A year and a half into our marriage, I found out my husband had been having an affair with a nineteen-year-old for six months. I filed for divorce and left. Two weeks later I met a man, and we fell madly in love. It was a fairy-tale romance for a month and a half, and he convinced me to join him on a romantic month-long vacation in Italy. Forty-eight hours before we were supposed to get on a plane, he told me he needed to go by himself. I was devastated. So, I had a decision to make. Either stay home and be heartbroken, or go travel Europe for a month by myself. And staying at home heartbroken? F%*k. That. What does a woman do when her life has fallen apart and her heart has been ripped out and stepped on twice in two months? She goes on a wild adventure, makes some bad decisions, and does a sh*t load of soul searching. But most importantly? She finds out how to love…herself. This is so not Eat, Pray, Love. This is Eat, Pray, #FML. *Due to the mature language and content this book is recommended for readers 18+* "Even with five kids, I could NOT put this book down. I don’t think I’ve ever read something more raw, relatable, and wildly entertaining. For anyone who’s gone through love, divorce, heartbreak, or needs to learn to love themselves and take their damn power back. READ. THIS. BOOK. -Tori Spelling (Actress) "Reading this book has absolutely inspired me. These are words of pure truth. To say I needed to read this is an understatement. I'm so thankful for this book and how it opened my eyes about myself and my relationships. I'm ready to see it on the big screen!" -SCOUT TAYLOR COMPTON (Actress) "Eat, Pray, #FML is a riveting journey of what happens when your life is thrown to the wolves and you come out leading the pack. This isn't a soul-searching book, it's a soul defining book, and Gabrielle shows us how to elegantly do so...without giving a single f%*k." -K.L. RANDIS(Bestselling author of Spilled Milk : Based On A True Story)
Gabrielle Stone is the best-selling author behind the viral phenomenon Eat Pray #FML, the heartbreak bible that sparked a global community. When readers demanded more, she delivered with the hit sequel The Ridiculous Misadventures of a Single Girl and the chart-topping podcast FML Talk. What began as a shattered heart quickly grew into a movement.
Fans were captivated by the man at the center of her second book - Taymour Ghazi - whom Gabrielle later married and started a family with. An accomplished actor, artist, and director, Taymour now adds “author” to his repertoire as Gabrielle’s co-writer on their new book, Finding You Through Finding Me. Together, they offer an unguarded, unvarnished exploration of two people healing from their own histories while navigating the unpredictable, demanding, and extraordinary path of building a life together.
Wow. So many thoughts for this book, and most of them are not good. I never read Eat, Pray, Love, so I cannot compare the two books. But if you are looking for a book that is very shallow in nature, no character development, not really even about self love, but mostly about a girl who struggles with a break up by going to Europe, partying all night, drinking all day every day, eating food, making out and sleeping with other people, but not being able to actually sleep, while complaining how fat she was going to get, then this book is for you!
Seriously. I have so many complaints. First of all, I feel slightly bad for this rant because she was dealt a shitty hand. In reading the book you can tell she has insecurities and maybe not the best of luck. Her father died when she was 6 years old and she found the body. Her high school love passed away as well, but we do not know why. She gets married and the jerk cheats on her. She continually tells us that it was with a 19 year old girl. In viewing her social media accounts any time anyone asks why the age matters, the author responds that it is just a fact. However, in the book she calls the girl a child. I do not condone cheating, but I found that throughout the book even though the author tried not to be judgemental, she came off as very judgemental in certain situations. She literally uses the term “don’t get me wrong” more times than I can count in this book.
Two weeks after leaving her husband, she reacquainted with an old friend and they hit it off immediately. They had a month long love affair and he encouraged her to go on a month long trip to Italy with him. This man lost his brother to suicide a year and half ago and was still battling with the depression that came with it. He struggles so much that 48 hours before going on the trip he says he thinks he needs to go alone. My thoughts are that he is either struggling with being happy because his brother wasn’t or he no longer cares for the author like he thought and is trying to not ruin a month long trip by having her tag along. She calls him Javier in the book, but a quick google search you can find out who he really is in real life.
