EBookClubs

Read Books & Download eBooks Full Online

EBookClubs

Read Books & Download eBooks Full Online

Book The Girls Are Never Gone

Download or read book The Girls Are Never Gone written by Sarah Glenn Marsh and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2022-08-23 with total page 337 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Conjuring meets Sadie in this queer ghost story, when seventeen-year-old podcaster Dare finds herself in a life-or-death struggle against an evil spirit. Dare Chase doesn’t believe in ghosts. But as the host of Attachments, her brand-new paranormal investigation podcast, she knows to keep her doubts to herself if she wants to win over listeners. Her first season’s subject is the Arrington Estate—a sprawling manor rumored to be haunted by the spirit of Atheleen Bell, who drowned in its lake almost thirty years ago. Dare’s more interested in investigating the suspicious circumstances of Atheleen’s death, which she thinks point to a decades-old murder, not something supernatural. But Arrington is full of surprises. As Dare is drawn deeper into the mysteries of the estate, she’ll have to rethink the boundaries of what is possible. Because if something is lurking in the lake . . . it might not be willing to let her go.

Book 17   Gone

    Book Details:
  • Author : Nova Ren Suma
  • Publisher : Penguin
  • Release : 2014-03-06
  • ISBN : 014242532X
  • Pages : 386 pages

Download or read book 17 Gone written by Nova Ren Suma and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2014-03-06 with total page 386 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Original publication and copyright date: 2013.

Book The Van Apfel Girls Are Gone

Download or read book The Van Apfel Girls Are Gone written by Felicity McLean and published by Algonquin Books. This book was released on 2019-06-25 with total page 305 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “ONE PART MYSTERY, ONE MILLION PARTS AMAZING.” —Cosmopolitan A Recommended Summer Read from Entertainment Weekly * Bustle * Nylon * Cosmopolitan "How do you escape your childhood, emotionally, actually? This compelling mystery has a rare depth of psychological and emotional truth. It will engage your heart.” —Delia Ephron, New York Times bestselling author of Siracusa Tikka Malloy was eleven and one-sixth years old during the long, hot, Australian summer of 1992. The TV news in the background chattered with debate about the exoneration of Lindy (“dingo took my baby”) Chamberlain. That summer was when the Van Apfel sisters--Ruth, Hannah, and the beautiful Cordelia--mysteriously disappeared. Did they just run far away from their harsh, evangelical parents, or were they taken? While the search for the girls united the small community, the mystery of their disappearance was never solved, and Tikka and her older sister, Laura, have been haunted ever since by the loss of their friends and playmates. Now, years later, Tikka has returned home to try to make sense of that strange moment in time. Part mystery, part darkly comic coming-of-age story, The Van Apfel Girls Are Gone is a page-turning read--with a dark, shimmering absence at its heart.

Book The Girls I ve Been

Download or read book The Girls I ve Been written by Tess Sharpe and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2021-01-26 with total page 370 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Soon to be a Netflix film starring Millie Bobbie Brown! In this feminist, suspenseful thriller the daughter of a con artist is taken hostage in a bank heist—and will need to tap into all her skills in order to survive. A BUSTLE, REFINERY29, COSMOPOLITAN, BUZZFEED and MARIE CLAIRE MOST ANTICIPATED BOOK of 2021 Nora O'Malley's been a lot of girls. As the daughter of a con-artist who targets criminal men, she grew up as her mother's protégé. But when her mom fell for the mark instead of conning him, Nora pulled the ultimate con: escape. For five years Nora's been playing at normal. But she needs to dust off the skills she ditched because she has three problems: #1: Her ex walked in on her with her girlfriend. Even though they're all friends, Wes didn't know about her and Iris. #2: The morning after Wes finds them kissing, they all have to meet to deposit the fundraiser money they raised at the bank. It's a nightmare that goes from awkward to deadly, because: #3: Right after they enter the bank, two guys start robbing it. The bank robbers may be trouble, but Nora's something else entirely. They have no idea who they're really holding hostage . . .

