This Life I’ve Bled is a gritty no-holds-barred account of an outrageous life lived on the chaotic edges of anarchy and addiction. From the opening pages to the final chapter, the reader follows the improbable ups and downs of its hapless, yet oddly likeable, narrator. If you want to know what it’s like to have had three abortions, lost all three of your kids, and screwed so many men you lost count, then you just picked up your next great read. Though this is a debut book for Johnston, she has the two things essential to a great memoir – a fascinating life, and the ability to make it come alive with pyrotechnic prose and unflinching honesty.
- Dr. Claire Robson, Simon Fraser University

Examining the forces that have shaped her, including alcoholism and the social and cultural upheaval of the late 20th century, Jacquelyn Johnston tells of being a mother, losing her children and relentlessly revisiting her Christian faith. Her harrowing history is a record of a woman’s extraordinary mental, physical and spiritual resilience.
- Ann Birnbaum, PhD, MPH

This memoir takes us through the gut wrenching fallout of alcoholism, mental illness and substance abuse. Jacquelyn has written a book with raw honesty that has the reader both shedding tears and chuckling aloud. A moving first piece for this writer.
- Yvonne Bunce, BEd