The rest of the book is about her adventure throughout Europe. To be honest, I am currently 68% of the way through the book currently and contemplating if I will finish it or not. At this point, it is a toss up. This book is supposed to be about how she finds herself. How ever since she lost her dad she has a fear of being alone. However, the whole book (so far) is about how heart broken she is over Javier, yet she is constantly sleeping and making out with other people. Even someone she obviously did not want to have sex with, she still went to his apartment and faked the big O! The whole time she talks about all the amazing food too. But we learn nothing of the food and the culture. The only thing we learn is that she is going to be so “fat” and will have to live at the gym for two months when she returns. She even made a comment that she was too fat for a swimming suit in the book. But if you go to her instagram and look at that day, and the swimsuit she is in, she obviously is still a size 2 and multiple comments on how they want her abs. She also constantly talks about how she cannot sleep. How she stays up and party all night long while operating on three hours of sleep. Or six hours over a three day period. Honestly, no judgement. If that is what she wants to do, good for her! However, she complains about it soo much in the book that I just want to reach through, grab her and shake her and tell her to go to bed then!
The more I read the book, the more I hated the author. She seemed very shallow and obsessed with herself. She made multiple comments throughout the book about how all these men thought she was beautiful, incredible, cute. Like she needed her ego stroked? But she was still pining over Javier! I also felt like she was looking for sympathy. Each new person that she introduced to the book, she told them her story of her ex husband and Javier. Each person of course expressed sorrow yet told her how amazing she is and how much an idiot they both were. Like I said, she obviously had insecurities and needed reassurance constantly. But to continuously read the same thing over and over again was tiresome.
Let’s talk about the writing too. I get that she is not an author by trade, but seriously she should have hired a ghost writer or someone to edit the book beforehand. Because it is cringe worthy. It literally is a step by step account of her days traveling, but worse than a journal. It was all very, and then we did this, and then we did that, and then he said this, and then I ate that. There was no character development. In fact she would drop a friend’s name as if we are supposed to know who they are. But never introduced them into the book.
Like I said, I feel slightly bad about this review. The author really did have a shitty hand dealt to her. But she decided to put her life out there for us all to read. This could have been a great book. I first heard about this book on social media and was actually excited. I thought it was going to be funny and eye opening. She really could have turned this into something big, but with each page I turned, the more I realized that the author just wants to talk about herself. Maybe if I choose to finish the book I may feel different or maybe I am missing a huge “aha!” moment at the end. But for right now, this is a big no from me.
The only thing I can say for this book is that it's one of those books that inspires you to write one yourself, because if something this trashy could be successful then surely you could do better.
As someone coming from a place of significant privilege myself, I can honestly say that this was obnoxious and infuriating to read. The MC could have gone to therapy, instead of partying her way through Europe on a rebound trip. She didn't visit historical sites or see the cities she was in or experience the local culture much at all. She partied with other Americans (or Canadians) across the major destination cities of Western Europe. All I could think about was that 1.) what a waste of the environmental impact of traveling - save the jet fuel and go clubbing in LA if all you're going to do is search for healing through partying, drinking and sleeping with randos (to be clear - book shaming yes, slut shaming no - we’ve all been there) and 2.) this is not a story of resilience, it's a story of a rich, white woman dealing with things that tons of people deal with every day with more grace. (Also, fatphobia is rampant so be aware if that’s a trigger for you.) It's an autobiographical book written by a WOMAN and it wouldn't even pass the Bechdel Test! The whole thing is about her relationship with men (and especially one man). It's literally all she talks about. All she thinks about. In these amazing places that she is so incredibly LUCKY to be seeing!! What. A. Waste. And ok, fine, if that’s the trip you had - sure. We all travel our own way. But to then turn it into a book comes across as unaware and self-indulgent at best.
The writing itself was poor, too. It was entirely introspective (read: self-centered) without any scene building at all. All the food was "so fucking delicious." All the scenery was "gorgeous." But I had no way of visualizing or experiencing it for myself because there was no actual description. It was all just her own feelings, in her own head, set against a backdrop of places that should have been vivid and vivacious. And the ending felt tacked on. Like she was desperate to end things with some sort of sage advice, that doesn't actually connect with her journey's plot line at all. Bleh.
DNF at 68% because I have a laundry list of reasons why this book sucks.
First: this woman is delusional. She keeps saying she’s a famous actress but I had to google her and she barely scratches the surface of D movies.
