Warrior My path to being brave

Review by Publisher's Weekly Review

"My bravery stems from pain," writes Guerrero, an Inside Edition correspondent, in her affecting debut. As a child, Guerrero was devastated by her mother's death from cancer; while attending community college in 1980s California, she was a Los Angeles Rams cheerleader but became disillusioned ("I saw myself--and my fellow performers--for what we really were: cheap labor with hot bodies designed to play into male fantasies"). After Guerrero quit, she became the entertainment director for the New England Patriots but was fired after refusing to remove music by Black artists from a performance playlist. In her 30s she worked as a sports reporter and faced relentless misogyny (as a cohost for Fox's The Best Damn Sports Show Period, she was told to "wear clothes that showed lots of skin"), and was later fired from her spot on Monday Night Football after one season (executives said she was a "bad fit"), which led her to contemplate suicide and eventually seek therapy. Guerrero writes with a frank candidness ("I drank to forget how much I hated myself"), and her deep convictions are evident on every page. The author's fans are in for a treat. Agent: Kirsten Neuhaus, Ultra Literary Agency. (Jan.)

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Review by Library Journal Review

The variety and breadth of the many careers Guerrero has pursued in her life are nothing short of astonishing. Professional cheerleading for the Los Angeles Rams, becoming one of the first women in sportscasting, modeling on the cover of Playboy at age 41, and her current success as an award-winning investigative journalist on Inside Edition alone would make for a good read. However, as with all she has done throughout her life, the author surpassed the limits of good into great territory, making her memoir an essential read. Her storytelling is exquisite and emotional. Throughout the book, she weaves lessons she has learned with her own advice for women who want to be brave. That starts with empathy, she says. The book includes heart-wrenching accounts of misogyny, verbal abuse, and sexual harassment. She maintains grace and poise in her discussion of former colleagues, workplaces, and friends, even those who mistreated her. She is sincere, admits to her mistakes, and honors her successes. VERDICT This memoir is highly recommended for all public libraries.--Katy Duperry

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Review by Kirkus Book Review

How grit and ambition have fueled a woman's career. In her debut memoir, Guerrero, chief investigative correspondent for Inside Edition, traces her journey to becoming a fierce "victim's avenger" and role model. Raised by her father, a social worker, after her mother died when she was 8, Guerrero--who took her mother's surname in homage to her heritage--missed having a woman's guidance as she grew up. She never forgot, though, her mother's admonition that her name, in Spanish, means warrior. To help her cope with her mother's death, her father enrolled her in theater therapy classes, where the shy, gangly young girl discovered that she loved to perform. A model at the age of 16, she later enrolled in acting classes, but her career took an unexpected turn when she was selected to join the elite Los Angeles Rams cheerleading team. At first, she was exhilarated by the adoring fans and the camaraderie of her squad, but cheerleaders were treated as no more than "cheap labor and hot bodies," and after four years of grueling, underpaid work, the "constant makeovers and body-shaming" made the gig unappealing. Guerrero parlayed that experience into trailblazing jobs in sports, including as entertainment director for the Atlanta Falcons and as a sportscaster in LA. She also landed a part as a glamorous bad girl on a popular soap opera. For a while, she worked at Fox Sports, where she experienced the sexism and misogyny that permeated the Fox organization. A low point of her career occurred when she was hired as a sideline reporter on Monday Night Football. Mercilessly criticized in the media as "eye candy" and harassed by her boss, she became depressed and nearly suicidal. When her marriage to a baseball star failed, she felt at an impasse--until she seized an offer from Inside Edition that catapulted her into media stardom. A forthright recounting of an eventful life. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

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