In Better, Not Bitter: A journey from heartbreak to healing, when Michelle Cowan's husband dies in a sudden crash, she is forced to figure out how to move forward with a grieving teenage daughter. This would require them to walk a path that was a foreign passageway to most and welcomed by none. Both would come to experience the brutality of a political system and an industry that levels immeasurable destruction and heartache. At the same time, they would encounter unexpected kindnesses, support, and the sheer goodness of others.

Michelle takes the reader on a journey of love and loss, power and influence, courage and honor, and, finally, deep brokenness bringing the chance for a new normal, a time of restoration and living with permission granted. The loss of Joe was incalculable to Michelle, AJ, and all who loved him. Michelle found that loss met time and again by Joe's love, a love that was forever near her and palpable from across the sacred veil.

"...Michelle has chosen to make the world a better place as a result of her tragic experience." -TOM OSBORNE, NebraskaHuskers football coach and U.S. Congressman

"The author sought comfort in what some might consider unlikely places and ... unlikely coincidences, culminating in a paradigm-shifting twist. An emotionally compelling read." -REKHA BASU, former opinion columnist Des Moines Register

"With the clear tone of someone who knows, Michelle Cowan captures the devastation that has reshaped countless lives, including mine." -MILLIE WEBB MADD National President 2000-2002