Bronwyn Larson has spent her whole life not depending on her mother, a constantly recovering addict, until the moment her life was literally torn apart when an EF4 tornado ripped through their trailer park and her mom is found dead, miles away after the storm.
Suddenly, her estranged father is a part of her life, a prominent state senator who's been absent since Bronwyn was born, a product of her parents' secretive affair. After living alone with her mother in a trailer for seventeen years, Bronwyn now has a stepmother and four new siblings, including an older brother and sister who seem skeptical, if not actually disproving, of Bronwyn living with them.
While staying with them in their vacation lake house an hour away from what she called home, Bronwyn is hit with the bombshell that her mother's death is being treated as suspicious, with injuries inconsistent of being killed during the tornado. Estranged from everyone she knows, except her estranged new family, Bronwyn doesn't know who trust or who to believe about her mother's death.
Torn between her life as the daughter of a single drug addict and the middle child of a well-respected senator, all while learning more about the mother she thought she knew, Bronwyn is forced to navigate through this new unfamiliar life alone, with this gut feeling she has.
That her mother's killer isn't unfamiliar.
𝐓𝐎 𝐁𝐄 𝐏𝐔𝐁𝐋𝐈𝐒𝐇𝐄𝐃 𝐌𝐀𝐘 18th 𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟏 𝐓𝐇𝐑𝐎𝐔𝐆𝐇 𝐖𝐀𝐓𝐓𝐏𝐀𝐃 𝐁𝐎𝐎𝐊𝐒
Cover designed by Ashley Bandy
"Let's get one thing straight, you know nothing about me or my brother, so you and this stupid gossipy town can go and suck it, for all I care!"
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Life hadn't been easy these past few months for 16 year old Cheryl Grayson; with the recent murder of her older brother, George and her uptight mother and shadow father moving her from Chicago to a small town in the middle of Oregon all while dealing basic teen issues as well as grief.
As she settles in her new school who knows everything about her makes her vow to keep away from everyone and deal with her few school years alone, but with the consistent teasing from the schools mean girl, three outcasts stick to her side like glue and try and put a smile on face.
As Appleby life starts to become the norm, Cheryl finds herself slowly becoming her old self again, not losing all of her grief, but still coming out of her shell more and when a boy comes into the picture, she doesn't think it can get any better than this.
It isn't until her all-time best friend, Lorelei comes to visit her, and all is amazing until secrets start to unveil themselves, questioning everything.