Authorpreneur Dashboard – Shannon Koz
Breaking Free
Romance
Kelsie Sullivan’s life has changed forever. The once outgoing cheerleader has a secret to hide. The car accident that killed her best friend Jenna? She caused it. With an absent father and unforgiving stepmother, Kelsie has nowhere to turn. She manages her guilt and grief with razor blades. The fleeting release she experiences becomes an obsession and soon she's unable to hide it any longer. Once her cutting is revealed, Kelsie’s parents enroll her in a Wilderness Therapy program designed to rehabilitate troubled teens, but North Carolina is a world away from California. Kelsie fights against everything the program has to offer until she befriends JC, a boy with a tortured past of his own. He’s also the only one who is able to ease her pain. The two grow close, but quickly discover that nature—both human and otherwise—can easily rip them apart.
Book Bubbles from Breaking Free
First Kiss
I feel like a lot of people read the synopsis of Breaking Free and are worried it will be too dark of a story for them. Don't get me wrong, there are definitely dark parts, but there's also love and hope and inspiration. I adore romance books so any book I write contains a love story. This was difficult in Breaking Free because I didn't want Kelsie to rely on JC for her healing. I've read a number of books where girls do that in order to recover from a traumatic event and I think that sends an inappropriate message to teens. In this book, Kelsie and JC share an emotional connection from similar past events, but they're each responsible for their own healing. The lean on each other for strength and support, but, ultimately, each knows they must take responsibility for their own happiness.
First Cut
I have a friend and a family member who have both cut in the past. When I first learned about self-injury, I didn’t understand why people would purposely hurt themselves and, therefore, I thought it was to attract attention. I ended up spending quite a bit of time researching the topic, which opened my eyes. Most people who cut don’t do it for attention. In fact, like Kelsie in the book, they try to hide what they’re doing. They’re ashamed, but it’s beyond their control as it has become an addictive coping mechanism to try and deal with their overwhelming emotions, whether it’s depression, anxiety, whatever. After learning so much about self-injury, I wanted to help others who were in my position—wishing to help their friends, but not understanding how to or even why their friends did what they did. That’s when I decided to turn it into a story. Because I typically write adventure-filled books, I knew immediately that the main characters would be in the wilderness and run into some unexpected hurdles along the way. I think it ended up being a nice mix of emotion, suspense, and romance with a couple plot twists to keep things interesting.
