What I appreciated most was the author’s voice. The writing feels natural, unforced, and deeply authentic—more like a heartfelt conversation with a trusted friend than a traditional memoir or spiritual book. Page after page, I found myself drawn into her reflections, insights, and experiences without feeling preached to or pressured in any way.

The book contains many valuable lessons about spiritual practice, self-discovery, and living with awareness. I highlighted numerous passages that I know I will return to in the future.

What touched me most, however, was the author’s personal story. Reading about her family background and early life was both heartbreaking and inspiring. The resilience, honesty, and grace with which she shares her journey left a deep impression on me. The woman who emerges from these pages is someone who has weathered life’s storms and come through them with remarkable openness, wisdom, and lightness.

I was fortunate enough to meet the author during a retreat before reading this book. She struck me as a somewhat mysterious “girl” who would stop along the roadside to pick up beautiful stones and carefully stack them into little cairns. I often found myself wondering what kind of inner world she carried within her.

This book gave me the opportunity to step into that world, and I am grateful that she chose to share her story with us. Through her honesty, vulnerability, and wisdom, I came to know not only her journey but also the strength, resilience, and grace that emerged from it. It was a gift to be invited into her experience, and I finished the book with a deeper appreciation for both the author and the path she has walked.

UnMoored is one of those books that stays with you long after you've finished reading it. What I appreciated most was Leena's direct and approachable writing style. She writes about deeply personal experiences with honesty and courage, yet never makes the book feel heavy. Instead, it feels like a heartfelt conversation with someone who has done the difficult work of healing and is generously sharing what she learned along the way.

As a clinician, I was especially struck by Leena's holistic approach to healing. She reminds us that healing isn't just physical—it encompasses the mind, emotions, and spirit as well. In my own work, I have come to believe these dimensions are deeply interconnected. I appreciated how she describes healing her body as opening the door to healing emotionally and mentally. Her journey reinforced something I see every day: true healing happens when we care for the whole person.

As an Indian American, I also connected with many of the cultural expectations and challenges woven throughout her story. And, as a Scorpio, I couldn't help but smile at some of her observations.

Leena's story is inspiring not because she presents herself as someone who has all the answers, but because she shares her journey with humility, self-awareness, and hope. UnMoored is a moving memoir about resilience, self-discovery, and the lifelong journey of healing. I highly recommend it.

A really delightful book. Super easy to read - the paragraphs aren't dense, so it reads really fast and light even though it 's a memoir. The book does cover a lot! You feel like you're on a exhilarating ride, a rich chronicle of a life thats fully and vigorously lived. Each chapter conveys a completely new sense of space and phase of life, even the style of writing changes to match that experience - sometimes witty, sometimes raw. She is a funny writer! It felt like a kaleidoscope of so many things, yet it was fun to read. The writing is very evocative, intelligent and self-aware.

There is trauma work, yes. It came up like such a brutal shock in the middle of the book that I had to go back and rethink and reflect on the previous chapters. It's a testament to the author’s courage and optimism that she chose not to dwell on it. She seems more focused on sharing all her learnings, her joy, and her tips and tricks to lead a more mindful and joyous life - which she shares in a very relatable way. I really did enjoy reading the book, and will read it again.

Rather than reading like a self-help manual, the book feels like conversing with the author herself as she brings her travels and dating stories to life with vivid details, while still staying brutally honest about the messier years, the self-doubt and the moments of quiet despair along the way.

The book has a spiritual undercurrent throughout the narrative without being preachy or prescriptive. Its about the author's faith that has rebuilt slowly through small daily choices rather than a single dramatic revelation.

By the final chapters, the tone shifts from survival to hope, a belief that healing is possible because the author lived it, chapter by chapter, scar by scar.

By the last page, I felt both humbled and lighter, as though I was given the permission to be a work in progress and yet complete.

A beautifully written whole-person, complete sensory, fully human, genre defying life journey. Leena Palav exemplifies the craft of storytelling from a dialogue with the “dear reader” inviting you into turbulent waters with assurances that pleasant sunny shores are ahead and with the combination of prose, poetry, narrative, illustrations let’s you - the reader - experience this intense human experience without unnecessary graphic detail. In this way, the story unfolds where you, dear reader, can place yourself into first hand accounts - to see, feel, breathe, immerse. Leena’s uplifting spirit endures with warmth, humor, and humility. A story structured in pieces is artfully woven with steps forwards then backwards, inward and outward, that once you’ve reached the last page - the beginning, middle and end is redefined and you see an entirely different narrative with layers previously unknown - a book that takes on layers of meaning upon re-reading. Leena shows how it’s possible to live a life of riches without being weighed down by things. A transformative experience.

