I've read many of the books by Little House ladies, but frankly, if that's what you're looking for Melissa Francis' book isn't one of them. (Her Little House time is summed up as "I'm awesome because I can cry on cue.... I got on the show, it was cool.... the end."

Francis is one of those people who fails to understand she grew up in privileged circumstances... (her mother drives a Porsche...)and has wealthy parents who are able bail her out when she has to *gasp* take a menial job as a cashier at college. It deeply offends her because she is apparently better than everyone else because she was on television at a young age.

Francis' mother seems like a jerk.... but Francis doesn't come across as much better. ( )

I picked up this book as I am a big fan of Little House on the Prairie and I remember Missy Francis who played Cassandra for a couple of seasons late in the series.

The book starts off with a bang with a very abusive episode when Missy was about 8. I expected to read a book filled with such tales which would end in her coming out stronger on the other end. However, very little happened after that. Was her mother overbearing? Yes. Did she have irrational bursts of abusive behaviour? No question. But she also gave Melissa her career by being there every minute during auditions, rehearsals and every other thing required.

I admit I did not finish the book. I got about halfway when I realized who Melissa Francis is - the Fox News host (big Trump supporter) who cried because talking about racism made her uncomfortable. I couldn't return the book fast enough.

I was also shocked to read (spoiler alert) that she was in an interview about the book where she held back the death of her sister as some kind of teaser for the book. Twisted, if you ask me.

And for Little House fans, there might be 4 or 5 pages in a 300 page book about the series. ( )

Not my usual genre but i can honestly say i liked it. We have ALL watched tv and looked at characters on the screen with envy. The road to stardom, the chance of simply getting a role, are both filled with stumbling blocks. I think for kids its even worse....they have the need to please as well as stars in their eyes about 'the life'.
Enter Little House on the Prairie..a show most of us have seen at SOME point in our youth. The role of Cassandra was played by Melissa Francis. A perfect example of a child used to fulfill a mothers dreams. A neurotic woman to say the least, narcissistic is perhaps best.
This is Melissa's story. That little girl with huge eyes became a successful human being in the end. Not so much for other family members.....
"Getting straight A's in school was a feather in my cap,but being a successful actress had been a diamond encrusted crown.. ( )

This is an interesting book, enough that I kept reading it. While it's easy to put down, it is good enough that I also was anxious to pick it up again.

The reader sees Melissa grow up with a mother who saw to Melissa’s career as an actress from the time she was an infant. Melissa also went to school, unlike other child actors. Often they are "home schooled" (Melissa's quotation marks) so they are available for auditions. One "home-schooled" third grader, Melissa observed, couldn't even sound out a three-syllable word.

We read other books about poor families having their children work. Melissa did this, too. Sometimes we forget that acting is real work.

As Melissa got older, competition became fiercer, and she got fewer and fewer roles. When she wasn't working, her mother got more unreasonable and lazy. So Melissa went to Harvard, far from her home in California and her mother.

Other reviewers of this book say that they like it less after this point. But I think the opposite. While Melissa's life as a child actor is interesting, that part of her story isn't riveting. But it is while she is in college and after she gets married and moves to San Francisco that the reader really sees her mother’s insanity. She was descending for years and this is the finality. This explains how Melissa could write what she did, say what she said. I now respect Melissa Francis.

I won this book on the blog http://undermyappletree.net/ ( )

I really loved Little House on the Prairie and watched all of the seasons. I don't read very many Hollywood memoirs but this one struck me as pretty interesting especially since I had no idea that Melissa Francis went on to be a business anchor. (on Fox - which IMHO diminishes her success... but that is where I am coming from...:)

This story was a page turner for the most part. I was curious and interested the whole way through. I thought her story was a pretty engaging one.

It does always make me very uncomfortable reading about a family as dysfunctional as this one. Although Melissa Francis has a right to get her story out there - it is so hard to read such an unrelentingly unflattering account as this one. Her mother certainly sounds like she was a crazy person and not a nice one at that - but a public flogging such as this one is hard to read.

Melissa paints herself as the one sane person in a family of seriously flawed and mentally ill individuals. She certainly seemed to persevere despite a very troubled home life.

Little glimpses of her conservative politics poked out now and again - and that was something I found unwelcome (although others obviously might find it something that makes her more sympathetic).

Anyway - as a fan of the show - I thought it was an engaging read although pretty cringe-worthy as well. ( )