One of Everything by Donna Carol Voss

**Disclosure: I was given a copy of this book to review. All opinions are my own**

This book took an incredible amount of bravery to write.

One of Everything is an autobiography about Donna Carol Voss’ life, and how she experiences pretty much one of everything – from drugs to sexual partners, religions and more.

Here’s what the book description says:
The recipe for happily-ever-after? Start with one middle-class white girl in 1976. Add in her longing for love and acceptance, another middle-class white girl, a huge dollop of gossip, and excruciating peer and family pressure. Stir in youthful travel abroad, a Berkeley education, and a foray into paganism, drugs, marriage, and divorce. Whip until frothy with interracial and bisexual affairs, relationship violence, and exploration of multicultural mores. Season with salsa dancing. Temper with a segue into Mormonism. Decorate with a Temple wedding and garnish with motherhood to three adopted siblings. And what you have is a memoir capable of sating anyone’s need for a great read.

Throughout her life journey, the author learns to really love herself and comes to a place of self-acceptance to forgive herself for everything that happened in her life. Not only does she forgive herself, but also her parents and former friends and lovers.

One of Everything is a book about acceptance. It is a book about loving someone – warts and all.

It is also about realizing what makes for a good person. The author writes,

“Good people can have colossal flaws and still be good people.”

Donna Carol Voss is in a sense, lucky that she turned out the way she did – with a loving husband, three kids, in a stable home, for her life could have just as easily gone down another path. I think by sharing her life story, Voss is showing us that there is a path to redemption and it’s never too late to make a change.

One of Everything is a great book for anyone who is struggling or contemplating taking life in a new and scary direction.

All you need is love, acceptance, and a little faith.

Learn more about Donna Carol Voss and her book, One of Everything.