Joe Clifford didn’t start drinking beer until he was almost twenty years old. By the time he turned twenty-two, he was addicted to methamphetamine; and the heroin wasn’t far behind. Soon he’d lose his wife, his job, his home. Junkie Love follows the roughly ten years Clifford spent wandering the streets of San Francisco and beyond, first as a wannabe rock star, and then as another homeless junkie with his head lost in the stars. In between are the harrowing events and close calls, the shady characters and the enduring friendships, the redemption and restitution that led Fix Magazine to call Junkie Love “one of top four recovery memoirs” of all time. From the Forward by Jerry Stahl "The good news is Clifford’s is exactly the kind of voice our poor, strung-out country deserves in these toxic end-times. Like his hero Kerouac, this is a writer drawn to life’s more rough-edged and unsung corners. But, in the best Beat tradition, he writes about the lost and monstrous with a life-affirming, almost depraved sweetness. The miracle is, hardcore addicted, in love with a beautiful schizophrenic, Clifford returned with mind and talent intact. But that no trace of clichéd bitterness or streety one-downsmanship pollutes his tone."

“So long, Carrie Bradshaw—there’s a new role model for go-getting thirty-somethings. Gabrielle Bernstein is doling out inner peace and self-love for the postmodern spiritual set.”—Elle Foreword by Marianne Williamson Before she became a celebrated teacher and lecturer, Gabrielle Bernstein was going down a dangerous path. For years, Bernstein struggled with eating disorders, drug and alcohol abuse, and constant self-doubt and self-loathing. That all changed when she discovered A Course in Miracles, which taught her that much of what she feared in life was not frightening at all and, in many cases, not even real. Now, Bernstein lives an empowered, healthy, and joyful life. In Spirit Junkie, Bernstein guides readers through the life-changing lessons that shaped her spiritual journey: how we become accustomed to fearful ways of thinking, how to recognize and change those thought patterns to make way for bliss, and how to maintain our happiness and share it with the world. By understanding and changing our perceptions, hang-ups will melt away, resentments will release, and a childlike faith in joy will be reignited. Praise for Spirit Junkie “For those ready to give up their addiction to suffering or who simply need to release the general malaise of a too-busy, too shallow way of life, Spirit Junkie is a soothing balm for the soul. Gabrielle Bernstein is a brilliant shining guide for all who seek to have more love, more light and more miracles in their life.”—Arielle Ford, author of The Soulmate Secret

Rachel Resnick hits her forties single, broke, depressed, and childless. Looking back over years of failed relationships, she identifies a lifelong addiction to love-an addiction to the unfulfilled fantasy of romantic bliss, marriage, and family, and to a string of sexual relationships that only carry her farther from that dream. As she peels back one raw layer after another, she must eventually confront the painful experiences of her childhood-and the difficult work of recovery that lies ahead. A groundbreaking, compulsively readable memoir, Love Junkie charts Resnick's path from destructive love to intimacy, from despair to hope, and cracks open one of our more elusive and pervasive modern-day addictions.

A "Hand Up" for Women Stuck in the Toxic Love Rut Do romantic relationships leave you miserable and confused? Are you tired of getting into a relationship and as soon as the initial buzz is gone you get that sinking feeling that whispers, what am I doing? Did the new wear off as soon as the wedding bells rang? Experts say that we gravitate toward relationships within a ten-point spread of our own IQ. Likewise, in the realm of soul-health, we also attract those with whom we are most emotionally compatible. That can be a good thing, or a bad thing - it depends on how much baggage we carry around! What if there was a way to diagnose your soul-health and create a plan for improvement so you could enjoy more satisfying romantic relationships? Complete with an online Soul-Health Profile that will help you assess your own soul-health and identify areas of weaknesses, Love Junkies is just that - an action plan and detailed guide to help you eliminate toxic behaviors that jeopardize your soul health and keep you stuck in unhealthy relationships. You'll learn how to change your habits and heal your soul and most importantly, break the toxic relationship cycle! FOREWORD: By Shannon Ethridge, bestselling author of the Every Woman's Battle books with Steve Arterburn, and The Sexually Confident Woman.

Camden Town. The late 1980s. A hinterland of rundown squats, petty crime and hard drugs.Amid this sordid milieu, junkies Phil and Cissy go about their daily routine of sex, shooting up and dodging the police. For a while they have each other and nothing else seems to matter. But as their addictions worsen, money runs short and Cissy's psychotic ex-boyfriend is released from prison, their relationship begins to disintegrate into mutual distrust and loathing...Raw, repellent and yet shot through with mordant wit, JUNKIE LOVE is Phil Shoenfelt's semi-fictionalised account of the heroin addiction that almost cost him his sanity and his life.

