Light in the Shadows

Light in the Shadows by A. Meredith Walters
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Now this is my kind of New Adult recovery story.

In this sequel to Find You In the Dark, we pick up where things left off - Clay is in therapy at a mental health facility and Maggie is back home trying to get over him. Clay's recovery is precarious at best, and he's told Maggie to move on. Of course she can't, neither can he, and when he has to return to their town they have to face their issues.

And face them they do. This time it's without all the drama, which was so refreshing! This is a well-written story about recovery, triggers, things that cause relapse and a true commitment to just get better. There is real honesty and struggle here. At times it's raw and at times it's frustrating. But Walters hit the mark when she refused to bring the plot to a big terrible climax. The other shoe didn't need to drop, it needed to get figured out. And it does.

She's given us rich, realistic characters here that example the best way to deal with terrible situations. Clay and Maggie may have been a bit mature for their years, but in their respective situations they had to be. Mental illness is always a difficult subject because it is so full of tragedy. Where Find You In the Dark was full of destructive behavior and emotionally taxing, this sequel was full of hope. Young Adults need to be reading this stuff.

Bravo to Walters for taking on such a scary, complicated issue. And bravo for giving us characters who cared about overcoming it and had no illusions about how hard it would be - or would continue to be. This is a happy ending I can appreciate.

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