In Episode 147, Lara Love Hardin joins me to discuss her memoir, The Many Lives of Mama Love. Lara shares her journey from opioid addict (funded through credit card theft) to successful ghostwriter. Her warm and candid storytelling touches on themes of forgiveness, redemption, and unwavering resilience, demonstrating people's ability to triumph over life's darkest moments. This was a five-star book for me, and I am thrilled to explore such a deeply felt journey with Lara.

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Highlights

• Lara's overview of The Many Lives of Mama Love without spoilers.
• Her decision to open up publicly about her past.
• Shame, its debilitating effects, and the fears Lara faced prior to her book's release.
• The impact of the memoir on Lara's family.
• Complexities of motherhood alongside her struggles with addiction.
• Why Lara views going to jail as the best thing that ever happened to her and how it shaped her perspective on life.
• How her time in jail cultivated empathy, which she considers the most important quality to be a good ghostwriter.
• The heartwarming story of Lara's struggle to land a good job during her parole and how one person believing in you can change your life.
• The original title of The Many Lives of Mama Love and the evolution of the book's identity.
• A potential topic for an upcoming book.

Lara's Book Recommendations [33:59]

Two OLD Books She Loves

• Ma and Me by Putsata Reang | Amazon | Bookshop.org [34:48]
• In the Shadow of the Mountain by Silvia Vasquez-Lavado | Amazon | Bookshop.org [36:03]

Two NEW Books She Loves

• Yellowface by R. F. Kuang | Amazon | Bookshop.org [38:22]
• Identity by Nora Roberts | Amazon | Bookshop.org [40:07]

One Book She Didn't Love

• Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens | Amazon | Bookshop.org [41:47]

Two NEW RELEASES She's Excited About

• Safe by Mark Daley (January 30, 2024) | Amazon | Bookshop.org [43:18]
• Only Say Good Things by Crystal Hefner (January 23, 2024) | Amazon | Bookshop.org [45:07]

Last 5-Star Book Lara Read

• Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus | Amazon | Bookshop.org [47:45]

Other Links

• Ep. 142: Summer 2023 Book Preview with Catherine (@GilmoreGuide)

About Lara Love Hardin

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Lara Love Hardin is the President and Founder of True Literary a full-service boutique literary agency.

Hardin has an MFA in creative writing and is a 4-time New York Times bestselling writer, including the #1 New York Times bestseller Designing Your Life by Dave Evans and Bill Burnett, and 2018 Oprah Book Club pick, The Sun Does Shine, which she co-authored with Anthony Ray Hinton about his 30 years as an innocent man on Alabama's death row. There are well over a million copies sold of the many books she has written, and you can find her on the title page and in the acknowledgments of books by Nelson Mandela, John Gottman, Evy Poumpouras, and other luminary authors on the Idea Architects roster.

In 2019 she won a Christopher Award for her work "affirming the highest values of the human spirit." In 2019, she was also nominated for an NAACP Image Award, won the Moore Prize in the UK, and was short-listed for the Dayton Literary Peace Prize. In 2020, she launched her own division within Idea Architects (Idea Architects: True) as a literary agent specializing in memoir.

She lives in La Selva Beach, California with her third husband, three dogs, three cats, and three teenagers. She also has 21 chickens, four ducks, and three adult sons who live at home on holidays and big laundry days.