Marina Bianchi built her life on distance. From her father. From his world. From the kind of power that leaves blood in its wake. She designs spaces that feel safe. Clean. Controlled. Untouchable. Until a single project pulls her back into the shadows she thought she left behind. Rowan Carter is supposed to be ordinary. A quiet presence behind a bakery counter. Steady. Observant. Safe in a way nothing in her life has ever been. But nothing about him is accidental. And nothing about their connection is harmless. Because while Marina is being drawn back into a world she refuses to belong to- Rowan is already inside it. Watching. Waiting. And when the truth comes out, it won't just break her trust. It will destroy everything she thought was real. Some love is collateral. Some choices burn everything down.

Teresia knows sleeping with the pastor's son is a terrible idea. After her mother marries an assistant pastor and moves them onto the grounds of The Well Fellowship, eighteen-year-old Teresia Eklund quickly learns never to give anyone a reason to talk. Then she meets Charles Connors. He's the pastor's son: beautiful, experienced, watched by everyone, and far too used to getting away with things. His mother wants him with a nice church girl. He wants Teresia alone without anyone noticing. He is the first boy to touch her and the first person to make her feel fully alive in her own body. Then Teresia learns about Jeannette Reyes. Jeannette used to date Charles, and neither of them seems completely finished with the other. She is also the girl behind The First Draft, a secret writing group that meets off-campus and reads the kind of stories Teresia would never dare leave open on her desk at home. Teresia wants in. She wants to write something good enough to make them stop seeing her as the quiet church girl with nothing to confess. The church wants Teresia pure. The writing group wants her honest. Charles wants her in secret. Teresia wants too much of it all to walk away. Set in 1984, Teresia is a dark coming-of-age romance about desire, rivalry, shame, obsession, and the cost of wanting freedom more than forgiveness. ❤️ REVIEWS ❤️ Your story still pops into my head. I loved it. So different from everything I've read before - Eleanor of Corrupt Romantics