Second: I don’t know how many times in those 200 pages she guffaws at people and says “it’s a long story!” Ma’am. Over half the worlds been cheated on, divorced and had a shitty rebound relationship. That takes one sentence to sum up.
Third: Again, she is delusional. Every interaction she has with Javier seems fabricated and I actually rather read a book from his point of view.
Fourth: She claims she is on a journey of accepting herself solo and where she is at buttttttt it is pages and pages of “I met this guy and he reminded me of another guy I have unresolved feelings for so I fucked him” repeatedly. Everyone she meets she compares to someone else she used to know. She seems to fall in love instantly and truly think she is so pivotal and different for these men that OF COURSE they must reciprocate but spoiler: they don’t.
If I could give this zero stars, I would. Not only do I think this reads like an extended, self-gratifying, self-promoting Facebook post, but Gabrielle’s consistent fat/food shaming made me want to scream and horrified me. Maybe I have my own issues with love, but come on! Agreeing to go to Italy with a guy you met a month before and being SURPRISED that it didn’t magically work out? Seriously now. I really wanted to like it, but I absolutely couldn’t stand it.
This book created feelings similar to going to lunch with that one friend who you have convinced yourself is a good person at their core, but no one would ever know, because all they do is talk about themselves the whole time and show you pictures on Instagram. Like going to lunch with that friend, I found myself looking forward to the ending and doing anything else.
The beginning of the book started off well and there was hope for a more comedic version of Eat, Pray, Love, but then quickly I realized this was more of a narcissistic version. Elizabeth Gilbert was able to talk about her self discovery in a way where you felt like her confidante and knew that she was working through issues on her path of self discovery, without ever feeling like she was self-obsessed. I imagine that it is a fine line to walk when writing a book about yourself. Unfortunately, Stone was not able to walk that line. Perhaps it was due to the constant depictions of her instagram or trying to convince herself she was on a self discovery trip when really all she wanted was to discover why Javier no longer had feelings for her.
At the end of the book she details how to create a self love cocktail, but it seemed like such a strange ending, because she had not really talked about any of the ingredients (meditation, exercise, etc.) throughout the book, not how these ‘ingredients’ had helped her on her path. It simply was a happy cliche ending without evidence or anecdotes for doing any of the self love work beyond her ‘thought onions’, which were a good promise on her path.
Okay, let me say right up front that I am one of those people who likes Eat, Pray, Love, both the book and the movie. Not every single bit of it, especially when it comes to the book, but it's one of the few contemporary books that I have rated 5 stars. I generally reserve that rating for recognized classics.
I am also a big fan of humor books (Dave Barry is my all-time favorite humor writer, and Calvin and Hobbes and Bloom County are favorite comic strips). So when I saw the title of this book, I just had to give it a try.
That said, I should have taken the title more seriously. Imagine Eat, Pray, Love written by a Kardashian, and you will have a good idea of what this book is like. I am using "Kardashian" metaphorically here to represent a pseudocelebrity with very little depth because I actually know almost nothing about that clan, just the bits and pieces I have not been able to avoid seeing on social media. The author, Gabrielle Stone, is the daughter of Dee Wallace, who played the mother in the movie E.T. the Extraterrestrial. According to IMDb, she has been in quite a few movies, none of which I have ever heard of. And I watch a lot of crappy Netflix and Amazon Prime movies.
Gabrielle Stone actually does have one thing in common with Elizabeth Gilbert, and that is the way her book begins. Gabrielle had been married for about a year and a half when she discovered her husband had been having an affair for six months, so she filed for divorce. Elizabeth Gilbert divorced her husband by her own choice, because she was unhappy in her marriage. Gabrielle almost immediately met and fell in love with actor Javier Alvarado. Elizabeth Gilbert almost immediately fell "in like" with David Piccolo, also an actor, who was much younger than she was but who introduced her to the yogi whose ashram Gilbert visited during the "Pray" section of the book.
Those are the only things these two books have in common, and the comparison is admittedly a stretch, because Javier invited Gabrielle to go to Italy with him and then two days before they left, he told her he wanted to go alone because he was suddenly deeply grieving the death of his younger brother two years before. Huh? Okay, so Gabrielle and Javier had only been together for a couple of months, but according to Gabrielle they were the best months of her life and Javier was the love of her life. So here she was, with a round-trip ticket to Europe but no one to go with. She had a choice of staying at home, alone and heartbroken, or going to Europe by herself. She chose the latter.
