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What Doesn't Kill You Makes You Hotter
A Gallery book. Simon & Schuster has a great book for every reader.
Hardcover
First published July 14, 2026
About the author
Laura Clery
3 books857 followersLaura Clery is an actress and comedian best known for posting daily comedy sketches to Facebook and YouTube, where she has a combined seven million followers and upwards of two billion views. She lives in Los Angeles with her husband, son, and motley crew of rescue animals.
(source: Amazon)
(source: Amazon)
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 143 reviews
July 16, 2026
If I could rate this book zero stars, I would.
0/10
Do not recommend. All content in this book is publicly and freely available on her multiple social media pages.
Do not waste your time or money reading.
Laura is a volunteer, not a victim. Don’t believe otherwise. This book is proof of that.
0/10
Do not recommend. All content in this book is publicly and freely available on her multiple social media pages.
Do not waste your time or money reading.
Laura is a volunteer, not a victim. Don’t believe otherwise. This book is proof of that.
July 22, 2026
DNF at 56%. I can't give you a zero, so I give you a one.
Reading this felt like being trapped in a conversation with someone who thinks they're the funniest person in the room while everyone else is desperately seeking an exit.
The writing is so unnecessarily self indulgent and it's like the author is screaming "Look how quirky I am!" on every page without ever giving the reader a reason to care. This could easily have been an honest memoir instead of as an exhausting collection of brain-dead humor and relentless narcissism.
It was supposed to be everything from her childhood and addiction to relationships, social media fame, marriage, motherhood, and the various highs and lows of her life but it reads like a vicious circle of unrelated stories held together by the same joke over and over again: "LoOk hOw cHaoTic My LiFe iS."
The jokes felt like someone explaining why their joke was funny after nobody laughed. Every chapter feels longer than it is because nothing meaningful happens, so much so I felt second-hand embarrassment.
This is one of those rare books that makes you question not only why it was published, but also why you kept turning the pages hoping it would eventually get better. It doesn't. I survived 56% of the book like a fish trying to breathe outside the waters. One of my easiest DNFs this year.
Reading this felt like being trapped in a conversation with someone who thinks they're the funniest person in the room while everyone else is desperately seeking an exit.
The writing is so unnecessarily self indulgent and it's like the author is screaming "Look how quirky I am!" on every page without ever giving the reader a reason to care. This could easily have been an honest memoir instead of as an exhausting collection of brain-dead humor and relentless narcissism.
It was supposed to be everything from her childhood and addiction to relationships, social media fame, marriage, motherhood, and the various highs and lows of her life but it reads like a vicious circle of unrelated stories held together by the same joke over and over again: "LoOk hOw cHaoTic My LiFe iS."
The jokes felt like someone explaining why their joke was funny after nobody laughed. Every chapter feels longer than it is because nothing meaningful happens, so much so I felt second-hand embarrassment.
This is one of those rare books that makes you question not only why it was published, but also why you kept turning the pages hoping it would eventually get better. It doesn't. I survived 56% of the book like a fish trying to breathe outside the waters. One of my easiest DNFs this year.
July 21, 2026
Laura is a beautiful writer, and there were moments in this book that were incredibly moving. However, I found many of her choices throughout the story so confounding that I honestly wanted to throw the book across the room.
I’m also a domestic violence survivor, so I understand firsthand how difficult it is to leave an abusive relationship. But after reading everything Stephen put her and the children through, it was heartbreaking to finish the book and then see Laura welcoming him back into her life on social media. After everything he’s done, I simply cannot understand returning to this cycle—especially knowing it appears to be part of a multigenerational pattern.
One line in the book has stayed with me: when her friend told her, “At this point, you’re a volunteer, not a victim.” That statement felt harsh, but after reading the entire story, I understood why it was said and was saddened to see that, years later, so little seems to have changed.
Laura, if you can’t leave for yourself, please do it for Poppy. Break the generational cycle. Show your daughter what a healthy relationship with healthy boundaries looks like. Show her that she deserves love, safety, and respect—and that people who repeatedly hurt you do not deserve repeated access to your life.
Laura often suggests that drugs were the real problem and that “sober Stephen” is safe. But abuse is about far more than substance use, and countless addicts never abuse their families. Throughout this book, the cycle repeated itself over and over. Trust the pattern, not the promises.
I know many people believe children always need both parents, but I disagree. A father who repeatedly terrorizes their mother is not being a good father. Children are often far better off in a stable single-parent home than growing up witnessing repeated domestic violence. Even if Stephen deserves some level of parenting time, that does not mean Laura should continue allowing him back into her personal life.
I also found myself frustrated by how often Laura seemed to excuse the harmful behavior of people around her—not just Stephen. As a special education teacher, I truly understand how incredibly challenging it can be to raise a child with autism. I have enormous empathy for her situation. However, I couldn’t help but wonder why there seemed to be so little discussion of behavioral supports in the home. In the final chapter, she describes Alfie destroying the house during a meltdown. Is he receiving behavioral therapy? These are incredibly difficult behaviors, but they are often things that can be worked on with the right support.
