Twenty-five-year-old Rian Alderson has a pretty good life. She has three amazing best friends. She’s about to start her final year of university. Her parents let her live rent-free at home while she finishes her degree. She leads an average life in her sleepy Quebec town and is content with that. But when Rian suffers an unthinkable loss in her family, she doesn’t know how she will be able to carry on. She leans on her friends, Dom and Mae, for support to help her get through it.

Dom is more than happy to comfort Rian. He’s been through this more often than anyone should by their mid-twenties. But Dom has a secret—one that he’s tried very hard for nearly a decade to keep—a secret that will either end his friendship with Rian or bring them all some happiness during an incredibly bleak time.

As Rian leans into her friendship with Dom, she finds herself at odds with everyone else in her life and herself. Everything she has ever known has turned upside down. Ultimately, she must decide whether to move forward or lose everything she holds dear.

B. A. Rothney is a writer born and raised in rural Quebec. She studied History and Creative Writing at Bishop’s University before completing a Master of Library and Information Science at Western University.

From a very young age, she has been writing stories, most of which were never actually completed. Her first complete novel, titled “all the things i could have said,” can be found on Amazon and Kindle Unlimited.

For reading and writing updates, she can be found at rothb.writes Instagram, Threads and TikTok.

brightlyediting@gmail.com