Ari Callahan has no idea how to talk to boys -- or how to talk to anyone for that matter. Enter Zac, the cute new guy in town who won't stop texting her. But is his interest real, or does he have a hidden agenda? ***** Found as a young child washed up on the beach, 17-year-old Ari Callahan has never uttered a word out loud to anyone -- not even her adoptive family. Psychologists have diagnosed her with a condition called selective mutism, but Ari can't help identifying with her namesake character, Ariel, the little mermaid in the fairytale whose voice was stolen by a sea witch. Mermaid-obsession aside, Ari's silence makes socializing tough. She's never had a boyfriend or been asked out on a date. Not until Zac, the confident new arrival in town, asks for her number. But Zac has his own reasons for texting with Ari. He's part of a movement to sabotage the artificial music app called SirenSong, threatening to render human singing obsolete. Zac's collaborators have scoured the globe in search of a singing voice perfect enough to break the SirenSong spell, and their search has led them straight to Ari's beachside town. Will her relationship with Zac help Ari find her voice and unlock the secrets of her origins? Or will he use her and leave her high and dry? Title: Ari and Zac (formerly The Mermaid Hypothesis) Content Warning: This story contains references to selective mutism, suicidal thoughts, and early childhood trauma.

_______________________________________________________________________________ dusk noun the state or period of partial darkness between day and night; the dark part of twilight ''It was then about dusk, and the night was coming rapidly" _______________________________________________________________________________ Earth the way we know it has ended, but on a planet that has been monitoring human activity for centuries, there is a race of people not much unlike you and me. These people have the ability to shift between animal and human form, and have the power to bend light. Struggling to control a people whom they do not understand, who are opposite to themselves, they have devised a system; trapping them under their cities to mine the ores for their everyday needs. If the people are strong enough to last until they are sixteen, they can fight their way to freedom in the arenas. This was a rebellion waiting to happen. And then it did, under the light of the full moon.

(The third installment in the 'My Life' series. Can be read alone.) Being the face of the Ace's fortune and an ex-child star, Lily Ace had everything she could ever dream of. The fame, the status, and of course the sexy heartthrob everyone wanted. But that all changed when Lily was hired to go undercover by her FBI cousins to solve a murder mystery. There, she meets the mysterious Bradlee, conflicting Hunter, and the happy-go-lucky Ian. All three are suspects. Someone is the murderer, and it's up to Lily to figure out who's lying. But, what happens when she starts falling for a suspect? Can she really love a killer? Mystery/Thriller #1 (12/14/14)