Ten Big Reveals from Melissa Gorga's New Book

Reconciling with her sister-in-law wasn't the only feat Melissa Gorga accomplished this year. Soon we'll literally be able to take a page from the book of the "loyal wife" with the "sexy life" as she instructs in her Housewives tagline. Love Italian Style: The Secrets of My Hot and Happy Marriage, the first book from the Real Housewives of New Jersey star will be released on September 17, but Melissa has released the first chapter of her tome. From getting builled as a teen to "bad-boy" phase, here are ten shocking revelations she makes.

1. She was a star cheerleader.
In her first year of high school, Melissa was devastated when her name wasn't posted among the list of girls who made the freshman squad. She later learned she'd made the varsity team. "I was as shocked as everyone else. This was unheard of, for a freshman to make varsity," she writes.

2. The Jersey girl lived in Florida...
She began cheering "Gimme an F! Gimme an L! Gimme an O," when, during her junior year of high school, her parents announced they were moving the family to Boca Raton. "I didn’t know much about Florida, but any change would be great," wrote Gorga.

3. ...But she was bullied.
Gorga says the moment she made the varsity squad, the other girls started "sharpening their claws." But things only got worse for Gorga after the move to Florida, where she was taunted for her dark skin and thick accent.

PHOTOS: See Pictures of Melissa Gorga Through the Years.

4. Like, really bullied.
One day Gorga's nose was bloodied by a schoolmate who suspected she was messing around with her boyfriend, even though she hadn't yet kissed a boy. "She already made up in her mind that I was to blame for her problems," writes Gorga, "even though I’d done nothing but be nice. (An interesting foreshadowing, as seen on RHONJ.)"

5. After her dad's death, Melissa acted out and shoplifted.
Melissa was at a sleepover when her mother called to break the news that her father had been killed in a car accident. Melissa writes that she struggled with "feelings of complete and utter despair and terrible anger." She began acting out. One day while shopping with a friend, "I put on a $19 sweater at a store," she shares, explaining her brush with the law. "Even though I had enough money to cover it in my wallet, I walked out with the sweater on." A store employee caught the teen, who was forced to appear in court. Fortunately, she was only ordered to pay a fine.

6. She went through a bad boy phase.
Around the same time she got in trouble for stealing that sweater, Melissa began dating bad boys, on a mission to transform them. "I wanted to change them into nicer, sober, non-cheating non-douche bags," she writes. That is, until eventually realizing, "Assholes don’t change."

PHOTOS: Go Inside the RHONJ Lake George Retreat.

7. She's gone from riches to rags...and back to riches.
Although hers was the first family on the block with a Lincoln Town Car and her parents wore his and hers Rolexes, when her father passed away, Melissa, her sisters and mother were left with practically nothing. "All of my father’s money was tied up in the properties that he had bought to develop," she explains in her book. "There was no life insurance. No college fund. Hardly any savings."

8. Her parents had a long passionate love affair...
"My parents’ mad love swept them into marriage at 18. That passion never waned, throughout their twenty-seven years of marriage," she shares.

PHOTOS: See the Gorga's Family Album.

9. ...But it was complicated.
RHONJ fans will remember when Gorga visited her mother earlier this season to discuss her intentions to reveal some of the less romantic aspects of her parents' marriage in her book. Although he was a loving father, at times, Gorga writes, her dad's partying ways were too much for her mother to take. "A few times, my mother couldn’t take one more minute stewing at home for my father to return. She told my sisters and I to throw clothes in our hampers, and we’d take them to my grandmother’s house in the middle of the night."

10. She prayed for husband Joe.
Every night for two years before meeting the man who would become her husband, Melissa prayed, “Please God, send me a good man...Let him be a man who will fix my car brakes, and knows what it means to love unconditionally."

Are you shocked by any of Melissa's revelations? And are you excited to read Love Italian Style? Tell us in the comments.