C.I Jerez's At The Island's Edge: Healing After Trauma, Family Bonds, and Second Chances
Description
This week, I talk with C.I. Jerez about her emotional and empowering novel At the Island's Edge. We dive into the inspiration for the story, how she explored PTSD, and why she chose to write about a single mom who served in the army.
An Iraq War veteran returns to Puerto Rico to reconnect with―and confront―the past in a heart-wrenching novel about duty, motherhood, and the healing power of home.
As a combat medic, Lina LaSalle went to Iraq to save the lives of fellow soldiers. But when her convoy is attacked, she must set aside her identity as a healer and take a life herself.
Although she is honored as a hero when she returns to the US, Lina cannot find her footing. She is stricken with PTSD and unsure of how to support her young son, Teó, a little boy with Tourette’s. As her attempts to self-medicate become harder to hide, Lina realizes she must do the toughest thing yet: ask for help.
She retreats to her parents’ house in Puerto Rico, where Teó thrives under her family’s care. Lina finds kinship, too―with a cousin whose dreams were also shattered by the war and with a handsome and caring veteran who sought refuge on the island and runs a neighborhood bar.
But amid the magic of the island are secrets and years of misunderstandings that could erode the very stability she’s fighting for. Hope lies on the horizon, but can she keep her gaze steady?
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Gare Billings @gareindeedreads
Steph Lauer @books.in.badgerland
Brian Watson @readingwithbrian
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