Enough Already: Learning to Love the Way I Am Today

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Valerie has really bared her soul in this book, and there is a generous helping throughout of her love for first husband Eddie Van Halen- and especially their son, Wolfgang Van Halen. Touching conversations and experiences are sprinkled evenly among the chapters about their marriage, and their continued closeness following their divorce. This book was written during the pandemic, when Valerie's current marriage to Tom Vitale was crumbling (Eddie didn't know) and Eddie's to Janie Liszewski was also in shambles (Eddie told Valerie). The way this book reads, these second spouses are barely mentioned and their relevance is minimized. What's maximized is the enduring love that Valerie and Eddie had for each other, and that even in death...will never die. Valerie also shares in great detail the process of Eddie dying in the hospital, which was riveting and brought me to tears.

Enough already! - Idioms by The Free Dictionary

I literally bawled like a baby when she wrote about Eddie's passing. I felt like I lost someone in that moment, it was so profound. I have never been a fan of Valerie Bertinelli nor watched her seventies series "One Day at a Time", but because she was married to iconic guitarist Eddie Van Halen, my interest was piqued. I was never a particular fan of him either, but after having read some biographies on him this past year, my admiration/appreciation of him blossomed. It was also lovely to discover that Valerie is a cat person. I like the way she is with her son, too, and I’m glad they have a good relationship. I have always enjoyed Valerie’s acting performances, but I will confess, I have not seen her cooking show yet- partly because I haven’t had ‘cable’ in years and didn't have access to the Food Network. That said, we recently got YTTV for my parent’s sake- so I’ll just have to try and catch her show someday. stars, rounded up. Valerie Bertinelli rose to fame as a child actor, and as a child I watched her show, “One Day at a Time,” together with my parents. I admired and envied her, and when my mother enthused how darling, how pretty, how adorable she was, I also resented her just a teeny bit, the way we tended to resent the homecoming queen or student body president. When I saw, recently, that she’d written a memoir, I was all in. I should have read the description of this book much more closely, so take this all with a grain of pink Himalayan salt. I remember Valerie through One Day at a Time, various Lifetime-type movies, and her marriage to Eddie Van Halen. I had no idea she was also a foodie who had a lot of weight issues and has made a reputation of talking about it. So those who know and like Valerie for those two things should find this book quite appealing. Unfortunately, I'm not interested in hearing about women's "relationship with food,"or their weight struggles. Like I said, I should have read the description better, because I was certainly warned. I will say there were some really nice parts - her evolving relationship with her ex-husband was interesting (I would have preferred to hear more). Her travels to Italy were fun. But all in all, hearing a woman go on and on about her insecurities - especially when the woman has had the massive success that this author has had - wears on my nerves. I also thought her "relationship with food" was schizo. On the one hand, she is constantly lamenting that she buries her feelings with food - but then suddenly we get another high-calorie, artery-busting recipe.

I also noticed that the book was placed in the ‘self-help’ category, which always gets a firm ‘no’ from me, especially if it is written by a celebrity. Bertinelli talks a lot about the People magazine cover that showed her in a bikini at 48 and her huge deal with Jenny Craig (I think?) to represent them in their weight loss ads. She's a lovely woman and I'm sure she's very nice, but I didn't really get anything out of the book. Two stars for "it was okay."

Enough Already: Learning to Love the Way I Am Today Enough Already: Learning to Love the Way I Am Today

This book was enjoyable on many levels: the Eddie/Wolfie revelations, enthusiasm for good food (and a way of showing love when cooking for others), and finding contentment in the simple pleasures of life. I can truly say I enjoyed this book more than I expected to. I was reading some others at the same time and stopped them to devote myself to this one!My thanks go to Net Galley and Harper Collins for the review copy. This book will be available to the public Tuesday, January 18, 2022. I’m not giving this a star rating as judging someone’s personal real-life journey with stars doesn’t feel right to me). She bragged about a lot of other things she owned. She whined about being in quarantine because of Covid. Hey, lots of us were quarantined, but not in million dollar homes with pools and tennis courts and nearby beaches and trails. Boo Hoo! Poor Valerie and her 10 extra pounds had it so badly! Can I say Valerie’s journey towards self-love inspired me in any way personally? Sure- I think some of her advice to herself is solid. All of us should practice self-care, but there was nothing in that way I have not heard before. Still, there's a good list of things to do that are worth being reminded of- but we all have to do the work ourselves.