January 2025 Book Nominations

 

Master of Me by Keke Palmer

Keke Palmer thought she knew who she was. What it means to be a good person and what it takes to be a success. It all seemed so simple, until she realized the challenges she would have to face to prove to herself who she wanted to be. From feeling alienated to having to restart her career after ten years in to becoming a single mother just months after her son was born—everything she worked for in life that she felt granted her what she wanted now also reminded her that “life is going to life” and throw curveballs regardless of what you deserve. She found herself asking, Where do I find my power? How do I master myself?

In her own raw and intimate words, Keke talks about everything from her struggles with boundaries to unconditional love, forgiveness, and worthiness. “Don’t block your blessings and potential opportunities by allowing the voices of other people to influence your actions,” she says. “How you’re choosing to set yourself up for success is between you and the person looking back at you in the mirror.”

Throughout the book, Keke also poses readers with the questions needed to get them through their own challenging times by sharing personal stories and lessons she’s learned along the way. She gets candid about the tools she’s developed to take the reins, harness her vulnerability, and recognize ownership in the narrative of her life—which allowed her to turn personal power into major power.

In this exhilarating, deeply poignant, and often laugh-out-loud book, Lauren Keyana Palmer gets real about life, work, love, and belief. These pages will encourage readers to empower themselves with the truth, leverage their currency, and find the keys to master themselves and the art of alchemy. Keke writes, “You are not on anyone else’s timeline, only your own.”

- Genre: Memoir, Nonfiction

- Pages: 256

- Average Rating: 3.36

- Triggers: -

I'm Glad My Mom Died by Jennette McCurdy

Jennette McCurdy was six years old when she had her first acting audition. Her mother’s dream was for her only daughter to become a star, and Jennette would do anything to make her mother happy. So she went along with what Mom called “calorie restriction,” eating little and weighing herself five times a day. She endured extensive at-home makeovers while Mom chided, “Your eyelashes are invisible, okay? You think Dakota Fanning doesn’t tint hers?” She was even showered by Mom until age sixteen while sharing her diaries, email, and all her income.

In I’m Glad My Mom Died , Jennette recounts all this in unflinching detail—just as she chronicles what happens when the dream finally comes true. Cast in a new Nickelodeon series called iCarly , she is thrust into fame. Though Mom is ecstatic, emailing fan club moderators and getting on a first-name basis with the paparazzi (“Hi Gale!”), Jennette is riddled with anxiety, shame, and self-loathing, which manifest into eating disorders, addiction, and a series of unhealthy relationships. These issues only get worse when, soon after taking the lead in the iCarly spinoff Sam & Cat alongside Ariana Grande, her mother dies of cancer. Finally, after discovering therapy and quitting acting, Jennette embarks on recovery and decides for the first time in her life what she really wants.

Told with refreshing candor and dark humor, I’m Glad My Mom Died is an inspiring story of resilience, independence, and the joy of shampooing your own hair.

- Genre: Memoir, Nonfiction

- Pages: 304

- Average Rating: 4.45

- Triggers: Abuse, Eating Disorder, Addiction, Complicated relationship between parent & child

Bare by Susan Hyatt

Get ready to shed everything that's weighing you down, treat your body like a beloved friend, and seize each day like you mean it! You are  a badass, whole woman with big dreams, big feelings, and big potential. What are you hiding behind that shield of overeating? Who do you want to be when you put down the shield and take on life's battles Bare? In her second book, Bare, Susan Hyatt presents an empowering approach to transforming your body and your life. Inside this book, you'll    • How to treat your body with care, love, and respect—not hateful criticism    • How to shed everything that's weighing you down, physically and mentally    • How to de-stress at the end of the day without relying on excessive food, alcohol, Netflix binging, and other habits that clog up your mind and drain your energy    • How to stop obsessing about your body and focus on the priorities that really matter in life—like dominating in your career, writing your novel, learning a foreign language, contributing to your community, or otherwise making your mark on the worldThis is a must-read book if you want to take excellent care of yourself, upgrade your mental and physical health, build confidence, conquer your goals, crush the patriarchy, and look and feel damn good doing it. Bare is not a weight-loss plan. It's a life-gain plan.

- Genre: Self-Help, Health, Nonfiction

- Pages: 256

- Average Rating: 3.88

- Triggers: - 

The Body Keeps the Score by Bessel Van Der Kolk, M.D.

Trauma is a fact of life. Veterans and their families deal with the painful aftermath of combat; one in five Americans has been molested; one in four grew up with alcoholics; one in three couples have engaged in physical violence. Dr. Bessel van der Kolk, one of the world's foremost experts on trauma, has spent over three decades working with survivors. In The Body Keeps the Score, he uses recent scientific advances to show how trauma literally reshapes both body and brain, compromising sufferers' capacities for pleasure, engagement, self-control, and trust. He explores innovative treatments—from neurofeedback and meditation to sports, drama, and yoga—that offer new paths to recovery by activating the brain's natural neuroplasticity. Based on Dr. van der Kolk's own research and that of other leading specialists, The Body Keeps the Score exposes the tremendous power of our relationships both to hurt and to heal—and offers new hope for reclaiming lives.

- Genre: Self-Help, Psychology, Mental Health, Nonfiction

- Pages: 464

- Average Rating: 4.38

- Triggers: Sexual abuse, Violence, Neglect

The Confidence Code by Kathy Kay & Claire Shipman

Following the success of Lean In and Why Women Should Rule the World, the authors of the bestselling Womenomics provide an informative and practical guide to understanding the importance of confidence—and learning how to achieve it—for women of all ages and at all stages of their career.

Working women today are better educated and more well qualified than ever before. Yet men still predominate in the corporate world. In The Confidence Code, Claire Shipman and Katty Kay argue that the key reason is confidence.

Combining cutting-edge research in genetics, gender, behavior, and cognition—with examples from their own lives and those of other successful women in politics, media, and business—Kay and Shipman go beyond admonishing women to "lean in."Instead, they offer the inspiration and practical advice women need to close the gap and achieve the careers they want and deserve. 

- Genre: Self-Help, Business, Nonfiction

- Pages: 272

- Average Rating: 3.72

- Triggers: -