Sunshine Girl: An Unexpected Life (2024)

This is a Biography Memoir Non-Fiction book which is all about Julianna Margulies who is know for television series The Good Wife and ER. I love her character in ER, and that is why I really wanted to pick this book up. I have to say this is not my favorite memoir I have read, but I enjoyed learning more about Julianna's real life. I did not know she was not set to be full time on ER. I wish there was more about her time while she was on ER. I have never watched The Good Wife. I have to say there was a darkness underline in this book. I did not get happiness from this book anytime during reading this book. I was kindly provided an e-copy of this book by the publisher (Ballantine Books) or author (Julianna Margulies) via NetGalley, so I can give honest review about how I feel about this book. I want to send a big Thank you to them for that.

"Sunshine Girl: An Unexpected Life"
wasan unexpected 10-star read.

Julianna Margulies’ scintillating memoir about her unconventional and chaotic upbringing, adult friendships/relationships, vulnerabilities, and her rise to fame was one of the best memoirs I have ever read.

Yes, it was that good.

I listened to the audiobook that was read by this Emmy-winning actress and her narration was magical. Julianna Margulies is a gifted storyteller and from this book's very first chapter, I was instantly captivated and transfixed.

Julianna Margulies is known for keeping "mum" about her personal life so everything shared in this book was new. Particularly impressive was Julianna's strong work ethic and her unwavering determinationto always be prepared. Also impressive was her ability to stay grounded in spite of the fact that she grew up with an absentee father and an eccentric mother who had an endless string of "loser" boyfriends. All this while being shuttled between 3 different countries before she turned 5-years old.

It's important to note that this book is NOT a "Tell All" about the behind-the-scenes dramas of "ER" and "The Good Wife", although the reason why Julianna walked away from ER's $27 million contract was revealed. Instead, "Sunshine Girl: An Unexpected Life" is a candid memoir that focuses on life choices, relationships, introspective journeys,and an admirable pursuit of a work/life balance.

What is next for Julianna Margulies? If she writes another memoir about her "unexpected life", I AM IN!

This book is a "must-read" for all Julianna Margulies fans and/or aspiring actors.

I received a free copy of this book from Random House via Netgalley. My review is voluntary and my opinions are my own.

Sunshine Girl by Julianna Margulies is her memoir about being a child of divorce, living different lifestyles with her mother and father, and navigating difficult adult relationships. She is candid about her childhood and her adult relationships. This takes up a majority of the book. She spends very little time on her two major roles, Carol Hathaway on ER and Alicia Florrick on The Good Wife. Fans who are expecting a lot of interesting stories about these shows and her fellow actors will be disappointed. Fans of ER and The Good Wife might want to look at the table of contents before spending $14.99 on the Kindle version. Chapter 12 is about getting the part on ER, and most of Chapter 13 is about leaving ER 6 years later. George Clooney's name is mentioned 9 times, but 7 of those times are in the story about getting the part in ER, and two mentions are while she's complaining about fans, which I will go further into below. I could not find any mentions of Anthony Edwards, Sherry Stringfield, or Noah Wyle. As for The Good Wife, the amazing Christine Baranski is mentioned in one anecdote about a medical problem Margulies was having, but fans of Matt Czuchry and Josh Charles will be disappointed. I could not find them in the book.

There was one story that completely bugged me because she complains about how embarrassed she was when a group of fans stopped her to talk about her two famous roles. People watched these shows for years, and are still watching them. She continues to benefit from these shows. At least she could treat her fans with respect instead of slamming them in a memoir.

Of course it is her prerogative to write about anything she wants, but fans of ER and The Good Wife might want to decide if it's worth the money, depending on what they hope to get out of the book.

As someone who has enjoyed ER and The Good Wife, this fell flat for me. I would recommend this to anyone who is interested in learning about Julianna Margulies' childhood and relationships, and very little about her two hit shows. It honestly left me feeling as if this is someone I would not want to know. The title is also deceiving. There's no sunshine in this book.

