Local author tackles grief, healing in new book for teens
A book launch will be held Friday for author Jessica Kara's latest novel "Don't Ask If I'm Okay," at The Bookshelf. This bittersweet contemporary young adult novel explores the space where healing meets love as the main character grapples with the grief of having survived a car accident that killed his best friend. (Courtesy photo)
Local author Jessica Kara takes on the complex facets of grief in her latest young adult contemporary novel, “Don’t Ask If I’m Okay.”
Set in a fictional ski town in Idaho that bears a resemblance to a mash-up of towns in the Flathead Valley towns, this coming-of-age story “explores the tender space of healing where grief meets love.”
The story centers around the main character, Gage, who survives a car accident that killed his best friend, Hunter. Without the person who always brought out the best in him, Gage doesn’t know who he is. He likes working as a fry cook and loves his small-town friends and family, but they weren’t in the wreck and he can’t tell them how much he’s still hurting. He just wants to forget all his pain and move on.
When his stepdad shows him a dream job opening in one of his idol’s restaurants, Gage knows this is his chance to convince everyone and himself that he’s fine. To try to push past his grief once and for all, Gage applies for the job, asks out a crush, and volunteers to host a memorial for Hunter. Yet, the more Gage tries to ignore his grief, the more volatile it becomes.
When his temper finally turns on the people he loves, Gage must decide what real strength is — holding in his grief until it destroys him, or asking for help and revealing his broken heart for all to see.
Readers of the book have called it a healing experience, raw, messy, and beautiful, along with confessions of how watching Gage work through his grief helped them with their own. Released by Page Street Publishing, the novel is a Junior Library Guild selection, which is a curated book list for librarians across the country.
The book will be available locally at Bookworks in Whitefish and The Bookshelf in Kalispell, as well as online for e-readers.
A book launch is planned from 4 to 6 p.m. Friday, May 19, at The Bookshelf, 101 Main St., Kalispell. A portion of sales from the launch party will be donated to the Nate Chute Foundation, a local nonprofit whose mission is suicide prevention.
For more information, visit www.authorjessicakara.com.