The Many Lives of Mama Love is a memoir about addiction. Hardin opens the story with the line, “Reading was my first addiction” (1). From there, Hardin recounts how reading turned to a love of writing, which both functioned as forms of escapism. In college, Hardin sought stronger forms of escapism rooted in a lack of self-acceptance, leading to her abuse of opioids. Her journey of finding her way back to the empowering activity of writing is the core of the memoir.

Hardin is not apologetic about her use of drugs, nor is she repentant. Rather, she understands that her heroin addiction isn’t who she is; it makes her do things she wouldn’t do if she weren’t struggling with addiction. She stresses that an addict’s primary goal is to procure more drugs, and this takes precedence over everything and everyone else in their life: “The truth is simple: Getting high feels better than not getting high. And until that changes, no addict will change” (141). The ability to feel love, joy, and peace—all the things missing from her day-to-day life—makes her unable to stop a behavior that she knows is hurting herself and her loved ones. Hardin is apologetic for the actions she took to maintain her addiction, such as stealing, lying, and betraying others, but she maintains that the person and the addiction can be separated.