(TH#5)"And maybe in the end, in spite of all we said, all we did, all we met, we are only thoughts that evaporate into the effervescent whirlwind of time." Cole Winters is a perfect example of high school done right; star quarterback, good-looking, popular, he has the whole package. Things couldn't possibly go wrong. He lives for the present with no certainty on the future or anything it holds. Grace Loving is terminally ill. She's been cancer-free, but it can't be gone forever. She knows it. Everybody knows it. And it's only a matter of time before she bites it. But to maximize her living expectancy, her parents bring her to a well-known doctor operating a hospital just outside of Heart, North Carolina, where she finds her new home and, ultimately, Cole Winters. It's not love at first sight. It's not even love at fourth sight. But as they're thrown together in odd and unsavory circumstances, it becomes a battle between love and the desire not to hurt or be hurt, and the realization that in life you cannot have one without the other.

(TH#8) "The thing about pain, is, everybody suffers different. Everybody is always hurting. And nobody ever wants to do anything about it." After the accident that changed her life forever, all Ruby Harding wants is to disappear. And then her mother puts her in a camp for the socially inept, and it's the last thing she's able to do. But when her past comes back to haunt her, Ruby has to fight tooth and nail to keep it from defeating her again, even if it means confronting the very things that keep her up at night. However, along her journey of faith and healing, Ruby stumbles upon a truth that threatens everything she's believed for the last two years. A truth so large and so dangerous it stands to change the entire game. With a free-spirited Skyler Richardson by her side, Ruby delves back into the past in an attempt to uncover what truly happened that fateful night. Unfortunately for her, the reality is something not everyone is ready to face. And her problems are only beginning.

(TH#4)"His mind is a chaotic mess, built of the kind of stuff you read about in a Stephen King novel. He couldn't control his anger any more than I could control my stomach from rumbling when I was hungry. He thought cursing like a sailor at others was morally acceptable, and most of all didn't seem to give a rat’s ass about himself. Any normal person would have stayed far, far away. But me? Well, I wasn't normal.” When Lilia Matthews' argumentative and dysfunctional family becomes too much to bear, she moves in with her grandfather for a summer in Heart, North Carolina. What she doesn't expect? Alec Grey. He's creepy, and dark, and frankly everything Lilia doesn't need to be getting involved with. But he has a few problems of his own. Besides the fact that he's certifiably crazy, he can't remember any of the events that led to him showing up on her grandfather's doorstep. And Lilia's apparent mission? To help him regain those memories. When they clash it's like fire and ice, but as Alec and Lilia find out, it's the craziest moments of all when that fine line between love and hate seems to blur. When you find out maybe going against the world all on your own isn't all it's cracked up to be. And that sometimes, it takes delving into the insanity of another to find the sanity within yourself.

(TH#2)After a traumatic bullying experience and an almost fatal mistake, Emmalyn Hall moves with her family to Heart, North Carolina in hopes the same magic that healed her parents can possibly mend her as well. She moved to forget the memories of that horrible night, but she finds it's not as easy as she thought. Rhys Richardson is a lost soul stuck in an imperfect household. With an estranged mother, a workaholic father, and dozens of women amateurishly filling the maternal role in turn, his life is a chaotic mess. On the surface, they're exact opposites. Deep down, no two people could be more alike. And with that comes undeniable chemistry. But when nightmares from Emma's past come back to haunt her, one question remains: is it ever too late to love and forgive?

No emotions. No fears. Fulfill the mission. That is the code Annabelle lives by. She has no life, no friends, no family. What she does have is the ability to defuse a bomb in under a minute, to hit a target moving over 100 miles per hour, to take out her opponent using martial arts skills. She is a weapon of mass destruction and she is about embark on her most dangerous mission yet. The NPA tasked her with protecting the son of the French Prime minister, a carefree boy whose only wish is to become a spy. She soon finds out however that this mission holds more secrets than she cared to know, secrets that will change her life forever.

