Just a little seasonal fun, taking place around five years before the main story. See how this unique family spends the days leading up to Christmas and let's hope that it will be a drama-free time, filled with joy for the Taylor family.

Eleven-year-old Annelise Beaumont is learning to navigate school, family, and the fragile spaces of her own mind. As past traumas resurface and new challenges arise, she must find a way to hold herself together while the walls around her start to shift. (Sequel to Rooms Without Locks)

+++THIS IS A SEQUEL - To be able to follow the storyline, please read „Unravelling" and „Dissolving" first!+++ Lily and her brothers are stuggling to come to terms with yet another tragedy that occurred to one of their own. The previously tight-knit family is on the brink of falling apart as some members of the Taylor Clan are barely holding it together. Only being months away from finally reaching her goal of officially becoming a teenager, Lily finds herself in the middle of the perfect storm, with only limited means to navigate through it. She is walking a thin line between succumbing to her own, overwhelming emotions and being the rock that her brothers so desperately need to lean on. Can Lily overcome her own debilitating sadness in time to be the glue that keeps her family together? Will the secrets, that are finally being unleashed upon her, paralyze her or make her more determined than ever to fix things? How will these revelations help her understand her oldest brothers' past actions? Together with the people who mean the world to her, Lily starts the last leg of her journey to discovery. What is the story behind her father's mysterious absence? Who are these creeps that are clearly after the Taylors? How did her sister Sienna really die and who is responsible for her death? Was her accident the reason for the brothers' move to the other side of the country or is there something else? And what is her mother's role in all of this, if any at all? All these questions will finally be answered. But their impact on this curious, empathic, overthinking and reckless-at-the-wrong-time almost-teenager is anything but foreseeable. Lily can only hope that her previously reliable safety net called friends and family is up to the task to support her on this emotional rollercoaster.

****THIS IS A SEQUEL. To be able to follow this story, please read "Unravelling" first**** Lily has started into the new year with a mixture of confusion, curiosity, anticipation - and dread. Ever since her oldest brothers revealed some of the truth about their family's past, the 12-year-old soon-to-be-teenager is struggling to come to terms with all the new and partially heart-breaking information. For the first few months of the year, Lily has tried to stay true to her word and not dig any further into their past, at least not until Alex, her guardian, is willing to share more details with the younger kids. However, Lily's patience is slowly running out. So many things are occupying her mind. She is convinced that there is still a lot more to discover about her family, and she is not willing to wait much longer. What is their father's story and can she locate him? How did her sister die? When will she see Finn again? Why is Sean really moving back home? And what is the reason behind her brothers' weirdly secretive behavior? With the help from her friends and some of her siblings, Lily continues her journey of gradually unravelling her family's secrets. Will she be successful? Will the implications of her discoveries slowly dissolve her family or is she able to save these fragile relationships before it is too late? Join Lily once again as she juggles school, friends, family (meetings), the general challenges of growing-up, creepy stalkers, some tragedies and maybe even her first encounter with something akin to a crush in these rather eventful months of her life.

For the past few years, the Taylor siblings have allowed themselves one little luxury: their annual skiing trip to the mountains. Join Lily and her unique family on a week of fun, snow, music, sibling banter, hot chocolate - and maybe a little bit of romance. IMPORTANT NOTE: This is a prequel to my other stories "Unravelling" (finished) and „Dissolving" (sequel, in progress). I recommend that you read the first few chapters of „Unravelling" first, if only to get to know the characters a bit better. You can find both other books on my profile.

Eight-year-old Annelise doesn't remember her real name - or what it means to be safe. Taken from her family and trapped in a nightmare for six long years, she's finally rescued and returned to the people who have been waiting for her all along. The Beaumont brothers each carry their own scars from a past filled with loss and secrets. Together, they embark on a slow, tender journey of healing, trust, and rediscovery-where every unlocked door holds the chance for Annelise to reclaim what's been stolen from her.

Nine-year-old Addison has known only darkness - locked away in a basement, her world has been one of silence, fear, and isolation. But when Addison moves in with the Harrington brothers - the family she never knew she had - she faces the daunting task of learning to trust, speak, and heal. Surrounded by love but haunted by her past, will Addison find the light she's been searching for - or will the shadows of her trauma keep her trapped?

After enduring years of neglect and cruelty from her mother and stepfather, Ariana's life changes drastically when tragedy brings her under the guardianship of five brothers she's never met and they never even knew they had a sister. For her brothers, learning they have a sister is an unwelcome surprise. Suspicious and reluctant, her brothers see Aria as an outsider, a stranger disrupting the fragile balance of their lives. For Aria, their home is both a new beginning and a constant reminder of the family that left her behind. Haunted by the pain of her past, Aria struggles to adjust, her every action guarded and her trust hard to earn. As her brothers try to understand her, they begin to glimpse the scars she hides and the strength she carries. Little by little, resentment turns to empathy, and the walls between them start to crumble. But just as the siblings begin to find common ground, the secrets and trauma of Aria's old life threaten to tear them apart. Together, they must decide whether they can overcome the shadows of the past to forge a family and whether Aria can finally find a place to belong.

𝗟𝗶𝗺𝗶𝗻𝗮𝗹 /ˈ𝘭ɪ𝘮ɪ𝘯ə𝘭/ adjective existing in the quiet interval before change, where nothing has ended, but everything feels about to. 𝘚𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘪𝘵𝘴 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘧𝘳𝘢𝘨𝘪𝘭𝘦 𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘩𝘰𝘱𝘦 𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘣𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘴, 𝘶𝘯𝘢𝘸𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘪𝘵 𝘩𝘢𝘴 𝘢𝘭𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘥𝘺 𝘣𝘦𝘦𝘯 𝘮𝘢𝘳𝘬𝘦𝘥 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘭𝘰𝘴𝘴. 𝘈𝘯𝘥 𝘴𝘰 𝘴𝘩𝘦 𝘳𝘦𝘮𝘢𝘪𝘯𝘴 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘭𝘰𝘷𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘳𝘶𝘪𝘯 𝘴𝘩𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘢𝘮𝘦 𝘴𝘩𝘢𝘥𝘰𝘸. Brothers/Family

Lily is happy with her life. She has a unique family that she can rely on as well as four great friends who support her - and vice versa. She doesn't mind school, loves to play soccer in her spare time and cannot say no to sweets. For as long as she can remember, it has always been just her and her brothers. There are no parents in the picture. The 12-year-old has never bothered to find out what actually happened to them and she has never even met them. Her oldest brother is her and the other minors' guardian. This is how it has always been, and Lily likes it that way. However, something seems to be changing. Three of her brothers suddenly move back home, or at least make plans to do so. The older ones start to act secretive and they appear more preoccupied than usual. Certain things don't add up anymore. Lily's curiosity is piqued. What is going on with her family? What are her oldest brothers hiding from her? Have they been lying to her? Who are her parents? And where are they? Join Lily on a journey that will turn her life upside down and that will put everything into a new perspective, as things slowly start to unravel.