But she spent the entire trip trying to figure out whether her relationship with Javier was on again or off again. And she partied her way through London, Amsterdam, Barcelona, Mykonos, Rome, and Sicily, drinking everyone under the table and stumbling home at daylight almost every single day. How she found the time and the coordination to write in her journal, which eventually became this book, I don't know.
I will give you just one example of the quality of writing in this book. Admittedly it is the worst line in the book, but why in the name of all that is literary would she leave this line in the book instead of edit it out? She is describing what sounds like an absolutely magical nightclub in Paris which is in an aquarium. A wall of glass stretches across most of the length of the club, and they have a woman dressed as a mermaid dive in periodically and swim with all the other sea creatures. Gabrielle's description of the club?
So I didn’t read this book; I listened to it, which may be what saved me from some of the complaints about her writing. I found her on Instagram and thought I’d see what her book was about.
I'm going to start with the holy hell; I felt really bad for this woman. Her husband screwed her over so badly. HOWEVER, I spent a good portion of the book going, “you don’t love Javier, that’s lust doll.” Also, her accounts of her travels are 100% why Americans don’t travel. She saw less than 1% of these countries and only parties spots. She missed out big time, which is sad. I’m also not going to hate on her going through her hoe phase cause everyone deserves it. Whether it needs to be a book, however, that’s another story. I’m not sure this was ‘the empowering, I overcame my heartbreak’ story it’s being touted to be. It’s definitely a version of Eat, Pray, Love if you sub Pray with Party and Love with DTF, all of which are fine but a bit disingenuous.
I’m not sure we needed the play-by-play texts or the “insight” into the guys she banged. But again, you do you. It definitely felt like a story your friend tells you over brunch; it just went on way too long. It also is super weird how little she talks about her ex other than his cheating. The entire book was about Javier which, is beyond insane since you “dated” a month, meanwhile you were married for 2 years and together for 5.
Lastly, her obsession with her weight should’ve been edited out. You can’t empower women if you spend 10 hours - that’s how long the audiobook is - fat-shaming yourself for gaining by your own estimation 5 lbs. it’s not a good look
While I liked Gabrielle's story and how she was able to do some real self-discovery on her journey, I just didn't find her very likeable. I hate to say that because after everything she went through and how she handled it all so well, I still didnt feel she was relatable. She seemed to almost brag throughout the book about being an actress, or Instagram verified, and writing a book. She wasnt as real as I'd expect from the author of this type of book. She talked about being gaining weight and being fat in practically every chapter, come to find out she gained 5 whole pounds on her month-long European journey. It just got repetitive and seems so superficial. The book is about self love and yet none of this is self-loving. Despite my one criticism, this book helped me do some soul searching of my own and really made me want to book a flight to Europe for one.
This was not for me. I'm not usually one to virtue-signal, but I could play a drinking game with the number of microaggressions in this book - drink every time there's a moment of fatphobia, racism, transphobia, slut-shaming or just general internalized misogyny! And I STILL would only be half as drunk as the characters portrayed in each tedious bar scene. While there were important messages in this book, they were clouded by uninteresting details, repetitive plot points, and completely unimaginative language. (One could also drink every time the word 'insane' or 'incredible' is used to describe a meal, sunset, or bar.) The one rule of good writing is "show, not tell," and this author did the opposite. If Javier ever writes a book, let me know--his inner monologue was more intriguing to me.
Might be the most poorly written book I’ve ever read. I heard about this book from an Instagram reel made by the author. I was intrigued to read, get the tea, and support a fellow human. The author struggles by telling a relatable story in the most unrelatable way. Many of us have dealt with heartbreak, deceit, anxiety, being led on, falling in love, and going a tad bit crazy… but all of that was lost in a sea of self obsession. The celebrity name dropping, the shock and awe of others finding out she is verified on Instagram, the famous parents, the constant talk of movie projects she is working on, the mind onion, the inability to take responsibility for her own actions, the constant contradictions, the fat shaming… I felt like I was reading a 13 year old’s journal and I need to put it back in its hiding place forever. As for the writing, most of it the dialogue is taken directly from her text messages or Instagram posts. She takes us on a journey around Europe and the most description we get is about her social media posts and how F***ing inspiring she is. The author’s uses the word F*** much like a middle schooler on a bus would, frequently and to feel somewhat special or superior. I wanted this to be a good book, I wanted to dive into its pages and find depth, instead I found this book to be as shallow as the author.
