Rome wasn’t built in a day, and neither was Juicy.

Sheree Joseph’s memoir takes us along with her as she traverses the globe—San Francisco, tomato Europe, a quick stopover in potato Europe, and, of course, across Sydney—collecting stories, brick by brick, to not only rediscover herself and her power amidst grief, heartbreak and a slew of unworthy boys, but also piece together a masterful debut.

Joseph’s turn of phrase is brilliant. (I mean, is there a more perfect subtitle for a book than ‘How to live a life in the wreckage of expectations‘?!) I lost count of how many times a line or paragraph sucker-punched me so hard, I had an audible reaction: ‘OH. MY. GOD.’

Perhaps the character Eleni put it best about Sheree and Juicy: ‘There’s just something about you. I don’t know what it is, some kind of wisdom or just, like, the possibility of life happening so fully. You just make me want to live in my life more.’

That’s the magic, the secret sauce in Juicy—and no wonder it’s called that. The words, rich, plump and full of sweet nectar, literally drip off the page. It’s beautiful and messy; pages brimming with life and adventure, yet sometimes capturing the mundaneness and simplicity of life; romantic and heartbreaking; devastating yet hopeful; flirty and vibrant; literal LAUGH OUT LOUD moments; the vivid language and evocation of religious imagery and Mesopotamian mythology, transporting you wherever Sheree is: a rave in Sydney, the streets or beaches of Marseille and Puglia, the Festa di Sant’Anna in Ischia.

Or making you contemplate whether you’re Team Adrien or Team Nass… or Antoine or Freddy. Before settling on Team Sheree because you realise none are worthy of disrupting a woman’s peace.

But, above all, this memoir is everything the title hypes it up (and rightfully so) to be: perfectly OTT, too much, opulent… juicy.

And at a time when people are clambering into cinemas for another epic—James Cameron’s adaptation of The Odyssey—need I remind people of this one before them?

Juicy by Sheree Joseph is out July 28 wherever you get your books. Run, don’t walk.