I was also concerned about some of the conclusions Laura drew regarding Alfie’s communication. She often assigns specific meaning to the phrases he repeats. Many autistic children use echolalia for a wide variety of reasons, and the words they repeat don’t always reflect their actual thoughts or feelings. For example, interpreting “Dad not coming” as proof that Alfie deeply missed Stephen—and using that as evidence Stephen should return to their lives—felt like a leap. Later, Laura says Alfie regressed once visitation resumed. Someone else could just as easily interpret that as evidence he was distressed by Stephen’s return. The truth is, we simply don’t know. Because Alfie cannot fully express himself, we should be careful not to project meaning onto his words.
I also felt incredibly sad for Graham ( I think that’s the boyfriend’s name in the book). For him to be there for 3 years and consistently and lovingly care for not just Laura but also the kids and yet then not even be invited to the birthday party is WILD! Stephen has been on drugs for Poppy’s entire life. That means he’s never been reliable, stable, or consistently there for her both physically and mentally. Just because he’s sharing dna with those kids doesn’t mean he’s a father to them. Especially when you add all the extremely abusive things he’s done to their mom!! It’s clear that Graham has been more of a father to those kids than Stephen ever has! Sharing DNA does not automatically make someone a father. Showing up consistently, providing safety, and protecting your children does. Based on everything described in this book, Graham demonstrated those qualities far more than Stephen ever did.
My own father was an alcoholic. My mother divorced him when I was three, and I haven’t seen him since I was seven. Raising three children alone could not have been easy, but I thank her all the time for making that decision. She spared us from growing up in an environment filled with addiction, instability, and trauma. Children do not simply need a father at any cost—they need safe, healthy adults.
Ultimately, this book left me feeling more frustrated than almost any memoir I’ve ever read. Reading page after page of the abuse, manipulation, fear, and chaos Stephen inflicted on this family, only to see Laura publicly celebrating him afterward, was heartbreaking. I desperately want her to break this cycle—not only for herself, but for her children. After everything described in these pages, I cannot ignore the pattern. Stephen belongs in prison, not back in Laura’s life.
I genuinely hope that one day Laura is strong enough to break this cycle and that she and her children finally find the lasting peace, safety, and stability they deserve.
I’m also a domestic violence survivor, so I understand firsthand how difficult it is to leave an abusive relationship. But after reading everything Stephen put her and the children through, it was heartbreaking to finish the book and then see Laura welcoming him back into her life on social media. After everything he’s done, I simply cannot understand returning to this cycle—especially knowing it appears to be part of a multigenerational pattern.
One line in the book has stayed with me: when her friend told her, “At this point, you’re a volunteer, not a victim.” That statement felt harsh, but after reading the entire story, I understood why it was said and was saddened to see that, years later, so little seems to have changed.
Laura, if you can’t leave for yourself, please do it for Poppy. Break the generational cycle. Show your daughter what a healthy relationship with healthy boundaries looks like. Show her that she deserves love, safety, and respect—and that people who repeatedly hurt you do not deserve repeated access to your life.
Laura often suggests that drugs were the real problem and that “sober Stephen” is safe. But abuse is about far more than substance use, and countless addicts never abuse their families. Throughout this book, the cycle repeated itself over and over. Trust the pattern, not the promises.
I know many people believe children always need both parents, but I disagree. A father who repeatedly terrorizes their mother is not being a good father. Children are often far better off in a stable single-parent home than growing up witnessing repeated domestic violence. Even if Stephen deserves some level of parenting time, that does not mean Laura should continue allowing him back into her personal life.
I also found myself frustrated by how often Laura seemed to excuse the harmful behavior of people around her—not just Stephen. As a special education teacher, I truly understand how incredibly challenging it can be to raise a child with autism. I have enormous empathy for her situation. However, I couldn’t help but wonder why there seemed to be so little discussion of behavioral supports in the home. In the final chapter, she describes Alfie destroying the house during a meltdown. Is he receiving behavioral therapy? These are incredibly difficult behaviors, but they are often things that can be worked on with the right support.
I was also concerned about some of the conclusions Laura drew regarding Alfie’s communication. She often assigns specific meaning to the phrases he repeats. Many autistic children use echolalia for a wide variety of reasons, and the words they repeat don’t always reflect their actual thoughts or feelings. For example, interpreting “Dad not coming” as proof that Alfie deeply missed Stephen—and using that as evidence Stephen should return to their lives—felt like a leap. Later, Laura says Alfie regressed once visitation resumed. Someone else could just as easily interpret that as evidence he was distressed by Stephen’s return. The truth is, we simply don’t know. Because Alfie cannot fully express himself, we should be careful not to project meaning onto his words.