I enjoyed this book immensely. I’m not sure why there are so many bad reviews on this book because I felt that Gabrielle was very open and honest with her experiences. Yes, I understand that what she went through isn’t that different than what other people go through on a daily basis, I get that. I just liked the story she told on how she was able to find herself, help heal herself and process emotions all while going through Europe on her own! That’s crazy! I know the thought of me going through Europe on my own scares the crap out of me! This book was honest and funny and deep at parts. I would recommend this to anyone who needs a laugh, a cry or honesty.
If I could give this book a zero rating I would, believe me. I have so many complaints about this book but I’ll just briefly touch on a few.
The writing was poor and repetitive. Word for word conversations and text messages made up a large portion of this book, I cringed reading most of them. It felt like so much filler for an already short book.
I winced at the authors continuous fat shaming. Sleeps with various men and writes about how she didn’t want to after each. I felt like I rolled my eyes every time she wrote that she told someone her story on her travels and “their mouths fell open”.
I looked forward to reading this book and really wanted to like it but was left disappointed. The concept was there but while I understand the book is largely what she had wrote as a journal, I think the author would’ve benefited greatly from a ghostwriter.
Ugh. I read A LOT, and I’ve never hated a book more. Idk. No, gabs, your story really isn’t that original. The plot actually hardly existed. I loved the concept, but so poorly executed. So much repetition. We get it, you have a blue check mark on your Instagram. We get it, everyone thought your story was “so crazy” and their “jaws dropped”. We get it, you’ve changed the lives of all of those around you. You may not love yourself, but you think pretty damn highly of yourself and your social status. That about summarizes my thoughts.
Loved this memoir of Gabrielle Stone. One woman's journey through love, marriage, divorce and how she decides to change her own life afterwards. Told in a funny down to earth way it was an eye opening journey. The choices Gabrielle made. Some bad, some good and the way she chose to handle everything was truly inspiring. I really enjoyed this read. Recommendation by @shesaidyestobooks 🌷
This is the most poorly written book I have ever read all the way through. And I have to stipulate that I just skimmed the second half. Turned it into a sort of drinking game: Arrives in new city: talks about how little sleep she got✔️(at 28) Tells new people her whole bloody story✔️ People are amazed ✔️ Talks about writing this book✔️ People are amazed ✔️ Hooks up with hot guy✔️ Talks about how much older than him she is✔️ (at 28) “Freaking cool”✔️✔️✔️✔️ “Literally”✔️✔️✔️✔️✔️✔️✔️(Chris from Parks and Rec would be so proud) SO many missed opportunities. I get that it’s supposed to be a journey of self discovery but a little interest in other people would be refreshing. Who is this boho chick in Amsterdam with the amazing apartment? Where does she go all day while her guest is sleeping in? What does she do? Who are all these fellow travelers outside of what they say to the pretty blonde from America? We literally don’t know anything but how they served her. And a travel book should tell me SOMETHING about the places visited beyond the Eiffel Tower is tall.
This girl has main character syndrome but without the personality or depth to back it up. The whole book reads like my journal when I was 14 - “we did this and then we did that and it was so fun and then a cute boy smiled at me and then the sunset was beautiful.” It’s just page after page of her willingly making bad decisions, whining that they were bad decisions, and then having absolutely zero growth as a result of those bad decisions or consequences. What a grown up.