Book Firefly Lane

    Book Details:
  • Author : Kristin Hannah
  • Publisher : St. Martin's Press
  • Release : 2008-02-05
  • ISBN : 1429927844
  • Pages : 532 pages

Download or read book Firefly Lane written by Kristin Hannah and published by St. Martin's Press. This book was released on 2008-02-05 with total page 532 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From the New York Times bestselling author Kristin Hannah comes a powerful novel of love, loss, and the magic of friendship. . . . now a #1 Netflix series! In the turbulent summer of 1974, Kate Mularkey has accepted her place at the bottom of the eighth-grade social food chain. Then, to her amazement, the "coolest girl in the world" moves in across the street and wants to be her friend. Tully Hart seems to have it all—beauty, brains, ambition. On the surface they are as opposite as two people can be: Kate, doomed to be forever uncool, with a loving family who mortifies her at every turn. Tully, steeped in glamour and mystery, but with a secret that is destroying her. They make a pact to be best friends forever; by summer's end they've become TullyandKate. Inseparable. So begins Kristin Hannah's magnificent new novel. Spanning more than three decades and playing out across the ever-changing face of the Pacific Northwest, Firefly Lane is the poignant, powerful story of two women and the friendship that becomes the bulkhead of their lives. From the beginning, Tully is desperate to prove her worth to the world. Abandoned by her mother at an early age, she longs to be loved unconditionally. In the glittering, big-hair era of the eighties, she looks to men to fill the void in her soul. But in the buttoned-down nineties, it is television news that captivates her. She will follow her own blind ambition to New York and around the globe, finding fame and success . . . and loneliness. Kate knows early on that her life will be nothing special. Throughout college, she pretends to be driven by a need for success, but all she really wants is to fall in love and have children and live an ordinary life. In her own quiet way, Kate is as driven as Tully. What she doesn't know is how being a wife and mother will change her . . . how she'll lose sight of who she once was, and what she once wanted. And how much she'll envy her famous best friend. . . . For thirty years, Tully and Kate buoy each other through life, weathering the storms of friendship—jealousy, anger, hurt, resentment. They think they've survived it all until a single act of betrayal tears them apart . . . and puts their courage and friendship to the ultimate test. Firefly Lane is for anyone who ever drank Boone's Farm apple wine while listening to Abba or Fleetwood Mac. More than a coming-of-age novel, it's the story of a generation of women who were both blessed and cursed by choices. It's about promises and secrets and betrayals. And ultimately, about the one person who really, truly knows you—and knows what has the power to hurt you . . . and heal you. Firefly Lane is a story you'll never forget . . . one you'll want to pass on to your best friend.

Book Before We Were Strangers

    Book Details:
  • Author : Renée Carlino
  • Publisher : Simon and Schuster
  • Release : 2015-08-18
  • ISBN : 1501105787
  • Pages : 320 pages

Download or read book Before We Were Strangers written by Renée Carlino and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2015-08-18 with total page 320 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From the USA TODAY bestselling author of Sweet Thing and Nowhere But Here comes a love story about a Craigslist “missed connection” post that gives two people a second chance at love fifteen years after they were separated in New York City. To the Green-eyed Lovebird: We met fifteen years ago, almost to the day, when I moved my stuff into the NYU dorm room next to yours at Senior House. You called us fast friends. I like to think it was more. We lived on nothing but the excitement of finding ourselves through music (you were obsessed with Jeff Buckley), photography (I couldn’t stop taking pictures of you), hanging out in Washington Square Park, and all the weird things we did to make money. I learned more about myself that year than any other. Yet, somehow, it all fell apart. We lost touch the summer after graduation when I went to South America to work for National Geographic. When I came back, you were gone. A part of me still wonders if I pushed you too hard after the wedding… I didn’t see you again until a month ago. It was a Wednesday. You were rocking back on your heels, balancing on that thick yellow line that runs along the subway platform, waiting for the F train. I didn’t know it was you until it was too late, and then you were gone. Again. You said my name; I saw it on your lips. I tried to will the train to stop, just so I could say hello. After seeing you, all of the youthful feelings and memories came flooding back to me, and now I’ve spent the better part of a month wondering what your life is like. I might be totally out of my mind, but would you like to get a drink with me and catch up on the last decade and a half? M

