Almost every woman who has spent time searching for Mr. Right has, at one point or another, fallen hard for Mr. Wrong. We've all had at least one relationship where we temporarily lost sight of ourselves and became regrettably jealous, insecure, or needy. Rachel Resnick, however, took it to a whole new level. She couldn't break free from the cycle. She compulsively sought out and clung to a series of increasingly destructive and dysfunctional relationships before she acknowledged her "love addiction" and sought help from support groups and 12-step programs. This memoir takes a gritty and unflinching look at her lowest moments of sexual and emotional debasement, explores the family dynamics that helped shape her addiction, and chronicles her journey towards self-awareness and love. ( )

This is a very bittersweet memoir of a woman with a very sad upbringing. Her mother kills herself at 14 and the father get custody but doesn't want her so he farms her out to foster families that he pays. Of course she goes looking for love in all the wrong places and substitutes sex for love. It is amazing how she can remain somewhat positive through out her life. Overall a good read, ( )

Desperate and at times disturbing—Love Junkie is a memoir that is almost too honest. Resnick, a forty year old writer, is our junkie. The book recounts her relationships from childhood to middle age as evidence of her love addiction. An addiction she claims is as gripping as heroin. Resnick opens her story by describing scenes in which her mother threw herself at men while neglecting her children, and segues into history vividly repeating itself over a string of Resnick’s own failed relationships. She lives her life choosing one ill-suited mate after another in a frantic need to be loved. She pushes herself beyond her limits in a constant pursuit of an intimacy that evades her. When it comes to sex and love, she has absolutely no control over herself. She tirelessly pursues affection at any cost.

Resnick lays out her history for the reader to devour and judge in a completely straightforward way. The author at times is unlikable but her story is too well told to deny. Her memories range from heart wrenchingly sad to completely outrageous, and at times scarily relatable. The book ends without warning and with questionable hope for the author’s fate, but unnaturally haunts the reader long after the story’s completion. ( )