The “diabolically clever, shamelessly brass-balled, wrenchingly funny” (NY Native) story of love, lust, and the agony of romantic disillusionment. Adored by the likes of Amy Sedaris, Madonna (who optioned the film rights), and Gordon Lish, Love Junkie is Robert Plunket’s cult novel of the heady heyday of gay New York at the dawn of the AIDS epidemic: scandalously long out of print, it is now gloriously reissued for a new generation of readers. Mimi Smithers, a modern-day Emma Bovary, is a fortyish suburban housewife who has an eye for décor and dreams of hosting lavish cocktail parties. Reflecting on her time in Tehran with her Union Carbide executive husband, she says, “In the waning months of the Shah’s regime, entertaining became more and more difficult. Hams—always a problem in Islamic countries—were as rare as hen’s teeth.” After their move to Westchester, a party she hosts for Mrs. Rockefeller goes south, and she falls into a deep funk. But then life takes an unexpected turn when she stumbles down into the gay rabbit hole of Manhattan and Fire Island society and meets Joel, a porn star with a chest “as smooth as a Ken doll.” Soon she’s helping him with his lucrative mail order business (signed photographs, used underwear, “verbal abuse audiotapes”), and her real dreams and adventures begin.

In the tradition of Blackout and Permanent Midnight, a darkly funny and revealing debut memoir of one woman's twenty-year battle with sex, drugs, and alcohol addiction, and what happens when she finally emerges on the other side. Growing up in Beverly Hills, Amy Dresner had it all: a top-notch private school education, the most expensive summer camps, and even a weekly clothing allowance. But at 24, she started dabbling in meth in San Francisco and unleashed a fiendish addiction monster. Soon, if you could snort it, smoke it, or have sex with, she did. Smart and charming, with Daddy's money to fall back on, she sort of managed to keep it all together. But on Christmas Eve 2011 all of that changed when, high on Oxycontin, she stupidly "brandished" a bread knife on her husband and was promptly arrested for "felony domestic violence with a deadly weapon." Within months, she found herself in the psych ward--and then penniless, divorced, and looking at 240 hours of court-ordered community service. For two years, assigned to a Hollywood Boulevard "chain gang," she swept up syringes (and worse) as she bounced from rehabs to halfway houses, all while struggling with sobriety, sex addiction, and starting over in her forties. In the tradition of Orange Is the New Black and Jerry Stahl's Permanent Midnight, Amy Dresner's My Fair Junkie is an insightful, darkly funny, and shamelessly honest memoir of one woman's battle with all forms of addiction, hitting rock bottom, and forging a path to a life worth living.

One of E! News' 13 Books to Read This September | One of Bookish's Debuts to Read in the Second Half of 2021 | One of Medium's Best Releases Out Today “Hazel Hayes writes with such honesty and casual confidence and flowing dialogue, you feel you are overhearing it rather than reading it. The writing sparkles with wit and a poignant emotional reality. I love it.”—Matt Haig, bestselling author of The Midnight Library “A smart, touching, time-bending romance. Funny and affecting.”—David Nicholls, bestselling author of One Day and Sweet Sorrow For anyone who has loved and lost, and lived to tell the tale, this gorgeously written debut is a love story told in reverse, a modern novel with the heart of a classic: truthful, tragic, and ultimately full of hope. Out of Love begins at the end. A couple call it quits after nearly five years, and while holding a box of her ex-boyfriend’s belongings, the young woman wonders: How could they have spent so long together? When did they fall out of love? Were there good times before the bad? These are the questions we obsess over when a relationship ends, even when obsessing can do no good. But instead of moving forward through the emotional fallout of a break-up, Out of Love moves backward in time, weaving together an already unraveled tapestry, from tragic ending to magical first kiss. Each chapter jumps further into the past, mining their history for the days and details that might help us understand love; how it happens and why it sometimes falls apart. Readers of Normal People; Goodbye, Vitamin; and One Day will adore this bittersweet romance, a sparkling debut that you won’t want to miss.

The rest of the story that began in "Love Unscripted." When an A-list movie star ducked into her pub to escape his screaming fans, never did Taryn Mitchell think her life was about to change. But now, eight months later, after a whirlwind romance, Taryn wakes up in a Hollywood hotel room to find a diamond ring and her face on a glossy magazine.