Book Gone Girl

    Book Details:
  • Author : Gillian Flynn
  • Publisher : Ballantine Books
  • Release : 2012-06-05
  • ISBN : 0307588386
  • Pages : 497 pages

Download or read book Gone Girl written by Gillian Flynn and published by Ballantine Books. This book was released on 2012-06-05 with total page 497 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: #1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • The “mercilessly entertaining” (Vanity Fair) instant classic “about the nature of identity and the terrible secrets that can survive and thrive in even the most intimate relationships” (Lev Grossman, Time “One of the Best Books of the Decade”)—now featuring never-before-published deleted scenes ONE OF TIME'S 100 BEST MYSTERY AND THRILLER BOOKS OF ALL TIME, ONE OF CNN'S MOST INFLUENTIAL BOOKS OF THE DECADE, AND ONE OF ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY'S BEST BOOKS OF THE DECADE ONE OF THE TEN BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR: Janet Maslin, The New York Times, People, Entertainment Weekly, O: The Oprah Magazine, Slate, Kansas City Star, USA Today, Christian Science Monitor On a warm summer morning in North Carthage, Missouri, it is Nick and Amy Dunne’s fifth wedding anniversary. Presents are being wrapped and reservations are being made when Nick’s clever and beautiful wife disappears. Husband-of-the-Year Nick isn’t doing himself any favors with cringe-worthy daydreams about the slope and shape of his wife’s head, but passages from Amy's diary reveal the alpha-girl perfectionist could have put anyone dangerously on edge. Under mounting pressure from the police and the media—as well as Amy’s fiercely doting parents—the town golden boy parades an endless series of lies, deceits, and inappropriate behavior. Nick is oddly evasive, and he’s definitely bitter—but is he really a killer? ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR: San Francisco Chronicle, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, The Chicago Tribune, HuffPost, Newsday

Book When All the Girls Have Gone

Download or read book When All the Girls Have Gone written by Jayne Ann Krentz and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2017-09-26 with total page 466 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A thrilling novel of the deceptions we hide behind, the passions we surrender to, and the lengths we’ll go to for the truth from the New York Times bestselling author of Untouchable. When Charlotte Sawyer is unable to contact her stepsister, Jocelyn, to tell her that one of her closest friends was found dead, she discovers that Jocelyn has vanished. Beautiful, brilliant, and reckless, Jocelyn has gone off the grid before, but never like this. In a desperate effort to find her, Charlotte joins forces with Max Cutler, a struggling PI who recently moved to Seattle after his previous career as a criminal profiler went down in flames—literally. Burned out, divorced and almost broke, Max needs the job. After surviving a near-fatal attack, Charlotte and Max turn to Jocelyn’s closest friends—women in a Seattle-based online investment club—for answers. But what they find is chilling... When her uneasy alliance with Max turns into a full-blown affair, Charlotte has no choice but to trust him with her life. For the shadows of Jocelyn’s past are threatening to consume her—and anyone else who gets in their way...

Book The Girls Are Gone

    Book Details:
  • Author : Michael Brodkorb
  • Publisher : Wise Ink
  • Release : 2018-10-23
  • ISBN : 9781634891653
  • Pages : 336 pages

Download or read book The Girls Are Gone written by Michael Brodkorb and published by Wise Ink. This book was released on 2018-10-23 with total page 336 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: On the evening of April 19, 2013, Samantha and Gianna Rucki disappeared. Two of five children born to David Rucki and Sandra Grazzini-Rucki, the teenage sisters vanished in the midst of their parents' divorce. The girls' father, David Rucki, worked tirelessly with law enforcement to search day and night for his two missing daughters, following every lead while raising three remaining children at home. Their mother, Sandra Grazzini-Rucki, used her newfound freedom to vacation around the world, abandoning her children. And as the investigation intensified, catching the attention of the media, Sandra also disappeared. The Girls Are Gone is the true story of two sisters who went missing, the father who kept searching, and the adults who conspired to keep the truth hidden. AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY: Michael Brodkorb's reporting on the Samantha and Gianna Rucki case began with the Star Tribune in 2015. He is currently a columnist with MinnPost. A lifelong resident of Minnesota, Michael is also an experienced communication, public affairs, and research consultant. He lives in Eagan, Minnesota, with his family. Allison Mann is a paralegal and has worked on the Samantha and Gianna Rucki case since 2012. She lives in Lakeville, Minnesota, with her family. AUTHOR HOME: Minneapolis, MN

