Orison

Seventeen-year-old Branson King killed his parents. Grandparents too. People call it an accident, but he struggles to smother his guilt with adrenaline, painkillers, and hook-ups. When this volatile cocktail explodes into trouble with the law, Branson earns himself court-ordered banishment to the custody of his crazy aunts at the decaying family mansion in rural Tennessee.

Depressed that his social life and romantic prospects are deader than the road-kill animals his aunt tries to euthanize, Branson self-medicates himself into a car wreck, destroying an old sycamore tree. Unconscious, he has no idea he's killed the dryad inhabiting the tree, or that her granddaughter, Aurianna swears to avenge the death by taking root in his blood.

Surviving somehow with no injuries or memories, Branson isn't suspicious when Aurianna shows up in his aunt's weather-beaten tobacco barn. Having someone around who doesn't remember the moon landing is a plus, and with her long, silver-blonde hair and obvious attraction to him, Branson doesn't care that she wears leaves, talks funny, and thinks gas stoves are a form of dangerous magic.

But as infatuation blooms into friendship, then possibly love, Branson discovers Aurianna's identity, mission, and growing dilemma: because the other dryads will kill her for failing to fulfill her oath, Aurianna's growing love for Branson endangers her life. As she hesitates, Branson must persuade her to kill him-or live with the knowledge he's once again brought death to someone he loves.