"If you love me, you won't leave me." Jessie has believed those words from her boyfriend, Josh, since senior year of high school. She loves him and doesn't want to leave him. Not even when he shouts at her and hits her. Jessie's best friend, Kolleen, can't stand seeing her in that situation. With a bit of convincing - and the worst beating she'd ever received - Jessie agrees to move into an apartment with Kolleen. But not long after, Jessie is scared the worst of her nightmares will soon become a reality. Josh goes missing, and suddenly Jessie would swear she's being followed. One night changes everything, and one person soon changes Jessie's outlook. A responding officer from that fateful night begins to seek her out, at first claiming it's part of his job. As she spends time with her new friend outside of his job, she starts realizing that her feelings are evolving. After being abused for over a year, Jessie is terrified she's falling in love. What's even more terrifying is that he might be, too. She isn't ready for love. Not yet. She makes up her mind that if he is falling, and if he does love her, he'll wait for her to be ready, and if she loves him, she won't let herself hurt him. Can the words that used to cage her in really be the key to her freedom? --- Featured On: @NA: Take a seat and let it be | Mature Content and 18+ reading list @NA: You deserve the world | Mental Health reading list Ambys Top Picks New Adult 2023

[FEATURED x5] When Lucy's estranged father dies suddenly, she knows she is not going to have the Senior Year of her dreams - it is definitely not starting out as her best year ever, that's for sure. Instead, she begins to question the point of it all. Refusing to act like the good girl she's always been, Lucy finds love, hurt and confusion, capturing her thoughts in an anonymous high school newspaper column that causes (big) problems of its own. Featured by @YA Featured by @TeenFiction Featured by @NewlyWrittenBooks Featured by @WattpadOutreach Hidden Gems Featured by @StoriesUndiscovered in July 2022 **Completed: July 2022

When Katherine Hollway finds her boyfriend cheating, she removes her trust from "men" but the game changes when her worst enemy, Shane Martinez, moves to her next door. [[ all rights reserved by thekaarmic ]] * * * 28 March, 23: Got added by @YA to their reading list "CLUELESS | Teen Fiction".