Sorry Not Sorry: Dreams, Mistakes, and Growing Up

Actress, singer, and former Glee star Rivera looks back on her career and the hit TV series, revealing that the road to fame was riddled with missteps and challenges. Her mother procured an agent for her daughter before she could walk, and Rivera was in her first commercial when she was seven; the young Rivera also appeared on The Royal Family (with Redd Foxx), The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, and Family Matters. Even as a child, Rivera reveals, she "liked the responsibility of acting," and when her family fell on financial hard times, she was the only member with money in the bank and an unemployment check. During adolescence her career plummeted, she succumbed to an eating disorder, and her parents divorced. Just when she was about to ditch acting, however, her mother encouraged her to stay in the game, and shortly thereafter she landed the Glee role of Santana Lopez, a character she developed as she herself grew up. Sassy and engaging, Rivera's memoir tells of struggles with self-image, failed romance, and finding her place in the world and onstage as a girl with a racially mixed background. Each chapter ends with a section called "Sorry: Not Sorry," reminding readers that so-called mistakes are lessons. Millennial readers and aspiring performers will be particularly drawn to Rivera's never-give-up "keep it moving" outlook. (Sept.)