No One Crosses the Wolf by Lisa Nikolidakis

This is a memoir about a troubled childhood full of abuse and neglect. It’s not an easy read and I wasn’t looking for one. It follows her growing up years with her brother and parents and all the trauma you can imagine.

Her father is a piece of crap, to put it lightly. He is an alcoholic that spends most of his at-home hours terrorizing his family. When he isn’t home, they dread his coming home so they are never truly free of him. After reading her recollections of him, I can understand that fear.

And her mother isn’t much better in comparison. She doesn’t abuse the kids but she doesn’t stop the abuse either. She puts her head in the clouds and pretends that everything is just fine. Domestic violence doesn’t go away because you want it to, you have to stop it! Her mother failed them all.

When her father finally snaps, I expected more somehow. More untangling the emotional threads of her life. More in-depth onion peeling. I wanted to see her do the hard work to undo all the lessons that her upbringing taught at such high prices. But she did none of it. She drank, slept around, and went to Greece. I’m healed!!! The end. What?? Yeah, I’m confused too.

My first inclination was to give this a 2-star review. I mulled it over though, for several days I might add. Three is as high as I can go. She writes well. She knows how to create an atmosphere and add texture and shade to a story but in the end, there’s no story. There’s no healing final chapter. There’s no Oprah “Aha!” moment. And that is a true letdown.

⭐⭐⭐ /⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

High Achiever: The Shocking True Story of One Addict’s Double Life by Tiffany Jenkins

The author is probably best known for her blog Juggling the Jenkins. Most do not know about her criminal past that includes 27 felonies or her lengthy stay in jail. She was a drug addict and willing to go to any lengths to get them. Even if that meant betraying her live in boyfriend who happened to be a Sherriff’s Deputy. And she did.

Tiffany had a somewhat tumultuous childhood but she still became the captain of her high school cheerleading squad and student body president. No one expected to her life to take a downward spiral. She seemed on top of the world but she hit rock bottom.

The story is as promised. It’s scary to see how far one person will go to get drugs. It’s also stunning that she was able to fool her boyfriend. He knew that she had already completed rehab once but he overlooked so many instances that could have revealed her truth. She holds nothing back. She talks about lesbian affairs and jail fights. She talks openly about withdrawal and performing sexual favors and making a sex tape. But she doesn’t give us enough.

The story lacked some important features. She talks about the drug abuse for 98 percent of the book. She talks about recovery for a very short period at the end. She doesn’t give us the lead up. What caused her to turn to drugs? Did she sustain an injury? Did she try it once and like it immediately? What was life like after her second stint in rehab? How did she cope with all the changes and stay sober? I wanted to know how she repaired the relationship with her sister. Did she make amends with her ex?

I realize the title clearly states it’s about her double life but I needed more backstory. I needed to feel empathy and eventually joy when she got clean. It was sadly absent. This was her attempt to clean the slate. It’s admirable and absolutely should be applauded. However, it feels incomplete. An open book should have all the chapters, not just a chunk of the middle.

Can I recommend this book? Yes, with the understanding it’s not so much a tell all book as a tell some.

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