Anna wants to stay away from the enemy, but their dogs keep pulling them together.
[a teen spin on 101 Dalmatians ?]
Newly-adopted-puppy-mom Anna Jenson's facing her worst fear yet: control slipping through her perfectly manufactured life. So when she gets an offer to work at an animal shelter three-thousand miles from home, she's all in. And she's bringing her beloved King Charles Spaniel with her.
To ensure that her summer vacation goes exactly the way she wants, she's "schedulized" everything to the max. But there are some things that even a carefully color-coded planner can't predict. It can't predict her best friend and her longtime crush together. (Naked, might she add). It can't predict her dad finding a woman that isn't her mom. And most importantly, it can't predict her budding relationship with the Dalmatian-owning, enemy-turned-something else (?) boy next door, Ryder Reyes, who harbors some deep secrets of his own.
As Summer flies by, Anna begins to yearn for things she's never wanted in New York: freedom, love, and solace. And when drama hits the Californian coast, Anna and Ryder must set aside their sharp-tongued quips and comebacks for each other to fight the greater problem at hand. With over a hundred shelter-dogs on the line, Anna's faced with the underlying question: how will she find homes for all these dogs, when she hasn't found one for herself?
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.
[[word count: 50,000-100,000 words]]