GENRE: Nonfiction/Memoir
PURCHASE: link
TRAILER: link
MY GRADE: B
FROM PUBLISHER: While Toni Braxton may appear to be living a charmed life, hers is in fact a tumultuous story: a tale of personal triumph after a public unraveling. In her heartfelt memoir, the six-time Grammy Award-winning singer and star of WE tv's hit reality series Braxton Family Values is unapologetically honest in revealing the intimate details of her journey.
Toni and the entire Braxton clan have become America's favorite musical family, but what fans may not know is the intense guilt Toni once felt when she accepted a recording deal that excluded her sisters. That decision would haunt Toni for years to come, tainting the enormous fame she experienced as a popular female vocalist at the top of the charts. Despite her early accomplishments, Toni's world crumbled when she was forced to file for bankruptcy twice and was left all alone to pick up the pieces.
Unbreak My Heart is more than the story of Toni's difficult past and glittering success: it is a story of hope, of healing, and, ultimately, of redemption.
MY THOUGHTS: This was a quick read. While I'm not a fan of Toni's music, I am a huge fan of her family's reality show, Braxton Family Values that's on We TV. Toni opens up about her two bankruptcies, lupus, Autism, cosmetic surgeries, and other personal matters.
She grew up in Severn, MD with deeply religious parents, her mother more so than the father, it seems. She's grown up to feel guilty about things she shouldn't and seems to harbor a small amount of animosity because of it.
What I've learned about Toni is that she's terrible with money but wants us to believe that's not the case. She's terrible at using birth control too. She's been generous with her family financially and I wonder how much. She didn't get into that much but I'm curious. She never talked about how angry she is/was toward her cheating father or if she ever was. Odd not to mention it.
I've never been a fan of her mother, Evelyn (especially since she threatened to 'slap the piss' out of Tamar), and after learning that her mother always reminded Toni to not 'forget about your sisters' since Toni got a record deal at 23 and her sister's didn't, I like her even less. And she had the nerve to seem angry when Toni got the deal. I've always had the feeling, and I don't know why, that Toni has financially supported her mother after her separation, then divorce, from her husband. I'm intrigued by the fact that Evelyn's 'guarded' about her own childhood. At a young age, she moved from the south to live with an aunt in Maryland.
I wish Toni had opened up a bit more about some things but overall this was a good, mostly honest book about her entire life. It's a bit watered down, like she didn't want to be completely honest and open about certain things for fear of hurting anyone's feelings...especially her mother's.
I received this from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.
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