cover image Miss Memory Lane: A Memoir

Miss Memory Lane: A Memoir

Colton Haynes. Atria, $28 (288p) ISBN 978-1-982176-17-4

Pairing vulnerability with unflinching prose, actor Haynes debuts with a deeply affecting look at his path to self-acceptance. Though the author adored his mother, their relationship was splintered due to her struggles with addiction throughout his adolescence in the 1990s. Desperate to feel “wanted,” Haynes sought out attention, often receiving it in warped ways, including in the sexual abuse he endured as a boy at the hands of his uncle. Tirelessly pursuing his dream to become an actor, Haynes weathered comments in early casting calls that he was “too gay to play the lead” before landing a role on MTV’s Teen Wolf in 2010. But, as he rawly depicts, the pressure to hide his sexuality ravaged his mental health, leading to an Adderall addiction that resulted in “three secret trips to the emergency room” during the show’s first season. After walking away from his starring role on CW’s Arrow in 2015, Haynes publicly came out, and later got sober, following a divorce and harrowing struggle with alcoholism. While his dark road to recovery isn’t for the fainthearted, Haynes’s narrative strikes a redemptive tone: “For the first time I can remember, I’m present, and my emotions feel like a gift, a celebration, a reward.” Fans will be left breathless by the grit and courage on display. (May)