Those Aren’t Real Lemons

by Abbigail K Hughes

“When life gives you lemons…make lemonade”

Have you ever stopped to question whether or not the lemons are real?

This is a story about Kate. A young girl who grows up without a mother and always tries to make the best of life. She is adaptable, resilient, and independent. Her story is like so many others in this modern age. She has grown up in a society where girls are told they can do anything, should do everything to have it all, yet are plagued with an undetected mother wound passed down from generation to generation. Each new phase of life is catapulted into an unprecedented new time to “grow” through, Y2K, 9/11, COVID, when the reality is that she feels like she is slowly dying. She wears her internal wounds like armor to guard a very fragile spirit, equipped with self-deprecating humor and adverse coping mechanisms. Life is life and she is living it to her best ability, whatever that means—but she’s starting to feel all the external forces being applied to her as a woman—especially regarding motherhood—until a string of events causes something inside of her to snap and she begins to unravel.

321 pages, Paperback

Published January 1, 2022

Reviews

[Joanna gregg · Rating 4 out of 5]

My sister wrote this book! I enjoyed the raw honesty that resonated throughout this novel. The story follows Kate whose resilience takes her through many ups and downs from childhood to adulthood— deaths in the family, Y2K, 9/11, economic recession, COVID— where her story ends with a life altering event.

[Christina · Rating 5 out of 5]

Just started!!

[Abigail · Rating 4 out of 5]

I wrote this book. It definitely has some flaws but it was my first attempt at a novel so I’ll go easy on myself.