I also felt incredibly sad for Graham ( I think that’s the boyfriend’s name in the book). For him to be there for 3 years and consistently and lovingly care for not just Laura but also the kids and yet then not even be invited to the birthday party is WILD! Stephen has been on drugs for Poppy’s entire life. That means he’s never been reliable, stable, or consistently there for her both physically and mentally. Just because he’s sharing dna with those kids doesn’t mean he’s a father to them. Especially when you add all the extremely abusive things he’s done to their mom!! It’s clear that Graham has been more of a father to those kids than Stephen ever has! Sharing DNA does not automatically make someone a father. Showing up consistently, providing safety, and protecting your children does. Based on everything described in this book, Graham demonstrated those qualities far more than Stephen ever did.
My own father was an alcoholic. My mother divorced him when I was three, and I haven’t seen him since I was seven. Raising three children alone could not have been easy, but I thank her all the time for making that decision. She spared us from growing up in an environment filled with addiction, instability, and trauma. Children do not simply need a father at any cost—they need safe, healthy adults.
Ultimately, this book left me feeling more frustrated than almost any memoir I’ve ever read. Reading page after page of the abuse, manipulation, fear, and chaos Stephen inflicted on this family, only to see Laura publicly celebrating him afterward, was heartbreaking. I desperately want her to break this cycle—not only for herself, but for her children. After everything described in these pages, I cannot ignore the pattern. Stephen belongs in prison, not back in Laura’s life.
I genuinely hope that one day Laura is strong enough to break this cycle and that she and her children finally find the lasting peace, safety, and stability they deserve.
July 22, 2026
Just a warning for other readers - this author will drag you on her socials and sicc her cult of followers on you if you post a bad review of her book.
Reviews are for readers, not authors. If Clery can’t handle people not liking her work, she either needs to get thicker skin or stop putting her work out into the world.
Reviews are for readers, not authors. If Clery can’t handle people not liking her work, she either needs to get thicker skin or stop putting her work out into the world.
July 18, 2026
Very poorly written. I also thought she was going to go into information that wasn’t splattered all over Stephen’s social media. She did not.
Instead she writes a novel excusing his behavior, sanitizing his crimes and attempting a completely undeserved redemption.
Disappointed on every level.
Instead she writes a novel excusing his behavior, sanitizing his crimes and attempting a completely undeserved redemption.
Disappointed on every level.
July 22, 2026
Reading reviewers who didn't like your book to troll them for your followers is not cool.
Do better
Do better
July 22, 2026
Found out how horrifically this author treats readers (and fans) who criticize her work. There is nothing wrong with personal opinions, these books are FULL of them. Laura wants her personal opinions respected but cannot respect others’. It’s healthy to have criticism, it’s how we grow. However, Laura has proven time and time again that she refuses to grow. Many people are afraid of her due to doxxing that she has perpetrated when someone pisses her off.
May 30, 2026
I was given an advanced reader copy of this book by Gallery Books in exchange for my honest review.
Laura Clery has been through hell and back the past few years. Any fan of hers has witnessed the ups and downs with her ex. Some of the online discourse continues to this day. What Doesn’t Kill You Makes You Hotter is an inside look of those years from Laura’s point of view. She kept her silence through much of it, so it was very heartbreaking read to see how much her and her children suffered.
This book wasn’t as humorous as her first two books, but I don’t think anyone could make jokes about the material in this book. It was raw, honest, and Laura laid herself bare emotionally. She detailed her struggles, how she overcame them, and how she protected her children. She speaks very factually about her ex husband, never bashing him or judging him. Which is honestly more than he deserved in my opinion, but she has my respect for taking the higher road.
Did she make mistakes? Yes, and she admits to them in this book while also reminding the reader hindsight is 20/20 and she felt she was doing the right thing at the moment. She openly admits that many of her decisions (such as the co-parenting podcast) came from a money making mindset, which is refreshing to see from a social media star. You can tell the events of her life chronicled in this book has changed her outlook on a lot of things, including sharing her children on social media.
I truly don’t know how she managed to not only parent, but keep her sobriety and income through these events. It was good to see her be able to get her side of the story out. I have hope that as she is able to heal more she will continue her advocacy against abuse and domestic violence. I have hope in her next book she will be able to go back to her usual humorous stories, as these horrible events fade into the past.
Laura Clery has been through hell and back the past few years. Any fan of hers has witnessed the ups and downs with her ex. Some of the online discourse continues to this day. What Doesn’t Kill You Makes You Hotter is an inside look of those years from Laura’s point of view. She kept her silence through much of it, so it was very heartbreaking read to see how much her and her children suffered.
This book wasn’t as humorous as her first two books, but I don’t think anyone could make jokes about the material in this book. It was raw, honest, and Laura laid herself bare emotionally. She detailed her struggles, how she overcame them, and how she protected her children. She speaks very factually about her ex husband, never bashing him or judging him. Which is honestly more than he deserved in my opinion, but she has my respect for taking the higher road.
Did she make mistakes? Yes, and she admits to them in this book while also reminding the reader hindsight is 20/20 and she felt she was doing the right thing at the moment. She openly admits that many of her decisions (such as the co-parenting podcast) came from a money making mindset, which is refreshing to see from a social media star. You can tell the events of her life chronicled in this book has changed her outlook on a lot of things, including sharing her children on social media.
