Safelight

By: Casey Lown (Author), 2021, Paperback

Emily Fillan is the proud owner of a prickly mouth and a mountain of emotional baggage.

In one year, she has suffered a nervous breakdown, dropped out of college, and acquired a mean case of writer’s block. To top it all off, she is burying her father—the police officer who offered more sympathy to the criminals he arrested than to his own daughter. In tying up her father’s loose ends, Emily encounters the wounded individuals who made up his universe.

Among them is Joe Corner, the worst, most irresponsible, best babysitter Emily ever had. Spending time with Joe, Emily realizes her vision of her father may have been obscured by the grey-tinted glasses she donned as a child after her parents’ contentious divorce. Emily’s reconnection with Joe develops into a warmth she quickly labels her soul’s salvation.

But Joe is no savior. He is already in a committed relationship with the white powder that helps him forget his crooked roots and the sinister figure emerging from his past.

Emily’s father always insisted no one is beyond redemption. How long can one man’s loving influence survive after death, and is it too late to inherit her father’s compassion to save those she loves? Only one thing is certain: If Emily is to heal her wounds and Joe’s, she must learn that saving and helping aren’t necessarily the same thing.

SAFELIGHT is character-driven contemporary fiction. It is a gritty, coming-of-age story of wounded protagonists, blending new adult angst with irreverent, dark humor.

Content warnings can be found on the author's website www.caseylown.com

A coming-of-age dramedy with a clever, sardonic edge, Casey Lown’s SAFELIGHT is a potent, superbly written novel that pushes boundaries, and maybe even a button or three, all the while showing that the road-less-traveled is sometimes the only way forward. (4.8/5 stars)
~ IndieReader (full review https://indiereader.com/book_review/safelight/)