into who she actually was and the image she wanted to leave behind. Many times, the two were very different, and she tortured herself in trying to choose a legacy for herself. She was full of contradictions. She made sure nobody had the satisfaction of knowing she gave a damn what they thought of her, though privately, she cared more deeply than she could even admit to herself. She was conservative, traditional, wild and free all at once. She put herself through the wringer to protect herself from anything anyone else might say about her, because she had beaten them to the punch. She was a major chore, but she was also irreverently funny, fascinating and fiercely loyal. If you take two seconds to actually read the synopsis before you pick this up, you'll get exactly what you expect and aren't likely to be disappointed. If you simply look at the cover and start drooling over the chance to read some newly-discovered Hollywood dirt, you'll be extremely disappointed. This book delivers exactly what it promises and though it drags in places and is frequently redundant, that's the reality of what took place and what it was like to deal with Ava. To create a tighter book, you'd have to throw away the truth of how trying, insecure and tortured Ava Gardner was at this point in her life, and that brutal honesty is the whole of what this book has to offer.

[JoAnne Pulcino · Rating 1 out of 5]

AVA GARDNER : THE SECRET CONVERSATIONS

Peter Evans

If you are a fan of the golden age of movies and the fascinating personalities of the era, this will not appear as new material. Mr. Evans conversations with The Most Beautiful Animal in the world are very repetitive, and there are whole chapters of her life he didn't even touch on. Ava Gardner was her own woman and lived a life most of us can only imagine. Yes, she cursed, yes, she spoke her mind and yes she was a sex symbol who lived it to the hilt. But she was much more glamorous, interesting, and flamboyant that in this book.

She deserved better than this book delivers.

[Peggy · Rating 2 out of 5]

I read this after finishing The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo, because the author said if Evelyn was based on any real-life actress, it was Ava Gardner. (Ava only had three husbands, though.)

[Chris · Rating 4 out of 5]

I think it's hard to find a better opening line to a chapter than: "The size of Frank Sinatra's penis had been on my mind for weeks."

[CD · Rating 2 out of 5]

... not enough to be in love . . .
- Suzanne Vega, Frank and Ava, Beauty and Crime.

Ava Gardner's legend and story is not advanced or degraded with this book. A collection of transcriptions and anecdotal telling of conversations between author Peter Evans and AG about two years prior to Garner's death this book doesn't go anywhere. Part of the reason is that Evans was hired to 'ghost' her memoirs and then she pulled the plug. AG went on to write another memoir prior to her death that was published and it was very tame in comparison to some of the commentary in this book.

Published after Peter Evans death as well as Gardner's, it was finished by his agent/editor and by his wife. Evans did very well with excerpting the book he was originally writing for Ava Gardner, but there are several problems.

One that was especially annoying was his commentary on her personality and behavior that he interprets one way, but the material she provides really points in other directions. His hesitancy to offend the might Ava Gardner does not result in as honest a work as he continuously proclaims and assures AG it will be!

The fragmented nature of the book and the story about it coming to light and to print point at it being an opportunistic event. With the subject and the ghost author dead, few are left to sue. The estate of Ava Gardner no longer needed to 'protect' anything really and so their releases and 'blessing' are not terribly meaningful.

For the film history buff and those wanting 'a bit' and I do mean 'a bit' of vicarious thrill, this is an O.K. work. Just don't be disappointed.


The Frank Sinatra and Ava Gardner legendary romance is hardly touched. You'll get more meaning and truth from Suzanne Vega's less than three minute song about them. It has the tone and meat that make Ava and Frank legendary. This book doesn't.

