Content Warning: The source text and this guide discuss emotional and physical abuse and substance use disorder.

Several characters in Keeping 13 deal with past emotional and physical abuse, lasting trauma, anxiety, physical injury, use disorders, and more, and these experiences impact their ability to move forward with their lives. However, through the support of friends, partners, and family members, they learn the importance of unconditional love in helping them heal and grow.

In their journey to confront and heal from their problems, Shannon and Johnny find help in their love for each other. Throughout the first part of the novel, Johnny constantly reaffirms Shannon’s thoughts and feelings. He encourages her to tell him how she feels and to make decisions for herself. As their sexual relationship advances, he repeatedly asks her for permission before moving any further, stopping multiple times, despite his feelings, to make sure that she is comfortable. He supports her in other ways as well: standing up to Marie and Darren, confronting her father, and saving her as well as her brothers from the fire at the novel’s climax. Shannon supports Johnny in turn: consistently reminding him that she has faith in his rugby ability and, more importantly, that she will love him whether he makes the National Team or not.