Selling Sunshine: Surviving Teenage Motherhood, Thriving in Luxury Real Estate, and Embracing My Voice

by Mary Bonnet

The fan-favorite star of Netflix’s hit reality series Selling Sunset recalls her life in and out of the spotlight, an inspiring and surprising chronicle of adversity, tragedy, trauma, and success.

In the streaming reality series Selling Sunset, Mary Fitzgerald Bonnet is the charismatic, calm, and level-headed agent who effortlessly lands multi-million-dollar homes while sidestepping the drama of a cutthroat business in one of the wealthiest and most glamorous places in the world. Often thought of as the “big sister” of her co-stars for her compassionate advice and uplifting attitude, Mary is admired for her unwavering kindness. But behind her sunny personality is a remarkable story of resilience, forged by a life filled with profound challenges.

In Selling Sunshine, Mary candidly reveals the most grueling and darkest moments of her personal journey. Becoming a mother at sixteen, she was forced to rely on her own resolve and tenacity, juggling multiple jobs while attending school and caring for her son. With vulnerability and grace, Mary reflects on how her crash-course in adulthood not only changed her, but prepared her for the trials to come, including two painful divorces and toxic relationships. Despite the pain, she kept moving forward even in the aftermath of terrifying trauma.

Yet no matter how many obstacles she faced, Mary refused to let the darkness extinguish her light. It was that same strength and determination that eventually carried her to the top of her field and helped her cope with unexpected fame. Talking about her experience on Selling Sunset, she offers a rare glimpse at cast dynamics and the drama behind the scenes, and reveals the lessons she’s learned—from staying true to yourself to projecting positivity by supporting colleagues. Unfiltered and genuine, Mary’s story will inspire listeners to overcome life’s obstacles, and discover the power of finding their own sunshine.

Genres: Memoir, Audiobook, Nonfiction, Biography, Autobiography

Audible Audio

First published September 24, 2024

Reviews

[Hannah · Rating 1 out of 5]

I wanted to know more about Mary’s life, as she seems like a really genuine person with a troubled past. BUT THE WRITING. oh my god. The book is basically how a high schooler would answer a college admissions essay prompt of “tell me about a time you overcame an obstacle”: ‘My life has been hard, but I am a positive person. Staying positive has helped me many times. One of the times being positive helped me was when…’

[Sadie · Rating 2 out of 5]

I don’t want to be mean

[Caryn Berardi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nice read if you’ve been a fan of the show! Enjoyed listening to Mary narrate it.

[Shannon · Rating 4 out of 5]

A heartfelt memoir about her experiences as a teen mom, building her career, the ups and downs of her love life, miscarriages, life as a reality tv star and so much more. I especially loved how honest she gets, how real she comes across and that she shares about her ADHD and IBS. Great on audio especially if you're a fan of the Netflix show!

[Kay · Rating 1 out of 5]

I’ve never watched the show and have no clue who she is ..but I enjoy memoirs so I picked it up. I tried TWICE to get through this book. Once reading from the library and then tried again via audiobook. Both times I continually cringed and gave up after 50%. So many red flags ignored. So many instant falling in love. So desperate to be in a relationship. So many bad choices. And so odd about the ADD diagnosis. There were approx 3 sentences (problem, diagnosis, meds done). The writing was too simple and as much as I wanted to read about a strong, successful woman, I couldn’t bear to read another word.

[myreadingescapism · Rating 4 out of 5]

For a bit of a background, I was heavily interested in getting my real estate license back in 2020/21 around the time Selling Sunset was popular.

So with that information, I loved Mary in the show. She's the most laid back. As far as this book goes, you feel like you're sitting beside and listening to Mary tell her story. While it's not original or not anything crazy, it's still a fun look into Mary's trial and error and her life, in general. Definitely felt like bad writing, but like I said, it felt like Mary was just telling her story.

I am so happy her life is better now!

[Zak Cerminara · Rating 3 out of 5]

Solid 3⭐️
I went in with NO expectations since I am a big fan of Selling Sunset, so I knew what I was getting into.

However, what I didn’t know:
How much crap Mary has been through in her life.
How dedicated she is and has always been to her son.
How strong Mary has to be in order to make it to the point in her life she is at.

Now, I’m not saying this is literature, or excellent writing. But what it is, is a good memoir to tell the public about her early life.

While going through this book, I came up with alternative names to give this book:
-Why Men Suck
-Why Do Men Suck So Bad?
-Jesus, How Does Anyone Put Up With Men?
-Wait, Was That an Ad?
-#usemycodefordiscounts
-How To Create a Brand Collaboration

[Derrick Contreras · Rating 3 out of 5]

(2.5 stars but rounding up) This was just fine. The first half was really vulnerable and we got to see a lot of Mary that you don’t know or see on the show. But the second half lacked that same vulnerability. It felt like she didn’t want to go into too much and upset anyone related to Selling Sunset. She addressed some drama and did a cursory summary of each friendship but that was the level of depth we got. She did dive a little deeper with her relationship with Christine and how two faced she could be on and off set but I wanted way more than what we were given. I don’t know, I just feel like she could have done a lot more and she was grasping by the end to make a full book. Also the ending was just an ad for her brand partnerships which was really weird to read

[Elizabeth Guinn · Rating 5 out of 5]

5⭐️ if you like selling sunset and mary, you will definitely enjoy this! there was *just enough* tea from the show/about other agents to make it interesting without being catty, which i felt was totally in line with what we normally see from mary. i enjoyed hearing more about her life growing up and her ideas for next steps in her life/career! i’d absolutely recommend the audiobook read by her.

