About The Book
From the star of MTV’s The Hills and The Hills: New Beginnings, a candid and insightful reflection on aughts tabloid fame, the powerlessness and loss of self in toxic situations, and the life-changing power of even our smallest choices.
Buy The Book: https://a.co/d/i4YlCgJ

My Rating

I’m a die hard Laguna Beach and The Hills fan, so when I heard Audrina was releasing a “tell-all” book, I knew I had to read it. She offers an inside look at being a reality TV star, her strained friendship with Lauren Conrad and ex Justin Bobby.

The one thing I try to keep in mind when reading memoir type books is that this one person’s experiences. In the book, she describes what it was like becoming a celebrity at just 19 years old. However, I felt as though she complained about her experience while still talking about how great it was to be a celebrity.

Although, I understand that some things can be bittersweet and that’s what it seems like being in The Hills was for her. She liked all the opportunities she was given, but not being on camera 24/7. And, she even mentioned how the producers would edit a lot of scenes and try to create drama.

She describes how she felt like she was playing a character. There was her true self and then there was Audrina from The Hills. I can understand that sometimes it’s easier to just give in and play the part.

There was a complete chapter on her relationship with Justin. I think she handled that topic very well, and didn’t throw a ton of shade at him. She mentioned how he changed a bit throughout filming the show, and fame can really do that to a person. She even mentioned where their relationship stands today.

One thing that was interesting was how she described Lauren Conrad, in the book. Audrina seemed a bit salty towards her. She stated that Lauren was a controlling friend, almost bordering on “Mean Girls” territory. She talk about how they aren’t friends anymore, but friendly to each other. Yet, she also threw shade at Stephanie Pratt as well, calling her a drama seeker and untrustworthy.

“I believe that if you don’t learn your lesson, you’re going to keep circling back to it until you do, going through versions of the same events with different people until you can finally open your eyes to what to do differently.”

However, she has mostly nice things to say about Heidi Pratt and Kristin Cavallari. So, it begs the question if her opinions are skewed towards who her friends are. Remember, there are two sides to every story.

Audrina did touch on her toxic relationship with ex-husband Corey Bohan. From the moment she detailed their relationship you could tell the red flags. But, even she herself admits that she tried to ignore his jealousy and anger. She also talks about being in therapy to help her understand why she accepted the abuse and stayed in the relationship.

The majority of the book was about her time with Corey and all the trauma she went through. I can see how it must have been a form of closure for her to tell her truth. It isn’t easy to share intimate details of one’s private life, even more so the darker parts.

I throughly enjoyed hearing about her experiences and how she’s still working through things. She didn’t play the victim, but instead shared what was going on in her mind at the time. And, she never made excuses for Corey’s bad behavior towards her, or his lack of parenting of their daughter.

Overall, it’s so hard to rate memoirs since they’re so personal. This was an okay read and it made me remember her short lived reality show ‘Audrina’. I can’t believe I watched that. Although, this book would be great for anyone that has gone through or is in a toxic relationship. It was, at it’s core, a letter from Audrina to her daughter Keira, which I found to be incredibly sweet.

In the comments, let me know if you were a bigger fan of ‘Laguna Beach’ or ‘The Hills’. I’m going to say that Laguna will always have my heart, but ‘The Hills’ was where the drama was at.

Until The Next Chapter,
Bunny