16-year-old Essence is indulging in this steamy love affair. Who she is sleeping with will destroy a family. Essence can't help herself. With Every attempt to stop the affair, the passion intensify. Will she get caught? Will she end it? Flip through the pages of each point of view and find out what happens next.

"Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap . . ." GALATIANS 6:7-8 HARLEM HOLIDAY'S much-anticipated debut novel takes readers on a roller-coaster ride through the life and mind of 17-year-old Symone Harris, the victim of a violent sexual assault at the hands of a predator-Detective Jack Fisher. Her father's best friend and partner is a crooked cop, a bad seed in the New York Police Department. The story begins with Symone's dark, life-changing secret; the sexual violation and later, a pregnancy. Raped by a man she'd thought of as family, turns her life upside down. Guilt and embarrassment diminish Symone's self-esteem and sense of self-worth, sending her into a tailspin of bad choices. Symone's extreme efforts to conceal the truth from her family and friends have a domino effect of consequences. As she spins a web of lies, trying to bury her dreadful secret of the rape and pregnancy, she is pulled deeper into deception with everything spiraling out of control. Ultimately, Symone's deceit causes the heartbreak and suffering of everyone she loves. Lives begin to unravel, one by one. Symone must find the courage to speak out and stop Fisher from hurting anyone else and destroying her family, or she risks losing everything. But will she do it before it's too late? FALLEN PETALS: THE DECEPTION, THE DECEIT, AND THE DAMNED is the first release of a fiction collection of literary works and a reflection of the bitter realities Harlem Holiday's work has allowed her to witness and champion against in her life's journey.