I truly don’t know how she managed to not only parent, but keep her sobriety and income through these events. It was good to see her be able to get her side of the story out. I have hope that as she is able to heal more she will continue her advocacy against abuse and domestic violence. I have hope in her next book she will be able to go back to her usual humorous stories, as these horrible events fade into the past.
July 23, 2026
If I could rate it zero I would.
July 22, 2026
The substances may be gone but the behavior sticks, for both parties.
July 23, 2026
PLEASE BEWARE THAT ALL THE GOOD REVIEWS ARE FAKE, all posted by her cult of followers on social media. This book sucks ass!
July 25, 2026
Absolute drivel. The only way one could possibly enjoy this is if their brain were completely rotted by social media and reality TV. Not one redeeming quality.
July 18, 2026
I’m actually sobbing writing this, I don’t ever really write full blown reviews… just give my stars and continue on. But I could not adore Laura and her writing more. I sobbed and ugly-cried in many chapters. I laughed out loud in public in others. Thank you for sharing your story. Your writing is hilarious, moving, deep, so relatable, and such a gift to other single moms. ♥️ fucking 10/10
July 23, 2026
Apparently this book is controversial. But the beauty of memoirs is that it’s the author getting to share their side of the story, and that’s exactly what this is. If it’s more details and behind the scenes of her life than it is a reflection, that’s fine.
As someone who pseudo saw some of the drama over the last few years, I did find it fun (in kinda a gossipy way) to find out want actually happened.
Also heartbreaking that people continue to be in these relationships and not have the privilege to fight, leave, or give grace and forgiveness.
Best work ever? Probably not. Entertaining as a read? Certainly.
As someone who pseudo saw some of the drama over the last few years, I did find it fun (in kinda a gossipy way) to find out want actually happened.
Also heartbreaking that people continue to be in these relationships and not have the privilege to fight, leave, or give grace and forgiveness.
Best work ever? Probably not. Entertaining as a read? Certainly.
July 21, 2026
I have a lot of empathy for anyone who has to endure something this painful, and I truly felt sorrow for what Laura and her family experienced. That said, I was hoping for more reflection on the lessons she learned throughout it all. Much of the book felt focused on airing the details and drama of what happened. If you're interested in that kind of raw, behind-the-scenes memoir, you'll probably enjoy it.
The biggest takeaway for me was that sometimes life is simply about getting through incredibly difficult seasons, and there doesn't always have to be a neat, inspiring message at the end, and that's okay. I just wish the book had been more intentional in exploring that idea and offering a bit more insight into how those experiences shaped her.
The biggest takeaway for me was that sometimes life is simply about getting through incredibly difficult seasons, and there doesn't always have to be a neat, inspiring message at the end, and that's okay. I just wish the book had been more intentional in exploring that idea and offering a bit more insight into how those experiences shaped her.
July 14, 2026
This micro memoir is a story of survival, self discovery, feminine rage and above all, feminine strength. It is deeply honest, incredibly raw and I genuinely think every woman should read it. I demolished it in less than 24 hours.
I’ve read both of Laura’s previous books and have followed her for years, so I was already lightly aware of her ex husband’s public unraveling and how terrifying life became for her in 2025. But hearing Laura tell the story in her own words is something else entirely. As she’s such a brilliant storyteller, I always buy the audiobook because I love hearing her narrate her own work. What Doesn’t Kill You Makes You Hotter shares some of the darkest moments of her life with incredible honesty, vulnerability and even humour. Laura tells her story without shying away from what she sees as her own mistakes, even when, as a reader, you can see she was simply trying to be compassionate. Throughout the memoir, she comes across as a woman doing her absolute best in the hardest of circumstances.
What makes this book so fascinating is that Laura writes from the perspective of someone whose life was playing out in the public eye, while also letting us see the very human moments behind it all. As both she and her ex were so active on social media, many readers will already know the broad outline of what happened. But reading Laura’s own account of those events and everything that was happening behind closed doors is completely absorbing.
I’ll continue to read and listen to anything Laura writes because she has such a unique way of telling her story, whether she’s writing about the good or the bad. There’s always honesty, humour and warmth in her words. More than anything, this book makes it clear that all Laura wants is peace and a healthy, happy life. The grace she extends to the father of her children, despite everything she has endured, says so much about her strength and character.
I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys memoirs, but especially to anyone going through a difficult season in their own life. It’s a powerful reminder that even in the darkest moments there can still be hope, resilience and so much strength.
I’ve read both of Laura’s previous books and have followed her for years, so I was already lightly aware of her ex husband’s public unraveling and how terrifying life became for her in 2025. But hearing Laura tell the story in her own words is something else entirely. As she’s such a brilliant storyteller, I always buy the audiobook because I love hearing her narrate her own work. What Doesn’t Kill You Makes You Hotter shares some of the darkest moments of her life with incredible honesty, vulnerability and even humour. Laura tells her story without shying away from what she sees as her own mistakes, even when, as a reader, you can see she was simply trying to be compassionate. Throughout the memoir, she comes across as a woman doing her absolute best in the hardest of circumstances.
