Katie Carson is an ordinary girl. She lives with her ordinary family in an ordinary life in an ordinary town, goes to an ordinary school and has ordinary friends. She may be clumsy and plain, but she's content with where she is.
But one day, a mysterious stranger moves in across the street - Hunter Ryder. He's a bad boy with a bad attitude, and instantly falls in with the popular crowd at school, the people Katie was never able to get along with. He acts like them too, putting her down, and contributing to her seriously, seriously low self-esteem. But unlike the others, he pays more attention to her, and takes a strange sort of interest. Maybe, behind the biting remarks, depression inducing insults, and general verbal and emotional abuse, maybe he actually cares about her? Maybe he honestly, truly loves her?
In just one day, in one new neighbor, Katie's world goes from completely ordinary - to unbelievably extraordinary.
Ella is falling apart trying to live a "perfect" high school life. Then she meets Ren, who can see past her scars. Suddenly perfection isn't her only option.
*****
Ella Volkov is a gifted music student, but she's depressed and starting to crack under the pressure of high school. Her overbearing father won't even let her choose what instrument she plays. Then she finds herself alone at a party with Ren, her best friend's crush. She'd always thought he was rude, but after that night he's all Ella can think about. Now she's trapped. If Ella dates Ren, it will ruin her friendship with Jenny. But if she stays true to Jenny, she's losing the one person who can see past her scars. It's up to Ella to decide if she will forge her own path, or stay in the "perfect" box designed for her...
Content and/or Trigger Warning: depression, anxiety, self-harm, violence, sexual assault.
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