“But not just romantic love; familial love, platonic love. A person needs it all, unconditionally….”

Impeccably stated and so incredibly true. These words, written by Katherine Turner, author of Finding Annie set to debut this April, open our eyes to how fragile we all are. Behind our tough exteriors, we are all in need of love, from all of our relationships in life.

As we are deep into the month of love, I wanted to highlight a beautiful, imperfectly perfect love story I read in January. Once again, yes, I have already read a book this year. I am just as shocked as you. Katherine and I connected over my memoir, Beads, and what an amazing connection it was and and continues to be. There are people in life I believe you are meant to meet, and she is certainly one of them. When she asked me to give her book a read, I said yes with absolutely no hesitation.

I read Finding Annie in three days. It resonated with me in countless ways; its writing style, its character development, its raw thoughts and emotions. I couldn’t stop reading, my husband amazed that I was forgoing our favorite TV shows in order to read.

Annie is a woman with a complex past, full of abuse, neglect, abandonment, and disappointment. Suffering from PTSD, she feels unworthy of love and is inundated with anxiety and depression. A character I relate to all too well. While some could view her as “damaged goods”, she has such a beautiful nature about her. She holds a calming presence, despite her ever-swirling panicked thoughts and fears. I was drawn to her immediately. Her strength, her vulnerability, her innocence. I felt like I knew her after only the first few chapters.

Finding Annie instantly immerses you into Annie’s life, her mind, her deep thoughts and scary feelings. Having suffered from anxiety and depression myself, I was able to feel and understand exactly how Annie was feeling. However, even if one has never suffered from either of these conditions, Katherine does an impeccable job of portraying the inner workings of anxiety. The constant destructive thoughts, the nervousness in unfamiliar situations, the physical component, the desire to withdraw, the self-doubt. Annie experiences all of this and in turn, I did, too.

Despite Annie’s fears and anxiety-ridden moments, she finds herself in an intense love triangle. And this is truly one of the book’s most meaningful messages: everyone is deserving of love, regardless of their past, their mental health state, their day to day struggles. Annie desperately tries to alienate herself and diminish her self-worth time and time again.

But love wins time and time again. And not just any love. The deepest love. The type of love that isn’t perfect by any means but is untouchable. A love so genuine, you feel it as the reader. I won’t give away how the love triangle becomes a love duo, but let’s just say you will be rooting for this duo throughout.

“Then that’s all that matters, love. We’ll figure out the rest, I promise. It’s you and me, always.”

The obstacles Annie overcomes in her life are astounding. She is a survivor who is continuously working to get to the other side of childhood trauma, sexual abuse, rape, and a physical encounter with a demon of her past. You will ride along with her through the ups and the downs and everything in between. And by the end, you will be wanting more. It’s as if my favorite TV show just aired its initial season finale. Thankfully, this is the first book of several in what Katherine titles, the “Life Imperfect” series. I now impatiently wait for the second “season”.

The love bead is sacred. My hope is that every single person has it, as we are all deserving of it. Love is love. No race, gender, age, religion, mental state, political stance, or anything else dictates who and how we love. So go hug your loved ones near and call your loved ones far. Embrace differences and cherish similarities. And love with your whole heart.

“Finding Annie” is now available for pre-order on Amazon and Barnes and Noble . You can learn more about Katherine through her blog on her website, kturnerwrites.com.

P.S. No candy/baked goods/ice cream month is far more difficult than no alcohol month. I will be having a giant bowl of ice cream topped with cookies, cake, pie, fudge, 4 different types of candy bars, and chocolate sprinkles on March 1.