''True Love'' (Spanish: ''Amor Verdadero'') is a book written by the American entertainer

Jennifer Lopez Jennifer Lynn Affleck (' Lopez; born July 24, 1969), also known as J.Lo, is an American singer, actress and dancer. In 1991, she began appearing as a Fly Girl dancer on the sketch comedy television series '' In Living Color'', where she re ...

. A

hardcover A hardcover, hard cover, or hardback (also known as hardbound, and sometimes as case-bound) book is one bound with rigid protective covers (typically of binder's board or heavy paperboard covered with buckram or other cloth, heavy paper, or o ...

edition of the book was published in English and Spanish on November 4, 2014, by Celebra, a division of the

Penguin Group Penguin Group is a British trade book publisher and part of Penguin Random House, which is owned by the German media conglomerate Bertelsmann. The new company was created by a merger that was finalised on 1 July 2013, with Bertelsmann initia ...

. A portion of the proceeds from ''True Love'' goes to the Lopez Family Foundation, a

nonprofit organization A nonprofit organization (NPO) or non-profit organisation, also known as a non-business entity, not-for-profit organization, or nonprofit institution, is a legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public or social benefit, in co ...

co-founded by Lopez that is dedicated to improving the health and well-being of women and children.

Background and development

While on her first headlining concert tour

Dance Again World Tour Dance Again World Tour was the first worldwide concert tour by American entertainer Jennifer Lopez. Throughout the majority of her music career, beginning in 1999, a world tour by Lopez was anticipated, though it never materialized. Following t ...

, Lopez began writing what she described as "a diary of the year I went on tour". To her surprise, as the tour progressed, she came to the realization that what she was writing was a book. Lopez was nervous about writing about certain topics for the book, but later realized that in doing so, she could have a chance to save others from "suffering their own bumps and bruises". According to Lopez, she had to do a lot of "soul searching and praying", as she did not want it to be "mistaken for anything other than it was", which is "sharing something I learned with people I could help." In ''True Love'', Lopez also discusses suffering from low self-esteem issues, partly as a result of her being in the public eye.

Louise Hay Louise Lynn Hay (October 8, 1926 – August 30, 2017) was an American motivational author and the founder of Hay House. She authored several New Thought self-help books, including the 1984 book ''You Can Heal Your Life''. Early life and ...

's book,

You Can Heal Your Life ''You Can Heal Your Life'' is a 1984 self-help and new thought book by Louise Hay. It was the second book by the author, after ''Heal Your Body'' which she wrote at age 60. After Hay appeared on ''The Oprah Winfrey Show'' and ''Donahue'' in the ...

, is mentioned in the book, and her meeting with the author, as a major guide in working on herself and in writing ''True Love'' itself. The book was officially announced on May 19, 2014, by Celebra, a division of the

. Of the novel, Lopez said: “Writing 'True Love' has been a deeply cathartic, personal, and vulnerable experience. If it were not for the love and courage given to me by my children, this story wouldn’t have been possible. While I struggled with the decision of whether or not to release this book, I recognized that if it could touch even just one person then it would honestly become one of the most fulfilling endeavors of my life." Lopez initially did not intend to include content about her recent divorce from

Marc Anthony Marco Antonio Muñiz Rivera (born September 16, 1968), known professionally as Marc Anthony, is an American singer, songwriter, and actor. He is the top selling tropical salsa artist of all time. A three-time Grammy Award and six-time Latin Gr ...

in ''True Love'', but said "the book evolved into something different than what I had intended it to be because of what I went through".

Reception

''True Love'' reached number seven on ''The New York Times'' Best Seller list, and number five on the Hardcover non-fiction chart. In a review, Elise De Los Santos of ''

RedEye Red eye, red-eye, redeye or variants may refer to: Related to the eye * Red-eye effect, in photographs * Red eye (medicine), an eye that appears red due to illness or injury * Red, an extremely rare eye color due to albinism * Red eyeshine ...

'' remarked, "Like a broken record, she repeats her “love yourself” mantra again and again throughout the book, which devolves at certain points into a one-sided life-coaching session." Santos, however, also noted that "Her strongest suit is showing the human side of the celebrity tabloid fodder we all eat up."

References

{{Jennifer Lopez

External links

*AALBC.co
True Love - Book Review
Works by Jennifer Lopez American autobiographies Books about actors Books about singers 2014 non-fiction books Literature by Hispanic and Latino American women Penguin Press books