The Heartbreak Years

A Memoir

By: Minda Honey

Narrated by: Minda Honey

Length: 7 hrs and 25 mins

Publisher's summary

A hilariously intimate memoir that gets to the turbulent joys and pains of coming of age and looking for love as a Black woman in America.

In the car she’d had since high school—with the boyfriend she’d had just as long riding shotgun—Minda Honey made the cross-country drive to sunny Southern California. By the end of 2008, Obama would be president, she’d be single, and change would be upon us all.

Thousands of miles away from her family and friends in the new era of smartphones and online dating, Minda navigates the treacherous waters of early adulthood and love: confounding relationships, steamy hookups, meet-cutes, chillingly narrow escapes, and the realization that nothing plays out quite like the rom-coms she’d bet her heart on as a teenager. She was frustrated, heartbroken, resentful—and free. Kinda. From California to Colorado to her hometown in Kentucky, Minda sets out to relaunch her life outside all that defined her adolescence.

In an unflinching memoir, Minda casts her gimlet eye on her past relationships and the complicated dynamics of consent culture, gender, sexuality, race, and class. Remembering the promise and disappointments of her twenties with wisdom and compassion, this is Minda’s story of a Black woman coming into herself and changing her own world with resilience and bracing independence.

©2023 Minda Honey (P)2023 Brilliance Publishing, Inc., all rights reserved.

Critic reviews

“Honey’s witty, frank storytelling makes this book compulsively readable. The insightful story of a Black-identified biracial woman’s search for love.”—Kirkus Reviews

“A nuanced and engaging narrative of a young woman struggling through love and heartbreak.”—Booklist

“Every few decades, there’s that one book that shapes directly how we all understand the potentially radical, and radically heartbreaking, space between touching and being touched, running to and running away…Minda Honey has created a momentous piece of art, of course, but most importantly, The Heartbreak Years will teach a generation of us what’s possible when writing through, to, and beneath the pulpy inside of desire and fear.”—Kiese Laymon, bestselling author of Long Division and Heavy

Couldn’t put it down!

Minda does something I long for in memoirs - taking life experiences that are both quirky and harsh, educating the reader to understand the depth without losing track of the story. She immersed us, and I look forward to more!

It was like having my journal read to me!

I don’t know if we’re just kindred spirits but it’s like the author took all of my feelings and heartbreak experiences and put them in the most eloquent and beautiful package.

If you’re a black woman in your twenties, especially struggling in the dating department, this should definitely be your next read.

Rollercoaster of Raw Emotion

The Heart Break Years isn't just a book; it's an experience (& diary/journal). From the very first page, Minda grabs you and throws you headfirst into her world. It's captivating, the characters feel like people you know, or maybe even a part of yourself. Their flaws and vulnerabilities are laid bare for her to examine. Minda doesn't shy away from the messy realities of life. She explores heartbreak, loss, identity, politics and the complexities of human relationships with a raw honesty that resonates deeply.