Book The Girls Who Went Away

Download or read book The Girls Who Went Away written by Ann Fessler and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2007-06-26 with total page 367 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The astonishing untold history of the million and a half women who surrendered children for adoption due to enormous family and social pressure in the decades before Roe v. Wade. “It would take a heart of stone not to be moved by the oral histories of these women and by the courage and candor with which they express themselves.” —The Washington Post “A remarkably well-researched and accomplished book.” —The New York Times Book Review “A wrenching, riveting book.” —Chicago Tribune In this deeply moving and myth-shattering work, Ann Fessler brings out into the open for the first time the hidden social history of adoption before Roe v. Wade - and its lasting legacy. An adoptee who was herself surrendered during those years and recently made contact with her mother, Ann Fessler brilliantly brings to life the voices of more than a hundred women, as well as the spirit of those times, allowing the women to tell their stories in gripping and intimate detail.

Book Song of the Dead

Download or read book Song of the Dead written by Sarah Glenn Marsh and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2020-01-07 with total page 434 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The stunning conclusion to Sarah Glenn Marsh's Reign of the Fallen duology, now including an exclusive prequel to the series, Rise of the Sparrow. The Dead must stay buried. Karthia is nothing like it used to be. The kingdom's borders are open for the first time in nearly three hundred years, and raising the dead has been outlawed. Odessa is determined to explore the world beyond Karthia's waters, hoping to heal a heart broken in more ways than she can count. But with Meredy joining the ocean voyage, vanquishing her sorrow will be a difficult task. Despite the daily reminder of the history they share, Odessa and Meredy are fascinated when their journey takes them to a land where the Dead rule the night and dragons roam the streets. Odessa can't help being mesmerized by the new magic--and by the girl at her side. But just as she and Meredy are beginning to explore the new world, a terrifying development in Karthia summons them home at once. Growing political unrest on top of threats from foreign invaders means Odessa and Meredy are thrust back into the lives they tried to leave behind while specters from their past haunt their tenuous relationship. Gathering a force big enough to ward off enemies seems impossible, until one of Queen Valoria's mages creates a weapon that could make them invincible. As danger continues to mount inside the palace, Odessa fears that without the Dead, even the greatest invention won't be enough to save them. In this enthralling, heartrending sequel to Reign of the Fallen, Odessa faces the fight of her life as the boundaries between the Dead and the living are challenged in a way more gruesome than ever before.

Book Final Girls

    Book Details:
  • Author : Riley Sager
  • Publisher : Dutton
  • Release : 2019-02-26
  • ISBN : 1524745081
  • Pages : 466 pages

Download or read book Final Girls written by Riley Sager and published by Dutton. This book was released on 2019-02-26 with total page 466 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: THE NATIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER - WINNER OF THE 2018 INTERNATIONAL THRILLER WRITERS AWARD FOR BEST HARDCOVER NOVEL "The first great thriller of 2017 is here: Final Girls, by Riley Sager. If you liked Gone Girl, you'll like this."--Stephen King Ten years ago, college student Quincy Carpenter went on vacation with five friends and came back alone, the only survivor of a horror movie-scale massacre. In an instant, she became a member of a club no one wants to belong to--a group of similar survivors known in the press as the Final Girls: Lisa, who lost nine sorority sisters to a college dropout's knife; Sam, who went up against the Sack Man during her shift at the Nightlight Inn; and now Quincy, who ran bleeding through the woods to escape Pine Cottage and the man she refers to only as Him. The three girls are all attempting to put their nightmares behind them and, with that, one another. Despite the media's attempts, they never meet. Now, Quincy is doing well--maybe even great, thanks to her Xanax prescription. She has a caring almost-fianc , Jeff; a popular baking blog; a beautiful apartment; and a therapeutic presence in Coop, the police officer who saved her life all those years ago. Her memory won't even allow her to recall the events of that night; the past is in the past. That is until Lisa, the first Final Girl, is found dead in her bathtub, wrists slit; and Sam, the second Final Girl, appears on Quincy's doorstep. Blowing through Quincy's life like a whirlwind, Sam seems intent on making Quincy relive the past, with increasingly dire consequences, all of which makes Quincy question why Sam is really seeking her out. And when new details about Lisa's death come to light, Quincy's life becomes a race against time as she tries to unravel Sam's truths from her lies, evade the police and hungry reporters, and, most crucially, remember what really happened at Pine Cottage, before what was started ten years ago is finished.

