A struggling single mother isn’t looking for love.
A grieving man believes he doesn’t deserve it.
When an unexpected connection brings them together, will they find their happily ever after?
Julie
I can’t afford to dream. I’m the single mother of my boy David, who has autism and who I love more than anything. My daily goal is simple, yet challenging: Survive.
Most nights I lay awake on a curb-scavenged pullout couch, the bar pressing into my back, my failures and fears fighting for dominance in my mind.
We have no family, besides each other. We have no support. I work as a waitress and freelance as a writer under a pen name, with the goals of keeping my head down and us sheltered and fed. When David is accused of bullying one of his classmates, I feel utterly lost. David won’t say a word and a mob of parents demands punishment.
That’s when we receive the first break we’ve had in years. The principal offers David the opportunity to volunteer at a food pantry as an alternative to suspension. The program is called “A Better Tomorrow” and it’s run by the charming, successful Trip Taylor. Through our interactions, I learn that David and I are much more than I realized. I have just one problem: I’m starting to dream of a happily ever after with this handsome man who respects us like no one ever has, but who is also way out of my league.
Trip
My teenage sister recently passed away, succumbing to her more than a decade fight with cancer. I will do anything and everything to keep her memory alive and establish her legacy, a program she thought of called “A Better Tomorrow”. Her idea will give at-risk teens a chance to focus their lives in a better direction. When I launch the program, less than two weeks after her passing, our first volunteer is an autistic boy, David Drew. My initial fears about how he will do quickly transform into amazement. He’s the perfect volunteer to launch ABT. But I have two problems. I think David was wrongfully accused. I will help his mother find the truth. That leads me to my other problem. His mother, Julie Drew, is pretty in that understated way that makes her more attractive. She’s also funny and makes me happier than I’ve been in a long time, maybe ever. But do I have a right to happiness, when my sister will never get that chance?
Told in dual POV, A Better Tomorrow is a sweet, closed-door contemporary romance that explores:
Autism representation through a mother’s perspectiveAdvocacy and misunderstanding in schoolsGrief and healingUplifting fiction with a happily ever afterFound family and unexpected strengthAuthentic representation of a neurodivergent child (who will be the romantic lead in the next book, set years later in a college romance)A Better Tomorrow is written by parents of two adult sons with autism, one of whom, David, is also a co-author of this novel. Together, they wrote this novel based on their own experiences.
Perfect for readers who love emotionally rich romance and for mothers who want to see stories where autistic children are portrayed with authenticity, reflecting the depth of the person and the hope of an independent, bright future.
Because different isn’t lesser. And love comes in many forms.
