She tries it out from time to time. I suppose she’s forgotten my pat responses. My daughter will get this pouty look on her face, cross her arms or stomp one foot, and exclaim, “It’s not fair.” And I’ll answer her in one of two ways; “Life’s not fair, so get used to it,” or “Would you like to hear my list of things that aren’t fair in my life?” Every. Time.

That line doesn’t fly in our house.

Well, my friend Melanie Dale, took her disdain for this phrase one step (and thousands of words further) in her latest book, It’s Not Fair: Learning To Love the Life You Didn’t Choose. An important message because we all have those things in life we didn’t see coming. Plus, Melanie is hilarious, so I knew she’d somehow take this serious topic and have readers laughing.

Sometimes laughing at the hardest stuff is the best medicine you can find.

Melanie shares her story of infertility and adoption. Several other women share their hard stories throughout the book as well. You’ll certainly find someone who’s going through something similar to what you’re experiencing. Those “me toos” can make all the difference.

I want this book to be the friend you put in your bag and take to the hospital. It’s for when you’re passed over for the promotion or when he doesn’t propose or when he leaves… it’s a sometimes sucky journey, but you’re not alone.

You’ll also get to experience Melanie’s love for all things theater and sci-fi. Also her God-given gift of illustrating her point. I mean, check out these images. 

I was on the book launch team that helped Melanie promote this book to the world and she sent us an “It’s not fair” package, which included a mug, a notecard with an emoji poop drawing on the front and a copy of the book. My daughter stole the notecard (because emoji poop items are eight-year old obsessions), took the book to read someday when she’s older, but then I drew the line with the coffee cup. Hands off the coffee-carrying apparatus!

From ways to cope to real ways to help someone going through a rough time to comfort food recipes to how to handle people who say the wrong things… it’s all in here. 

So besides face punching, which is tempting, how do we handle the people who mean well, the well-meanies? First, there are going to be times when you just need to avoid them. And that’s okay.

The best part is, as Melanie is offering you very sound advice, you’ll laugh along the way. Thank you, Melanie, for this book. It’s a gift I’ll be giving away often.

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As a member of the "It's Not Fair: Learning to Love the Life You Didn't Choose," I received a copy of this book for review. Italicized quotes are the from the book. The opinions expressed here are my own.