Traveling across the country, coffee house to coffee house, Kyna Bryn is talking about and sharing her books with whoever cares to listen.
After living for three years in Las Cruces as a preteen, Bryn said she is excited to be coming back for a few days and looks forward to seeing how things have changed. Her roller coaster life since leaving Las Cruces saw her put in foster care for a year at 14; joining a carnival at 16; and by 17, owning and operating six carnival games and fighting a custodial battle with a multimillionaire.
Her life is reflected in her novel, based on true stories, “Broken Not Shattered.” Main character Zara Banks has been exposed to abuse, neglect, rejection and bullying most of her life. She struggles to understand whether she has a purpose in the world. As a mother, Zara questions why God would allow so many horrific things happen to her. Facing a millionaire that tried to take her only child, suffering the abuse of her past and fighting her addictions, by never giving up, Zara became a stronger woman who overcomes adversity.
“My mother and I did not get along well, we had an unhealthy relationship, and I ran away to get away from her,” Bryn said. The book is very raw and real, including two uncles who molested and touched me wrong as a kid. There were addictions. I wanted my readers to walk through as if they were right next to me.”
She said she felt God was next to her through everything.
“I believe He loves us how we are,” she said. “[Writing the book] was like digging into those dark hidden spots inside me. Each chapter was like chains falling off of me.”
Bryn’s second book, “Healed not Broken,” was more fun to write, she said. She described a religious experience in 2018 upon receiving a cash gift that led to her being “completely delivered of all my addictions.” The message she said she wants to share through her writing is for people “to know they are loved and God is alive,” adding, “My heart is not to force or convert or pressure anyone to believe as I do. I just can’t be unconvinced.”
Bryn will be in Las Cruces speaking and signing her books, 9 a.m.-1 p.m. Jan. 26, at Downtown Blues Coffee, 130 S. Main St.; and then in Alamogordo 8 a.m.-noon, Jan. 27, at Mad Coffee and Bagels, 1301 10th St.
Information can be found at KynaBryn.com.
