JESSICA THERRIEN

From Imagination To Publication

Wednesday, June 7, 2017

IWSG - CARRY ME HOME

Hello! If you haven't heard of the IWSG, I encourage you to join. It's a wonderful network of authors and bloggers. Today the question posed is this:

Have you ever said "I quit"? 
If so, what happened to make you come back to writing?

It couldn't be more fitting. The book I'm preparing to release, officially titled CARRY ME HOME, started as my sister's novel over ten years ago. In her youth, she experienced some crazy things and the book started as a therapeutic release of that dark time in her life. She stopped at about 40 pages, but somehow it ended up in my hands (with her permission of course).

That was the first "I quit" moment. It was so unbelievably brutal and shocking that I couldn't finish reading it. Most of what she'd written were memories of things I had no idea actually happened to her when we were teenagers. She lived in her world and I lived in mine.

But the truth is a hard thing to ignore. Eventually I did finish it, and as a writer, I couldn't help but recognize the depth of the experience and the amount of growth that had occurred in her as a person (and as a character) in this unfinished book.

I felt inspired and amazed at what she'd gone through and the person she'd become in spite of it all. The three of us (my mother, sister, and I) set out to finish her story. They gave me memories, and I weaved them into a fictional novel. Re-living one of the hardest times in all of our lives was difficult, and I'd say all three of us quit more than once. It has taken years for us to get through the whole process.

The one thing that kept us going was that true darkness and pain yield powerful stories. This is ours.



C A R R Y    M E    H O M E

Release Date: 9-26-17



“A riveting page-turner…Jessica Therrien broke my heart into a million pieces—and then put it back together again. This book will haunt and uplift readers long after they turn the last page.”

-KAT ROSS, best-selling author of The Midnight Sea


CARRY ME HOME is a fictional novel inspired by the true story of a teenage girl’s involvement in several Mexican gangs in San Jose and Los Angeles. The members of her crew call her, Guera, Spanish for “white girl” and it doesn’t take long for her to get lost in their world of guns and drugs.

* * *

Lucy and Ruth are country girls from a broken home. When they move to the city with their mother, leaving behind their family ranch and dead-beat father, Lucy unravels.

They run to their grandparents’ place, a trailer park mobile home in the barrio of San Jose. Lucy’s barrio friends have changed since her last visit. They’ve joined a gang called VC. They teach her to fight, to shank, to beat a person unconscious and play with guns. When things get too heavy, and lives are at stake, the three girls head for LA seeking a better life.

But trouble always follows Lucy. She befriends the wrong people, members of another gang, and every bad choice she makes drags the family into her dangerous world.

Told from three points of view, the story follows Lucy down the rabbit hole, along with her mother and sister as they sacrifice dreams and happiness, friendships and futures. Love is waiting for all of them in LA, but pursuing a life without Lucy could mean losing her forever.

Ultimately it’s their bond with each other that holds them together, in a true test of love, loss and survival.



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If you'd like to participate in the cover reveal, blog tour, or virtual release party, please fill out the form below! Thank you so much in advance!!



24 comments:

  1. I think it's amazing that your book started out as your sisters. Neither of my sisters care about writing. I'm the only one, other than my mom.

    I signed up for your blog tour. I can have you on my blog Sept 29th or October 13th.

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    1. Thank you so much, Chrys!! I'll be in touch soon :)

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  2. What an incredible story to write. And an honor she passed it to you. Awesome stuff.

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  3. That is going to be a powerful story. How precious you are all working on it together.

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    1. Thanks Diane! Yeah, it was fun working on it together :)

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  4. Sounds like this has been and will continue to be a powerful piece of writing.

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  5. That sounds like a very difficult book to write. Sounds like something you might be able to sell to schools and counselors.

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  6. Wow! It sounds like it's a powerful book. Way to go on finishing!

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  7. It does sound like a powerful book.I signed up for the cover reveal and tour.

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  8. Hi Jessica. I muchly appreciate your comment on my I Quit post. I'm the type who'd usually help you out on a blog tour, especially since your book sounds riveting being based on some real-life events, but I'm being true to my pullback on blogging mode ATM. Maybe your next book...Good luck! I added it to Goodreads!

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  9. Very touching story and I can imagine the hard-hitting scenes this book will have. I don't do many cover reveals anymore, but I'm happy to Tweet and post on fb. My very best to you on your release.

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  10. Congratulations on your pending release. I give you, your mom and your sister such credit for working together to tell your story. Healing for all, I hope.

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  11. What an inspiring story!!! I just met you but I'm all signed up. I've blocked the 26th of September to party with you on my blog...let me know about the other things.

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  12. Congrats on completing such an emotional journey - for you and your family. Excited to participate in the launch!

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  13. It must have been hard to work on such a story, knowing many of the events really happened to someone you care about.

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  14. I agree that it was very brave of you to work on such an emotional story, but your sister knew she was putting it in good hands. Congratulations Jessica!

    Julie

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  15. Wow! That sounds like one intense story to write, especially knowing some of it happened to your sister.

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