Sunshine Girl: An Unexpected Life by Julianna Margulies was an interesting look at the actor’s life. My impression is that too many chapters were devoted to her very early childhood. An autobiography should have information about the author’s complete life so far but I would have wanted more about Margulies’ adult life, although her young life was completely unique. The audiobook version is read by the author which always adds to this genre. Recommended.

Sunshine Girl: An Unexpected Life is a memoir by actress Julianna Margulies, detailing her life growing up, her career as an actress, and her family.

Julianna is the youngest of three sisters and had a somewhat nomadic lifestyle growing up. Her parents split up relatively early in her life and were both constantly moving, in search of their next opportunity. She grew up in NY and Europe, back and forth often. She was close with her dad but always craving a stronger relationship with him. When she lived with her mom, the distance between her and her father created an additional challenge to this.

She was not afraid of hard work, taking jobs when and where she could, in order to pursue her passions and take part in experiences like traveling abroad. As her love of acting grew, Julianna committed to her craft and I enjoyed hearing about her time on ER and The Good Wife, both shows I liked from what I saw of them, though I didn’t watch either one in its entirety. She recently starred in the second season of The Morning Show which is a series I’ve really enjoyed watching.

Sunshine Girl isn’t a long book and one that held my interest throughout, but I think I expected more time to be spent on her career as an actress. This is of course a great reminder that actors and actresses are people, like the rest of us, and their career is only one aspect of their lives. Julianna is married and has a son. She shares the story of meeting her husband and another story about randomly finding a dentist in the white pages when she had a dental emergency, and how he grew to become an important figure in her life.

Thank you to NetGalley and Ballantine Books for providing an advance reader copy in exchange for an honest review.

I don't watch a lot of network television, but the few shows I have and/or do watch, have to have really good actors and story lines. Julianna Margulies has starred in two of what I considered to be the better shows on television, 'ER' and 'The Good Wife'.
This book describes her very unconventional life which I found absolutely fascinating. Her free-spirited mother and more conventional father, provided quite a contrast and a pull in alternating directions as she grew up. Her father an advertising executive, was the one who helped create the Alka Seltzer jingle, "plop, pl0p, fizz, fizz". Ironically she and her sisters were not allowed to watch TV.
This book came along at the right time for me as I have a huge decision to make. She talks about her decision to not take the contract extension offered on ER for two additional years at $27million. I wish I could say my decision centered around that kind of money, but alas it doesn't. However, I am able to use her wisdom (a lot of it stemming from her father) to help in my decision making.
Julianna is introspective and intelligent. This is not a gossip fest by any means but a thoughtful and honest look back at the atypical life she had growing up and how it formed her into the stunning and brilliant actor she is today.

Sunshine Girl: An Unexpected Life by Juliana Margulies is a wonderful memoir written by one of my favorite actresses.

Being able to learn so much about Ms. Margulies, reading her past, her hopes, her dreams, her mistakes, and her imperfections, as well as finding her strengths, was truly a joy to read.

She is real, she is intelligent, she is hilarious, and she is a great writer. I truly enjoyed this book.

5/5 stars

Thank you NetGalley and Ballantine Books for this great ARC and in return I am submitting my unbiased and voluntary review and opinion.

I am posting this review to my GR and Bookbub accounts immediately and will post it to my Amazon, Instagram, and B&N accounts upon publication.

Thank you.

This is a memoir for adult children of alcoholics or dysfunctional families, written by one of our own.

The majority of the book is about her life, for which I hope the negative reviewers might find a little compassion. She’s beautifully, achingly honest about her life and her pain.

This not a gossip fest “tell all” or your typical celebrity memoir bunny rabbit fluff. It’s also not a rags to riches story or a self/help memoir. It reads more like a novel but is nonfiction. Overall, very little of her Life as an actress is discussed.

In other words, if you’re looking for the dirty details or insider smut, I’m happy to reveal JM is far too classy for any of that. For her, acting started as a therapeutic release for her childhood. The stage was also the first “home” she ever had.