What makes this book so fascinating is that Laura writes from the perspective of someone whose life was playing out in the public eye, while also letting us see the very human moments behind it all. As both she and her ex were so active on social media, many readers will already know the broad outline of what happened. But reading Laura’s own account of those events and everything that was happening behind closed doors is completely absorbing.
I’ll continue to read and listen to anything Laura writes because she has such a unique way of telling her story, whether she’s writing about the good or the bad. There’s always honesty, humour and warmth in her words. More than anything, this book makes it clear that all Laura wants is peace and a healthy, happy life. The grace she extends to the father of her children, despite everything she has endured, says so much about her strength and character.
I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys memoirs, but especially to anyone going through a difficult season in their own life. It’s a powerful reminder that even in the darkest moments there can still be hope, resilience and so much strength.
August 27, 2026
If you want to waste your time reading an entire book about a violent, unstable, abusive man that Laura justifiably leaves, only to find out that they are making “amusing” reels on social media together about the book, this is the book for you
Did Not Finish
July 25, 2026I have a strict rule against finishing books written by authors who like to harass and embarrass reviewers for the crime of simply not liking their book.
July 25, 2026
Gosh there are a lot of mentions of being vegan.. so unnecessary
July 26, 2026
Influencers are fcuking weird.
July 27, 2026
I recommend this book to anyone who has navigated a separation from a partner with whom you have a child with. I recommend it to anyone who knows the struggle of addiction- I recommend it to a parent of a child with special needs. I recommend it to any woman going through a tough time.
July 30, 2026
I enjoy listening to her books because her delivery and voices are so good!
August 6, 2026
My guilty pleasure is listening to audio books/memoirs written by people of their versions of their lives.
Unfortunately I wasted an audible credit on this one. I used to like her and her humour, not anymore.
Unfortunately I wasted an audible credit on this one. I used to like her and her humour, not anymore.
July 27, 2026
As someone who has survived marrying, having a baby with and divorcing an abusive narcissist—this book made me feel seen. I can’t even recall how many clips I took from the audio book. It’s real and raw and i commend her ability to describe these thoughts and experiences.. because most people that have lived through this *can’t* find the WORDS much less the COURAGE to share a story like this. I’m totally neutral to the author, solid 5/5 stars.
July 27, 2026
The gimmicky cover belies the gravity of this heavy memoir. Laura is a fantastic, witty writer and tells her story in a way only she can. She reminds us that what we see online can be in direct contrast to what is happening in someone's real life. And that intimate partner violence can happen to anyone, at any time, and women are still not believed.
August 10, 2026
I want to root for Laura and her journey but this book is awful. This is a lot of inside thoughts on the outside and it's honestly a waste
August 25, 2026
I went into What Doesn’t Kill You Makes You Hotter expecting Laura Clery to make me laugh. I did not expect to find one of the most relatable portrayals of long-term recovery I’ve read in a memoir.
As a fellow recovering alcoholic who works the Twelve Steps, there were parts of this book that felt almost startlingly familiar. Not necessarily because our lives look anything alike, but because Laura understands something that can be difficult to explain to people outside recovery: not drinking is only one part of staying sober.
You can have years without a drink and still find yourself consumed by resentment, fear, codependency, control, self-pity, dishonesty with yourself, or the desperate belief that if you can just manage another person correctly, everything will finally be okay. Sobriety gives you the chance to build a life; continuing to work the program is often what teaches you how to actually live it.
Laura gets that.
She writes openly about sponsors, meetings, commitments, step work, surrender, acceptance, her higher power, taking inventory, emotional sobriety, and asking that wonderfully irritating Twelve Step question: What is my part in this? None of it feels like recovery jargon inserted into a celebrity memoir to make it inspirational. It feels lived-in because it clearly is.
I especially appreciated her realization that she had begun neglecting her recovery because she wasn’t experiencing the obvious danger signal of wanting to drink. She describes meetings and step work as her “psychic gym,” and that resonated deeply with me. Anyone who has been sober for a while knows how easy it can be to think, Well, I’m not drinking, so I must be doing fine, while your emotional and spiritual life is quietly catching fire behind you.
That distinction between physical sobriety and emotional sobriety may have been my favorite part of the entire book.
The circumstances surrounding it are anything but funny. This book covers the dissolution of Laura’s marriage, Stephen’s relapse, addiction, infidelity, codependency, financial stress, coparenting, motherhood, legal battles, fear, and the excruciating realization that loving another alcoholic or addict does not give you the power to make them recover.
And yet this book is hilarious.
That shouldn’t work nearly as well as it does.
Laura has such a specific comedic voice that even when she is describing genuinely painful or frightening experiences, some completely deranged observation will appear and catch you off guard. I laughed out loud throughout this book, occasionally in passages where I felt almost guilty for laughing.
