Audiobook Review: My Next Breath by Jeremy Renner
My Next Breath
Author: Jeremy Renner
Narrator: Jeremy Renner
Published: April 29, 2025
Audiobook: 6 hours 35 minutes
Reviewed By: Jessica
Dates Listened To: June 30- July 3, 2025
Jessica’s Rating: 5 stars
Book Description:
The gripping and inspiring story of acclaimed actor Jeremy Renner’s near-fatal accident, and what he learned about inner strength, endurance and hope as he overcame insurmountable odds to recover, one breath at a time.
Two-time Oscar nominee Jeremy Renner was the second most googled person in 2023… and not for his impressive filmography. His searing portrayals on film ranged from an Iraq-based army bomb technician in The Hurt Locker and a Boston bank robber in The Town to a crooked Camden mayor in American Hustle before he became heir to the Jason Bourne franchise (The Bourne Legacy). Amongst other iconic roles, he also captured hearts as fan-favorite comic book marksman Hawkeye in seven Marvel films.
Yet, his otherworldly success on-screen faded to the periphery when a fourteen-thousand-pound snowcat crushed him on New Year’s Day 2023. Somehow able to keep breathing for more than half an hour, he was subsequently rushed to the ICU, after which he would face multiple surgeries and months of painful rehabilitation.
In this debut memoir, Jeremy writes in blistering detail about his accident and the aftermath. This retelling is not merely a gruesome account of what happened to him; it’s a call to action and a forged companionship between reader and author as Jeremy recounts his recovery journey and reflects on the impact of his suffering. Ultimately, Jeremy’s memoir is a testament to the human spirit and its capacity to endure, evolve, and find purpose in the face of unimaginable adversity. His writing captures the essence of profound transformation, exploring the delicate interplay between vulnerability and strength, despair and hope, redemption and renewal.
Jessica’s Review:
This memoir starts with an essay that Jeremy Renner’s daughter Ava wrote for school. He also admits in his author’s note that he did not want to write this book as he did not want to relive and recount the accident. It seems like Renner should not be alive today, but thankfully he is and we can hear him tell his story of what happened on January 1, 2023; the day of the accident.
I listened to the audiobook that Renner also narrated. You can hear the emotion that occasionally comes through as he narrates, obviously remembering that experience. Renner gives the gritty details of the accident and his fight for survival. The actual 911 call is shared throughout the book. The listener gets to hear this call and amazingly how calm everyone seems to be, all while you can hear Renner moaning and struggling to breathe in the background.
The title of this memoir is very significant as Renner brings up breathing and breath throughout his memoir. The listener also hears how important the love of his family is to him. It was this love that helped him to get through everything that he did.
Renner also gives information on his background and recovery. His recovery was seemingly quick for the devastating damage that happened to his body. I also got a sense of the kind of person that Renner is, and he is one very stubborn person, but that also seemingly helped in his recovery. Renner is non-religious so there is no thanking God or finding God in this memoir. Renner also repeats himself a lot, is very descriptive with his injuries, and does drop the ’f-bomb’ throughout the novel.
My Next Breath may have been a book that Renner did not want to write, but I am glad he did. This is a powerful memoir that shows how much love and determination can help a person to fight for himself and heal.
After listening or reading this book, Google what a snowcat looks like and it will be even more apparent how Renner should not have survived, but is still hear for a reason. This is a powerful five-star memoir.
Audiobook Review: Free: My Search for Meaning by Amanda Knox
Free: My Search for Meaning
Author: Amanda Knox
Narrator: Amanda Knox
Published: March 25, 2025
Audiobook: 10 hours 18 minutes
Reviewed By: Jessica
Dates Read: April 21-27, 2025
Jessica’s Rating: 4 stars
Book Description:
Amanda Knox reflects on her world-famous confinement in an Italian prison—and her return to an “ordinary” life—to reveal hard-won truths about purpose and fulfillment that will resonate with anyone who has ever felt trapped in their own circumstances.
Amanda Knox spent nearly four years in prison and eight years on trial for a murder she didn’t commit—and became a notorious tabloid story in the process. Though she was exonerated, it’s taken more than a decade for her to reclaim her identity and truly feel free.
Free recounts how Knox survived incarceration, the mistakes she made and misadventures she had reintegrating into society, and culminates in the as-yet-untold story of her return to Italy and the extraordinary relationship she went on to build with the man who sent her to prison. It is the moving saga of how she wrests back her own life from the grip of her story’s notoriety and returns to the quiet matters of a normal life—seeking a life partner, finding a job, or even just going out in public.