Book Reign of the Fallen

Download or read book Reign of the Fallen written by Sarah Glenn Marsh and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2019-01-08 with total page 402 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "This edgy fantasy doesn't just blur boundaries of genre, of gender, of past and present, life and death--it explodes them." --Cinda Williams Chima, New York Times bestselling author of the Seven Realms series and the Shattered Realms series. Without the dead, she'd be no one. Odessa is one of Karthia's master necromancers, catering to the kingdom's ruling Dead. Whenever a noble dies, it's Odessa's job to raise them by retrieving their soul from a dreamy and dangerous shadow world called the Deadlands. But there is a cost to being raised: the Dead must remain shrouded. If even a hint of flesh is exposed, a grotesque transformation begins, turning the Dead into terrifying, bloodthirsty Shades. A dramatic uptick in Shade attacks raises suspicions and fears around the kingdom. Soon, a crushing loss of one of her closest companions leaves Odessa shattered, and reveals a disturbing conspiracy in Karthia: Someone is intentionally creating Shades by tearing shrouds from the Dead--and training them to attack. Odessa is forced to contemplate a terrifying question: What if her magic is the weapon that brings the kingdom to its knees? Fighting alongside her fellow mages--and a powerful girl as enthralling as she is infuriating--Odessa must untangle the gruesome plot to destroy Karthia before the Shades take everything she loves. Perfect for fans of Three Dark Crowns and Red Queen, Reign of the Fallen is a gutsy, unpredictable read with a surprising and breathtaking LGBT romance at its core.

Book Gone Away Girl

    Book Details:
  • Author : Juliette Caron
  • Publisher :
  • Release : 2021-05-04
  • ISBN :
  • Pages : 404 pages

Download or read book Gone Away Girl written by Juliette Caron and published by . This book was released on 2021-05-04 with total page 404 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: After her mom dies, seventeen-year-old Chloe Ryder gathers the courage to run away from home. There's nothing keeping her in Idaho, no reason left to be forced to live with her abhorrent step-father. She buys a one-way bus ticket to Flagstaff, Arizona to start a new life. But nothing goes as planned. Finding her first job is harder than it looks and she quickly runs out of money, forcing her to go hungry and live on the streets. With her future in mind, she decides to enroll in a local high school. As if her life wasn't messy enough, she soon finds herself developing feelings for Bones, the school's bad boy, who's intent on distracting Chloe and keeping her from focusing on her ultimate goal: college and eventually becoming a professional artist. And then there's Damien, a cute older guy who loves art as much as she does and wants to see her succeed. But making it in the real world is tough, especially for someone who comes from a family who has never set foot in college. Chloe has a chance at realizing her wildest dreams if she can dig deep and find the needed courage, perseverance and self-love.

Book The Girls

    Book Details:
  • Author : Emma Cline
  • Publisher : Random House Trade Paperbacks
  • Release : 2017-05-09
  • ISBN : 0812988027
  • Pages : 385 pages

