[watty's longlist 2018] Elisa Robinson has only one thing on her Summer to-do list: Go to Jamaica with her best friend. But after an ignorant tweet sent in the heat of the moment, her parents threaten to make her get a job so she could see life through a different set of eyes. Elisa was against the idea until she realized it was kind of perfect. If she stayed home, she could keep an eye on Adam, her boyfriend. She knew they were drifting a part and leaving the country might not improve things. So instead of sunbathing on an island, Elisa was scooping ice cream for rowdy kids. The only thing keeping her sane was her co-worker, Julian. He was the polar opposite of Adam and served as the perfect distraction from her failing relationship. An innocent friendship soon turns to something more as Elisa spends more and more time with Julian. Is it just a rebound or is she really falling for him?

Book 1 | ✓ Sweeping my curls with his hand, he unapologetically held my face, making me look at him as he spoke: "Someone should've gotten you a manual for living here. If that shocks you, then I don't know how everything else will make you react." I muffled a laugh, though deep down wanted to fall into a fetal position. He was so much more handsome up close like this with the sun behind him, angelic almost―disregarding the tattoo inscribed on the side of his neck. Picasso's full lips parted, grinning at me till my heart started acting funny-fluttering against my ribs. "I think I've got the hang of it around here. I can handle myself," I remarked, smiling. "Stop worrying about me." "The thing is I can't stop," he admitted. "And I won't." Though there was no legal ties to bind him to what he said, I believed what Picasso swore to me on that afternoon. And for that reason, I agreed to his proposition to go out on a date. ❀ Picasso is the polar opposite from the preppy rich girl that is, and always will be, Sydney Webster. However, Sydney loses it all in an instant when she hears of her father's death, leading their two worlds to collide. Kicked out of her beach house in Malibu, Sydney is forced to move in with her aunt and her three kids in a tiny apartment. Sydney goes from attending prestigious schools and yacht parties to having to walk through metal detectors before entering homeroom, gang violence brewing inside the school, and a posey of mean girls ready to put Sydney in her place and remind her where she's at on the food chain. Luckily for her, there's a savior in the chaos: Picasso Hudson. ❀ [this is a companion book to Tethered Hearts. you do not need to read that book to understand this story.] #1 in urban fiction tag (4/1/20) #1 in urbanbooks (9/8/19) #1 in goodgirl (1/31/23) #4 in badboy (2/4/20) #65 in Teen (1/11/20)