They Should Have Told Us by Anjelah Oje

They didn't get a manual. So they wrote one — over mimosas.

Brie thought she was losing her mind — one memory lapse, hot flash, and humiliating ER visit at a time — until a call with her oldest friend revealed the truth: nobody had warned them about what midlife and menopause could really look like.

So Brie did the only reasonable thing. She started a standing Sunday brunch and invited women to say the quiet part out loud.

What began as one conversation became a table full of women discovering that the things they thought were uniquely wrong with them had names, explanations, and plenty of company.

Fifty women. Fifty stories. Fifty experiences nobody prepared them for.

Brain fog. Hot flashes. Rage. Changing bodies. Changing relationships. And the kind of dry humor that gets you through all of it.

They Should Have Told Us is a laugh-until-you-cry journey through midlife, menopause, friendship, and the unexpected freedom of getting older — told the way women really talk about it: honestly, loudly, messily, and with plenty of laughs.

Because sometimes the greatest relief is hearing another woman say:

"Wait... that happens to you too?"

Pull up a chair. The mimosas are bottomless, and so is the company.