I thought I was a normal kid once. Do normal kids have to beg door to door for food? Not sure. It wasn't always that bad, I guess - and then it was. Really f--king bad. I tried to protect my younger brother from the fallout. Lied to him about how bad things were. But it wasn't enough. And when the accident happened, he blamed me, like everyone else. I'm guilty of many things. He's right about that, at least. So damn guilty I'm sure everyone knows and will call me out on it. Except they don't. Nobody does, except my brother. Not even Kayla, sexy and sweet and coolest girl ever.

Life is a b*tch. Keeps screwing me over, and I take blow after blow, sucking it up, giving her the finger. Don't get me wrong: I love women. Especially one woman - Madeline. She's gorgeous, she's sexy, she's goddamn perfect. Plus - minor detail - she has a boyfriend already. Not that she'd want anything to do with the likes of me. Apprentice tattoo artist, former homeless person, covered in ink, without a penny to my name. And sort of cursed.

There's me: Micah Owens. Tattoo artist at Damage Control. No parents or siblings. A past that still gives me nightmares. And then there's her: Evangeline, the girl who saved my life and haunts my more pleasant dreams. Only she doesn't know who I really am, and telling her might well send her fleeing for the hills. She deserves better than a loser like me. She's pretty. She's clever. She's goddamn sexy and has a heart of gold. Which is why I can't tell her.

Five brothers in all but blood, five girls who love them, emerging from a past fraught with darkness and danger. There are wedding bells, and baby cries and laughter all around. They have found their happy ending. Only one cloud is marring these blue skies, and it has to do with Zane, the rock of the brotherhood. Nobody knows exactly what is wrong, but here’s the thing, folks: There are five of us, and we stand all for one and one for all. If you mess with one of us, you mess with all of us. We protect our own.

Tessa is close to giving up on her authoritative parents and their demands, on her studies, and on everything in her life, including Dylan. She can run away and leave it all behind or stay to fight against her controlling family and win back Dylan. She has a feeling he needs her, so how can she leave when he's the only man who’s ever made her feel alive?  

They call me Zen-man, the cool-headed one, the protector. I keep an eye out for everyone, take them in, find them homes. They think I’m the calm and collected one, the self-assured one, the one who knows the way. They think they see me. They think they know me. But they’re all wrong, because inside I’m broken. I have a jagged hole in my soul I can’t fix, a festering blackness. I’ve been to the pits of hell, and nobody comes back unscathed. Life in foster care fucked me up, and now a thread is all that’s holding me together.

Returning to Madison hurts. I thought I'd left my past behind, but the past goes on living. I carry it inside of me, it's a piece of me. People have marked me in indelible ways, and I drag the shreds of my soul behind me, trying to put my pieces back together. I'm not the Amber I used to be. I fly under the radar, try to be invisible. It doesn't always work. Drawing attention scares me. It always spells trouble. Returning to my hometown is a last-ditch effort to lay my demons to rest and start anew, for good this time.

Almost three years ago, a car crash took Audrey's dad and scarred her for life. Now 18, she returns to her hometown for the first time after the accident. She's here to start again. Go to college and have fun. Make new friends. Get over the past. But the past won't let go. Asher is here - her first kiss, her first heartbreak. More handsome and distant than ever, he's still the boy who used to be her best friend. That was before he changed into someone she hardly knows anymore - the boy who started getting into fights and gave her the cold shoulder for years.

Matthew Hansen is the kind of handsome that has grown women whispering behind their hands and giggling like schoolgirls. Dark, tall and mysterious, he's a newcomer to our little town. He's a gritty, grease-covered mechanic, and a single daddy. Sweet, right? Plus, he's looking for a nanny - and I am desperately looking for a job. Sounds like the perfect deal. Only he's a jerk. An uncivilized, hulking brute. Zero manners. Zero interest in making me feel welcome in his home. Downright rude. But oh, so sexy. And I need the job. I can do this.

I don’t trust men. My ex cheated on me with my cousin. In our bed. And Kaden, my boyfriend, well, I think he cheated on me, too. Confidence is a fragile thing, and mine is already shattered. So I flew back to Chicago, putting distance between us before Kaden could hurt me more. I’ve sworn off men for good, focusing on my work and waiting for the pain to fade. I’m over Kaden. Really, I swear. I don’t love him anymore. It’s over. Only a miracle could throw us back together at this point.