But her humor never felt as though she were making light of addiction or trauma. It felt like the humor many of us in recovery know very well: the ability to look directly at something awful, acknowledge exactly how awful it was, and then find the absurdity hiding somewhere inside it.
Sometimes you laugh because otherwise you’re going to cry.
Sometimes you do both.
And Laura is remarkably good at both.
What made that humor work for me was her vulnerability. She is willing to make herself look ridiculous. She admits when she ignored her instincts, when she was codependent, when she confused acceptance with tolerating unacceptable behavior, when she rationalized things she knew were wrong, and when she kept hoping that this time would somehow be different.
There is remarkably little effort to make herself the perfectly enlightened heroine of her own memoir.
That was refreshing.
It would have been very easy to write this as a simple story about one person being wronged by another. Instead, Laura continually turns the camera back toward herself—not to accept responsibility for someone else’s addiction or behavior, but to ask what she can actually change.
That distinction matters enormously.
One of the hardest lessons in recovery is realizing that taking responsibility for your part does not mean taking responsibility for everything. There is a difference between cleaning your side of the street and volunteering to clean someone else’s while they continue throwing garbage onto yours.
Watching Laura slowly learn that difference is really the heart of the book.
Her relationship with Stephen makes that particularly complicated because she knows addiction intimately. She understands relapse from the inside. She knows the shame, denial, bargaining, desperation, and delusion that accompany it. She knows what it means to be given another chance because she received one herself.
So when the person she loves is struggling, compassion comes naturally.
Detachment does not.
That made her conflict incredibly relatable to me. Recovery teaches compassion, forgiveness, acceptance, and service—but none of those principles require us to participate in our own destruction. Laura has to learn that she can love someone, understand the disease that is consuming them, hope desperately that they recover, and still say: you cannot do this to me anymore.
Those things can all be true at once.
I also loved the role the recovery community plays throughout the book. Her sponsor Joy, her meetings, the women with decades of life and sobriety behind them—especially her beloved group of older women—provide some of the funniest and most touching moments in the book.
There is something almost impossible to explain about a room full of recovering alcoholics understanding you without requiring the entire backstory first. Laura captures that beautifully. People laugh. People cry. Someone says exactly what you absolutely did not want to hear. And then you come back next week.
That sense of community runs underneath the entire memoir.
Another thing I appreciated is that the Twelve Steps never become a magical solution. Working a program does not make Laura perfectly serene. She still catastrophizes. She still gets angry. She still makes questionable decisions. She still wants control. She still occasionally knows exactly what the spiritually healthy response would be and would very much prefer to do literally anything else.
That is what made it believable.
Recovery isn’t presented as reaching some final enlightened state where nothing bothers you anymore. It is repeatedly choosing the next right thing, sometimes while angry, terrified, resentful, exhausted, or completely unsure whether it is going to work.
And then doing it again.
The later sections of the book become increasingly intense as Laura is forced to stop trying to manage the unmanageable and establish boundaries that she had spent years avoiding. I found those chapters painful, frustrating, frightening, and ultimately incredibly empowering.
Because the transformation isn’t really that Laura becomes fearless.
She becomes willing to act while afraid.
That is such an important difference.
By the end, even the title What Doesn’t Kill You Makes You Hotter feels less like a joke about surviving divorce and more like a declaration of self-possession. “Hotter” isn’t really about looking better after heartbreak. It’s about becoming harder to manipulate because you finally know yourself. It’s about boundaries. Self-respect. Independence. Choosing your own life. Recognizing that another person cannot be your higher power.
And maybe most importantly, understanding that choosing yourself does not require you to stop loving someone else.
Laura’s willingness to retain compassion for Stephen while refusing to sacrifice herself and her children to his addiction was one of the most moving aspects of the book for me. Recovery does not require hatred. Forgiveness does not require access. Love does not require the absence of boundaries.
There is a lot of wisdom hiding underneath an absolutely obscene number of jokes about sex, bodily functions, aging, motherhood, and questionable men.
Which, frankly, feels very Laura Clery.
I loved how deeply vulnerable this was without ever becoming self-serious. Laura can tell you something heartbreaking on one page and have you laughing like an idiot on the next. That combination is incredibly difficult to pull off, but it also makes the heavier material accessible in a way a more polished, inspirational recovery memoir might not have been.
This is messy recovery.
Long-term recovery.
Recovery when the pink cloud disappeared thirteen years ago and now you have kids, bills, trauma, relationships, resentments, responsibilities, and absolutely no idea what your higher power is doing.
That is the recovery I recognized.
What Doesn’t Kill You Makes You Hotter is funny, chaotic, deeply personal, occasionally heartbreaking, and far wiser than its irreverent title might suggest. Laura’s unique combination of vulnerability and completely unhinged humor was incredibly refreshing, but underneath all of it is a genuinely meaningful story about surrendering what we cannot control and finally taking responsibility for the one life we actually can:
Our own.