This book was exactly what I needed! UnMoored is a beautifully written spiritual journey that I found myself relating to in so many ways. I appreciated how Leena openly shared her vulnerabilities and shined a light on how we can find spiritual freedom by breaking free from the everyday conditioning we've been taught to accept.

If you're on your own spiritual journey or simply feeling a little lost, this book may be exactly what you need, too!

Thank you, Leena, for sharing such a deeply personal journey of healing and helping others along the way

I just finished reading UnMoored and really loved it. I’ve read quite a few memoirs over the years, about trauma, healing, and personal transformation, and what I appreciated so much about this book was that it felt deeply honest without becoming heavy-handed or self-important.

The book goes to some very deep emotional places, and at first I wasn’t always sure where it was going, but after a while I settled into the flow of it and really connected with Leena’s journey. She has a knack for describing scenes so vividly that you feel as though you are right there beside her.

She shares her struggles with unflinching honesty — running away from her first meditation retreat and later finding the courage to return, her experiences with self-harm, her work around sexual healing, and her mistakes as a parent. What I especially appreciated was that her growth is not presented as linear or neat.Sometimes she revisits the same themes, but each time you can feel that she has matured a little more. She openly shares the setbacks and lessons along the way, and you see how she slowly evolves by building on what she has previously learned.

Chapter 4 felt like the emotional core of the book and hit me like a gut punch. Yet the writing is so restrained and beautifully controlled that it made me cry. And almost immediately, the author naturally moves back into joy, beauty, humor and introspection.

All of the writing is gorgeous and kept me hooked until the very end. You can feel her compassion and delight in all the things she notices, whether she is describing flowers, nature, or moments with lovers. The prose is lyrical, witty, and sensual without ever trying too hard. I also loved the poems woven throughout the book, and many of the reflections and frameworks she shares gave me things to think about in my own life.

Overall, I found this book emotionally relatable, beautifully written, and very, very human. I’m very glad I read it and would absolutely recommend it as a deeply satisfying read.

I feel so lucky to have ready Leena’s memoir of her healing journey.. it’s unlike anything I’ve read before and it really gave me pause to consider aspects of my own life and how I might benefit too from the learnings in her experiences.

Leena took a big chance and did something that most people will never do.. acting on instinct and intuition, she cut loose from the mooring lines that otherwise held her life in it’s safe harbor, and she allowed herself to drift a bit before setting sail to places unknown. Reading at times like a breezy travelogue with interesting characters and insightful lessons, you find yourself joining in the joy of discovery along the way. But at other times, the depth of feeling and the raw emotion that come through the words on the page give you pause. There were moments that all I could do was set the book down and reflect on what I just read, sometimes dabbing tears set off by the intimate relatability of the moment.

Leena’s candor and raw honesty in relating her experiences is admirable. She allows us to be right there with her at every turn, in moments that many authors shy away from. I think this must have required a lot of bravery on her part, but it’s through this open sharing that we can relate so well to the intimate dynamics shaping her journey. To be able to feel just a bit of emotions flowing through her in the moment.

Leena’s writing style flows easily and is as accessible as talking with a friend. But what really set it apart for me is this unique ability that she must have as an observer of the details that make a moment memorable… and then the ability to use words to paint these scenes for us. Maybe it’s in a childhood memory of the musty jars of herbs and potions in the Ayurvedic healer’s shop. Or the feeling of the sunlight filtering through the leaves in her host’s sunroom. A wisp of hair tucked behind the ear by a potential lover. These minute details somehow make the experiences tangible and relatable, and they put us in the moment together with her.

I was very happy to read this book and would happily recommend to others

Leena Palav’s UnMoored is the rare memoir that refuses to polish pain into platitudes. It’s candid, sometimes messy, and consistently intelligent—an account of a high-achieving life dismantled on purpose, then rebuilt around something sturdier than status: inner freedom.

