Internal Challenges
As Bearing a Burden unfolded into a company, it also recast light on a far more personal story, one that had been locked away but quietly forming for decades. That story ultimately gave rise to Queen of Hearts: Born a Lemon.
Where Bearing a Burden explores the broader challenges of the world around us, Queen of Hearts turns inward, reflecting on the battles we fight within ourselves. Both share a common thread: the belief that courage isn’t the absence of hardship, but the choice to carry on with grace, grit, and heart. Together, they paint a fuller picture of what it means to bear life’s burdens and to rise anyway.
Regardless of who you are or where you come from, we each have fought battles to get where we are today. For me, it was growing up with a congenital heart condition, feeling the weight of the world press against every breath.
I began writing Queen of Hearts nearly 24 years ago, scribbling moments little by little. It’s a deeply personal story filled with highs and lows, grief and resilience, but above all, an unwavering refusal to give up. At last, it was time to pull the pieces together into one story.
External Challenges
Finding Strength in the Moments That Break Us
If I Walked Away is a deeply personal reflection on resilience, vulnerability, and the quiet courage it takes to stay when everything inside you is ready to run. Through the use of short storytelling, Nova invites readers into the raw moments of her life, navigating health crises, family struggles, financial setbacks, and the emotional weight of feeling unseen.
This is not a story of perfect endings. It’s a story of choosing to keep going even when the world offers every reason to quit. With warmth, clarity, and unapologetic truth, Nova explores the fragile balance between independence and connection, faith and fear, love and loss.
For anyone who has ever wondered if walking away might hurt less than standing still, If I Walked Away offers a reminder: sometimes staying is the bravest thing we’ll ever do.