Antonia Shannon is a struggling-motherless young woman living alone in her home in 1961 Baltimore. Her mother died on her 13th birthday, leaving her to survive on her own and remember the reminders she taught her in life. Her job isn't the best as she's just a low-paid clerk at Millie's, but gets insulted by a group of teens. The night she came home, a man shows up at her house, frightening her enough to cower behind the door. He expected her late mother to be home and ignored her imitation of her mother's voice to shoo him away. Antonia froze not knowing what to tell him of her mother, but the expression on his face says he knows. But there was more he knows of her that could change her life forever.
****
Clark Warner, a traveling journalist and brash gambler hopes to find his former love in Baltimore after finding a letter from years after it was written. He did not understood what she meant by her tense diction, but he knew he had to figure out the secret she's been hiding from him. His meeting with an interviewer and gambling debts took most of his day. When he arrive at her house, it was unsettling when she refuse to see him and he decides to evade her refusal. He was shock to find a young girl and not the woman he desired behind the door, but was more in disbelief when he realize the revelation the letter spoke of.
This revelation brings him and her together, binding a heartwarming father and daughter relationship. Clark offering her everything in the world outside the obstacles against colored people and her offering the love and happiness he longed seek.
Their relationship become unstoppable and inseparable, but with racism and segregation, betrayals and deceptions, past trials and hardships, and the dark truth in their lives be enough to destroy their relationship and realize too good to be true for them?
Laugh, cry, and explore their ups and downs leading to an epic ending.
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]]