“Trigger Warnings”: sexual assault, alcoholism, drug abuse, foster care, and grief.

The Leading Edge of Now tells the sad story of a teenaged girl, Grace, who is grieving the death of her father, and going to live with her uncle, her only living relative, who finally has claimed her from foster care where she has spent the past two years. Thankful to be out of foster care, she is nonetheless nervous about returning to New Harbor. So many memories that remind her of all she has lost: her best friend, her boyfriend, and memories of what happened that night two years ago at her uncle’s house when she was passed out on Ambien. “Memories are like land mines that I step on everywhere I turn.“

The characters are well developed with detailed backstories. I enjoyed this novel in spite of the very heavy subject matter.