[Mike · Rating 3 out of 5]

The highlight of actor Ben Gazzara's memoir was his mention that no woman ever drove men crazy like Ava Gardner. 3 marriages to Mickey Rooney (at the height of his popularity, so she was effectively hidden from his female fans), bandleader Artie Shaw, and of course Frank Sinatra (who was at the low point of his career and relied on Ava financially). Also linked to Howard Hughes, George C Scott (brutal when drunk), bullfighters, etc. The influence of MGM studio head Louis B Mayer cannot be overstated - it was an era where studios rules, and he was the greatest among them.
Her collaboration with the author ended before the Sinatra years were fully developed, but beyond the volatile relationship that the world knew about, she notes that the mafia didn't do much for Frank when he was down and out.
The book was published after Ava's, and ultimately the co-author's death.
Though she came from a poor family, unlike so many starlets she had a great relationship with her family. Her Daddy made her feel special, though her life wasn't more special than any other depression kid. "He made me feel loved an safe. No daddy can do more than that for his daughter." Her father died young and her mother was too sick to go to Hollywood with her.
A friend of hers and the author wrote: "In her whole shitkicking, barefoot life she never really learned to pretend, nor did poverty give her any humor, certainly none about herself, so she went to work on the men and the 'suits' that needed her. The last and most important school was the U. of Sinatra. She inhaled the gangster outlook of the world. Take what you want. Don't let them use you. They only understand tough. And all of her days became nights."

[Martin · Rating 3 out of 5]

A fascinating but incomplete account of Ava Gardner's life. The author attempted to ghost write Ava's autobiography in the final years of her life. This book is as much his story of trying to get a coherent history out of her as it is her story of coming to Hollywood. Her story ends here with Frank Sinatra, who probably interfered with her continuation with the author, who she discovered has once been sued in the 50s by Sinatra for libel. But even before Sinatra probably paid her off, she was tired of having to relive the past, exhausted by the process of recollecting for the author, and frequently embarrassed about her sex life if she said something too frank.
We hear a lot about Mickey Rooney, a moderate amount about Howard Hughes, and some about Artie Shaw. She talks very little about her career other than her regret at not being in "The Graduate". There is no information here that was not included in Lee Server's "Love is Nothing", and if you really love Ava Gardner, it is depressing to hear about her post-stroke years when she was wracked with insecurity about her looks, just as she had been making somewhat of a television comeback. None of this is the author's fault. He played the hand he was dealt, and it is commendable that the book was finally completed. It does have value, but it is not particularly enjoyable.

[Douglas Gibson · Rating 4 out of 5]

I guess this book would fall into the genre of a metabiography. Instead of traditional biography, what we get here are transcripts of conversations Peter Evans had with Ava Gardner as they meet to discuss writing a biography- Ava will waffle back and forth on her decision through most of this book. There are actually a few pages of the book Evans planned on writing as he sends them to Ava for approval, and then we get her reaction to those pages- which is usually negative.
Some people will hate the way Evans laid out this book (just scroll through many of the comments) but I found it to be fascinating! Long time readers of Arts Journal! know that I love when an actor or actress goes chronically through their movie career, and this book does not do that; The Barefoot Contessa is one of the only films that gets much air time.
But what I love about this unusual and meta approach is that we maybe get to know Ava Gardener, as a person through this style, more than we get to know any other celebrity in a more “normal style memoir.”
I’m of mixed emotions here as a voyeur and a fan because Evans prints things that he tells Ava either he won't print or that he will alter and change. Also, many, if not most of their interviews and discussions take place late at night over the phone when Evans claims Ava is buzzed or drunk, so as a reader we are accepting a lot based on his word.
Trigger warning: Ava loves the F word; fruit, fag, faggot, and faggy. Also, be ready for lots of sex talk about Mickey Rooney.

[Carol Wakefield · Rating 1 out of 5]

Conversation. Evans. "Please say something salacious, Ava". Ava " ok but then again maybe I don't want this book." Evans " but my publisher wants details". Ava. " forget it". Book published after death of Ava and Evans both. Of the two, Ava, in her choice to reject the work Evans did was the classiest.

[Fiona MacDonald · Rating 4 out of 5]

worth a read. Ava was beautiful, tempestuous and lonely. The only other person who has ever struck me as this insecure and unfulfilled with her life was Marilyn. Sad read, but ultimately, an informative and lively documentation of the parts of her life we never really knew.

