Bare: An Unveiling of My Naked Truth by Raina O'Dell, eBook, 338 pages
From GoodReads: In Bare, Raina O’Dell takes you on a journey that traverses many lifetimes all in one. She lays bare the realities of her life, from the highs of her success in business to the lows of divorce, illness, and bankruptcy. Yet, by moving through it all with fearless awareness, she discovers her truth, which she shares here with deep where we are today does not dictate where we’ll be tomorrow.
As a seasoned life coach, Raina has spent over a decade guiding women in crafting a vision for their lives, helping them to increase productivity and infuse every moment with joy. But her wisdom isn’t just theoretical. It is deeply rooted in her own lived experiences. Through your own experience of reading Bare, you will find Raina’s unique roadmap to resilience, self-discovery, and empowerment. Included are practical tools and heartfelt guidance to help you rewrite your own story and step into a life of purpose, passion, and boundless joy. This isn’t just a book. It is a lifeline for anyone who seeks to shed the weight of their past, embrace their authentic selves, and create a future filled with possibility.
This may be a little bias because I have been following Raina on social media since late 2014/early 2015. I've watched her live her life that she details in this book. I have watched her grow in every season of her life and while we are not friends in real life, I have been proud of her in every step that she took for herself and her her girls. That said, this was a 5 star read for me. I got to learn about her past prior to her becoming an online coach. I was with the same company she is with for a time which is how I found her to start with. She dives deeper into the things that she has shared on social media. If you haven't followed her then you wouldn't know that a lot of what she wrote, I already knew because of how open she is online.
I also want to throw out that at one point she talks about how it seems crazy to her that she will go to work events and people will come up to her and fan girl and ask to take a picture with her. I was one of those girls but was too shy to approach her. Something I don't typically do in my reviews is give a little story but here it is. It was my first time away from my daughter to the annual conference in Indy. The whole time I was there I had to fight the urge to throw everything back into my car and drive home. I had earned a special workout and on my way to the space, I first heard and then saw Raina walking in front of me. She was going to be on stage during the workout and I was fan girling so hard right behind her but couldn't get myself together enough to open my mouth without crying (because I wanted to go home).
A little on the technical side, the eBook needs a little more editing. I did find that words were missing or like a sentence was started one way and then changed but not all the words were changed to make it flow correctly. Kind of like if you said "I went to check the mail" and changed it to "I was going to the mailbox" and it came out as "I went going to the mailbox". Small things like that that I noticed but I was so into her story that I didn't care about those small editing mistakes. It didn't take away from her story.
I'm going to do something else that I have never done before in a review. I'm going to post this review having read the book BUT I will also add my review for the audiobook once I've listened to it. Look...she narrates the audiobook and I can't wait to hear her voice reading the words she wrote and I know it is going to be even more powerful to hear.
5/5 Stars
2024 Reading Challenge: 24/50 complete
