Tanya Derigo
This memoir is the story of everything that came before the relationship that lasted.Told through a series of meaningful relationships, Before Love Stayed explores how depression, anxiety, and unresolved childhood wounds quietly shaped the way love was chosen, held, and often released. Each chapter reflects a season of becoming; times when connection felt close but never quite settled, when fear spoke louder than desire, and when leaving felt safer than staying.Rather than focusing on heartbreak alone, this book centers the inner work happening beneath the surface: learning to sit with discomfort, recognizing patterns without shame, and slowly understanding that love doesn’t arrive fully formed, it waits for us to be ready to receive it.This is a story for women who loved deeply while still learning themselves, and who eventually discovered that love didn’t fail, it simply hadn’t stayed yet.
