Reviews
"There's real value in the experiences Rhimes shares… When, for example, she discusses learning to take better care of herself, the memoir feels honest, raw and revelatory." - The Washington Post, "A self-help book dressed in casual clothes, lessons for living a better life told through relatable personal essays from the woman who set out to, in the course of a year, make her own better… There's an uncanny familiarity to the journey Rhimes goes on… Never do you feel preached at while reading Rhimes's book. This woman of huge fame and fortune is speaking directly to you, and she's doing it with familiarity, humor, and earned wisdom… Year of Yes is an awakening as much as it is a reckoning. Recognize the power of what you've been doing. Do more of it." - Daily Beast, "Amazing…The title alone is giving us heart eyes… Life is full of opportunities and chances that we've can't even imagine. That's the core message of empowerment in Shonda's new book, and we're behind it one-hundred percent. ALL OF THE YES to Year of Yes ." -HelloGiggles, "Rhimes guides the reader through her transformative yearlong experiment, each chapter dealing with a different personal challenge for herself, and she lets us deep inside her brain, carefully laying out all of her fears and self-doubt…candid and friendly, almost as if the two of you were catching up over drinks." - Slate.com, "Shamelessly entertaining…an antic, funny and surprisingly funky portrait of what it's like to be one of the most fascinating forces in contemporary network television." - Buffalo News (Editor's Choice Review), "Rhimes' familiar,conversational writing style makes the book a more accessible Lean In ,a self-help book and personal journal all rolled into one." -TVGuide.com, "This memoir/call to arms from the one-woman force behind Grey's Anatomy , Scandal , and How to Get Away With Murder is basically a New Year's resolution between two covers. Wherever you're going, bring it with you." - Bloomberg Businessweek, "Rhimes is, unsurprisingly, a fantastic memoirist: Her writing is conversational and witty and lyrical, inflected with the supple human breathiness you might expect from a person who spends her days writing dialogue. It features lots of great punchlines…It features occasional, chatty, second-person asides…[It] is also in many ways a side-door self-help book…[with] pieces of advice that concern not just Rhimes's readers, but everyone. … Year of Yes is a book about the shifts taking place in Hollywood right now,and in the world right now, in the guise of a friendly memoir. It is, like Shondaland itself, making a statement. It is insisting that it is time for the people who used to be invisible to come forward and be seen." -Atlantic.com, "A sincere and inspiring account of saying yes to life…Rhimes tells us all about it in the speedy, smart style of her much-loved TV shows. She's warm, eminently relatable, and funny… Like a cashmere shawl you pack just in case, Year of Yes is well worth the purse space, and it would make an equally great gift. Rhimes said "yes" to sharing her insights . Following her may not land you on the cover of a magazine, but you'll be glad you did." - Kirkus, "A mix of humor and conversational real talk…written with dashes of Oprah-esque inspiration but the no-B.S. frankness of, say, Dr. Cristina Yang from Grey's Anatomy…Even if Rhimes's fame and career don't make her an everywoman, she writes with an everywomanly sensibility…her words brim with such life that by the end of the book, some readers may find themselves wanting to say yes to more things, too." -TVInsider.com, "Small, charmingly odd, inspirational stories…Quite simply, it's a book about how she learned to take care of herself, and how you might be able to as well. Welcome your new life coach, Shonda Rhimes." - Vulture, "It's like having a mini-Shonda in your head, encouraging you to go for it. And say 'it's handled.'" - The Skimm (Skimm Reads pick), "A sincere and inspiring account of saying yes to life…Rhimes tells us all about it in the speedy, smart style of her much-loved TV shows.She's warm, eminently relatable, and funny… Like a cashmere shawl you pack just in case, Year of Yes is well worth the purse space, and it would make an equally great gift. Rhimes said "yes" to sharing her insights .Following her may not land you on the cover of a magazine, but you'll be glad you did." - Kirkus, "If you enjoy the rapid-fire dialogue of her characters, reading this book will feel like home. Rhimes opens up, and inspires, discussing her personal experiences as a sister, daughter, mother, friend and boss tempered with biting insights on societal expectations of women…[a] blend of biography and badassery." - Ebony.com
Synopsis
