Dear Mom, Dear Dad
On The Feelings We Never Said Out Loud
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Pub Date Jul 12 2026 | Archive Date Jul 29 2026
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Description
Some feelings do not arrive neatly. They arrive as gratitude and resentment in the same breath. As pride and disappointment in the same memory. As love for someone you are still, quietly, trying to forgive.
Dear Mom, Dear Dad is a work of creative nonfiction organized around the emotions most of us never find the words for, the complicated, layered, often contradictory feelings that grow up alongside us inside the homes where we were raised.
Written in two parts, the book moves through the emotions of childhood, safety, joy, grief, anger, shame, and into the harder work of acceptance, distance, forgiveness, and legacy. Each chapter is an honest reckoning with what it means to have been loved imperfectly, and to have loved imperfectly in return.
This is not a book that asks you to forgive your parents. It does not ask you to hold onto resentment either. It only asks you to sit, for a little while, inside the feelings you have been carrying, and to finally give them a name.
Dear Mom, Dear Dad was written for the adult child still trying to reconcile the parent who hurt them with the parent who loved them. And it was written for the parent holding this book wondering if their child feels the same way. For the ones who loved deeply but did not always know how to show it. For the ones who were loved deeply but did not always know how to say it.
For both sides of the same silence.
If you have ever loved a parent imperfectly, or been loved by one imperfectly, this book was written with you in mind.
Advance Praise
I received this an a ARC from Mercy. This isn't my normal genre of choice but the mental health aspect of it drew me in.
I LOVED this lyric essay collection. I could feel the words coming off the paper and the emotion put into it. I was able to resonate with some of it myself and it made me tear up a few times. Anyone struggling with words to say to their parents or parents struggling with their kids, please read this! "I needed my effort to be enough without needing to be the most. I needed my direction to be valid without needing to match the path others had already walked."
Heather Jones, Goodreads, 18th June 2026
Available Editions
| EDITION | Ebook |
| ISBN | 9798180763938 |
| PRICE | $3.99 (USD) |
| PAGES | 61 |
Available on NetGalley
Average rating from 4 members
Featured Reviews
Reviewer 2088235
This is a letter that a child writes to their parents to address both the helpful life lessons and the painful hurts they received from them. It is an exploration of the ways in which our parents shape us, both through action and inaction, through deliberate teachings and incidental demonstration.
This will not be for everyone. In my opinion, this will be helpful for people with parents who were well-meaning but emotionally neglectful. It will not be as impactful for those whose parents were actively abusive. I appreciate the nuanced and measured approach to the subject, and I applaud the author for their ability to engage in perspective-taking.
There are several quotes that stood out to me, but I’d like to share one that feels especially powerful:
“I know I will not get everything right. I will make mistakes with my own children; some I can already predict and some I won’t see until the damage is done. I am not hoping for a perfect record. I have lived long enough inside this family to know that no such thing exists. What I hope for is simpler than that. I hope for the courage to notice when I have caused harm. To say so plainly, without dressing it as something else. To ask for forgiveness without making my child responsible for giving it.”
Ultimately, this is a short but emotionally powerful read that I will likely read again and again.
I’d like to thank NetGalley and Victory Editing NetGalley Co-op for providing me with an advanced reader copy and the opportunity to read and review this book. This review reflects my sincere opinion about the work and is not influenced by receipt of the ARC.
Librarian 115610
An amazingly helpful and insightful book. It has helped me on my journey of discovery about my relationship with my parents. I've been trying to understand their different treatment of all my siblings, this book has helped on that journey. Giving me more questions to ask, and encouraging me to be bold in talking to them about their experiences.
Mandy E, Reviewer
At just 61 pages, this deeply personal memoir is told through reflective letters and journal-like thoughts. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 4 stars
Mercy H writes with remarkable transparency, and while the stream-of-consciousness style became a bit repetitive at times, I appreciated the honesty on every page.
“The older I become, the harder it is to reduce either of you to only the moments that wounded me.”
“The goal is not to erase my past, but to stop letting it dictate my future.”
“I know now that love can exist even where understanding failed, and that parents can carry wounds they have never named.”
Thank you to Victory Editing NetGalley Co-op and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.
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