Book 2: FIRST WE MUST BREAK – A BUMPY RIDE FROM BROKEN TO WHOLE
Book 1: Pretty Things Don’t Break: A Memoir
Pretty Things Don’t Break chronicles Lauren Jaynes wild ride from her nursery school days spent hop scotching over the black and white tiled floors of her parents top-less jazz club in Sydney, to coming of age in smack dab in the middle of Seattle’s burgeoning grunge era. From sexy sunny Sydney to the dreary drab Pacific Northwest, you’ll be transported as she navigates her chaotic and anything but conventional life to finding her family in her tight group of friends. Here, she’ll experience her first love, first loss and finally find what she always been searching for in the most unlikely place.
From First Page
Climbing up into our bed, surrounded by a sea of silk-covered pillows, I glanced over at my husband. He was fast asleep in under a minute, a luxury I’d never known. I reached over to slide my light from dim to off as darkness enveloped me like an unwelcome hug. The house was quiet; my mind was anything but when the familiar scene unfolded behind my closed eyes: Fumbling down the dark cement stairs, the vacuum tube in one hand with a roll of duct tape swinging from one wrist, a freshly lit smoke in the other, scissors and a beer tucked into her back pockets, she sloppily made it to her frosty car. She placed the beer in the cup holder sideways, sending liquid flying as she walked to the back of the car.
Crouching down, her clumsy body stooped at the exhaust pipe while her outstretched arm kept her from landing on the cold cement. She took a deep, long drag from her cigarette, setting it on the back bumper as she reached down to the freezing cement searching for the tubing she’d thrown there moments ago. Placing the tube into the pipe in her state wasn’t easy, but a few tries later and she had it. Taking the duct tape bracelet from around her wrist, she began to wrap the tape around and around.
Grabbing for one last drag, she inhaled as a gust of wind almost shook her out of her hazy state. She found the scissors, cut through the gooey duct tape, and squeezed the pipe with her cold shaking hands. Falling into her car, nothing but darkness surrounding her, she closed the squeaky door, lay her head back on the blue faux leather seat, took a long pull from her icy beer, and turned the key.
Reviews
“A page burner from the very first page! I read as fast as my eyes would allow. I laughed and cried my way through. I didn’t want it to end. A must read!”
—Mary M., Redmond, WA
“Being an avid reader, I go from one book to the next. Pretty Things Don’t Break ruined my streak, I can’t start my next book. Unheard of! I’m still on the beach, hoping for more pages to appear and have decided to read it again!”
—Rachel N., Charlotte, NC
“From page one I was there, as if the experiences were my own. The sounds, smells, places, and people- so descriptively translated, real life felt secondary when I was forced to pause reading. So heartbreaking, yet beautiful. Beyond inspiring. This is one to be read many times, as it is life changing.”
—Melissa H., Portland, OR
“Captivating. Real. Raw. Inspiring. I couldn’t read Pretty Things Don’t Break fast enough. It embodied hope, love, and perseverance. I was starving for more when I reached the last page.”
—Nina Q., Minneapolis, MN
“Lauren Jayne paints a complex picture of a childhood where the family unit is equal parts villain and savior. How she grows and adapts through her extreme circumstances teaches a lesson of resilience to us all.”
—Ken K., Boston, MA
Note From Author
One thing that I know for sure, is that these cycles thrive on shame. In order for their survival, we must stay quiet, keep them hidden and in the end, suffer alone.
I started writing this book eight years ago as a way to get my story out for the first time, if only to myself, through my computer. My plan was to leave it in my computer. After my last of many drafts, it came to life. I was forced to deal with it, to start therapy, and start my journey through hell that lead to healing.
Since it’s completion, I’ve come close to publishing it many times, but stopped myself. Too scared, petrified actually, to put my own issues out there. Who might it hurt or embarrass, me for sure, but who else? Then I realized, that was my shame talking.
So now it’s time to practice what I preach, in the biggest way I can. I’m pulling the trigger. Because even though I’ve broken the cycles I grew up with, I deal with more every single day of my life. There’s no way I can ask one person to “turn the lights on their issues.” “Start talking about them, in order to remove the shame and get to work.” If I myself cannot do the same.
So, for those that are interested, here’s my story. The whole, chaotic, messy, raw, real, truth. It’s me, it’s my story and I’m sharing it with the world, in hopes that you’ll share yours too.
It truly is the only way we can beat these cycle. Whether it’s food, alcohol, screaming, meaningless relationships, cutting, addiction to social media, rage, anger, being a door mat, the list is endless and there’s not one of us alive that doesn’t have issues we’re dealing with.
Let’s unite, learn, grow and heal, together.
I’m throwing my story into the hat, let’s start this conversation and change the way we feel about these issue. Let’s break the cycles that bind us, together.
To contact Lauren Jayne use our contact form.