Live Wire: Long-Winded Short Stories is a collection of stories from the daytime talk show host and former soap star Kelly Ripa. It features juicy behind-the-scenes glimpses into her relationships with costars (Regis, especially) and attendance at star-studded events, but it also captures a lot of Ripa’s personal life and struggles to balance her career and home life.
I have watched Ripa many mornings on Live! with Kelly and Ryan, and have always enjoyed her commentary and fashion sense. Yet, before picking up her book, I didn’t know much about her. I struggled with the first few chapters, and I worried it would be a surface-level book. However, as Ripa delved into the topics of her early acting career, her relationship with her husband, Mark Consuelos, and then motherhood, I was hooked. Her humor was sometimes flat on the page, but I also listened to the audiobook and enjoyed her narration much more. I loved how she was candid about postpartum challenges, feeling inadequate in her career, and how she handles criticism. By the end, I felt like Kelly was a friend, and I will miss her snide remarks about her dreamy husband!