Score: 5/5 Bookmarks

Thank you to Grand Central Publishing for gifting me a review copy of Hooked: How Crafting Saved My Life by Sutton Foster.

I already loved Sutton Foster before reading this book, but she’s so real and vulnerable, funny and hopeful that you can’t help but love her even more afterward. Plus, her message of crafting as a way of coping with the world around you and the feelings you don’t always know how to express really struck a chord with me. Art and crafting found me at a time in my life when I most needed an outlet, and a connection through craft to other like-minded souls.

In this book Sutton talks about her career, the stumbles and triumphs along the way, and a lot about her relationship with her mother. She talks about mental health, therapy, relationships, showbiz, and infertility. She’s open and honest and I found something in every one of her stories to relate to. Did I sob my way through several of the chapters, I absolutely did. But ultimately the book felt hopeful and there was a lot of joy to be found along the way, despite the hardships.

If you’re looking for your next memoir, you can’t go past this one. You can grab an audiobook copy right now (narrated by Sutton herself) or order a physical copy via the button below.

Synopsis:

From the 2-time Tony Award-winner and the star of TV’s Younger, funny and intimate stories and reflections about how crafting has kept her sane while navigating the highs and lows of family, love, and show business (and how it can help you, too).

Whether she’s playing an “age-defying” book editor on television or dazzling audiences on the Broadway stage, Sutton Foster manages to make it all look easy. How? Crafting. From the moment she picked up a cross stitch needle to escape the bullying chorus girls in her early performing days, she was hooked. Cross stitching led to crocheting, crocheting led to collages, which led to drawing, and so much more. Channeling her emotions into her creations centered Sutton as she navigated the significant moments in her life and gave her tangible reminders of her experiences. Now, in this charming and poignant collection, Sutton shares those moments, including her fraught relationship with her agoraphobic mother; a painful divorce splashed on the pages of the tabloids; her struggles with fertility; the thrills she found on the stage during hit plays like Thoroughly Modern Millie, Anything Goes, and Violet; her breakout TV role in Younger; and the joy of adopting her daughter, Emily. Accompanying the stories, Sutton has included crochet patterns, recipes, and so much more!

Witty and poignant, Hooked will leave readers entertained as well as inspire them to pick up their own cross stitch needles and paintbrushes.