KIRSTEN PURSELL
Author
THE BOOKS
Long Enough to Love You
ISBN 978-1639887552
A coming-of-middle-age novel that challenges societal norms and middle-age stereotypes and might just make you believe we're never too old for new beginnings.
​
Jenn, fifty-something and empty-nesting, feels like a donut: whole on the outside but missing the middle. The deafening sound of silence in the picture-perfect, oversized home she shares with a husband who does not see her makes the voices arguing in her head hard to ignore. One voice tells her to stay because safe and simple is good; another says leave so you can be the version of yourself not defined by others. The thought of ever after without happily feels like purgatory.
The chance discovery of her long-forgotten diaries unearths memories of a first love long buried, reminders that the most beautiful love is sometimes wasted on the young. Her words become a very real reminder of everything first love had been when she reconnects with Tripp in unexpected ways.
Long Enough to Love You follows Jenn – a courageous yet vulnerable protagonist – as she dissects and unpacks her marriage in an emotional journey to stay true to herself despite societal norms and middle-age stereotypes that would suggest otherwise.
On Becoming Me: Memoir of an 80's Teenager
ISBN 978-1737770503
This is the story of a confident young girl who became a lost teenager, wanted to disappear, started to find herself, discovered love, was wild, reckless, and confused, but ultimately found a way to be okay. Told in her words as she lived them through her diaries, journals, poetry, and letters.
​
May 13, 1985: I can’t believe I have nearly come to the conclusion of my second diary. It’s weird ending this one, though. It has experienced the worst times of my life and some of the best. You know my emotions inside and out. You were a victim to my lies, my tears, my awakening, my self-discovery. You experienced the loss of my virginity, the trials and tribulations of college choice making. You were neglected and you were cherished. It was too bad you couldn’t talk. There were times I could have used that…It’s been traumatic. It’s been happy. You can’t relive the past, even the regrets. Thank you for being there.
Reached #1 in women's
biographies and memoirs
Battle of the Canvas:
A Collection of Poems
ISBN 979-8391226345
A collection of poems from On Becoming Me: Memoir of an 80's Teenager.
​
In the 1980's, I was a teenager trying to find my place in the world. Poetry was one of my coping mechanisms.
In love: I hoped. I dreamed. I imagined. I experienced.
In life: I struggled. I hated. I cried for help. I hoped. I overcame.
I could be complex. I could be simple. I could be powerful. Misunderstood. Frustrated. In other words: A confused teenager using words to help cope. There was often beauty in that.
​
Harvard
ISBN 978-1737770534
​
Helena "Harvard" Schmidt could not leave her life on the mountain soon enough. A life of academic rigor at Harvard was made possible by her extraordinary athletic gift: running. Thor Himmel was the Harvard equivalent of a movie star: attractive, intelligent, and unattainable. As Helena and Thor run from their demons, their paths inevitably and abruptly cross far from where they ever imagined forcing them to confront the past that might destroy their future.
​
Available on Amazon.com.
"Thor and Helena's love story was mesmerizing in every
way of possible...The unexpected situations that they faced
couldn't make me put the book down AT ALL. I had to know
how it ended...The writer's style of writing is simple yet so beautiful."
-Reedsy Discovery On Harvard
.png)
Company Clown
ISBN 978-1737770558
​
Jack Carp was the most sought after hand model in Los Angeles. Heartbroken by a recent break-up, he sets out to commit emotional suicide by drowning his sorrows in fast food. Instead of death by burger, he is discovered as the new face of Burger Barn, catapulting him to corporate icon status.
Advertising is a brutal industry dictated by corporate profit, oversized egos, and fickle consumers. Jack learns this first hand through his meteoric rise to fame and even more abrupt fall from glory.
Available on Amazon.com.
"An entertaining, fast-paced work of wit and satire.
Well-developed characters and crazy story. I love it!"