[Evann · Rating 5 out of 5]

wild. i knew very little about ava befor this book and i loved it. honest and a little bitter and rough and entertaining. didnt know the story behind the book until the end. i liked it that way. i talked so much shit about mickey rooney during the read. found robert mitchum hotter too.

[Joe M · Rating 3 out of 5]

“You can sum up my life in a sentence, honey: She made movies, she made out, and she made a fucking mess of her life. But she never made jam.”

An extremely honest, candid, and conversational biography between the author and Ava Gardner. I admire the unorthodox approach to this book which is to distill Garnder's unvarnished, no-bullshit interviews with the author into a picture of a life, but would have liked to have more specific film history or anecdotal behind-the-scenes insights, and less time spent on personal dramas, failed marriages, and Mickey Rooney's sexual prowess. Still, a very fast-paced and often funny read, and a fascinating portrait of a Hollywood legend.

[Colleen · Rating 1 out of 5]

I actually asked for this for my birthday this year, since I love books on Ava Gardner. The lady's movies might be lackluster (except for a few) but damn what a life she led. And then I read this book and my parents were very sad I disliked it, but no, no, still happy I read it. This book just belongs in the category of old-movie-stars-seen-through-the-eyes-of-very-jealous-and-bitter-people category.

Ava Gardner, one of the greatest stars of yesteryear, now living a quiet and reclusive life in London, is looking for a ghostwriter to help her on her upcoming autobiography and gets the help of Peter Evans. But ehhhhhhhhhh...he's working on a book of his own! He really doesn't want to and calls his many famous friends (he name drops like crazy) to help him decide if he should. The struggle of working for Ava when he really wants to be writing his novel is brought up over and over. He only goes through with it because his novel is based on a fading actress and he thinks she would be perfect as atmosphere for his novel.

He then seems to go out of his way to piss her off. He argues with her about many things and does some shady taping which she is unaware about. For example--she wants the book to start with her recovery from stroke in London, which culminates in a scene where she falls down, and then laughs so hard she wets her pants. Maybe not the most glamorous scene in her life, but she saw her stroke as the hardest thing she overcame and wanted to showcase the lighter side of it. He is against this--he wants the book to start with her birth in NC (boooring--I much prefer autobiographies that start media res--Gloria, Roz, and others have memorable autobiographies that didn't start with "On blah blah I was born on..."). I kept going hmmmm, since I remember Ava's book and how it started that way and it is actually the thing I remember most about her autobiography.

Maybe it's because he didn't write it. He was fired by her, although that's not mentioned in Ava Gardner: The Secret Conversations, since he died towards the end of writing it. Much like the Sonja Henie book, the negatives seem to be worked at really hard and seem unnecessarily cruel--like she would call late at night! She liked to chainsmoke! She enjoyed alcohol! She used the f-word! It's Ava-freaking-Gardner, of course she did these things.

Ava just wanted to write a nice fluff piece on her life for the cash, since she was hard up. Evans wanted a scandal laden tell-all about Rooney and Sinatra, which Ava did not want to do, since she was still friendly with both her ex-husbands. She invited him for dinner and drinks on many occasions, he never reciprocated until the very end (when a mutual friend tipped him off that her feelings were hurt that he never invited her to his many legendary (gag me) dinner parties). And that's when the book ended. I wish he had lived long enough to detail the firing or that his wife who did the last chapter had really finished the book, but oh well.

[April · Rating 2 out of 5]

I have recently finished Ava Gardner: The Secret Conversations which I thought was going to be a biography but it was more about the construction of the book – mostly focusing on the interplay between the subject and the writer. There is way too much Peter Evans in this book –not enough Ava.

The book covers a series of interviews that Ava did in the late 1980s in preparation for a ghostwritten biography. An epilogue at the end tells the reader that that Evans’ biography of Ava was never finished; never published. They hypothesize that Frank Sinatra paid off Ava not to publish the book.

