Love, Leashes & Letting Go

The day Dawn Reno Langley used her thirty-three-year-old husband's phone, she found what she was never supposed to see: a hidden list of every woman he'd slept with—including her close friend and the lonely neighbor down the street.

She was seventy-one. He had been twenty-seven when they met. For years she'd believed she was finally safe in a relationship built on trust, never realizing the manipulation and emotional abuse that had been tightening his control over her life. Instead, she discovered a gaslighting polyamory that had turned her marriage into a slow, deliberate con—one designed to keep her small and unhappy.

This raw and unflinching memoir traces what happens when a woman stops trying to save what was never real and finds the courage to break free from a toxic relationship. Dawn flees with her soul dog, Izzy—the one being who saw the truth all along—and begins the brutal work of rebuilding a life she never planned to live alone. Covid, a near cardiac collapse, losing her academic career, and the devastating pet loss of Izzy in her arms become the emotional crucible that nearly breaks her.

But this is not a story of defeat. It's about trauma, grief, and the long road back to yourself. Dawn chooses solo female travel over staying trapped, dogsitting her way across Portugal, the UK, and beyond—a journey that eventually carries her around Europe, as she sheds the life she thought she wanted. Along the way, she returns to the yogic practice of Aparigraha—non-attachment—and discovers that healing is less about finding answers and more about releasing the need for them.

For anyone who has ever felt emotionally wrecked by a relationship, lost a beloved pet, or wondered if peace was possible after betrayal, this book is a companion on the road back to yourself. It won't promise tidy comfort, but it will show you what moving forward looks like when you finally choose yourself. Consider it a guide for finding home again—wherever you land.