And Then There Was Us by Kern Carter

When you can read it: April 9, 2024.

Coi is just eighteen years old, but has already survived years of physical and verbal abuse from her mother. After being kicked out of her mother's house at age fourteen, Coi has lived with her father, and together they've created a peaceful life. That peace ends suddenly when her mother dies.

While Coi struggles to find kindness in her heart for the woman who only hurt her, she starts having lucid dreams, forcing her to relive moments of abuse and emotional trauma that eventually led to Coi's abandonment.

Her mother's passingalso reopens the door to her mother's side of the family, including her beloved younger half-sister, Kayla, her stepfather and her grandmother.Each of them challenge Coi's long-held views about her mother, especially Kayla, who, Coi realizes, is taking their mother's loss hard. As she reconnects with her family, Coi learns to see parts of her mother she never experienced, and for the first time since she was abandoned, opens her heart to forgiveness.(From Tundra Books)

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Kern Carter is a Toronto author and freelance writer. His other books include the novellaThoughts of a Fractured Soul, the novelBeauty Scars and the YA novel Boys and Girls Screaming. Kern also has writing credits inForbes, theNew York Times,Global Citizen,Elle Magazineand Fatherly.com.