A journey through heartbreak, hope, and healing - told before 30.
Digital copy coming soon
Before 30: A Memoir on Heartbreak, Healing, and Becoming
is a deeply personal and tender memoir exploring love, faith, heartbreak, and healing.
In these honest reflections, Pleasant looks back on her twenties — the choices she questioned, the love she longed for, the loneliness she battled, and the grace that found her in it all. It’s a story about becoming, in all its mess and beauty.
This isn’t a list of achievements or a guide to having it all figured out before 30. It’s an invitation to sit with your own story, to embrace the in-between, and to believe that even when life doesn’t go according to plan, God is still writing something good.
Whether you’re approaching a milestone birthday or navigating a season of transition, this book was written with you in mind — creating space for your questions, your hope, and your healing.
Why I Wrote This Book
But soon, I felt it more clearly, the Holy Spirit whispering: Not that. Write how you really feel. Let the emotions in. So I did. With no plan, no outline, and with no intention of writing a book. Just honesty.
But as the words poured out and the chapters began to take shape, I realised: this wasn’t just journaling. The Holy Spirit was leading me to write a book. Since then, life has had new meaning. Writing this book wasn’t just an act of creativity; it was an act of surrender. A letting go. A stepping into purpose.
This is more than a memoir. It’s a testimony. A journey back to myself. And maybe if you let it, it can be part of yours too.
Why I Wrote This Book
This book began on a night when I almost ran from my pain.
I had just gotten off a difficult call and felt the old urge creeping in – to numb the ache with alcohol. It had been well over a year since I stopped drinking, but moments like this still tested me. The store beside my house was closed, and I took that as a sign. So instead, I did the next best thing: I allowed the sadness to settle by listening to the saddest heartbreak songs.
But then came a gentle nudge to write.
I opened my Notes app and started with a ‘diss’ poem, basically summarizing my plans to become a hard babe.
Before 30 is more than a memoir; it's an honest reflection on what it means to be human - to break, to hope, and to become.
Love & Heartbreak
Faith & Wrestling
Loneliness & Healing
Identity & Family
Womanhood & Worth
Becoming
Who is this book for?
If you’ve ever…
- Felt like the girl no one chooses
- Questioned your worth after another heartbreak
- Tried to make yourself smaller just to feel safe
- Stayed longer than you should have in something that hurt
- Missed God but didn’t know how to find your way back
- Loved deeply, even when it wasn’t returned
- Been the strong one, but secretly longed to fall apart
- Carried childhood wounds into adult relationships
- Felt guilty for still wanting love
- Wondered if healing was possible for you
- Sat in silence and wished someone could put your ache into words.
…then Before 30: A Memoir on Heartbreak, Healing, and Becoming is for you.
This book is a soft place to land. A quiet reminder that you’re not the only one trying to figure it all out. That your journey is valid, your becoming is sacred, and even in the mess, you are deeply loved.
Who is this book for?
If you’ve ever…
- Felt like the girl no one chooses
- Questioned your worth after another heartbreak
- Tried to make yourself smaller just to feel safe
- Stayed longer than you should have in something that hurt
- Missed God but didn’t know how to find your way back
- Loved deeply, even when it wasn’t returned
- Been the strong one, but secretly longed to fall apart
- Carried childhood wounds into adult relationships
- Felt guilty for still wanting love
- Wondered if healing was possible for you
- Sat in silence and wished someone could put your ache into words.
…then Before 30: A Memoir on Heartbreak, Healing, and Becoming is for you.
This book is a soft place to land. A quiet reminder that you’re not the only one trying to figure it all out. That your journey is valid, your becoming is sacred, and even in the mess, you are deeply loved.
About the Author
My name is Pleasant Chinonyerem Kanu, and by the time you’re reading this, I’ll either be thirty or just a few days away. I’m a Nigerian-born writer based in London, part of a close-knit family of six whom I completely adore.
I hold a BSc in Chemical Engineering and an MSc in Marketing. I’ve always carried a creative side, drawn to fashion, writing, and storytelling — even as I built a nearly nine-year career in marketing.
I started my first blog, thatnonyegirl, on WordPress, where I explored fashion and wrote freely on topics that mattered to me. I eventually drifted away from it, partly because my writing felt too personal, and partly because I poured myself into my marketing career.
Now, I’m finding my way back to writing, and I’m excited to see where this part of me leads — because it feels like home.
Read an 
Excerpt
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