***AN INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER*** In this poignant, hilarious, and deeply intimate call to arms, Hollywood's most powerful woman, the mega-talented creator of Grey's Anatomy and Scandal and executive producer of How to Get Away with Murder reveals how saying YES changed her life--and how it can change yours too. She's the creator and producer of some of the most groundbreaking and audacious shows on television today: Grey's Anatomy, Scandal, How to Get Away with Murder . Her iconic characters--Meredith Grey, Cristina Yang, Olivia Pope, Annalise Keating--live boldly and speak their minds. So who would suspect that Shonda Rhimes, the mega talent who owns Thursday night television (#TGIT), is an introvert? That she hired a publicist so she could avoid public appearances? That she hugged walls at splashy parties and suffered panic attacks before media interviews so severe she remembered nothing afterward? Before her Year of Yes, Shonda Rhimes was an expert at declining invitations others would leap to accept. With three children at home and three hit television shows on TV, it was easy to say that she was simply too busy. But in truth, she was also afraid. Afraid of cocktail party faux pas like chucking a chicken bone across a room; petrified of live television appearances where Shonda Rhimes could trip and fall and bleed out right there in front of a live studio audience; terrified of the difficult conversations that came so easily to her characters on-screen. In the before , Shonda's introvert life revolved around burying herself in work, snuggling her children, and comforting herself with food. And then, on Thanksgiving 2013, Shonda's sister muttered something that was both a wake up and a call to arms: You never say yes to anything. The comment sat like a grenade, until it detonated. Then Shonda, the youngest of six children from a supremely competitive family, knew she had to embrace the challenge: for one year, she would say YES to everything that scared her. This poignant, intimate, and hilarious memoir explores Shonda's life before her Year of Yes--from her nerdy, book-loving childhood creating imaginary friends to her devotion to creating television characters who reflected the world she saw around her (like Cristina Yang, whose ultimate goal wasn't marriage, and Cyrus Beene, who is a Republican and gay). And it chronicles her life after her Year of Yes had begun--when Shonda forced herself out of the house and onto the stage, appearing on Jimmy Kimmel Live , and giving the Dartmouth Commencement speech; when she learned to say yes to her health, yes to play and she stepped out of the shadows and into the sun; when she learned to explore, empower, applaud, and love her truest self. Yes. This wildly candid and compulsively readable book reveals how the mega talented Shonda Rhimes, an unexpected introvert, achieved badassery worthy of a Shondaland character. And how you can, too., ***AN INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER*** In this poignant, hilarious, and deeply intimate call to arms, Hollywood's most powerful woman, the mega-talented creator of Grey's Anatomy and Scandal and executive producer of How to Get Away with Murder reveals how saying YES changed her life-and how it can change yours too. She's the creator and producer of some of the most groundbreaking and audacious shows on television today: Grey's Anatomy, Scandal, How to Get Away with Murder . Her iconic characters-Meredith Grey, Cristina Yang, Olivia Pope, Annalise Keating-live boldly and speak their minds. So who would suspect that Shonda Rhimes, the mega talent who owns Thursday night television (#TGIT), is an introvert? That she hired a publicist so she could avoid public appearances? That she hugged walls at splashy parties and suffered panic attacks before media interviews so severe she remembered nothing afterward? Before her Year of Yes, Shonda Rhimes was an expert at declining invitations others would leap to accept. With three children at home and three hit television shows on TV, it was easy to say that she was simply too busy. But in truth, she was also afraid. Afraid of cocktail party faux pas like chucking a chicken bone across a room; petrified of live television appearances where Shonda Rhimes could trip and fall and bleed out right there in front of a live studio audience; terrified of the difficult conversations that came so easily to her characters on-screen. In the before , Shonda's introvert life revolved around burying herself in work, snuggling her children, and comforting herself with food. And then, on Thanksgiving 2013, Shonda's sister muttered something that was both a wake up and a call to arms: You never say yes to anything. The comment sat like a grenade, until it detonated. Then Shonda, the youngest of six children from a supremely competitive family, knew she had to embrace the challenge: for one year, she would say YES to everything that scared her. This poignant, intimate, and hilarious memoir explores Shonda's life before her Year of Yes-from her nerdy, book-loving childhood creating imaginary friends to her devotion to creating television characters who reflected the world she saw around her (like Cristina Yang, whose ultimate goal wasn't marriage, and Cyrus Beene, who is a Republican and gay). And it chronicles her life after her Year of Yes had begun-when Shonda forced herself out of the house and onto the stage, appearing on Jimmy Kimmel Live , and giving the Dartmouth Commencement speech; when she learned to say yes to her health, yes to play and she stepped out of the shadows and into the sun; when she learned to explore, empower, applaud, and love her truest self. Yes. This wildly candid and compulsively readable book reveals how the mega talented Shonda Rhimes, an unexpected introvert, achieved badassery worthy of a Shondaland character. And how you can, too.
