Shane's Harmony (with Caleb's Chance, Bonus Novella)

SHANE'S HARMONY Some things you want to forget... Trapped in a nightmare after a college party her freshman year, only sheer determination got Sydney Baldwin through her sophomore year. But the effort of pretending she can lead a normal life in the place the nightmare began has finally proved too much. After her final exams, she packs her belongings, resolved to leave campus life behind forever. She's hoping for a fresh start, and being maid of honor at her best friend's wedding seems like the first step to moving beyond the darkness of her past. Some things you'll never be proud of... Growing up with a drug-addicted single mother taught Shane Dawson that it's the people you love most who hurt you the worst. He made some bad choices as a teenager, but now he's put his self-destructive behavior behind him. He's earning good money working as a tattoo artist at Resolution Ink, alongside his best friend. Still, he's careful to hide his loneliness by pretending to be the happy-go-lucky one of the bunch. People can't hurt you if you keep them at arm's length. Some burdens are easier if they're shared... After meeting the handsome, tattooed best man at her friend's wedding, feelings stir in Sydney she thought were dead forever. She sees through his carefree facade to recognize a kindred sadness, one that stares back at her when she looks in the mirror. The aftermath of betrayal. Shane can't stop thinking about Sydney. Even more than her beauty, it's the haunted look behind her eyes that touches something inside him. The walls he's spent years building around himself threaten to crumble, as Sydney leaves him vulnerable in ways he never expected. Will their tortured pasts pull them into the shadows and ruin their chance at happiness? Or will Shane and Sydney find the courage to reach for the hope of a brighter future together? CALEB'S CHANCE What a cliche, to fall in love with your brother's best friend... Growing up in a small Kentucky town, bright spots in Brenna Malone's childhood are rare. With her mother dealing with crippling depression and a completely disinterested father, Brenna and her brother, Hunter, fend for themselves, with the help of Hunter's best friend, Caleb. Over the years, Brenna and Caleb's feelings for each other blossom from friendship to more, something they both deny out of respect for Hunter. When tragedy takes Hunter from them forever, their only choice is to cling to each other. But as Brenna learned at an early age, the good times rarely last, and her father is capable of turning even the most beautiful things into heartache. Walking away from the one you love is the hardest thing you'll ever do... Six years ago, Caleb Hanson walked away from Brenna Malone, knowing it was the right thing to do, but leaving his heart firmly in her hands. And while his life has moved on, with a career as a successful tattoo artist at Resolution Ink and a solid group of friends who are more like family, he's never overcome his soul-deep loneliness. Intensely private, he's shared the whole truth about Brenna with no one... until the day she shows up without warning at Resolution, and he's given the chance to rediscover the girl he's loved since he was a boy. Love is always a risk... but for Brenna and Caleb the rewards could change their lives... if they're willing to take the chance.
About the Author: After spending every work day with classrooms full of tweens and teens, then going home to three boys of her own, two of whom fall into the tween/teen category, you'd think that Amy Durham might like to leave the world of teenagers behind. Not so! Instead, she spends her spare moments - which sometimes consist of waiting twenty minutes for her oldest kiddo to get out of band practice - with her laptop and a multitude of teenage characters trying to navigate their way through the twisted, difficult road of adolescence. You might ask... "Why Young Adult Fiction"? Well, because it's what she knows. As a teacher and a parent, Amy is around tweens and teens on an almost constant basis. And while it's true they can be - ahem - challenging, they are also full of life, vision, and dreams. And that's a really cool place to be. Young Adult Fiction allows young readers the opportunity to find hope for the situations they find themselves in, find determination to keep on going, and courage to pursue their dreams. It also allows adult readers the chance to revisit the exuberance of youth, remember the joy and poignancy of first love, and recall how it felt to dream with abandon. Amy Durham is a wife and mother, an author, a teacher, an avid reader, and a musician. If she wasn't writing books, she'd be a celebrity chef!