Red

Author, GeoLyn Mantei

Founder Muddy Stilettos
Published by Muddy Stilettos
Coming August 25, 2026

Some things leave a mark that doesn’t fade. Some threads, once pulled, unravel everything — and lead you somewhere true.

Red is a memoir fifteen years in the making. It follows one woman through three distinct lives: the child who learned to go silent, the young woman who burned through everything trying to feel something, and the mother who fought in a courtroom for the right to raise her own children. Three characters. One red thread running through all of them.

This is not a story about being saved. It is a story about what it actually takes to survive — the grief you carry before you can name it, the coping that looks like destruction from the outside, and the quiet, stubborn work of becoming someone you can finally recognize.

Bug. Jo. GeoLyn.
The same woman. The whole story.

What Readers Are Saying

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“Raw, courageous, and impossible to forget.”

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“Fans of memoirs like Educated and The Glass Castle will find something special in RED. It is a deeply personal story that explores family dysfunction, resilience, and self-discovery while never losing sight of hope.”

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“RED is a story that lingers long after the final page.”

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“As someone who has lived through trauma, I can honestly say RED felt real. Not polished. Not perfect. Real. The author doesn’t write from a place of hindsight and healing alone—she lets us sit in the confusion, fear, shame, and loneliness while it’s happening. That honesty is what makes this book unforgettable.”

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“Red broke my heart and stitched it back together again.”

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“I saw pieces of myself in every stage of this book. The feeling of not belonging. The secrets we carry. The relationships we sabotage because we’re afraid of being truly seen. RED made me feel less alone. It reminded me that healing isn’t a straight line, and that even broken parts deserve love.”

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“Written with raw vulnerability and remarkable emotional intelligence, RED is both heartbreaking and deeply human. The author masterfully captures the voice of a child, a teenager, and a woman searching for herself across decades of pain and transformation. Readers will not easily forget her journey.”

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“One of the most powerful memoirs I’ve read in years. RED explores family, abandonment, abuse, love, addiction, identity, and healing with remarkable honesty. The shifting perspectives between Bug, Jo, and GeoLyn create a beautiful portrait of how childhood experiences shape us long into adulthood. Every chapter left our book club with something to discuss.”

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“Mantei writes the way people actually survive things — not in one clean arc, but in pieces, under different names, across years.”

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“Red is the kind of book that stays with you long after the last page. GeoLyn Mantei writes with the precision of someone who has lived every word — and the courage to let you witness it.”

About the Author

GeoLyn Mantei has been writing her whole life. Fifteen years ago she decided it was time for a book — but the story wasn’t finished yet. So she kept living it, in the spaces between building a business, raising two children, and discovery slowly, who she actually was.

Red began as a way of making sense of things that didn’t make sense. But along the way, it became something else: a reckoning with three versions of herself she hadn’t known how to hold at once. Bug, the child who went quiet and learned to disappear. Jo, the young woman who reached for anything that numbed the noise. GeoLyn, the mother who stopped running and learned, finally, to hold all of herself at once.

She is the founder of Muddy Stilettos and Moda Partners & Academy. 

She lives in Nelson, British Columbia, Canada.

Red is her first book. It took exactly as long as it needed to.

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Meet The Characters

Bug
A tender, watchful child who learned early to go still — to make herself invisible when visibility felt dangerous. Bug builds walls out of anger and silence, finding safety in music, in faith, and in the first person who ever made her feel seen.
Jo
Young, beautiful, and trying desperately to outrun what she cannot yet name, Jo reaches for whatever numbs the noise — alcohol, self-destruction, the wrong people in the right moments. Her story is about the masks you wear when you don’t know who you are underneath, and what it costs to keep wearing them.
GeoLyn
A mother of two navigating a custody battle that stretched across nearly a decade, she builds a business, fights in a courtroom, and finds — slowly, imperfectly — her own voice. Her chapters are where the red thread comes home and what survival looks like when you finally stop running

Follow the Journey.

Follow along as Red comes to life — behind-the-scenes from the writing process, character moments, and the road to release August 25, 2026.

@red_thebook  The book’s home. Story updates, character content, and the visual world of Red.

@muddystilettos  The publisher behind Red. Community,content, and what’s coming next.

@geolynmantei  – The author, in her own words and a look into her life.