Baby Steps

Avery Ash has spent her life mastering the art of control—over her body, her appetites, and just about everyone who gets too close.

When an unexpected pregnancy follows a brief but all-consuming romance, the carefully ordered life she's built begins to crack. Avery flies across the country to an inpatient eating disorder treatment center, where she fully intends to be the easiest patient they've ever had: eat enough to get discharged, tell the therapists what they want to hear, and get back to her life before anyone notices she has no interest in recovering.

Instead, she's thrown together with a misfit cast of women who are every bit as stubborn, hilarious, and emotionally unwell as she is. As their friendships deepen, Avery is forced to confront the grief, shame, and old wounds she's spent years burying beneath calorie counts, sarcasm, and an Olympic-level commitment to emotional avoidance.

But pregnancy has terrible timing, recovery refuses to follow a schedule, and denial—while wildly efficient—isn't exactly sustainable.

Darkly funny and emotionally incisive, Baby Steps is a novel about hunger, obsession, female friendship, and how new life just might be the catalyst needed to save another.