He's hot. He's mysterious. He's single. He's... broken?
Austin is forever haunted by the one night, and the one girl, that changed his life forever. With a secret he refuses to tell anyone, and his trust that he can't possibly afford to give, how will he ever find love?
His insanely creative (or as Austin would call it, crazy) sister has this so-called brilliant idea to lock him up in a house with ten girls in an attempt to help him settle down with someone. When Austin finds out about her "master plan," he isn't exactly enthusiastic about it, considering the facts that 1. he's got commitment issues that he's nowhere near getting rid of, and 2. they're all brunette with brown eyes.
Dark-haired girls with matching dark eyes were the last thing he wanted to deal with, ironically, because all his past girlfriends had the exact same characteristics. Why, you might ask? It brings him back to that night, the first and only time he fell in love with a girl he'd never see again. A girl with, you guessed it, brown hair and brown eyes. And he just can't seem to let her go, nor replace her.
So what will happen when he's locked up with ten girls--the smart one, the diva, the bad girl, the sweetheart, the boho chick, the single mom, the party girl, the careless one, the girly girl, and the rock star--who all remind him of not only her, but the painful memories that she came with? Will Austin learn to love again, or will no girl ever add up to his one night romance?
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]]