I never give 1 stars unless I truly hate a book. I have loved her as an actress for years so I was so excited about this book and so disappointed that it sucked. 60% of it is about her childhood, which is mostly unremarkable. She spends about 4 pages each on ER and The Good Wife, which are the things I wanted to know about. It was frankly just uninteresting and poorly written. Sad!

A page-turning account of the actor's early life, which meant dealing with two very challenging parents.

I was trying to formulate an unbiased review, but who am I kidding? Especially since I read the audiobook. Julianna Margulies could read the dictionary and I’d listen. She’s been my hero most of my life. But here it goes...

I listened to the audiobook version of Sunshine Girl because I knew Julianna would be an excellent narrator. She’s done many voice over roles and is a great storyteller. Her reading did not disappoint.

This is not a typical celebrity-tell-all memoir. You’re not going to get juicy gossip if that’s what you’re looking for. Julianna does discuss her nerve-wracking encounter with Steven Seagal, but this is something she’s discussed publicly before.

I adore Julianna Margulies. I’m not sure when I started watching ER, whether it was at the beginning of the series or a few years later. I was 8 when it premiered but I liked a lot of realistic medical shows so it’s not implausible that I was watching it that young. At any rate, I was watching the show as a physically disabled young girl from Michigan with dark curly hair. Carol Hathaway was everything I wanted to be. I remember looking up everything I could about Julianna. I couldn’t believe that there was a famous actress who had hair like mine! REPRESENTATION MATTERS. When Julianna left ER, I remember admiring her ability to choose what SHE WANTED because even at the age of 14, I recognized that I did not have the strength of self to make a decision like that. I’m still not sure that I do. I read the Mists of Avalon when I heard she would star as Morgaine and I still feel it is the best movie (it’s actually a mini-series) that she’s ever done. I’ve followed her career all these years. Julianna joined Instagram in 2020 and it has been wonderful to see a bit of her life and how she interacts with fans because she’s always seemed like a very private person. I didn’t expect the book to be so meaningful to me, but it was and I’m not good at articulating that well so here’s a list. I love lists.

People who should read this book:
1. Fans of Julianna Margulies
2. People going through divorce
3. Adult children whose parents were divorced, especially if they are harboring resentment regarding it.
4. Aspiring actors
5. Women. Julianna is very inspiring while also showing a lot of vulnerability in this book. Particularly regarding her fears about leaving an unhappy relationship.
6. Women who put a lot of pressure on themselves. I think many women are like this but I’m gonna tag the Geminis in particular here.
7. Feminists who want to read a book about about a badass woman :)

3.5 Loved From The Start Stars
* * * 1/2 Spoiler Free-Look At This, ONLY $1.99!!!
Julianne Margulies captivated my heart and interest from the first time I saw her on television. I may have seen her before her ER role but it was her embodying Nurse Carol Hathaway that caught me. The way she made that person three-dimensional and made me care about her is something I will never forget.

This talented actress has done other roles that made an impression on me, including The Good Wife and in a little-known film, A Price Above Rubies.

This book talks about how she became who she is, her relationships, and other impactful moments. Unfortunately, there isn't a lot of "insider" information, but that is ok. Julianne is enough.

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

A gifted copy was provided by Random House Publishing Group-Ballantine via NetGalley for an honest review.

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I've been rewatching The Good Wife this year and reading Julianna Margulies' memoir adds a whole new awareness of her nuanced performance. Marguiles' unconventional childhood, where she moved around because of her parent's divorce and their own dreams of fulfillment, seems to have broadened Margiles' self-awareness. There's nothing especially traumatizing outside the stereotypical experience that Generation X people had with parents who left us on our own much of the time, and I read the well-edited text in just two days. For people who enjoy celebrity memoir, this one is recommended.

