As a burn victim myself, this book has amazing insight through the emotional journey. I connected more than I expected. Many people in the world do not even know what burn victims go through, you just happen to notice us on the street as being different. This book will let you realize that in reality we are not different, we just have a rare, amazing story to share, and this book shares J.R.'s story brilliantly!

Loved this book...mainly because I think J.R. Martinez is so incredible! When I look at what he has been through, I really don't have any problems!

Great story, great man.

I bought this book because J.R. has intrigued me since I first saw him on All My Children, which I admit I have watched for decades, and I was hoping for a truly inspirational story about this fascinating, charismatic young man. I did enjoy reading about his journey, but I felt there was something lacking. It was written simply, which reflects his lack of education and writing skills, but this also endears the story because it's from his heart and in his words. (well, almost since he had a writi...

You may know J. R. Martinez due to his fairly recent celebrity. In 2003, he was a nineteen-year-old soldier in Iraq. Only in the country for a month, and not yet battle-experienced, he was driving a Humvee when he hit a roadside bomb.Martinez remembers this event in slow motion, saw his hands burning and then his face. When his fellow soldiers tried to pull him from the vehicle, his skin came away in their hands.Martinez was a very good looking guy. He says that he was always afraid of Freddy Kr...

I got to hear J. R. Martinez in person as he was a keynote speaker at the Texas Library Association Annual Conference in April 2013. He is a positive, energetic person. He shared much of his life's story in his inspirational message. This book fills in many of the finer details of his life experience, from the struggles during his growing-up years through the explosion and aftermath which has changed his life.He heroically and truthfully shares from his heart about the pain, anger, and confusion...

I just finished reading this book, and am writing this through tears of joy. J.R. Martinez's book is so full of life, heart, spirit, courage, and strength, you feel it radiate through the book. It also shows the never-ending capacity of a mother's love. I truthfully admire his determination to live a full and normal life, in spite of abnormal circumstances; it takes a very special kind of person to be willing to put themselves on display to be gawked at, whispered about, in order to not only bri...

Don't waste your time! When I read this book, I wanted to slap J.R. and his chronicles of girlfriends and poor father figures. When I closed the book, I literally spit at it. From the beginning of this book, J.R. rubbed me the wrong way. He was cocky in describing himself growing up and I didn't appreciate his bragging about continually breaking rules--at home, at school, at Army Basic Training, in Iraq, and on and on. Yes, he was born into poor circumstances, his mom had a crazy rough life, and...

I thought this was very truthful and enlightening about what I R went through in Iraq and his journey back.

Mr. Martinez will be appearing at Ontario City Library in April 2013 to discuss his book. So I decided I would read it in preparation for that visit. I don't think I would have picked it up otherwise. I was pleasantly surprised. I was able to finish the entire book without wincing or being bored. His experiences before, during and after Iraq were particularly interesting and moving. I wasn't as interested in his professional trip to Hollywood though, but as that is why he's able to write this bo...

J.R.'s story is such an interesting one. I've had the pleasure of listening to one of his motivational talks, and this book provides even more detail behind the man he has become. J.R.'s writing style is very conversational, making this book easy to read - and hard to put down because it felt like ending a conversation in the middle of a story.

Great and inspiring story. MNot best written, but still impactful

I think J.R.. Martinez's purpose for writing this book was to show people that no matter what struggles you go through you have to stay positive, be thankful and do nothing but push for your goal. As a kid he had many struggles that most kids/teens don't go through. His mother and him were living paycheck to paycheck hoping that was enough to get by. He stayed positive and kept pushing for what he wanted to do, which was play college football.The theme in this story is probably to "always stay p...

I think J.R.. Martinez's purpose for writing this book was to show people that no matter what struggles you go through you have to stay positive, be thankful and do nothing but push for your goal. As a kid he had many struggles that most kids/teens don't go through. His mother and him were living paycheck to paycheck hoping that was enough to get by. He stayed positive and kept pushing for what he wanted to do, which was play college football.The theme in this story is probably to "always stay p...

This is a wonderful book, I had never heard of J.R. until Dancing With The Stars. I admired his ability to overcome his burns received in Iraq. He has such a positive attitude. But, in reading this book you learn that he earned that attitude the hard way. He went from being depressed and angry to being thankful and helping other soldiers in the burn unit to deal with their own wounds.My heart goes out to all military personnel injured in the line of duty. Having dealt with some serious burn vict...

I first became aware of J. R. through the soap All My Children, watched him grow as an actor and then followed his competition on Dancing with the Stars. It is impossible to resist his infectious smile (which he says he owes to his mother Maria).Knowing only the basic facts of his injury and recovery, I anticipated reading his autobiography and was not disappointed. His enthusiasm and compassion come through in the book; also the shock and despair during the early part of his recovery. I read al...

Amazing! I cried and laughed out loud. I want to meet JR!

Grew up poor with single parent got badly burned in combat. Story of how he overcomes the odds. B+

J.R. Martinez wrote a book called "Full of Heart." J.R. wrote this book to show people and inform people what he went through being in the army and also what he went through as a child. The kind of audience J.R. was reaching out to is wounded soldiers like himself and also people who had a hard time growing up.The theme of the book is to look at the positive side of things and to not dwell in the past. J.R. was trying to say that even though he was burnt and went through all of that pain and suf...

This book tells the story of JR Martinez, who I wadi introduced to when he won the Dancing with the Stars Championship a few seasons ago. I liked him on the show, but did not really know anything about him, so I wax curious to hear his story.I enjoyed the book. It's an easy read - in fact during the early stages of the book I almost felt like he was writing to a juvenile audience. The story got much more interesting as he talked about his life immediately preceding and after the injury. At the e...