Five stars. Funny as hell, painfully honest, and especially meaningful if you’ve ever had to work the Steps one messy day at a time.
As a fellow recovering alcoholic who works the Twelve Steps, there were parts of this book that felt almost startlingly familiar. Not necessarily because our lives look anything alike, but because Laura understands something that can be difficult to explain to people outside recovery: not drinking is only one part of staying sober.
You can have years without a drink and still find yourself consumed by resentment, fear, codependency, control, self-pity, dishonesty with yourself, or the desperate belief that if you can just manage another person correctly, everything will finally be okay. Sobriety gives you the chance to build a life; continuing to work the program is often what teaches you how to actually live it.
Laura gets that.
She writes openly about sponsors, meetings, commitments, step work, surrender, acceptance, her higher power, taking inventory, emotional sobriety, and asking that wonderfully irritating Twelve Step question: What is my part in this? None of it feels like recovery jargon inserted into a celebrity memoir to make it inspirational. It feels lived-in because it clearly is.
I especially appreciated her realization that she had begun neglecting her recovery because she wasn’t experiencing the obvious danger signal of wanting to drink. She describes meetings and step work as her “psychic gym,” and that resonated deeply with me. Anyone who has been sober for a while knows how easy it can be to think, Well, I’m not drinking, so I must be doing fine, while your emotional and spiritual life is quietly catching fire behind you.
That distinction between physical sobriety and emotional sobriety may have been my favorite part of the entire book.
The circumstances surrounding it are anything but funny. This book covers the dissolution of Laura’s marriage, Stephen’s relapse, addiction, infidelity, codependency, financial stress, coparenting, motherhood, legal battles, fear, and the excruciating realization that loving another alcoholic or addict does not give you the power to make them recover.
And yet this book is hilarious.
That shouldn’t work nearly as well as it does.
Laura has such a specific comedic voice that even when she is describing genuinely painful or frightening experiences, some completely deranged observation will appear and catch you off guard. I laughed out loud throughout this book, occasionally in passages where I felt almost guilty for laughing.
But her humor never felt as though she were making light of addiction or trauma. It felt like the humor many of us in recovery know very well: the ability to look directly at something awful, acknowledge exactly how awful it was, and then find the absurdity hiding somewhere inside it.
Sometimes you laugh because otherwise you’re going to cry.
Sometimes you do both.
And Laura is remarkably good at both.
What made that humor work for me was her vulnerability. She is willing to make herself look ridiculous. She admits when she ignored her instincts, when she was codependent, when she confused acceptance with tolerating unacceptable behavior, when she rationalized things she knew were wrong, and when she kept hoping that this time would somehow be different.
There is remarkably little effort to make herself the perfectly enlightened heroine of her own memoir.
That was refreshing.
It would have been very easy to write this as a simple story about one person being wronged by another. Instead, Laura continually turns the camera back toward herself—not to accept responsibility for someone else’s addiction or behavior, but to ask what she can actually change.
That distinction matters enormously.
One of the hardest lessons in recovery is realizing that taking responsibility for your part does not mean taking responsibility for everything. There is a difference between cleaning your side of the street and volunteering to clean someone else’s while they continue throwing garbage onto yours.
Watching Laura slowly learn that difference is really the heart of the book.
Her relationship with Stephen makes that particularly complicated because she knows addiction intimately. She understands relapse from the inside. She knows the shame, denial, bargaining, desperation, and delusion that accompany it. She knows what it means to be given another chance because she received one herself.
So when the person she loves is struggling, compassion comes naturally.
Detachment does not.
That made her conflict incredibly relatable to me. Recovery teaches compassion, forgiveness, acceptance, and service—but none of those principles require us to participate in our own destruction. Laura has to learn that she can love someone, understand the disease that is consuming them, hope desperately that they recover, and still say: you cannot do this to me anymore.
Those things can all be true at once.
I also loved the role the recovery community plays throughout the book. Her sponsor Joy, her meetings, the women with decades of life and sobriety behind them—especially her beloved group of older women—provide some of the funniest and most touching moments in the book.
There is something almost impossible to explain about a room full of recovering alcoholics understanding you without requiring the entire backstory first. Laura captures that beautifully. People laugh. People cry. Someone says exactly what you absolutely did not want to hear. And then you come back next week.
That sense of community runs underneath the entire memoir.
Another thing I appreciated is that the Twelve Steps never become a magical solution. Working a program does not make Laura perfectly serene. She still catastrophizes. She still gets angry. She still makes questionable decisions. She still wants control. She still occasionally knows exactly what the spiritually healthy response would be and would very much prefer to do literally anything else.
That is what made it believable.
Recovery isn’t presented as reaching some final enlightened state where nothing bothers you anymore. It is repeatedly choosing the next right thing, sometimes while angry, terrified, resentful, exhausted, or completely unsure whether it is going to work.
And then doing it again.
