Ten Percent of My Heart: A Novel

The Nubble Light Series, Book 4

By: Stacy Lee

Narrated by: Anne Marie Lewis, John York

What do you do when you have nothing left to give?

As a 23-year-old college graduate, Tessa Walker had it all. Psychology degree—check. School counseling position at the local elementary school—check. Everything was falling into place. Tessa was making significant strides with students, especially with a first grader named Beckett (Bex) who struggled with social anxiety. She adored her job and, for the first time, was able to rent her own apartment. She was even slightly convinced that maybe, just maybe, a proposal from her college sweetheart was right around the corner.

Then…it happened.

A phone call from the local attorney in the middle of her 22-minute lunch break. Bex’s mother and father were tragically killed in a plane crash. There was a will, and for a reason unbeknownst to anyone involved, she was nominated as guardian for Bex. Court was scheduled for the following week. If willing, she would be appointed his guardian.

Now, as a successful career woman in her 30s and a single mom, Tessa’s number one priority is her 12-year-old adopted son. Gone are the days of romance, parties, and freedom. Tessa commits 100 percent of herself to her career and her son...until Bex writes a personal essay about how much he misses his real parents, and her heart all but shatters.

Tessa decides that it is time to spend the summer with Bex in York Beach, Maine, where his birth parents were born and raised. What starts as an intervention for her son’s grief turns into something much more when she meets countless individuals who turn her life upside-down and refuse to let her settle for less. Tessa is convinced that she has nothing left to give, but someone special she is about to meet believes she is worthy of much more.

©2022 Stacy Barbagallo (P)2022 Stacy Barbagallo