By: Norafiqin Hairoman for The Dirt
Jessica Guerrieri is living every writer’s wildest dream. After years of pouring her heart onto the page, pushing through hundreds of rejections, and wondering if her words would ever make it to bookshelves—Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea is set to release May 13.
The novel, published by Harper Muse, is set to roll out with a major national tour—and it all begins in the place that means the most to her: Davis. Thanks to the Avid Reader.
This isn’t just a book launch for Guerrieri. It’s a full-circle, scream-into-a-pillow, somebody-pinch-me kind of moment.
“A lot of excitement. Nerves, but mostly just overwhelming joy,” Guerrieri told The Dirt. “I spent a lot of my life actively pushing down feelings, as is in my book, and so when I have these, like, exciting, happy feelings, I’m so thrilled to be able to feel them in real life.”
Avid Reader isn’t just a bookstore—it’s a literary landmark, a beloved indie book shop owned and operated by UC Davis graduates and best friends, Erin Arnold and Holly Snyder Thompson.
Under Arnold and Thompson, Avid Reader has become a destination bookshop and event host that has brought the most talented writers in the world to Davis. From Pulitzer prize winners like Richard Powers to superstars Shawn Harris and Mac Barnett, the infamous creators of The First Cat in Space and the Soup of Doom. And now: a debut, hometown author named Jessica Guerrieri.
“It’s just really exciting, honestly, to be able to be a resource for and facilitate local authors getting their books out,” Snyder Thompson told The Dirt. “We have such a wide range of events, from intimate in-store gatherings that feel like a family reunion, to something like this, where there’s going to be 300 people. They’re all important, and I think it’s really cool that Davis has such a wide base of authors.”
Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea is an unfiltered tell-all about motherhood, addiction, and identity—raw, vulnerable, and unwilling to shy away from the hardest truths.
“I am 11 years in recovery from alcoholism, so it is like a peek behind the curtain of mommy wine culture and what happens when you use alcohol as a coping strategy,” Guerrieri said.
The pandemic brought a different kind of struggle—one that forced her to confront even deeper truths about herself.
“I actually started abusing other substances as a means of escapism, and I learned that I’m also an addict,” Guerrieri said. “For me, the hardest parts of the book are when I was writing in active addiction, and so I wanted to viscerally show what it looks like to be tormented by that.”
Some of the book’s most intense passages were written in real time, as she battled the very demons she was documenting.
“There are parts of the book that I was actually high when I was writing it, while not being the best mom that I could be, and so those parts are really hard to look back on and read,” she said.
So yes, this book is brutally honest—the kind of honesty that punches you in the gut and makes you rethink everything you thought you knew about the curated, Instagram-perfect version of motherhood.
But Guerrieri says she didn’t just write this book for herself. She wrote it for women who feel trapped, mothers drowning in expectations, and people who don’t see their struggles reflected honestly in books. And it wasn’t easy.
“I wish people recognized just how hard it is, that it genuinely is just riddled with rejection,” she said. “I’d like to share that this book, and in the process of it, I was rejected over a hundred different ways between agents and publishers.”
After years of persistence—and a UC Davis Maurice Prize for Fiction award under her belt—HarperCollins swooped in with a two-book representation deal and the kind of national push debut authors dream of. The press coverage is rolling in, the book tour is set, and readers are buzzing about the release.
But before the big-city events and national exposure, there’s Davis.
“This has been really great. We’ve had a lot of lead time on this event, which is really great,” Snyder Thompson said. “It gives us the opportunity to actually be really deliberate and plan out what she wants the event to feel like.”
The official launch event will take place at Veterans Memorial Theatre in Davis May 22, where Guerrieri will be joined in conversation with New York Times bestselling author and Oprah’s Book Club Pick, Lara Love Hardin. Together, they will discuss the novel’s themes of motherhood, family, and addiction.
