Book Review: I Belong to Me: A Survivor’s Guide to Recovery and Hope after Religious Trauma by Tia Levings-Self-Help

Hello, dear Readers,

Below is my book review of I Belong to Me: A Survivor’s Guide to Recovery and Hope after Religious Trauma by Tia Levings.

Title: I Belong to Me: A Survivor’s Guide to Recovery and Hope after Religious Trauma 

Rating: 5/5 Stars

Genre: Non-Fiction/ Self-Help

Author: Tia Levings

Publisher: St. Martin's Essentials
Publication Date: May 05, 2026

Language: English

Hardcover: 400 Pages

Meet the Author: Tia Levings

Buy Me: Amazon

Book Description

What does it mean to heal from trauma caused by the people, beliefs, and practices of your faith? And to rebuild a sense of self, when high-control religion said you shouldn’t have one?

Indoctrinated from early childhood to obey, conform, and want what others wanted for her, Tia Levings learned love and acceptance meant being someone other than herself.

After years of abuse in a violent marriage and high-control religion, Tia Levings escaped with her children (a story told in her memoir, A Well-Trained Wife) and thought the hardest was behind her.

But leaving was just the beginning.

With an audacious persistence to reclaim her life, Tia set off on a 15-year quest to psychological peace. The result is an emotionally regulated, actualized, self-aware woman who is able to tell her harrowing story without retraumatizing herself ―a woman who can reach back to help others claim what’s theirs. If trauma took your past, it shouldn't get your present and future, too.

Through a series of personal stories, therapeutic stages, and resources, Tia Levings guides readers through the journey that helped her leave abuse, rediscover selfhood, and heal her mind, soul, and body after religious trauma ―so that you can too.

My Thoughts

I will say this over and over. I am so glad I found Tia Levings's work. I read her first book and now this, her second book, and she will definitely be an Auto Buy author for me forever.

More than a self-help book or a step-by-step instruction book, I Belong To Me is what these types of books should be. An honest, raw, and hopeful guide based on personal stories, journeys, backed up by research, and, more importantly, from real-life situations. 

In her first book, we learned how Tia escaped from a high-control religion and how she took herself and her children out of a horrible living situation. Now, in I Belong to Me, we learn how Tia was able to rebuild her life and heal from that high-control religion, her controlling husband, and a life of not being able to be her true self. 

It will always amaze me how, through other people's lives, we can learn so much about many other things that happen in the world. I will always be grateful to Tia because, thanks to her work, not only her books but also her social media platforms, newsletter, etc, I have been able to educate myself and better understand a lot of what is going on in the world now. From politics to religion to subjects that specifically concern women. 

I highly recommend this book. You don't necessarily have to be a religious trauma survivor to read this book. I believe what Tia shares with us in this book can also be applied to many other situations, including traumas or difficult situations we have experienced in the past or may be experiencing now. 

Thank you, St. Martin's Essentials and NetGalley, for the free advanced copy in exchange for an honest review. 

Wendy

Book Review: Migrant Heart: Essays About Things I Can't Forget by Reyna Grande-Essays

Hello, dear Readers,

Below is my book review of Migrant Heart: Essays About Things I Can't Forget by Reyna Grande.

Title: Migrant Heart: Essays About Things I Can't Forget

Rating: 5/5 Stars

Genre: Non-Fiction/Essays

Author: Reyna Grande

Publisher: Atria/ Primero Sueno Press
Publication Date: May 12, 2026

Language: English

Hardcover: 256 Pages

Meet the Author: Reyna Grande

Buy Me: Amazon

Book Description

An ambitious memoir in essays by beloved bestselling author Reyna Grande that illuminates the hidden cost of the American Dream and the complex journey of healing that follows survival.

What is the true power of stories? Can they heal the jagged edges of a traumatic childhood? Is the cost of telling the story worth the price of the cure?

Reyna Grande has spent her career capturing the raw reality of life across borders. In this intricate and deeply intimate memoir-in-essays, the author of the landmark memoirs The Distance Between Us and A Dream Called Home again turns her gaze inward to explore the scars left by migration and the ongoing work of stitching herself back together.

With her signature blend of sophistication and raw honesty, Grande interrogates how living between two nations, two languages, and two identities has shaped the woman, mother, and writer she has become. Moving from the legacy of violence in her hometown of Iguala, Mexico, to a bittersweet family vacation in Europe spent reconciling her own impoverished past with her children’s world of abundance, she uncovers startling truths about the nature of survival.

Whether being racially profiled in the Arizona borderlands or finding unexpected wisdom from the slugs in her garden, Grande unflinchingly asks: How do we bridge the gap between who we were and who we have become? How do we turn pain into power? When memory threatens to define us, how can we use story to heal while still honoring our boundaries?

Migrant Heart is a powerful testament to Grande’s role as a storyteller and cultural witness. It expands our understanding of life in the United States and the complex people who cross its borders and live within it. It is an essential read for the seekers, the dreamers, and anyone who believes in the enduring, transformative power of finding one’s voice.

My Thoughts

First of all, some trigger warnings: Illness, fear of aging, sex life, alcoholism, death, grief, sexual assault, dysfunctional family dynamics, parenting, and immigration.

I have read all of Reyna’s previous work, and I love every single book. I find Reyna Grande to be an author who always tries to write in the best, most honest way possible, no matter how raw or hard the subject matter is.

While her previous work focuses on her journey coming to the USA, crossing the border, the impact of immigrating and growing up between two cultures, and her relationship with her mom and dad and her family in general, however, in Migrant Heart, written in Essays, I love how we get to know more about Reyna, the human being, the woman, the wife, the mom, the daughter, the sister, the writer, the friend, the advocate, and all the challenges she went through growing up as an immigrant, from the language barrier, to the psychological impact of living and developing between two cultures, from the place she was born and grew up to the place she immigrated to and became a teenager, and adult to the challenges of becoming a wife, a mom, a writer and navigate the world of writing books and advocating and educating on immigration matters.

I found this part of the book interesting and compelling: how, through her books, her writing, and by going back to her family in Mexico, to the place she was born, she always tries to help, educate, and advocate, no matter how much risk it might entail.

It was also fascinating to learn more about Reyna, the woman, the wife, the mom. How she handles and faces situations that are very common to women out there, such as parenting, sex life, illness, fear of aging, and family relationships. I loved how we learned a little bit more about Reyna’s husband and children in this book.

As you can tell, I loved Migrant Heart because, even though it felt more personal, it didn't leave out Reyna’s ongoing work on awareness, education, and advocacy around immigration through her personal experiences and journey.

Thank you to the Author and the Publisher for the free ARC physical copy in exchange for an honest review. 

Wendy