Readers and fans of Girl in Pieces by Kathleen Glasgow, Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson, Scars by Cheryl Rainfield, Before You Break by Kyla Stone, and Girl, Interrupted by Susanna Kaysen will enjoy this emotional read and series about a girl who turns to cutting to manage her pain and eventually breaks free.

Books in the Rowan Slone series: A Life, Redefined (releasing March 12, 2020) A Life, Forward (releasing November 5, 2020) A Life, Freed (releasing June 10, 2021) 

When the darkness is too great, When the pain is too real, There is nothing but sharp edges, Razor slices, To remind me that I am alive.

Seven years ago, an innocent act by Rowan Slone turned her life into a nightmare. Since the age of ten she’s lived with the burden of her baby brother’s death. Now she is seventeen and all she wants to do is graduate high school, go to college, and escape the loveless family she has endured all these years—the same family that holds her responsible for his death. But no one holds her responsible more than herself, and she turns to cutting to ease the pain.

When long-time crush Mike Anderson invites her to the Prom, suddenly her future looks brighter. Rowan’s younger sister, Trina, however, is determined to ruin her new-found happiness, no matter the cost. And when Rowan discovers her mother’s long-held secret, she finds herself teetering on the edge of an abyss.

Can Rowan find the strength to move toward the future or is she doomed to dwell in the past?