Trust Your Struggle is a novel based on a true story. Carissa is a highly talented student-athlete with a promising and bright future ahead of her but everything in her life comes to a screeching halt during the end of her junior year in high school. Sixteen-year-old Carissa is unexpectedly charged with two counts of attempted murder and sentenced to twenty-one years in New Mexico's adult correctional system. Carissa is forced to deal with the demons from her past while also trying to keep her head above water to survive her long and traumatizing prison sentence. The story takes you on the journey so many Americans are unfortunately familiar with and, in the end, she learns what it really takes to trust your struggle.