In harrowing (and sometimes hilarious) detail, Amanda reveals her personal growth and hard-fought wisdom, recasting her public reckoning as a private reflection on the search for meaning and purpose that will speak to everyone who has persevered through hardship.
Jessica’s Review:
Amanda Knox: Hers is a name we all know and think we know the story, but we don’t. There is so much more to her story and after her eventual acquittal. Free: My Search for Meaning gives us her story of moving on and becoming the strong woman that she is.
Free does mention some of her time in prison, but the main focus is her life afterwards. She works to persevere and rise above her past challenges to become whom she now is. She is herself without apology, take it or leave it, and like her or don’t.
I learned more about her and her story. I was not aware that she eventually married and has children. She also developed a relationship with her former prosecutor Giuliano Mignini, eventually writing him and shockingly becoming friends! She is a stronger woman that I am. I could never see myself reaching out to the man who believed I killed my roommate and who was determined to see me be in prison for as long as possible.
Knox is very eloquent in both her writing and narration. She has definitely become Free and has moved on in her life. Thank you for bringing your story to us Amanda.
Purchase Links:
Amazon US
Amazon UK
Audiobook Review: The New Single by Tamsen Fadal
The New Single: Finding, Fixing and Falling Back in Love With Yourself After a Break-Up or Divorce
Author: Tamsen Fadal
Narrator: Tamsen Fadal
Published: June 30, 2015
Audiobook: 7 hours 5 minutes
Reviewed By: Jessica
Dates Listened To: November 25-28, 2024
Jessica’s Rating: 4 stars
Book Description:
Starting over doesn’t have to be so hard.
After the shock of a relationship change it can be tough to get out of bed in the morning, much less be at your best. But it doesn’t have to be that way. With a realistic and proven game plan to help you get where you want to be, The New Single is the essential roadmap to surviving the split-up and starting over, ninety days at a time:
– Embracing the person you are today
– Radiating confidence
– Taking better care of yourself inside and out, from career and finances, to home, health, and fitness
– Avoiding toxic patterns and dangerous missteps
Tamsen Fadal is empathetic and incisive about relationships and breakups: she learned many of the lessons in The New Single the hard way. Now, with candor and humor, she’s sharing her secrets, stories, and sometimes painful lessons.
Jessica’s Review:
This is going to be a bit of a personal review for me.
I never would have pictured that 2024 went the way that it did: My husband telling me something on January 6, 2024 that turned my life upside down. Couples counseling didn’t work and I realized the marriage was over. Being devastated, I had to start over and with the help of some great friends, I did. I found the apartment that God had meant for me (which is its own short story) and took two of the three cats (apartments only let you have two pets otherwise I would have taken all three). I have started over with my new chapter and I think I am doing pretty good: Yes, I still have times of sadness and I know that will continue, but I am getting better.
I discovered Tamsen Fadal in 2024 talking about her book coming out in 2025: How to Menopause: Take Charge of Your Health, Reclaim Your Life, and Feel Even Better than Before along with her documentary The M Factor: Shredding the Silence on Menopause that is out now and I have watched it. I am of ‘that age’ where I am beginning to experience peri-menopause symptoms, so I look forward to her upcoming book and learning what every woman goes through in their life.
I came across The New Single for free in my Audible account and it is also narrated by Fadal, so I decided to listen to it and it did help me! Everything mentioned in self-help books will not apply to every reader, which includes this one: Everyone is different and goes through their own life changes. This book is geared towards women who have gone through a breakup of a long-term serious relationship or a divorce, and a lot of it seemed geared for me. I didn’t have children with my ex-husband, so I did skip over the parts where children are mentioned.
Fadal’s book was written after her divorce and in some ways I identified with her. Her book is meant to help the reader/listener after their particular life change occurs and to empower themselves and learn to love themselves again as they start over. There were good tips and suggestions given to the reader.
This is a great self-help book for those who will need it. And if I could give Fadal a hug I would!
This review is posting on my site a little more than a month after I wrote it. It is posting on January 6, 2025, which is one year from when my now ex-husband told me “I love you, but I’m not in love with you” on January 6, 2024. I’ve come so far from that life changing day and looking forward to what happens next! If you are going through a hard time like I did, I know it doesn’t feel like it, but it really WILL get better! You will survive it and come out better in the end! It’s a new chapter for you like it was for me.
Purchase Links:
Amazon US
Amazon UK