Kirkus Review
Six-time Grammy Award winner Braxton speaks out regarding her turbulent personal and professional lives.From the time Braxton was a little girl growing up in rural Maryland, she wanted to be a star. By the mid-1990s, she had achieved that goal, and her 1996 single, "Un-break My Heart," from her second album, "Secrets," became a chart-topping, certified-platinum success. Yet guilt, financial and personal troubles, and ongoing family health issues have pockmarked the author's projected glamorous life. In 1988, 21-year-old Braxton and her four sisters landed their first recording contract. "No one could've predicated the painful episode that would follow: Five bright-eyed Braxton sisters would soon be narrowed down to one." For many years, Braxton suffered severe guilt about accepting a record deal that excluded her sisters, and the decision infuriated her mother, which added to Braxton's sense of dismay. The author's success was also marred by two bankruptcies, a divorce and her son's autism diagnosis. The author faced her own health crisis during her Las Vegas show when she received a diagnosis of lupus. "My diagnosis that day marked the beginning of my road to recovery," she writes, "but it was also the end of my Vegas run." The author eventually disclosed her condition on the family reality TV show Braxton Family Values, which began in 2011 and features her mother and sisters. Braxton seems intent on establishing a secure pathway through life's inherent messiness. "I'm starting to realize that we're not supposed to keep everything lined up and in perfect ordereven with our best efforts, we can't accomplish that anyway," she writes. "Instead, we're meant to find lessons in both the chaos and the cleanup."Overly sentimental, but Braxton fans will applaud the star's candor and perseverance. Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Booklist Review
Braxton's Unbreak My Heart might be her best-selling single and the title of her memoir, yet the instructive phrase she uses most comes from another hit single, Breathe Again. She sure has needed to come up for air, often. Braxton recounts her struggles candidly. Choosing her solo music career over her sisters early on, filing for bankruptcy twice, a divorce, her youngest son's autism, and her own lupus diagnosis are all laid bare. Sometimes the tone of her exposition is a tad too sunny, especially while recounting the realization that her father was bringing his girlfriends to her show, the beginning of the end of her parents' 35-year marriage. It's the reflective, positive tone, however, that makes this tell-all intensely readable. Braxton name-drops in a way that brings the late 1990s R&B scene roaring back. Her first-name-basis friends include Kenny Babyface Edmonds, L. A. Reid, and Clive Davis. For fans who loved her in her heyday or recently found her on her reality show, Braxton Family Values, this is a must-read.--Jones, Courtney Copyright 2014 Booklist
Library Journal Review
Titling this memoir after her most popular song, R&B star Braxton talks reality TV, health, and family, sharing how she overcame her own struggles with heart problems and Lupus and her son's autism. (c) Copyright 2013. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.