SACRED WILDNESS
"A POWERFUL REMINDER THAT HEALING IS POSSIBLE FOR EVERYONE"
MY STORY IS YOUR STORY
The events of my life might be different to yours, but at the end of the day, the essence is the same. We're all searching for the same thing - to feel deeply loved.
​
When you read Hope, you can't help but be reminded of your own power and potential, your own courage and ability to create the kind of life and love you've always longed for.
​
I hold nothing back. I take you to the depths of my despair and straight into the darkness, and I traverse the shedding and becoming that awakening and evolution demanded of me. In these pages you will get to know who I was and how I overcame the things that enabled and conditioned me to live half a life built of fear, guilt, shame and unworthiness.
​
I made it out the other side. You can too.​
"Some of us aren’t brave enough to find our way out of the darkness, but Renee’s story shows us that there is always a way out. This story touched me in many ways. She reminded me that we all started somewhere and if we continue to open up our hearts to the endless possibilities around us, we will land exactly where we need to be."
"I have not read a more true, vulnerable and honest story... She is not afraid to share the hard things she has been through in order to give permission to others to do the same."
READER REVIEWS
"Hope is the powerful story all women who have, or are, awakening to who they are meant to be will relate to. It is vulnerable and real. It will make you cry at its raw truth and in the next sentence make you laugh out loud. If you are searching for your own truth, Hope may just be the reminder you need."
"So grateful for you sharing your story. I related so much to so many aspects. To know that we are not alone. Thanks for putting your story out into the world, I know it will offer healing to others."
"I was captivated with the authenticity and vulnerability within Renee's storytelling. To read a tale of a woman's journey with it's ups and downs helps us to feel less alone. And reading of one woman's dedication to her healing supports us in holding our own hope. I am so grateful for the gift of hope."
"You have gifted me with a LOT reading this. You have ignited a lot of remembering and inspired action."
"Renee’s book, Hope, had a refreshing rawness. This book was a true insight into how to not sit idly through life. How to recognise the imbalances and where the unrest deep within you is coming from. How to get help. A raw and inspiring story of one woman’s journey to finding healing, peace and hope."
"First of all, you are a very strong writer - the book flows quite seamlessly and your phrasing and knowledge of writing convention is, quite frankly, impressive. But it is the vulnerability with which you open yourself up for the reader that makes this book so compelling.”
EDITORIAL REVIEWS
"A raw and inspiring story"
Jessica Henderson Photography
"Renee’s book, Hope, had a refreshing rawness. Her journey to accepting and loving herself was a rough one. She tells the story of her road away from self-hatred - despising her physical body, her choices, her childhood, her situation in life. Renee travels through many healing avenues such as energy clearing reiki, dance, journaling, human design, working with an angel medium and a shaman to connect with her guides and find her path.
​
Renee connects with her past and faces her past traumas head on. Traumas such as abortions, not feeling loved and accepted as a child and her newborn being whisked away, not being able to breathe. In her book, she shares snippets from her journals over her years of healing and then dives deeper and reflects on what was happening at that time. ​
​This beautiful woman learns how to go slow and find space, how to look in the mirror and love herself, how to reject the goals and generic path society pushes on people. She finds her way to being a mother she can be proud of. By healing her past, she can now heal the future for her daughter and son and break the generational pattern.
​
Renee discovers a deep understanding of her marriage, her husband, how they communicate and how she uses sex. She finds a way to balance the needs of her husband with her personal boundaries.
This book was a true insight into how to not sit idly through life. How to recognise the imbalances and where the unrest deep within you is coming from. How to get help. A raw and inspiring story of one woman’s journey to finding healing, peace and hope."
"a powerful undercurrent of optimism and encouragement"
Self Publishing Review
A visceral and unflinching memoir, Hope: A Journey of Self-Love by Renee Louise is an outpouring of raw honesty that holds nothing back.
​
Reflecting on the decade-long turning point in her life from self-loathing to security, love, and self-confidence, this impactful memoir examines the pain and struggle through which so many people quietly suffer. From the lowest lows to the highest highs as a mother, wife, child, friend, and professional, this is truly a journey of overcoming the mountain of stressors and insecurities that make up our lives, which ultimately don’t need to define us.
Louise reveals herself completely, letting us into the darkest nights of her soul, writing vividly about intense medical crises, clashes with in-laws, and finally the slow process of growth of her confidence and self-worth. Woven together with verbatim journal entries from different eras of her life, the narrative traces many of the author’s hardest years and personal transitions, both physically and mentally.
Following a series of emotional breakdowns and chronic unhappiness with her weight, the author underwent a series of surgeries that she hoped would save both her self-image and her marriage. In a world of filtered perfection through social media, people wrestle with body dysmorphia and self-hatred of their unhealthy habits, especially once they embark on their path of self-improvement, and this book lays the issue bare, offering a way out. Accompanying the physical change to her body, Louise began a series of personal practices, from yoga and podcasts to mirror work and journaling, which act as the backbone of the book.
While body image isn’t entirely the focus of Louise’s journey, it was a significant catalyst for her transformation, which gives this unfiltered account an even broader appeal for those readers who have faced similar obstacles. From that point onwards, there are myriad elements of commiseration and connection that readers will find with the author, while her direct manner leaves little room to debate the wisdom she painstakingly presents. The writing may be rough and blunt, but it also makes her story even more universally accessible; this memoir isn’t perfectly polished, but rather a gut-punch story of quiet desperation and relatable resilience.
Essentially, this is a story of someone who has done “the work,” in contemporary parlance, showing readers the gritty backend of a challenging life, without apology or adulteration. In that sense, this isn’t merely a memoir, but a case of teaching by example, working very much as a work of self-help in which Louise hopes to inspire a sense of kinship and empathy that then reflects back on the self. There is a certain brutal clarity to the author’s confusion with the events unfolding throughout her life, but also a core humanity that is never shed – a powerful undercurrent of optimism and encouragement, and the unwavering belief that healing is something we all deserve to achieve.
Despite some repetition of ideas and anecdotes, this is an emotive and intimate portrayal of the sheer chaos that life often brings, the self-destruction that can so often result, and the enduring potential for renewal.