The Other Side: Synopsis Reveal

I think we should break up.

Those six little words mean the summer after high school is not starting off the way Sadie Wills had planned. When her boyfriend of three years dumps her the day after graduation, she’s suddenly unsure of what the future will hold.

Serving up ice cream at Gigi’s Dairy Bar in downtown Abbyville proves to be a nice distraction. That is, until she finds out the old house across the street, which used to be the town’s flower shop, is being torn down to put up an ice cream franchise. Convinced the new store will put Gigi’s out of business, Sadie comes up with a plan. Her newfound summer resolution? Save that house and save Gigi’s.

Complications arise when she meets Eric and serious sparks start flying. The problem? Eric’s dad owns the company responsible for demolishing the old flower shop, and Eric is working for him over the summer. Even though she tells herself not to fall for him – he’s going to help run Gigi’s out of business after all, and besides, it’s too soon after her break-up to even think about giving her heart to someone else – Eric has other plans.

Torn by the arguments between her head and her heart, Sadie becomes very good at running over the summer. Running from her past. Running from her feelings. Running from love.

As the summer wears on, Eric slowly slips more and more into her life, and Sadie eventually realizes that she can’t run forever. But can she risk giving her heart to someone else?


The Other Side will be released Spring 2019. Pre-order information coming soon!

An Excerpt from Almost Words

“I have cancer.”

It was so natural, the way my dad said it, that I almost didn’t think anything of it at first. We’d just left Aunt Jade’s house and were sitting in his ’89 Chevy Caprice next to the drug store on Main Street while we waited for the train to pass by. The tracks run through the middle of downtown Acworth, wind past abandoned industrial buildings to the north, up and over the interstate, and across Lake Allatoona to chug through the mountains of North Georgia and beyond. I was counting the train cars and was at 28 when he said it.

“I have cancer,” he said again.   

And it was like, all in that moment, I could tell that he had cancer, could feel it ruminating in his belly, filling his insides, and showing itself in the yellow of his eyes. I grabbed the door handle and held onto it for dear life, wishing instead I would reach out to where my dad’s hand rested on the gear shift and curl my fingers around his wrist so I could feel the gentle, reassuring pulse of blood flowing through his veins. I didn’t.

– “Counting”

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Click here to read more about Almost Words, my collection of young adult short stories!

An Excerpt from First Year

When I get outside, I sit on the bench outside my dorm only briefly until I see Logan’s familiar figure approaching, his hands stuffed in his pockets. A few girls from my hall pass by as he approaches, and I notice that they give him more than a few appreciative glances.

I have to admit, Logan Hawkins is pretty cute. He has dark brown hair that sweeps across his forehead and stretches briefly down the back of his neck. He’s tall and, though not beefy, definitely has muscles. I smile when I remember the days in junior high when he’d had long hair and braces. The girls on my hall might not have given him such leering looks if they’d known him back then.

“Hey, Em.”

My heart skips a beat at the nickname—that’s what Nate calls me. I brush the feeling aside.

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Click here to read more about First Year, my debut YA book!