Finding my Badass Self is like a cozy catch-up chat with a zany friend. Stanfa-Stanley’s writing is conversational, peppered with juicy encounters, honest insights, and lots of laughs. Most would be hard-pressed to duplicate her energetic and courageous Badass Year, but it is encouraging to have her reminder about how rewarding it can be to push one’s self-imposed limitations.
—Foreword Reviews
Stanfa-Stanley has a cheeky writing style and is happy to turn that sarcasm on herself, all the while gently admonishing the reader to come out of their own shells... Highly recommended for the memoir-lovers out there, and for any seeking to learn how to push their own boundaries.
—San Francisco Book Review
An uplifting, fun, quirky, and most of all, thought-provokingly powerful memoir highly recommended for any woman who would gain new perspective about her life and its direction and choices.
—Midwest Book Review
A delightfully breezy read about experimentation, often humorous and companionable.
—Kirkus Reviews
Sherry Stanfa-Stanley's book is a riot! At fifty-two, she spent the year re-creating herself and reimagining the possibilities of life, to the delight and enlightenment of those who cheered from the sidelines. Forget the bucket list: This book is a barrel of laughs. Honest, revealing, and warm-hearted, Stanfa-Stanley gives her readers a whole new way to put ‘life’ into midlife crisis.
—Gina Barreca, syndicated columnist and author of “Not That I’m Bitter” and “If You Lean In, Will Men Just Look Down Your Blouse?”
Kiss your comfort zone good-bye! Sherry Stanfa-Stanley challenges herself on the eve of her fifty-second birthday to shake up the status quo of a middle-age life. In fifty-two chapters, you can live vicariously or, better yet, get motivated to get out there. Stanfa-Stanley is funny, real, maybe a little crazy, and totally wonderful.
—Betsy Lerner, author of “The Bridge Ladies” and “The Forest for the Trees”
Sherry Stanfa-Stanley is funny, and smart, and brave. If you love funny, smart, brave writing, you will love this book. She does things most of us would never dream of doing, and tells the stories of her unusual adventures in a very entertaining, and always honest style.”
—Cathryn Michon, screenwriter of “A Dog’s Purpose”
Stanfa-Stanley faces the terrifying reality of midlife inertia with courage and spontaneity, humor and humility, proving that life is either a bucket list full of someday or a reality full of right f*cking now. Her story is bold, touching, and relatable. You will laugh and cringe as she takes fifty-two first steps toward embracing no less than the life she always knew she was capable of living.
—Nicole Knepper, clinical therapist/gerontologist and author of “Moms Who Drink and Swear”
Most people crave a settled life of comfort and safety. Not Sherry Stanfa-Stanley. "Finding My Badass Self" is a compulsively readable, hilarious account of Stanfa-Stanley’s adventures in middle age: her story of becoming a woman of bravery, style, and substance.
—Jessica Lahey, author of “The Gift of Failure: How the Best Parents Learn to Let Go So Their Children Can Succeed”