I enjoyed this memoir very much. I haven’t seen ER (I am loathe to admit - because it’s such a popular series)! But I remember Julianna from her appearance on The Sopranos and I must have seen her in a movie or two. Anyway, I highly recommend her memoir, regardless of whether or not you are a fan!

Wow! I never would have expected one of my favorite books this year would be a memoir, but this book certainly surpassed any expectations I had. Julianna Margulies has shared the honest, disturbing and inspirational story of her life.

Years of watching her, loving her as an actor, didn’t prepare me for the incredible difficulties and insecurities she experienced growing up. She describes her unstable family, ultimately forgiving them for the difficult childhood she had. Being dragged from place to place, house to house, country to country really shocked me. Her poise, grace and bountiful talent is all I saw before reading this.

I urge book clubs to select this book, I think it will give bountiful opportunities for rich discussion. I learned lessons from this book and certainly will remind myself that looking at someone tells us nothing about their character or life history.

Thank you Julianna and Netgalley for sharing this experience with me.

Margulies has pulled off quite a feat. She wrote a memoir that says absolutely nothing.

She spent so much time writing about "when she was young". It is the one-time she went into details and it was way too long. I am willing to bet readers did not pick up this book to read about her youth.

Yet when she gets to the parts where, let's face it, readers want to know more about her life, she suddenly clams up.

She mentioned ER and The Good Wife in passing. I believe she spends less than a few pages on each. Clooney and Barinski get shut outs AND THATS IT. We get no juicy tidbits, no funny stories from the sets, NOTHING!

Oh I almost forgot, you have to read very closely to catch that one sentence where she writes about meeting her "to be" husband.

I have never read a memoir with so little dialogue and humor.

Save your money and get it from the library.

A Fascinating Story-filled Memoir

The opening of this audiobook, Julianna Margulies revisits her well-known character from the CBS legal drama THE GOOD WIFE of Alicia Florrick. Her childhood family nickname was sunshine girl. The book is full of interesting stories from her childhood and her moving from France to England to the United States and back to England then the United States. Her adaption of the English accent as well as a New England accent was excellent training for her eventual career as an actress.

After many chapters with the chaos of her childhood, Margulies brings her book SUNSHINE GIRL, AN UNEXPECTED LIFE to the present. Listeners learn about her marriage to Keith, an attorney, and the birth of their son, Kieran and their second home in view of the Catskill Mountains in Upper State New York. This memoir is well-written and held my attention the entire book. It is worthwhile listening and recommended.

W. Terry Whalin is an editor and the author of more than 60 books including his latest 10 Publishing Myths, Insights Every Author Needs to Succeed.

When this one showed up on my library's website I requested it, I liked the actress in ER, so why not learn more about her. Julianna had a crazy childhood, one where I'm surprised she's as normal as she is. Her parents were both a bit out there, the mother especially.

I did like to see how she got into acting and how the role of ER came to her. The choices she made after that were interesting too, not sure that I would have been able to walk away from the money she did, yet her choice made sense too.

By the end of the book you get the idea that she is very happy and settled in her life, something that she has been striving for.

This star has a major misunderstanding of what a "story" is and how to tell it. This book has very few stories, a whole lot of dull facts about a pretty bland life (not "an unexpected life" as the subtitle oddly claims), and puts up giant walls so that we don't get to really know the star at all beyond how anxious she always seems to be.

And if you're looking for any inside information on her big TV shows, forget it. There is virtually nothing about the making of ER beyond a few pages regarding the pilot and her ridiculous decision to leave the show (and give up $27 million). There's also very little about The Good Wife, failing to address the rumors of tension on the set.

Julianna Margulies, who almost always plays sour serious characters on TV, claims to be an upbeat and happy "Sunshine Girl" who paid no real attention to life until she was 35. She moves from country to country, home to home, poor mom to rich dad, seemingly unaware of her own feelings beyond a perfectionist desire in school.

I'm not buying it for a minute. If she really is as ditzy and birdbrain as she comes across on the pages of this book, then she needs some serious mental health help.