There are parts of in this book where Evans publishes the drafts of his chapters. At one point he writes about the conclusion of Ava and Mickey Rooney’s marriage and he describes Ava’s growing relationship with Howard Hughes. Evans writes the Bappie (Ava’s sister) “never saw Howard’s faults…He had a private detective watching me around the clock, 24/7, as they say now” (p. 251).
The use of the phrase 24/7 really threw me. Although I know it existed since the mid 1980s, I’m not sure Ava would have been using it. This makes me wonder about other things Evans credits Ava with saying.

It also bothered me that Evans keeps telling Ava that she needs to write an “honest” book. He is constantly pushing her to talk about subjects - which might have been part of his job but it really seems like she did not want some of that info to be published. Although they say that they did get permission from Ava’s estate to publish the transcripts word for word.

The book has some frank talk about sexuality and anatomy which probably should be expected from a biography about such a noted beauty but some readers may find the material off-putting.

[Lori · Rating 3 out of 5]

In the 1940's and 1950's Ava Gardner was the epitome of Hollywood glamour. Volatile marriages to Mickey Rooney, Artie Shaw and Frank Sinatra kept her in the gossip columns and there have been many books written about her life.

This was an interesting take on a biography. Not so much a traditional memoir as it is the story of the relationship between the author and the actress trying to write it down. It's not real heavy on gossip so those looking for juicy tidbits may be a bit disappointed but it does provide an interesting look at the woman behind the Hollywood production.

The push and pull of Ava's wish to write the book while not hurting those she loved is a big part of the book. For a woman who, for all intents and purposes, was a "I don't give a s&*t" kinda gal it's interesting to see her not want to be portrayed badly but still wanting to be honest.

An interesting little story about the book Frank Sinatra reportedly paid Ava the same amount she would have received as an advance just to ensure the book was NOT published.

[Richard · Rating 5 out of 5]

A very good book regarding Ava Gardner and her life in and around Hollyweird. I didn't know too much about her because she was " before my time " other than the fact that she was a major star in Hollywood. People, like me think that all or most celebrities i.e. - movie stars, musicians, artists, sport players et al live glamorous and successful lives but for the most part this ain't true. A lot of them live depressing lives once their star begins to fade, when their career is at it's apex and going down, getting old, etc. Lots of drugs, alchohol, depression, anxiety, paranoia, etc. Look at Ava for example along w/ Howard Hughes, Marlon Brando, Marilyn Monroe and one gets the picture. Give read if your interested in her life and a little bit about Hollyweird and the men and celebrities that gravitated in her universe. I would like to read a biography on Howard Hughes next after reading this ....

[Julian · Rating 2 out of 5]

Although I'm a big Ava Gardner fan, this collaboration of data is really not one of my favorites to say the least.
This is not a complete story of Ava Gardner's life - I mean, so much information is missing that it is pitiful! I think it will be obvious to the reader that there are partial stories told here in the pages of this book, and also that there are stories that are started, maybe one or two lines, that are never completed, and I wondered why they were even included in the final manuscript because they go nowhere! Also there is some material regarding Miss Gardner's life that I feel, no one would be interested in ever knowing, even the most die hard fan. This is not a complete waste of time, but there are better books out there about Ava Gardner.

[Eliza · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'd been looking forward to reading this since publication but was greatly disappointed - very poorly written as pretty much a transcript of some late night rambling conversations with scant information, let alone the salacious gossip I was hoping for. The book centres around the single question of whether Ava will allow Peter access to her memories and then to publish them - the answer to both of which we know and is not remotely interesting as a narrative. The best anecdote had to be stolen from Kitty Kelley's bio of Frank Sinatra and didn't even get corroborated. A missed opportunity.

[Imogene (Gene) · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pictures at the end of the book (kindle) were a pleasant surprise. Glamour and celebrity--come with a price.
Would like to see her movies.