She talks about 23 year olds as if there’s a huge age gap rather than a 5 year age gap. You’re partying and drinking your way through Europe, pretty sure you are closer in age (and maturity) to these 23 and 24 year olds than you think. I couldn’t even finish the chapter about Chris because it was literally all “he’s 23!!!!! And I am SO MUCH OLDER!!!!” To use her Very Grown Up phrase, pause for eye roll. She thinks more highly of the 35 year old who can’t communicate effectively just because “he’s a MAN” and he speaks 5 languages. I would love to see her reaction to a 35 year old speaking about their 7 year age gap the way she speaks about a 24 year old and their 4 year age gap. She’s, like, so mature, but like, can’t even write a book without, like, talking about her like nails or her like hairspray or her like waxing or like fat-shaming another woman. Every time she ate anything she would make a comment about calories or needing to hit the gym. You’re literally in Europe and spending the whole time hanging out with Americans, whining about calories, and partying at Vegas-like nightclubs?? You have this opportunity to discover yourself and heal your heart and immerse yourself in culture but instead you’re getting drunk and telling your story to every LA or NY traveler within earshot to get yet more reassurance that you’re So Pretty and So Strong?? Girl, go see a historical site or something.
She kept saying that Javier breaking up with her “wasn’t like him” but like… you’ve known him for a month. You booked a trip with him that is equivalent to the length of your relationship immediately after you filed for divorce, at what point did this seem like a good idea? If you’ve known him all of six weeks, he doesn’t want to travel with you, he’s not texting you, and not trying to meet up with you, then you probably need to stop saying you’re madly in love with this STRANGER and move tf on. Having this grand realization that you always need a man and you have abandonment issues is probably cancelled out by sticking your tongue down every available guy’s throat, and telling literally everyone you meet your sad story is obnoxious. Not as obnoxious as constantly bringing up her blue checkmark on insta but only getting around 1200 likes per photo, but close. We get it, you told the “short version” of your story (yeah right) and their eyes widened and their jaws dropped. Do you know how annoyed I would be if I was traveling abroad, trying to experience new things and enjoy new experiences but this random girl in my hostel kept talking about this guy she dated for A MONTH AND A HALF and how she was just taking this trip to WRITE A BOOK? Eat, Pray, Go Away.
Starts off strong but then dissolves into a boring washout of whirlwind travel fueled by lack of sleep, heavy partying and constant social time with strangers punctuated by long self involved ramblings interspersed with a tiny few grounded and wise "aha" moments. I definitely did not relate to this 20-something journey. (And perhaps was not meant to.) Eat Pray Love was much more my speed. More depth. Fewer selfies. More spiritually aligned journeys and less talk about hooks ups or her verified Instagram account that she (wink wink) "hates" getting attention for. Imo...skip this one.
Thought this book would be more inspiring and really be about moving on after unfortunate circumstances (like divorce) however it was disappointing and annoying to see her fall in love so fast and then complain and dwell on problems with the new guy throughout the entire book instead of focusing on fun and the amazing opportunity to travel and meet new people.
The first few chapters hooked me. Who doesn’t love a women who filed for divorce before her husband gets home and watches him be served with them? Who doesn’t love that powerful female?
I understood the second romance, so quickly after the divorce. That personally resonated with me. I too have felt what was described in those few chapters.
Where i got lost was in Europe. She goes to these absolutely amazing places and hardly anything about the culture is written. As an Aussie i rolled my eyes so, so many times and thought ‘Typical American. The entire world revolves around them’ The sleeping with random men didn’t bother me, hell i would have. Used once, throw away. But where i got even more lost was with the ‘I’m going to get so fat’ or the mention of fucking calories. Like ffs, no one cares. How superficial can you be?
Not to mention this woman who literally packed up her house and had divorce papers drawn up in a week and a half spent THREE WEEKS letting this Javier bloke fuck her around. Oh the contradictions! For closure she meets up with him. Of course. And then book two, no thanks I’ll pass.
This is my first DNF of 2021. I really didn't enjoy this book. The funny thing is, I have no idea how this got on my TBR. I assumed my past self added it after wanting to read it, so I trusted my past self and just went for it when the audiobook was available. I'm starting to wonder if I somehow accidentally added this as I was scrolling because this didn't seem like a book I'd like very much, and it turns out I didn't. I do read a lot of genres and random books without knowing too much what they're about, so it's possible I thought the blurb sounded funny, but really if you've read the blurb you know what the first half of the book is about because most of it is very repetitive.