Blending the introspective depth of Maybe You Should Talk to Someone, the spirit of travel and self-exploration found in Eat, Pray, Love, and the spiritual clarity of The Untethered Soul, UnMoored offers a deeply personal yet widely relatable path through transformation.

Palav’s memoir begins in Houston, with a marriage cracking, work unraveling, and the author’s days shrinking to survival—kids, silence, and a garden that becomes both refuge and training ground. From there she pivots to New York City, chasing newness with a runner’s grit and a beginner’s hope: meetups, bikes, temples, dating apps, and the awkward bravery of wanting touch again. The book then opens outward—hostels in North Europe, farms and strangers, long walks, and the humbling practice of “letting go” in real time. Midway, a raw Mumbai flashback reframes everything, and what felt like reinvention sharpens into honest trauma work. By DC and finally Auroville, the journey becomes less about winning life and more about listening to it—service, boundaries, nature, breath, and a spirituality that’s earned rather than declared.

Palav is at the center of the book—analytical, funny, restless—yet the book is quietly crowded: her sons’ steady love, friends who text wisdom at 6 a.m., lovers who trigger healing and confusion, and mentors who offer tools without saving her. The writing mixes memoir scenes with poems, lists, and “corporate-brain” frameworks (surprisingly effective).

I finished UnMoored feeling I’d spent time with a real person—flawed, brave, and stubbornly alive. It doesn’t promise a neat transformation; it shows the cost of one, and the quiet joy of finally coming home to yourself.

UnMoored by Leena Palav is a deeply honest and inspiring memoir about healing, self-discovery, and finding happiness beyond success. The author shares her journey from living a seemingly perfect life—with a successful career, a family, and financial stability—to leaving everything behind in search of inner peace and freedom.
What makes this book special is its honesty. Leena doesn't pretend that healing is easy. Instead, she openly talks about childhood trauma, emotional pain, fear, and the courage it takes to face them. Through travel, meditation, dance, nature, and self-reflection, she slowly learns to let go of control and reconnect with herself.
The writing is simple, heartfelt, and easy to understand. It feels less like reading advice and more like listening to someone share their life story with sincerity. While the book touches on spirituality and alternative healing practices, its central message is universal: true happiness comes from accepting yourself and living authentically.
Overall, UnMoored is a thoughtful and uplifting memoir that encourages readers to look inward, embrace change, and believe that healing is possible. It is an inspiring read for anyone searching for purpose, emotional growth, or the courage to begin again.

I am not a big reader of either self-help books or memoirs, but thoroughly enjoyed and was moved to tears by several parts of Palav's gripping journey.

Picked this up on a friend's recommendation as an example of an apparently highly successful (if atypical – and maybe not possible for everyone!) attempt to reinvent oneself after divorce, which I have also been struggling with. But there is much more to it; I would highly recommend it also to anyone looking to heal from trauma or self-harm, or seeking (or in the process of) a self-guided spiritual awakening— connecting, in mid-life and without much training, to the divine, and its expression in everyone and everything.

Through exploring them herself, Palav also provides a guide and introduction to more modalities of healing than one could count – types of psychotherapy, meditation, bodywork, astrology, spiritual texts, and more. Although not explored in great detail, all these are touched on in wider variety, and more personally and honestly (precisely because in the context of the Palav perhaps rather naively seeking them all out), than I expect they are in very many other works. Without feeling at all like a list, this ends up providing a broad menu (with many references and threads to follow) to her fellow seekers. Well worth the read!

Unmoored is a raw, honest, and deeply moving account of Leena's journey from trauma to healing. With remarkable courage and vulnerability, she takes readers through the pivotal events of her life, showing how she confronted trauma, reclaimed her voice, and discovered her authentic self.

Having known Leena for more than 30 years, I can attest to the strength and resilience reflected in these pages. I highly recommend this book to anyone seeking an inspiring and compelling story of overcoming betrayal, adversity, and emotional pain. She overcame betrayal and pain inflicted by those close to her and emerged stronger.

The author is a dear friend I have known for over two decades and there are facets of her life story that are revelations. The book captures Leena's journey of healing, but also her empirical study of a wide variety of therapies and learning to love herself just as she is. I could not put the book down and found myself laughing with her, crying with her and cheering for her in equal measure. Highly recommend this book!