The First Year

Beth Loxstedt is smart, funny, and terrified of being hurt. In her first year of marriage to easygoing Mike, she juggles a best friend at war with her mother-in-law, a sister moving in (and getting pregnant) with a flaky boyfriend, a high-school friend hiding an abusive marriage, and a reappearing ex who cheated. Told through comic scenes interwoven with therapy sessions, Beth slowly uncovers how her absent father shaped her—and learns that love isn't about doing it perfectly, but choosing to fight for it.

• A laugh-out-loud, brutally honest look at the messy, unglamorous FIRST YEAR of marriage—no fairy-tale endings required.
• Told in alternating therapy sessions, the reader unravels the heroine's fears alongside her—part comedy, part emotional gut-punch.
• The perfect clean-read bridal-shower gift: funny enough to keep, real enough to matter.
• A sarcastic, self-deprecating LDS heroine you'll actually want to be friends with.

Perfect for a young LDS woman—newly married or dating seriously—who loves witty, self-deprecating chick-lit and relates to the anxieties of building a marriage while surrounded by messy family and friends.