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(She Writes Press)

Where Have I Been All My Life?

A Journey Toward Love and Wholeness

Where Have I Been All My Life? is the quintessential read for recovering good girls everywhere. It is a compelling memoir recounting Cheryl Rice’s journey from grief and a profound feeling of unworthiness, to wholeness and true love.

Imagine losing your mother, who also happens to be your best friend, and being plunged into unprecedented sorrow. Imagine that in seeking solace you begin therapy only to find yourself falling desperately in love with your therapist. And then imagine a series of comical yet powerful happenings that spring forth and challenge your deeply held notions about love, longing and the meaning of home. Cheryl’s raw and poignant story will touch and inspire anyone who has been raised to be a pleaser: to rely on others for her sense of self-worth, and anyone who has used longing as a substitute for real love.

If you’re looking for a “me-too” book instead of a “how-to” book, then Cheryl’s incredibly powerful memoir is for you.

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What People Are Saying About the Book

Told with grace and clarity, Where Have I Been All My Life? is an emotionally naked, beautifully moving, and ultimately uplifting memoir. Rice poetically depicts the all-encompassing darkness of grief and the bottomless love between a mother and daughter. You will relate to—and be stirred by Rice’s journey.

Selena Rezvani

, award-winning columnist for The Washington Post and author of Pushback: How Smart Women Ask—And Stand Up—For What They Want
If you’ve known for a long time that you need to open the door on the past in order to find your hopeful future, this book is for you. With tenderness, candor and unflinching honesty, Rice shows us how to examine our lives at those key moments when being in the dark is the only way to safely find our way home again. A perfect companion during...

Jen Lemen

, co-founder of hopefulworld.org
“Rice’s memoir, Where Have I Been All My Life? is an engaging, nourishing must-read for any woman who wants to love and accept herself more fully.”

Marci Shimoff

, #1 NY Times bestselling author of Love for No Reason and Happy for No Reason
Rice’s book captures the essence of looking outside for affirmation, for approval, for acceptance. Her journey is a familiar one for women. Until we love ourselves, there is never enough. It’s an inside job, and her story will help other women tell their stories as well.

Marsha Clark

, Founder, Marsha Clark & Associates
Cheryl Rice is a fantastic writer. I was completely engaged from page one. I love her work and you will too.

Nancy Slonim Aronie

, Author, Writing From the Heart: Tapping the Power of Your Inner Voice
Where Have I Been All My Life? is a powerful memoir that is meaningful to anyone who has experienced the deep loss of a loved one. We are comforted and inspired by the author’s journey from grief to inner strength, love and wholeness.

Michele W. Daly

, Executive Director, Women’s Resource Center
A very powerful, moving journey of a woman who eloquently bears her soul with extraordinary candor both as a child, mother, wife, and a successful career woman in a way that is truly inspirational.

Judith von Seldeneck

, Chairman and CEO Diversified Search
Where Have I Been All My Life? is a source of hope and courage for anyone willing to honestly look inside him or herself to discover a more fulfilling life. Rice bares it all to give us a model of what it takes to acknowledge the psychological complexes driving our behavior and forgive the parents who unknowingly planted them there.
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Michael Nagle

, Owner, Michael Nagle Consulting Group
Any woman raised on a diet of people-pleasing, and fairy-tale-believing will adore Rice’s memoir, Where Have I Been All My Life?

Caroline Adams Miller

, Author of Creating Your Best Life, My Name is Caroline, and Positively Caroline
Rice’s memoir, Where Have I Been All My Life? is a beautifully written and courageous story told with grace, humor and grit. Anyone interested in living a life of authenticity and self-compassion will greatly benefit from reading this compelling book.

Mike Robbins

, author of Nothing Changes Until You Do
In her moving memoir, Where Have I Been All My Life?, Rice offers a tender and generous voice to the personal struggles for worthiness; an issue that most professional women grapple with but few dare discuss.

Jennifer A. Chambers, MD MBA FACP

, Chief Medical Officer Capital Blue Cross