Kyle, a traveler, storyteller, abandoned property explorer, YouTube filmmaker and lover of history explored Darina's abandoned house and learned so much about her from everything that was left there. As he leaves the property, he doesn't move on to the next abandoned place, he jumps back in time to 1957, a year before Darina marries her husband Edmund.
Kyle lives in the 1950s for a while, staying with Darina's family, and learns the way of life in the 50s, as well as learning why he was sent there. Maybe it's to make sure Darina's house doesn't become abandoned, maybe it's to help tell the story of another abandoned property he finds, or it could have to do with his own family. He was on the cross-country road trip the past year to not only explore many abandoned places, but to find himself and grieve his father's death, but... maybe there's more to it. He tries to figure it all out while in 1957, and in the process... he falls in love with young Darina. Maybe she somehow has something to do with the reason he was sent there, more than anything having to do with her future house.
(Rating note: sensual descriptions, kissing, sexual act that is not written out but implied)
~"You don't- you don't need me."
I stared in shock. This was the first shred of emotion he'd shown since he started avoiding me, and I had no idea how to respond. What was I supposed to say to something like that? So I let myself be honest, and I told him exactly how I felt. "But I do." I almost choked on my words. "I do need you. I can't talk to anybody else. I can't eat. I can't sleep. And I know you know what that's like."~
Liliana is now an orphan. Just 17 years old, she lost her parents in a boating accident and now she must live with her best friend, her best friend's parents and her best friend's brother, Joseph. She struggles through her grief as well as dealing with the mysterious but obnoxious Joseph, and it soon comes to light that he isn't the only one around her keeping secrets. Living under the same roof, tensions arise, and Liliana begins to discover that a perfect family may not be so perfect after all."
If you like a good old slowburn, enemies (ish) to lovers, bonding over tragic backstories type beat then this story is for you, I promise :)
#1 in #bestfriendsbrother (didn't note the exact date - some time in January 2021)
#1 in #dealing with death (11/04/21)
amazing cover by @sixty6ix !!