The premise isn't bad. But the execution is. Probably the author should have had someone edit or ghost write this because the writing isn't very good. Most of it is just a list of "then I went to this bar. Then I met this person. Then I saw this monument. Then I texted this person. Here is a verbatim script of what the texts said. Then we all added each other on Insta. They were impressed I had a blue checkmark. Then I posted an inspirational quote". Certainly the author had some shitty things happen to her (her dad dying, her asshole husband cheating on her) and I was interested at the beginning. But I was cringing so hard about Javier and her being madly in love with him after only a few weeks and obsessing over him and even texting his mom and his sister who she had met briefly to discuss private details of her relationship with him when he had told her he only sees her as a friend. She seems like she overshares everything with everyone. It's pretty weird to call a woman you've only met for an hour and a half in real life your second mom.
Her trip to Europe was not very interesting and seemed like she spent most of that time drinking and partying with random people she met, combined in wallowing in self pity and being self absorbed. By the point I stopped reading, I really didn't like her very much. I particularly find it cringey how she talked about all her social media posts with inspirational quotes and apparently she got a ton of messages from people who felt moved by them and she kind of tried to make this a self help book and act like she knows what she's doing. I would not take life advice from someone who acted the way she did with Javier and his family. I'm going to assume the author ends up with him after all this or else he wouldn't have been such a big focus of the book. But I just don't care. There is probably a target audience for this book but I definitely don't fit that audience and would not recommend this book.
I am counting this toward my reading goal even though I didn't finish because the last few chapters before I gave up were a slog.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
What. A. Boook!!! I genuinely couldn't put this book down.
So I was on TikTok the other day and a funny video from this author showed up on my feed and something told me I had to check her story out. And I’m so glad I did.
This book was raw, real, inspiring and so empowering!
The way the book was written makes you feel like you are standing in the author's shoes and living the experience yourself.
And let me tell you, seeing her stories on this trip on her Instagram page made this feeling even stronger. I felt like I was right there with her. So cool!!
Gabrielle captured the emotional rollercoaster of relationships, solo travel, and discovering yourself and she bares her soul in this book.
She kept me captivated from cover to cover and made me evaluate my own life’s choices each step of the way. No matter your background this book will help empower your own sense of self love.
Gabrielle Stone is lacking in self awareness which made this an often times painful read. She details every single time a stranger asks what her story is and how shock and amazed they are by her “crazy” story. She writes about being shocked about her husband’s infidelities but the only reasons she gives for marrying him are the material things he gave her and ‘fabulous trips’ he took her on. He sounds like a complete asshole, but she doesn’t really reflect on her role in the marriage, it was just something that happened to her and she doesn’t reflect on why she would marry someone for seemingly surface level reasons and expect it to work out? I would have liked her to elaborate on how she had money to travel in Europe for month on a whim or at least acknowledge her privilege in being able to do so? Maybe if this book was shorter, I could have overlooked some of her vapid opinions and self absorption, but it was way too long to enjoy the story for what it was.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
1. stumbled across her on TikTok. 2. stalked her on social media. 3. fell madly in love with her (I mean, how could you not? she's amazingly pretty!) 4. checked out her book(s) online. 5. ordered her books online. 6. read Eat, Pray, #FML in almost one sitting.
Now, on to book 2.
By all means, the book isn't perfect. There are quite a few things that bothered me, like
- some of the text messages really made me cringe - she basically tells EVERYONE she meets her whole story; people are amazed by how bad she's been treated by men and now she tells everyone that she's going to write a book about all of it - fatshaming/reinforcing beauty ideals - implying that you must first love yourself in order to be loved by someone else - the writing (so so many repetitions)
But nevertheless can I relate so much, since similar things have happened to me the past year and I just kind of feel a connection.
Although there are a few things that I find problematic, I still LOVE this book.
Very disappointed. It started so promising then turned into the same rant over and over. It gave zero depth into her travels, and what she “learned” sounds like what she thinks we want to hear. She tried hard to be profound and it was just... juvenile. I got tired of reading how pretty everyone thought she was, how “fat” she was getting (she gained a whole 5 pounds. Stop.) about her “blue check mark” on Instagram, how everyone thought she was so strong, and courageous... it just sounds like she is very insecure and really needs a lot of validation. I MADE myself finish is because I hate not finishing a book, but it was painful. Just don’t read it. Save yourself.
Save your time and just read her vapid Instagram captions instead. Thankfully I rented this from the library because if I bought it I would be so disappointed.