by Kate Evangelista (2016)
Caleb desperately needs a new fake girlfriend. Either he attends a series of parties for his father's law firm with a pretty girl on his arm, or he gets shipped off to Yale to start a future he's not ready for and isn't sure he wants. And sadly the last unattached girl in his social circle has just made the grievous mistake of falling in love with him. Fortunately, Didi, recently fired waitress and aspiring painter, is open to new experiences. It's the perfect setup for them both. Caleb has only one rule for the arrangement: Didi must not fall in love with him.The summer nights tick by in a whirl of lavish parties, and Didi is enjoying her foray into high society. But Caleb soon starts to worry that this time he's the one in danger of falling in love.
H.M. Ward
"I've gone from a future of possibilities to nothing in a single gunshot. Homeless, penniless and without the man I love, my hopelessness overwhelms me and I seek unexpected comfort from people long absent in my life. I can't lose Sean--not now, not ever--and I'll do anything to get him back, even if it means using myself as bait." --page 4 of cover.
Susannah Hayden
Percy Morgan's life is shrouded in shadows-her past hidden and her future unknown. Where she has come from is her secret, but even Percy can't say what has drawn her to a burgeoning lumber camp. She watches as the small community wrestles with its own identity, afraid to share her own struggle to discover her own self worth. As hardened as she is by her past, Percy cannot resist the gentle nudges of the people around her. Her gruff exterior begins to soften under the friendship of the few women in the camp, and she has begun to attract the attention of the camp's doctor, Joshua Wells. The light of human and divine love beckon Percy to take a risk. Can she reopen the pain of the past and allow healing to begin?
G. Elizabeth Kretchmer
Lynn Van Swol still regrets the decision she made thirty years ago to place her daughter for adoption so she could climb the highest mountains of the world. Frankie Rizzoni is the troubled biological granddaughter that Lynn has never known. And Beth Mahoney, a minister's wife with terminal cancer, is the only one who has discovered the relationship between the two. Worried about Frankie's future, she designed a plan upon her deathbed to bring them together, but now, narrating from the afterlife, she must helplessly watch as her legacy threatens to unravel.The Damnable Legacy of A Minister's Wife is a story about both love and survival, exploring the importance of attachment, place, and faith, and asking how far we should go to achieve our goals⁰́₃and at what cost.
edited and with a story by Stephanie Perkins
Summer is the perfect time for love to bloom, and these short stories of teenagers facing the confusing maze of first love will have you dreaming of sunset strolls by the lake. The selections range from heartfelt to outlandish, as the characters find passion in some very unexpected places.