Most of the book is about her upbringing--she doesn't even get to finishing high school until literally half way through the book (page 112 out of 229) and even then she returns to her younger years multiple times later in the book. The rest of the book isn't about her TV shows but contains totally insignificant details of routes she took to get somewhere, insignificant jobs, colors in home furnishings, and odd quirks of unknown friends. After a while it feels like she's doing everything she can to avoid talking about the things she's most famous for or about who she really is inside.

The biggest problem in the book is her lack of solid stories--in all those first 112 pages there are facts and some information but almost zero detailed stories. She doesn't seem to understand that simply telling that you went to a country, met a few new friends, and didn't like the dark room you were living in doesn't mean you're telling an actual story. The only significant thing that happens to her, beyond moving a whole bunch, is that she breaks her front teeth, which we hear about multiple times throughout the rest of the book.

There's a real problem with a Hollywood memoir when the most significant memorable thing in the book is a girl breaking her teeth and having trouble with those teeth in adulthood. She gushes over an oddly kind dentist she meets in college who ends up fixing her teeth without charging her, but also creepily following her everywhere for the rest of her life.

Margulies also has a warped view of her divorced parents. Her mother is just plain crazy and Julianna thinks the woman is the best thing in the world. Her father is an outstanding provider and gives her great advice, but she slams him throughout by trying to claim he was distant and uninvolved. Instead, she fails to see that the distance came because her mother put up a big wall that didn't allow her father to cross into her life.

Julianna screams at her dad later in life for not being there more for her, yet the poor guy--who provided everything she ever needed including private school, horses, European trips, month-long vacations, and her college education--was simply stuck because her mother banned him from being an active part of her life. Her mom was the real problem, but Julianna can't admit that. Meanwhile she accepts her mother bringing random hookups and boyfriends to the house or her mom's total irresponsibility at moving the kids without notice and dropping them off at a school where they haven't been enrolled (you read that right). It's sad to see a celebrity blame a father who actually sounds like one of the finest dad's I've read about in a memoir while glossing over the mentally ill mother that actually did the damage.

You don't come away from this book admiring Margulies. She's neurotic to the point of almost having her mother's craziness. The fact that she stuck with a verbally abusive boyfriend for ten years, while she was becoming rich and famous, proves she lacks the inner strength she claims to have. She wants to be nothing like her father who was unable to spend a lot of time with her, so she claims to value and prioritize her own child--while working 14 hours days on a TV show in another country and pushing pro-abortion causes. Typical Hollywood hypocrite.

I didn't find much sunshine in this book at all. It's actually a very dark, sad story of an affluent, successful woman who never really seems happy.

In September 1994, when I was 16 years old, I fell in love with the new hit show, ER. I looked forward to watching it with my parents every Thursday night. I remember hating one season, maybe season 8, and I considered whether or not it was time to make other plans for my Thursdays. I ended up sticking it out, and watched until the show ended in 2009. Just a few years ago, I rewatched all 15 seasons, and it reminded me how much I loved that show, and how invested I was in all of those fabulous characters.

One character I loved was Carol Hathaway. I was so sad when she left the show, but so glad she was able to get the happy ending fans wanted. So when I read that the actress, Julianna Margulies, was writing a book, I couldn’t wait to listen to it!

How delightfully ironic that a girl who wasn’t allowed to watch TV as a kid landed a television role that changed her life. I found it so fascinating how easy acting came to her. I was surprised she hadn’t wanted to do it her whole life! I couldn’t believe her childhood. I thought it was so awesome that she grew up in so many different places in the U.S. and abroad, but I understood that the circ*mstances of those moves were sad and unfair for a kid. I was amazed at the positive attitude she developed, and I appreciated that, in hindsight, she recognizes that those experiences have really helped her in her life. She developed such a will to persevere, and it doesn’t seem like she’s let fame get to her. After all, she did turn down a $27 million dollar contract for a 2-year extension on ER! (I certainly hope I wasn’t one of those fans asking, “What was she thinking?” I just can’t remember.)