Download or read book The Girls written by Emma Cline and published by Random House Trade Paperbacks. This book was released on 2017-05-09 with total page 385 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: THE INSTANT BESTSELLER • An indelible portrait of girls, the women they become, and that moment in life when everything can go horribly wrong ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR: The Washington Post, NPR, The Guardian, Entertainment Weekly, San Francisco Chronicle, Financial Times, Esquire, Newsweek, Vogue, Glamour, People, The Huffington Post, Elle, Harper’s Bazaar, Time Out, BookPage, Publishers Weekly, Slate Northern California, during the violent end of the 1960s. At the start of summer, a lonely and thoughtful teenager, Evie Boyd, sees a group of girls in the park, and is immediately caught by their freedom, their careless dress, their dangerous aura of abandon. Soon, Evie is in thrall to Suzanne, a mesmerizing older girl, and is drawn into the circle of a soon-to-be infamous cult and the man who is its charismatic leader. Hidden in the hills, their sprawling ranch is eerie and run down, but to Evie, it is exotic, thrilling, charged—a place where she feels desperate to be accepted. As she spends more time away from her mother and the rhythms of her daily life, and as her obsession with Suzanne intensifies, Evie does not realize she is coming closer and closer to unthinkable violence. Finalist for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize • Finalist for the National Book Critics Circle John Leonard Award • Shortlisted for The Center for Fiction First Novel Prize • The New York Times Book Review Editors’ Choice • Emma Cline—One of Granta’s Best of Young American Novelists Praise for The Girls “Spellbinding . . . a seductive and arresting coming-of-age story.”—The New York Times Book Review “Extraordinary . . . Debut novels like this are rare, indeed.”—The Washington Post “Hypnotic.”—The Wall Street Journal “Gorgeous.”—Los Angeles Times “Savage.”—The Guardian “Astonishing.”—The Boston Globe “Superbly written.”—James Wood, The New Yorker “Intensely consuming.”—Richard Ford “A spectacular achievement.”—Lucy Atkins, The Times “Thrilling.”—Jennifer Egan “Compelling and startling.”—The Economist

Book Girl Gone Missing

    Book Details:
  • Author : Marcie R. Rendon
  • Publisher : Soho Press
  • Release : 2021-10-05
  • ISBN : 1641293799
  • Pages : 320 pages

Download or read book Girl Gone Missing written by Marcie R. Rendon and published by Soho Press. This book was released on 2021-10-05 with total page 320 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Nineteen-year-old Cash Blackbear helps law enforcement solve the mysterious disappearance of a local girl from Minnesota's Red River Valley. 1970s, Fargo-Moorhead: it’s the tail end of the age of peace and love, but Cash Blackbear isn’t feeling it. Bored by her freshman classes at Moorhead State College, Cash just wants to play pool, learn judo, chain-smoke, and be left alone. But when one of Cash’s classmates vanishes without a trace, Cash, whose dreams have revealed dangerous realities in the past, can’t stop envisioning terrified girls begging for help. Things become even more intense when an unexpected houseguest starts crashing in her living room: a brother she didn’t even know was alive, from whom she was separated when they were taken from the Ojibwe White Earth Reservation as children and forced into foster care. When Sheriff Wheaton, her guardian and friend, asks for Cash’s help with the case of the missing girl, she must override her apprehension about leaving her hometown—and her rule to never get in somebody else’s car—in order to discover the truth about the girl’s whereabouts. Can she get to her before it’s too late?

Book The Girl He Used to Know

    Book Details:
  • Author : Tracey Garvis Graves
  • Publisher : St. Martin's Press
  • Release : 2019-04-02
  • ISBN : 1250200350
  • Pages : 304 pages

Download or read book The Girl He Used to Know written by Tracey Garvis Graves and published by St. Martin's Press. This book was released on 2019-04-02 with total page 304 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: New York Times bestselling author of On the Island, Tracey Garvis Graves, presents the compelling, hopelessly romantic novel of unconditional love. Annika Rose is an English major at the University of Illinois. Anxious in social situations where she finds most people's behavior confusing, she'd rather be surrounded by the order and discipline of books or the quiet solitude of playing chess. Jonathan Hoffman joined the chess club and lost his first game—and his heart—to the shy and awkward, yet brilliant and beautiful Annika. He admires her ability to be true to herself, quirks and all, and accepts the challenges involved in pursuing a relationship with her. Jonathan and Annika bring out the best in each other, finding the confidence and courage within themselves to plan a future together. What follows is a tumultuous yet tender love affair that withstands everything except the unforeseen tragedy that forces them apart, shattering their connection and leaving them to navigate their lives alone. Now, a decade later, fate reunites Annika and Jonathan in Chicago. She's living the life she wanted as a librarian. He's a Wall Street whiz, recovering from a divorce and seeking a fresh start. The attraction and strong feelings they once shared are instantly rekindled, but until they confront the fears and anxieties that drove them apart, their second chance will end before it truly begins.