Author event! Bridey Thelen -Heidel with JJ Elliott

Zibby's Bookshop is thrilled to host Bridey Thelen-Heidel as she celebrates the launch of her new book, BRIGHT EYES. Bridey will be joined in conversation by JJ Elliott!

Fans of Jennette McCurdy's I'm Glad My Mom Died will root for Bridey Thelen-Heidel as she struggles to unshackle herself from her mother's chaos in this triumphant debut memoir.

Bridey is tethered to her mom's addiction to dangerous men who park their Harley-Davidsons in the house and kick holes in all their doors. Raised to be her mother's keeper, rescuer, and punching bag, Bridey gets used to stuffing her life into black trash bags, hauling them between Alaska and California, and changing schools every time her mom moves in a new monster--or runs away from one. Desperately seeking the normal life she's observed in sitcoms and her friends' families, Bridey earns her way into a fancy, private college, where she tries to forget who she is--until her mom calls with a threat that drops Bridey to her knees. Watching doctors and police interrogate her mother at the hospital, Bridey realizes her mom has become a monster herself . . . and she doesn't want to be saved. But Bridey does.

Bright Eyes is about the indomitable spirit of a young girl forced to be brave, required to be resilient, and conditioned to be optimistic, and how she ultimately uses the same traits that helped her to survive her mother's chaos to create her own happily-ever-after.

About the speakers:

Bridey Thelen-Heidel’s chaotic upbringing meant changing schools between Alaska and California more than twenty times. A Lewis and Clark College graduate, she lives in South Lake Tahoe with her husband and daughter and teaches English Literature at her alma mater.

A TEDx speaker and frequent podcast guest, Bridey performed in Listen to Your Mother NYC and is published in MUTHA Magazine and the 2023 San Francisco Writers' Foundation Anthology. Bridey has been voted Best of Tahoe Teacher several times, and her work with LGBTQ+ students is celebrated in Read This, Save Lives and the California Teachers' Association’s California Educator.

JJ Elliott is an advertising copywriter with a degree in English from UCLA. Her writing has been featured in Literary Hub Magazine, Zibby Owens' Magazine, and Authority Magazine. Her debut novel, There Are No Rules For This, won two Zibby Awards—Best Book for Best Friends and Best Book That Made You Cry. It was a runner up for Best Book That Made You Laugh. It was also a finalist in Best New Fiction in the International Book Awards.

Elliott lost her mother to suicide as a teenager, and spent over two years volunteering on the suicide hotlines in LA. One of the reasons she wanted to write her novel is because she finds herself increasingly frustrated by the way suicide is treated in print and on-screen, as a mystery to be solved rather than a multi-layered, complex mental health situation that can rarely be boiled down to one specific "reason."

A native of Northern California, JJ now lives in the San Francisco Bay Area with her husband, two teenage kids, and two poorly trained bulldogs. She loves to read, drink wine, play tennis, and eat cheese. There Are No Rules For This is her first novel.

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