I am a huge fan of Jeannette Walls, with The Glass Castle being one of my top five all-time favorite books. So when Jeannette says “Hell If We Don’t Change Our Ways is a story of survival that left me choked up and cheering.” My reaction? “SIGN ME UP!”

Brittany spent her  very traumatic childhood accompanying her mother and her younger brother (who she took care of more often than not) through a series of horribly abusive relationships. They had pretty much no money and their home life was incredibly unstable.  As Brittany grew up, she struggled through her own complicated relationships, and she came to recognize that hell wasn’t that place she had read about in the Bible; Instead, she realized that hell it was the life she had experienced in her family.

Much like Jeannette Walls did in The Glass Castle, Brittany honestly tells her story, which is part memoir and part a feminist coming-of-age tale. As an adult, she has been a successful technical writer, writer, and editor. I loved this book, but I’m kind of a sucker for a story told by a woman who is willing to be honest and vulnerable. Four stars.