First published 2022
Iris Cooper takes the stage at a Lake City, Texas bar when she's twelve years old. Her voice stops the crowd cold. Her father sees dollar signs and drags her from town to town, roadhouse to roadhouse, pocketing her performance money to feed his gambling habit and pay for women and liquor. Iris lives for the music, but the life drains her. At eighteen, she joins a touring act with a new manager who proves just as exploitative as her father. The other musicians become her real family, and they push her to break free from the people using her. Iris finally walks away from the tour to chase her own dreams. Years of abuse and exploitation on the road have tested her, but her talent burns bright. When her big break arrives, Iris discovers that reaching the top means fighting harder than ever. She must find the strength to protect herself and her music.
Genres: romance, abuse, contemporary, adult-fiction, music
Vibes: emotional, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: found-family, redemption
Setting: Lake City, Texas
256 pages · Hardcover · Delacorte Press
Content warnings: abuse, addiction, child-abuse