Through The Dark | √

Be sure to read to the end!

I can't believe it.

For over a year, I've been working on Mackenzie and it's sequel, Through The Dark. The characters are so close to my heart and my keyboard is so familiar with all the names and even some common phrases and sentences in the book. I hope the characters are close to your hearts as well. They have such a special place in mine, it was a bit hard to wrap things up.

Through The Dark is a 101% inspiration from the Black.ish spinoff, Grownish. I love Yara Shahidi as well as most of the cast! (If you watch Grownish or love Yara Shahidi, PM me, we gon' be friends!). It's crazy how I'm not in university/college but was able to have knowledge of things and kinds of people in there. I'll be honest and say, Grownish helped me a lot.

I don't write for the sake of just writing. When I write, I try to pass a message across. Just like I did in Mackenzie, trying to spread cancer awareness and not judging people, I decided to spread the awareness of hazing in this book.

Hazing is dangerous, disgusting and totally dehumanizing. I don't know how many readers are university students, but please, be careful, take care of yourself and command respect. The hazing practices used to scare me, especially since I'll be heading to university next year, but I realized it could be prevented by showing myself respect and commanding respect from people at the same time. We know that if Tanner had 'respected himself' the first time he encountered Dominic, he wouldn't be facing fraternity brothers.

Also, don't be afraid to try new things. Bambi was into Jesse but she was scared of trying a long distance relationship as well as heartbreak. She couldn't be with who she really wanted to be with because of fear. Tanner could have asked Kenzi to be his girlfriend a long time ago, don't you think? But he was scared of putting a label to it. He was scared of 'navigating through the dating world'. When you step out of your box, you'll realize that's when you're truly happy and satisfied. Don't be scared of the future.

I grew up reading books by Karen Kingsbury with friends and older family friends and I noticed that her books mainly talk about second chances. That's where Bailey comes in. Reading Mackenzie, we see her as an irresponsible parent who totally neglects her parental responsibility. But in Through The Dark, she had a second chance. To love again, to be a better parent, even to have a second wedding.  Life is all about second chances, you failed once doesn't mean you can't rise up. It's why the movie 'Night School' is currently my favorite movie. Don't let a setback pull you down. I recently got rejected by one of my dream universities, I can't begin to explain how depressed I felt. I could decide to give up, but I thought of how far I've come. How strong I've been all these while, so I know I can't back down. Not right now. (Shout out to the ones who loved Lemonade Mouth.)
You're amazing. You can do it.

For many of you who have problems getting along with your parents, I don't know what went wrong or the story behind it or how bad it is, but trust me, if they're trying to make things right, the best decision you can make is to forgive them. I know many of us are teens and we try so hard to be independent, but we can't be fully independent now. (That's why when we get mad and go pack our stuff to leave our homes, we end up coming back😂.)

Finally, I read news online if I'm not spending afternoons watching Aljazeera with my dad on Saturdays or watching E! News by myself. I saw the news concerning Lady Gaga and Harry Styles being nominated for who is a better advocate for the LGBT community and that reminded me of Darcy, who is a member of the community. I come from a place where being gay is a problem. My religion doesn't accept it either, but that doesn't make me love people any less. I'm only familiar with a few readers— the ones who comment, so I don't know if I have any reader who is a part of the community. Sincerely, I have nothing to say about it, I just want you to know I love you guys so much. It's crazy how I've always wanted a close friend who is gay just so I can understand it a bit more.

To wrap this up, I want to say thank you to each and everyone of you who have been through this journey with me. It was so hard writing it, due to feelings of discouragement mostly and that was why it took me ten months to complete the book.

If any of you want to talk, you can send me a private message or leave one on my MB— I love MB conversations. Thank you once again. Also, if you're a reader who writes and would like me to check out their book so I could give a review on it, you can comment or PM me the name of the book. I love you all.

And oh wait, I mentioned a surprise, didn't I? Here it is:

It's Renee's story!
Now we're all used to the 8- year old Renée, want to see how grown she is now?
Then add Renee's River to your libraries so you know once it's updated as the book hasn't officially started! Don't forget to your reading lists too!

I've only just published it and you can go on my profile and access the story.

Once again, thank you all very much! I love you!

Lola💜✨