[Shelby Banach · Rating 2 out of 5]

I had high hopes going into this, but reading this book felt similar to reading a legal transcript of someone listing a series of life events. It felt impersonal and like a quick cash grab.

[Sarah Lutfy · Rating 4 out of 5]

En tant que grande fan de Selling Sunset (guilty), Mary a toujours été une de mes prefs et c’était vraiment intéressant d’apprendre tout son background et plein de trucs qui sont souvent gardés derrière la caméra. Mais quelle femme résiliante! C’était pas un chef d’œuvre littéraire mais ça va vraiment redonné le goût de (re)binge watch Selling Set lol alors win win

[Leighann · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really like Mary on Selling Sunset, so it was fun to learn how much she's been through in life. The writing was as expected, and her narration wasn't the best, but overall it was a good story.

[Riley Sheedy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Love selling sunset so was excited to read this. Mary has been through so much and is so strong.

[Mitra Pourmehraban · Rating 2 out of 5]

How is this published... has to be a first draft. The writing is so bad that it's annoying and silly. She does a lot of telling and not showing, ie saying life was tough instead of giving examples of experiences. The content and plot line would have come to life with the help of an editor.

[Olivia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Simple but effective

[Ana Elizondo · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fan of Selling Sunset here.
The character she portrays on the show radiates love, positivity and beauty just like her story. 🌞

[Maddie]

I won this as a giveaway, but I always feel weird about rating memoirs because it feels like a value judgement on the author’s life. I enjoy Selling Sunset and Mary has clearly gone through a lot, but this book is very poorly written. It follows the events of her life with very little reflection or connection between events and a fair amount of self-contradiction. Her account of her relationship with Jason is also WILD to me. His behavior is honestly worse than I expected and then she immediately turns around and says he’s such a great friend and person. Overall confusing but entertaining!

[Emmaline Long · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5- rounded up. Selling Sunset is my guilty pleasure and Mary is a fav, so I couldn’t wait to give this one a listen! As usual, love autobiographies read by the author. This was not as insightful or “juicy” as I was hoping, but it was interesting to learn more about Mary and her background. Not convinced she actually wrote the book, based on some of the language, but enjoyed it either way.

[Hannah · Rating 3 out of 5]

Three stars because I love Mary from Selling Sunset and it’s clear she has been through a lot to get where she is today. I really respect her. However, the writing was pretty bad and at the end it felt like she shoved a bunch of random brand deals in by promoting random partnerships she had with various products. Very quick to read though, literally took just a few hours

[Michelle]

No reading due to memoir.

But I really liked this one!! First off I love selling sunsets, give me LA give me the OC I will consume them all.

I’ve always been a fan of Mary, but throughout the show I did think she’s so nice and at times a push over.

Reading about her story gives me a whole new perspective compared to what they aired on the show. Mary went through some truly difficult hardship. I feel like this is a woman who came from the bottom and turned her life around.

If you like selling sunsets you will enjoy this book.

[Jess · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you’re a celeb writing a memoir, please have an interesting life like Mary 🙏 So chaotic

[Eliana Osburn · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5/5

[Kasey · Rating 3 out of 5]

I adore Mary so I'm giving the book a 2.5 - 3 ⭐...

[Megan Wortham · Rating 3 out of 5]

good autobiographical palate cleanser

[Rachael Haley · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love listening to this audiobook. I love Mary - she's by far my favourite on Selling Sunset!

[Tori Burkdoll · Rating 4 out of 5]

Huge fan of Selling Sunset here and even bigger fan of Mary! I loved hearing more of Mary’s back story and loved listening to her read the audiobook version. This book has a perfect mix of genuine storytelling, goofiness, and inspirational moments.

[Allison L]

I don’t rate books that someone writes about their life. I will say, though, I love Selling Sunset. and Mary. and this book. she did so, so good. ❤️❤️❤️

[Caroline · Rating 2 out of 5]

Mary should not:
a) have written this book
b) ever attempt to speak French again.

[Nicole Heckel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Idk you get what you expect??? The ghostwriter was HEAVY handed, it felt like when she read the audiobook was the first time she had seen any of the book, but her personality does really come through and I felt like there was a point to writing this
OH my favorite part is when she stops to tell us all her brand deals like an ad break in a podcast

[Priyanka Gupta]

I really admire Mary’s courage in navigating so many unfathomable challenges and telling her story, but this is a poorly written book. And some parts bothered me:
- saying she has never depressed because that’s not who she is—depression isn’t a character trait or flaw
- calling abortion the easy way out (although she makes clear she is pro choice)