I loved listening to her tell about the things she had become passionate about: horseback riding, cooking and baking when she was single in New York (apparently I am never trying paella because I refuse to spend $300 on a pan!), her relationships, particularly with Alec and Rowena, her love of the stage. I loved the story about how the ER job came to be. Her voice was powerful, and her story well written. It was hard to take breaks from listening!

I couldn’t believe some of the stories she shared about her mother, like the boyfriends she had and the houses they loved in, as well as the story of her surprise hair cut. Awful! Her bike accident story brought back memories of my own bike accident. I ended up with a partially fake tooth and plastic surgery to repair the bump on my lip. She ended up with a porcelain implant and later, gum grafts. I smiled at the amazing relationship she forged with the dentist who fixed her tooth. I could see that man being my dad, who was my dentist-to-the-rescue when I needed help.

I didn’t watch The Good Wife, but I am curious to now. She’s made quite a life for herself! It was a joy to hear her story.

Thank you to NetGalley for an ARC of Sunshine Girl.

ER was one of my favorite shows of the late 90s and Julianna Margulies' Carol Hathaway was my favorite character, besides George Clooney's Doug Ross.

When Doug Ross was written off, I continued to watch just for Julianna Margulies until her character arc was completed.

Sunshine Girl was an easy to read memoir with insight into the experiences that shaped the actress as a daughter, sister, friend, woman, mother, and wife.

I was fascinated by her travels, the people she met who would eventually become lifelong friends and the moment she realized she wanted to be an actress was a fascinating turning point to read about.

She also discusses her parents' unconventional parenting, how her mother's behavior influenced her own Type A personality and how she dealt with her father's hands-off approach when she needed his support growing up.

Ms. Margulies is incredibly blessed and lucky to have the family she does, her parents and sisters are incredibly loving and supportive.

She acknowledges that some of her darkest experiences, including a long term relationship with a manipulative man, stemmed from her own lack of self esteem and the resentment she harbored from childhood.

She eventually had to learn let her past go, her anger and resentment, and not let it lead her life.

I really related to this part of her story and I loved the Buddhist tale she recounts as the moment she knew she had to heal herself from the inside out.

I enjoyed Sunshine Girl and I recommend it to any fan of Ms. Margulies.

10/10. It is a beautifully written book and you will enjoy it even if you aren’t familiar with her work. Throughout the book I felt like I was there with her. She described everything so clearly and with so much honesty.

It made me laugh, made me cry, made me angry. And I just have to say that I love her even more now.

She is so much more than an actress. She’s a beautiful human being, a devoted wife and mother, and a loyal friend. This is the most amazing memoir I have ever read. So perfect and honest.

I raced through this memoir, thoroughly enjoying reading about Julianna's life. I wish she had spent more time and detail on her acting career. She was very, very explicit about her childhood and over half of the book was focused on that. I felt that she didn't give as much attention to her career and I was mainly interested in that. However, I loved hearing about her highs and lows and how she navigated a difficult child - looking at the glass as half full, rather than half empty - and turning negatives into positives.

After watching the first season of "The Good Wife" I became a huge fan of Julianna Margulies. I am very curious about this book and can't wait to read it!

I thoroughly enjoyed this memoir. It was very well written, honest, and compelling. Julianna Margulies is a person I would like to have as a friend and I appreciate her sharing what she did. I would recommend this memoir to anyone, even if you aren't a fan of hers as I am. Highly recommended!

I am not usually one for "celebrity memoirs", and when I thought about creating a shelf for those for this book, I realized this book didn't really feel like a celebrity memoir despite being written by an award-winning actor. It took fully 3/4 of the book before Margulies got to ER, let alone the Good Wife. I'd also planned to get this book from the library, but then I found it on the shelves of a local bookstore, and how can you not shop local, especially at these times.

