WHEN WE LET GO is an emotional page-turner: a story about fear that imprisons you in the past; a story about facing that fear, embracing self-forgiveness, and daring to dream.

Avery is running from unbearable trauma and memories she can’t, or won’t, release. Those memories are tangled up with her first love, the guy she thought would be her future. Fate had other plans that led to tragedy, and Avery claimed responsibility. She never expected to love again and doesn’t believe she deserves happiness, but then she meets divorced father of three, Jude.

When he proposes—unaware that the day itself is a horrific anniversary for Avery—she can’t accept his ring. Nor can she explain why. Jude doesn’t know that their relationship is built on a huge omission. A lie. Avery is not the person he thinks she is, and she’s terrified that if he knew her unforgiveable truth, he’d never allow her near his kids.

Before they can unravel why she rejected him, they both have family emergencies. Jude’s centers around his rebellious teen daughter, Elle, and Avery’s dad has a heart attack. Accepting a plea from her estranged sister to help, Avery packs up her car, has an emotional goodbye with Jude, and leaves Miami for the place that keeps her dark secrets: the family farm in North Carolina. But she’s also picked up a hostile stowaway.

After a night of partying, Elle fell asleep on Avery’s back seat. She wakes up in the last place she wants to be: on a road trip with her dad’s ex. Elle is angry, lost, and like Avery, holding her pain close.

The tangled relationship between these two broken characters takes many turns as they struggle to heal and trust. And maybe become friends. What follows is a remarkable story of first loves, second chances, and complex familial relationships. There’s plenty of gardening therapy and a phenomenal twist.

At the core is a simple message:  living in the past isn’t living. You have to let go.