the road trip of a lifetime. [ cover by blissom / trailer by blissom ] [ started march 30th, 2013 - ended february 18, 2015 © paulina r. all rights reserved ]

"She had this thought. Not about choking hazards on children's toys or fatal car crashes, but a thought about how Skylar was not entirely a person. He was more like an ocean with violent currents; one of the seven seas with skin and bones and teeth. He was waterlogged with despair; bad weather with the premonition of a hurricane. And she thought that she finally understood why they named hurricanes after humans. But she lived in Arizona all of her life; she had never seen a hurricane, and she found that fitting because she had never seen anything like him either." He was as tragic as a hurricane. She was as volatile as a tornado. But when Skylar and Scout collided, they were bound for the sun. NOTE: Art for book cover by Budi Kwan.

I've never claimed to be a poet; I've only ever claimed that I'd try.

ALL IS SILENCE finished #37 of 151 for Wattpad's Story of the Year! Also a WATTYS 2015 - Dream Collections Winner! Thanks to everyone who added me to their collections! You made my year! The sequel, STRAIGHT INTO DARKNESS, is available in print and e-book on all major ebook sites. If you are interested in hearing about special deals on this or any other works, please sign up for my monthly newsletter at www.desertedlands.com. #1 in Science Fiction - 57 days so far! Thank you, readers! PG-15: [Yes, you read that right. I would recommend teens not read it until they are 16!] Profanity, violence and sexual situations. Warning: There is talk of cutting and suicide. If any of these are triggers for you, please consider that when reading. Take care. Rob What if death forgot you? In a future that could be ours, Lizzie, a suicidal teen-age girl, barely navigates her own life. Then everything falls apart. In an apocalyptic land nearly deserted by disease, she lacks reasons to live until a shocking turn of events reveals a phone number. Her call pulls her dangerously cross-country to meet a stranger she thought was dead. In a world where there is plenty of food, plenty of gas, plenty of space... fear, anger and a lust for power still control the patterns of human life. This coming of age, edgy young adult novel is the debut of a former alternative high school teacher. If you like this, try Toils and Snares, a Deserted Lands novella, sampled on Wattpad.

When faced with a time loop, an adorable boyfriend, and impending death, you can, may, and probably will experience crazy stuff. But that's good; crazy is good. It means that something's going on. And that's what we need to have a story.

An unexpected stranger has arrived at her house: cold, lifeless, and corpse-like. He is heartless. Literally. He does not have a beating heart. As he tells her his story each night, his story and identity unfolds altogether. But he is a heartless being who does not know how to feel neither does he know what to expect from a live being like her. Thus, she teaches him the way of a living being. This is a love story of the heartless and the heart.

Short stories inspired by different songs.

Hadley Jamison doesn't know what to think when she hears that her classmate, Archer Morales, committed suicide. She didn't exactly know him, but that doesn't stop her from feeling like there was something she could have done to help him. So to Hadley's surprise, on the very night of Archer's funeral, she has a run in with Death himself and is offered the chance to go back in time to stop Archer from ending his life. The catch? She only has twenty-seven days to do it. And if Hadley doesn't succeed? Well, she doesn't want to think about that.

****If you'd like the published work as a whole, please visit my website (www.denisegroverswank.com) for purchase links.**** Sixteen year old Julia Phillips buries herself in guilt after killing her best friend Monica in a car accident. Julia awoke in the hospital with a broken leg, a new talent for drawing and false memories of the accident, in which she dies and Monica lives. The doctors attribute this to her head injury, but no one can explain how a bracelet engraved with her name ended up at the scene of the accident. A bracelet no one has ever seen before. Classmate Evan Whittaker paid Julia no attention before the accident, let alone after. Now suddenly he’s volunteering to tutor her and offering to drive her home. She can't ignore that his new obsession started after his two-day disappearance last week and that he wears a pendant she’s been drawing for months. When the police show up one night looking for Evan, he begs Julia to run with him, convincing her that Monica is still alive. Julia agrees to go, never guessing where he’s really from.