by Courtney Frey

After surviving a childhood and adolescence rife with sexual and emotional abuse, enduring conflicting feelings about the adoption of her firstborn son, and becoming a young bride—and a young mother, again—Courtney Frey navigated the precarious territory of early adulthood on what she felt was the other side of the bridge she and Rebecca had built as girls. But with memories of her past always just below the surface and her mental illness threatening to bubble over and destroy her present, Courtney's life whirled out of control, careening on the edge of blissful highs and dangerous lows. In her real-life tale of being a birth mother, an army wife, and a mom of three earning her college degree, Courtney also shares her struggles with mania, married life, family relationships, parenting, career choices, substance abuse, and discovering her own strength and true priorities from the depths of her darkest hours. Redemption is a love story about an unlovable woman and the man whose refusal to give up on her aides her in saving her own life.

Read Courtney's story from the beginning in Restitution (Sunbury Press, 2015). In a story about searching for self-love, overcoming family dysfunction, surviving abuse, and fighting back, Courtney reveals to the reader the secrets of her emotional journey and tells the tale of her quest for purpose and healing, as well as the desire to be needed, wanted, loved, and validated. The story of Courtney's early life includes heart-wrenching and haunting child abuse, a murder, an adoption, new friendships, a paralyzing accident, teenage pregnancies, and homelessness, as well as budding mental illness. Based on the truth of her own childhood and young adult life, Courtney demonstrates the resilience of the human spirit, that finding love starts with purpose, and that, even against the odds, nothing is ever in vain.