(TH#1) While struggling to keep the demons within herself at bay, Jemma Knight is having a hard time dealing with the suicide of her mother, the departure of her father, and the welcoming of her Aunt Clara and Heart, North Carolina into her life. Although popular and good-looking, Jacob Hall hides most of his true identity beneath a flawless facade. At school he's who he wants to be. At home he's just the son without a father and a mother who's never home. But when these two kids are stuck together on a project, they find out they have more in common than not.

(TH#7)"Life could be too much like fire. Unpredictable, scorching, and roaring out of your control faster than you could believe." Life isn't perfect. In fact, most of the time, it's far from it. Annie Davis knows this, which is why she's thoroughly divided her life in half, working hard to embrace the flawless side she's created for the world, and the crumbling reality she struggles to hide. All she wants to do is get out and start on her promising journalism career. That is, until she meets Ezra Burns. New and selectively mute, and definitely hiding something, he becomes the big story Annie needs to leave senior year with a bang. But she finds out she may have bitten off a bit more than she can chew, when big secrets are revealed, the chemistry between them becomes undeniable, and she finds out firsthand just how deep the fire can burn you.

(TH#3)“'If you can look me in the eye and tell me anybody has ever held you like this, kissed you like this, loved you like this, then I will let you go. I will leave and I will never come back.' And as much as I wanted to say that, yes, someone else had, I would be lying. Because nobody, not one person, had ever cherished me like he did." A father convicted of a murder, and Elsie was there to witness the entire thing. It should have left her scarred and afraid, but because of the help from Sam, a mysterious and kind stranger, she powered through it. He was her best friend, always there when she needed him most . . . Until he left her. Nearly eight years later and as Elsie finds herself stuck in a troubling situation under less-than-optimal circumstances, he suddenly comes out of nowhere again. But something has changed, with both of them. The secrets are heavier, the pain is greater . . . and what was once a friendship has turned into the roots for something more. Something that frightens both tortured souls equally. It's big enough, strong enough, to hold through, if they just acknowledge how much they need it to. Everybody has bruises . . . Some just take longer to heal than others.

"A friend is someone who knows all about you and still loves you." -Elbert Hubbard ✚ ✚ ✚ ✚ ✚ ✚ ✚ ✚ ✚ ✚ ✚ ✚ ✚ ✚ ✚ ✚ ✚ ✚ ✚ ✚ ✚ ✚ ✚ ✚ ✚ ✚ ✚ ✚ ✚ She was everything but fine. Being bullied has become a part of Gwen Patton's life, and all she ever wanted was a friend. Especially when every aspect of her life is miserable. So when she meets geeky and socially awkward, Max Henderson at Louis' Diner she intends on keeping the rumors about her and her past under wraps. But you can only pretend that everything is fine for so long until everything has been unraveled, then there is nothing left to do but to admit that you aren't, in fact, fine. ✚ ✚ ✚ ✚ ✚ ✚ ✚ ✚ ✚ ✚ ✚ ✚ ✚ ✚ ✚ ✚ ✚ ✚ ✚ ✚ ✚ ✚ ✚ ✚ ✚ ✚ ✚ ✚ ✚ I squeeze his hand to let him know I'm fine and that what he said doesn't bother me. In fact I expected that from Pa and an earful when we see each other whether that be tonight or tomorrow. I know for a fact that Pa will not forgive me for ruining what little percent he thought he had at moving forward in his career. As we walk back to his house I murmur, "You look better without your hair covering up your beautiful eyes." He looks at me surprised. "Really?" he questions incredulously. I nod. "Why so surprised?" "Because m-most people find m-my eye color a bit-t odd," he explains. "Not me." He stays silent for a minute digesting what I said before he murmurs into my ear, "And you look your b-best when no one is p-pushing you to dress a-as somebody you're n-not."

"The unfixable; the shattered; the torn; the broken. They all come here. It's my job to remake them, because once its broken there is no going back to the way it was. It must be remade." Six individuals. Six unique stories. Five exercises. One room. One mirror. One therapist. One goal. Odette is put into group therapy after one-on-one therapy doesn't work. She meets four other people who have gone through the same thing she has. She also meets her group therapist Cleo Patricks. Cleo's methods for therapy might not be what some people call "ethical" or "compassionate" but they have been proven to work -- or that's what the medical journals say.