My debut novel is a romantic and gritty coming-of-age story set in Seattle during the 1980s. It is a story about adolescents, the ones who don't have their basic needs met. Needs like peace, safety, love and stability, and how this continues to impact them into adulthood. And it is a story about how this cycle of trauma must first be understood in order to break it.

 

The idea for this story was inspired by my home, the Pacific Northwest; the local musicians who started "Grunge," the troubled teenagers who lived on the streets of Pike Place Market, the echoes of racism that affected the community and the hundreds of women who were murdered in what was then called "the serial killer capital of the world."

 

My protagonist is a 16-year-old girl named Montgomery Laine Jackson. She is the daughter of a fallen blues singer, and has just realized she's in love with her best friend. But he knows her too well, even the secrets she is not ready to face, making it feel impossible to open her heart to him. When an eviction notice shows up on her door, Monti will turn to the streets. And as she grows into adulthood she will learn - sometimes the only choices in life are to love and survive.

 

If you'd like to know more, check out the sample reading on my blog!