Young Firecrackers is a collection of memoirs written by lifelong friends Brian Rehn, Ryan Bernstein, Andrew Theriot, Ashley Mercurio, and Brooke Graham. Our lives were derailed by addiction, reckless behavior, and America’s drug crisis. Years squandered in and out of jails, treatment centers, toxic relationships, fighting the legal system, and watching our loved ones die—yet we all still seek resolve. We lost our way as kids and made it back home to each other as adults, now all raising our own kids. That resilience has inspired us to share our stories and the complexities of suburban America’s underbelly. And we set out to do this as a tribute to the thirty Marietta friends whose lives were lost to drug-related causes since the late nineties.

Laugh with us. Cry with us. Maybe you’ll relate to the struggle, or see some of your own story in ours, too.