THE AMERICANA PLAYBOOK

Dear Reader

First, thank you for being here. Whether you’re new to my books, or you’ve been around for awhile, your support means the world to me.

Now, let’s get to business.

The Americana Playbook is a marriage of convenience football romance between two former childhood best friends. One of them happens to be the (fictional) president’s daughter and the other plays for a (fictional) professional football team. It sounds fine and dandy. But please buckle up and understand that I value consistency—you likely won’t find a book of mine that doesn’t address sensitive topics. Here, there are a few, and while none of them are explored in a graphic way in this book, you should be aware that The Americana Playbook is intended for readers 18+ due to its mature content and the following issues some might find triggering.

• The troubled teen industry
• Kidnapping
• Child abuse (institutional, mental, and physical)
• Emotional abuse in a sports setting
• Sexual harassment
• OCD, PTSD

If any of these are triggering to you, stop reading here. If they aren’t and you continue on with the story, please preface that this book does have content warnings if you recommend it.

Thank you for taking a chance on Fitz, Parker, and The Americana Playbook.

Cheers,

Cathryn

The Troubled Teen Industry

The Troubled Teen Industry (TTI) describes a system of unregulated residential youth facilities and or programs aimed at “rehabilitating” struggling teenage children. Consisting of wilderness programs, boot camps, residential facilities, or therapeutic boarding schools, TTI is a multi-billion dollar industry that is better known for the abuse charges against its programs than it is its success in impacting the lives of children positively.

At the time of the initial publication of The Americana Playbook, Unsilenced, a TTI watchdog and nonprofit, estimates that 100,000 children are currently enrolled the industry’s 5,000 facilities or programs in the US or abroad. Some of these children were taken, like Parker, from the middle of their beds overnight, enrolled by their parents and guardians to deal with mental health issues or even mundane behavioral problems. Most will leave these programs worse off than when they entered.

Parker’s story is fictional, but is based on the real life testimony of half a dozen former participants of TTI’s programs who were happy to share these stories in hopes others will learn about the enormous amount of institutionalized child abuse happening at the moment.

If you are interested in learning more, you can visit Unsilenced where you’ll find information on current anti-TTI legislation, survivors’ stories, and ways to help end the abuse.

Dedication

For the bad, the bold, the beautiful, and those who were never broken despite being told otherwise.

Epigraph

There are no good girls gone wrong. Just bad girls found out.

MAE WEST

New England Rebels

Day 44