[Joy H. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Added 10/14/13.
I listened to this book in August or September, 2013.
It's a juicy autobiography of the actress, Ava Gardner. Compelling!

[Abigail · Rating 2 out of 5]

A biography of Ava Gardner told through lightly fictionalised transcripts of conversations she had in the 80s with her ghost writer for a book she’d never publish. This started off fairly promising, framing Ava in her most vulnerable years; isolated after having a stroke. We go back and forward between her childhood of food insecurity and poverty and her present difficulty, surrounded by luxury, in reconciling her sense of self to the woman she sees in the mirror.

Around the time Ava begins recollecting her marriage to Mickey Rooney (approximately half way), the book quickly goes downhill. Peter and Ava’s conversations grow repetitive and dull, and the insight into Peter’s thoughts is somewhat disturbing. He thinks some gross and deeply misogynistic things while conversing with her ever so politely. I don’t think there’s anything titillating in trying to pressure a woman into discussing the size of her ex husband’s penis. No small part of Peter’s behaviour in this professional relationship is repeatedly pressuring Ava to talk about intimate, personal things that she has made it clear she does not want to discuss.

There were some points of real interest for me, mostly those conversations in which Ava reveals the ‘golden age’ of Hollywood to have been reliant on exploiting, neglecting and abusing its stars. Ava is also, shown through her dialogue in these conversations, a complex and guarded person; her personality makes the book interesting.

Then there’s the baffling decision (in 2013) to share 1980s transcripts of slurs, creepy/perverted comments, anti-semitism and one of the most repugnantly homophobic conversations I’ve had the misfortune to hear this side of 2010, all scattered in as amusing anecdotes. I guess it would be pretty interesting if you’re looking into a picture of how prejudice manifested in conversations of that period, but there is no awareness of this from the 2013 voice in the book. They’re still just ‘amusing’ quips at the expense of marginalised people.

Not one I’d recommend unless you’re really into old-Hollywood scandal gossip.

[Marie · Rating 4 out of 5]

A book of great interest. Not necessarily for the content provided by the actress, but for the zeitgeist which is represented. Both by Gardner's stated experiences and the distillation of her words by her ghoster, Peter Evans. Ava was an earthy and profane woman. She resided in both extremes of the manipulation scale. She gave as good as she got. She comes off essentially as an unfulfilled person, damaged by overexcesses in all things carnal, alcoholic and tobacco. The stories she relates to Peter Evans are at the core unhappy and clouded. She was exploited at an early age; her response to that was to become defensive, coarse and guarded - if not somewhat duplicitous and mendacious. Her version of events and situations is entirely subjective, her reality. The events she describes illustrates the Hollywood studio system as fully a sexist and brutal environment. (Hint: nothing has changed)

[Nick Guzan · Rating 3 out of 5]

This entertainingly candid portrait of Ava Gardner through her conversations with her one-time biographer Peter Evans suffers only from the circumstances that led to the initial book's abrupt termination. Incredibly readable, it left me wanting more and may have benefited from more context, picking up on Ava's life after her project with Peter ended... though the material included is still a very worthy read.

[Liza]

So fascinating to hear about Ava Gardner, I knew practically nothing, so it was super exciting. I've always been curious about that time period and it was great to hear it from a perspective like hers.

[Rebexxa · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was fun to read. I didnt know much about Ava Gardner before, but I like her. I read this because Taylor Jenkins Reid said it was the book that inspired her novel - The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo - and I can see why. I had a lot of fun reading this!

[Rikke · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed listening to this. Uniquely delivered, the back and forth between the authors experience interviewing her and her life story told in a very casual manner, worked well!

[Presley Malik · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book it felt so raw and real.

[Amy Watson · Rating 2 out of 5]

Published after her and the author’s death, half finished without either of their permission...I kind of feel this book it a bit disrespectful to everyone involved. It’s also very repetitive. Meh.