Minda Honey Shamelessly Breaks Hearts in Her Debut Memoir
When you have one voice, you better use it!
The repetition in this statement has taken claim as a loud staccato in yet another new favorite book! Most recently, this concise motivational message was delivered in the form of a memoir by Louisville, KY’s well-loved badass, Minda Honey.
The Heartbreak Years: A Memoir is a webbed collection of memories spanning over a decade telling the joys and woes of Minda leaving her hometown, following undeniable (often heart-driven) good times, and the adventures that brought her to reimagine the love she was searching for after closing the door to her long-term relationship with her high school sweetheart. Throughout the years, Minda reflects on liberating heartbreaks that aided in the maturation of her perspective on love. A perspective that is shapen by the pure belief in love and the wisdom that only pain can gift.
Minda Honey posing with a truckload of The Heartbreak Years, brought to Minda’s Book Launch Party by Foxing Bookstore on 10/1/2023.
I was fortunate enough to be an early reader of her debut memoir before her launch party which is always a treat! But Minda, being the ultimate literary maven that she is, invited an eclectic book enthusiast to join her in conversation on her book launch day to celebrate. Had you known that we were mere strangers before she handed over an advanced reader copy to me back in July, you could’ve predicted that I’d sit in bed for hours finding a way to gently tell this charming woman no. However, after I read the first two pages of The Heartbreak Years, I knew that her personality turned this memoir into a heart-to-heart conversation making it relatable, hilarious, and a certain new addition to my book capsule. Still, I was as nervous as could be to take on the challenge, since this was indeed my first time leading an author chat and all, but I excitedly agreed!
While reading I saw a lot of myself in Minda’s approach to tackling real-life problems including the treacherous dating streets and turning lemons into cheap bourbon lemon drops before last call (or as in your late 20s like me, before happy hour ends). As she braves the tough world of dating with an open heart and discovering what it takes to come into a version of herself that she could love first, she faces hurdles with politics, health equity, job security, and more as she vouches for herself. This tie-in was one of my favorite questions to ask her during her Book Launch Party because it’s often left out of those fairytales that make finding love free of obstacles.
Minda Honey chatting with guests at her book launch party at Trouble Bar in Louisville, KY.
Minda emerges with a value of love beyond the romance often displayed in romantic comedies. You know the storyline: person meets person in a whimsy chance encounter, accidentally falling in love, dates too good to ever happen off-screen or off-page, that damning third-act break-up, and the grand gesture leading them on their ride into the sunset. The love Minda memorializes in the epilogue of The Heartbreak Years redefines “happily-ever-after” through community and passion, which transported right off the page and onto Trouble Bar’s patio in Louisville, KY to celebrate Minda!
Being a romantic is not hopeless, it is courageous. It brings us to people who bring us back to ourselves, and Minda is proof of that. We have people who come into our lives, maybe we get to love them, but most of all we get to learn from them.
The Heartbreak Years is for the loves we experience, the loves we hold tender, the loves that shattered us, and the loves that put us back together better than before. We cry and laugh then cry some more, all to boldly love again.
(Please enjoy this Spotify playlist curated by me that adds a melody to the tears we can’t put our own words to. The songs that make Act III worth remembering, even if it hurts a smidge.)
Book recommendations for after you read The Heartbreak Years by Minda Honey:
All About Love by bell hooks
Untamed by Glennon Doyle
If Beale Street Could Talk by James Baldwin
Sula by Toni Morrison