The blurbs make Margulies' childhood seem more privileged, the image of jetting off to Europe with her mom, but the reality was that Margulies made more for the ER pilot in which she was supposed to die than her mother made in a year of teaching and life was not easy for she and her sisters, despite her father's relative wealth from the ad industry. I enjoyed her explanation of trying to fit in, accent wise, as she moved between England and the States throughout her school years and how complicated things were without a base to call home. It certainly put her decision to leave ER in context, as did the written letters she exchanged with her father that contextualized their relationship for her.

For someone who is known for guarding her personal life, I was surprised how much she shared about her mother, sisters and Alec and Bill - I also thought it interesting that she chose to spill the tea on Ron Eldard, but did not name him, although it was clear who she was talking about. It was interesting as she connected the strings later, how she saw her own relationships in the context of her mothers' and what she saw a relationship looking like as she evolved as an adult. I also appreciated her discussion of her anxiety and how animals helped her there.

An interesting read for those who know her from ER or the Good Wife, and a quick read. Would also recommend it to those at all interested in Steiner and eurythmy as she spent some time reflecting on her mothers' studies of both.

Julianna Margulies, a three-time Emmy-winning actress (ER, THE GOOD WIFE), proves herself equally skilled as a writer with this heartfelt, ingratiating and captivating memoir. A natural-born storyteller, Margulies spends the first half of SUNSHINE GIRL spinning tales of growing up with her sisters as their divorced mother constantly uproots them with moves from New York to Paris, England and various states. Her eccentric and self-absorbed mother was constantly searching for herself. "My stability, I learned quickly, depended on my mother's happiness," she writes, "and her state of mind fluctuated with every boyfriend."

Margulies's people-pleasing skills kept everyone around her happy but she seldom nurtured herself. This trait continued with a neglectful and undermining boyfriend she stayed with for a decade. Until, she writes, "At thirty-five, I woke up. Finally admitting to myself that I could not keep living in this state of joylessness." Finally, putting herself first, she left her boyfriend and turned down a $27 million offer to stay with ER for two more years. Two years after moving to New York, she met her husband, had a son and started starring in THE GOOD WIFE. Balancing motherhood and a 60-hour-a-week work schedule is grueling and guilt-inducing. Her son's first two sentences were "Mama work" and "Mama tired."

SUNSHINE GIRL is an ideal book club pick. Margulies's upbeat and humorous globetrotting tales of growing up in a quirky family mix well with her encouraging stories of pursuing an acting career and succeeding. This is the kind of introspective feel-good book that readers will want to share with friends.

The next big book club hit is Julianna Margulies's upbeat, introspective and captivating memoir of growing up amid chaos but finding her way toward a happy ending.

First off thank you NetGalley for the ARC. I found the book to be a quick read but always interesting; the memoir starts off with the preface dropping smack dab in the first episode of The Good Wife she had me), starting with the first chapter she details the history of her parents and grandparents, there are portions of the book that are printed stories that she loves, then there is a chapter devoted to female lawyers (most notably her grandmother). When she gets going into her life with her personal exits good, not great it sometimes feels like she’s holding back. When discussing ER and The Good Wife which took up 15 years of her life it feels more like Cliffs Notes. She’s had a long career and she has to have some stories, I don’t mean dirt or gossip, there were glimpses with her relationship with Tom Fontana and the wonderful kind dentist who became a friend and confidante, more of that would have made the book more interesting, in my opinion.

I was super excited about her memoir because I love so many of the shows she's been in. She had a unique family and an upbringing with lots of travel and instability. The first half of the book is her life until she becomes an actress. It ended up disappointing me in the second half because there are *literally zero anecdotes or stories about her time on ER, The Good Wife, or any other thing she's acted on*. I only recommend if you care nothing about her acting.

If I didn’t think I loved Julianna Marguiles so much this would be a one star book. Maybe I just love the Good Wife? It’s always interesting to hear someone tell their story so I did enjoy getting to know her a little more. But if you don’t love her already, don’t bother with this book, you will not come out liking her more.