The later sections of the book become increasingly intense as Laura is forced to stop trying to manage the unmanageable and establish boundaries that she had spent years avoiding. I found those chapters painful, frustrating, frightening, and ultimately incredibly empowering.
Because the transformation isn’t really that Laura becomes fearless.
She becomes willing to act while afraid.
That is such an important difference.
By the end, even the title What Doesn’t Kill You Makes You Hotter feels less like a joke about surviving divorce and more like a declaration of self-possession. “Hotter” isn’t really about looking better after heartbreak. It’s about becoming harder to manipulate because you finally know yourself. It’s about boundaries. Self-respect. Independence. Choosing your own life. Recognizing that another person cannot be your higher power.
And maybe most importantly, understanding that choosing yourself does not require you to stop loving someone else.
Laura’s willingness to retain compassion for Stephen while refusing to sacrifice herself and her children to his addiction was one of the most moving aspects of the book for me. Recovery does not require hatred. Forgiveness does not require access. Love does not require the absence of boundaries.
There is a lot of wisdom hiding underneath an absolutely obscene number of jokes about sex, bodily functions, aging, motherhood, and questionable men.
Which, frankly, feels very Laura Clery.
I loved how deeply vulnerable this was without ever becoming self-serious. Laura can tell you something heartbreaking on one page and have you laughing like an idiot on the next. That combination is incredibly difficult to pull off, but it also makes the heavier material accessible in a way a more polished, inspirational recovery memoir might not have been.
This is messy recovery.
Long-term recovery.
Recovery when the pink cloud disappeared thirteen years ago and now you have kids, bills, trauma, relationships, resentments, responsibilities, and absolutely no idea what your higher power is doing.
That is the recovery I recognized.
What Doesn’t Kill You Makes You Hotter is funny, chaotic, deeply personal, occasionally heartbreaking, and far wiser than its irreverent title might suggest. Laura’s unique combination of vulnerability and completely unhinged humor was incredibly refreshing, but underneath all of it is a genuinely meaningful story about surrendering what we cannot control and finally taking responsibility for the one life we actually can:
Our own.
Five stars. Funny as hell, painfully honest, and especially meaningful if you’ve ever had to work the Steps one messy day at a time.
October 8, 2026
There’s a lot to unpack having read this while also being left very worried. First off I have loved all three of Laura’s books, and have binge listened to them all. Her stories and keep you engaged, and her experiences I think are really helpful to those in the world going through recovery, as well as toxic relationships. She does a good job of laying out the realities of the struggles with Stephen and hearing g her full side of it while also highlighting her own mistakes through out the process and the struggle of falling into the cycle.
I loved her relatable stories getting into the autism parenting and how hard that can be as well.
After reading, I hopped over to her page and see she again just today released another podcast episode featuring her and Stephen discussing everything and his currently ongoing success in recovery. I am truly SO happy they have reached the point where he can safely be around his kids etc, but it does give me pause on her sharing her platform with him again, as I fear the cycle will still continue for them when the boundaries of their creative work seem to create alot of gray area.
I truly hope for the best for them, but having just read the book and learning the really deep struggles that came from them continuing to blur the lines of coparenting and collaborating just makes me super uneasy for her longterm.
I still give this a 5 because it was a great book, with great messaging overall, and it’s her life being shared and I respect that.
I loved her relatable stories getting into the autism parenting and how hard that can be as well.
After reading, I hopped over to her page and see she again just today released another podcast episode featuring her and Stephen discussing everything and his currently ongoing success in recovery. I am truly SO happy they have reached the point where he can safely be around his kids etc, but it does give me pause on her sharing her platform with him again, as I fear the cycle will still continue for them when the boundaries of their creative work seem to create alot of gray area.
I truly hope for the best for them, but having just read the book and learning the really deep struggles that came from them continuing to blur the lines of coparenting and collaborating just makes me super uneasy for her longterm.
I still give this a 5 because it was a great book, with great messaging overall, and it’s her life being shared and I respect that.
August 16, 2026
This book is wild, annoying, inspiring and so damn frustrating. I try not to judge, but at times I found myself thinking, what the flying heck, why would you do that?!
Laura has immense courage, and who are we to decide how she should react and respond to something so intense, scary and dangerous? But golly, some of her decisions had my eyeballs popping out.
Considering I loved her first two books (where I also thought some of her decisions were wild and very concerning), this book has me questioning so much, and honestly, not always in a good way. I’m just not sure how I feel about it.
Laura has immense courage, and who are we to decide how she should react and respond to something so intense, scary and dangerous? But golly, some of her decisions had my eyeballs popping out.
Considering I loved her first two books (where I also thought some of her decisions were wild and very concerning), this book has me questioning so much, and honestly, not always in a good way. I’m just not sure how I feel about it.
October 7, 2026
Considering how hilarious I find some of her videos, and how interesting she can be in podcasts, this book felt extremely dry. Don't get me wrong, the stories were interesting and it's interesting to hear her side of many of the stories, but it wasn't exactly compelling story telling. That's too bad.
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