India Flames, Sparks, Igniters, and Bloggers, you may not be a hot alpha Italian Mafia stud-muffin, but you are most certainly the wind beneath my wings. I love you all!!!
Family, even though we are doing our best to survive a pandemic, personal life tribulations, and challenges that keep popping up because 2020 is from the bowels of Hell, we have become stronger for it, and you still stand faithfully, by my side, so I can continue this dream of being a writer. I love you more than words can ever express.
About India
India R Adams is an author/singer/songwriter who has written YA and NA novels such as My Wolf and Me, Blue Waters (A Tainted Water Novella), Steal Me (A Haunted Roads Novel), Rain (A Stranger in the Woods Novel), and Serenity (A Forever Novel), as well as music for the Forever series.
India was born and raised in Florida but has also been lucky enough to live in Idaho (where she froze but fell in love with the small-town life), Austin, Texas (where she started her first book, Serenity and met wonderful artists), and now Murphy, North Carolina (where the mountains have stolen a piece of her heart).
Being a survivor of abuse has inspired India to let others know they have nothing to be ashamed of. She has used her many years of professional theater experience to build characters and stories with dark undercurrents that stem from her personal life. She says, “I’m simply finding ways to empower perfect imperfections.”
Another thing India feels needs much more awareness is sexual slavery. She has joined forces with jewelers to design beautiful ways to raise money for nonprofit organizations. Even though India writes about serious subjects such as domestic violence, sexual abuse, and human trafficking, she has a magnificent sense of humor, as do the characters she creates. Her novels are perfectly balanced between laughter and tears, letting readers see how to empower their own perfect imperfections.
To stay in the loop of all things India, sign-up to her newsletter HERE! https://bit.ly/2IszVH7
Cover illustration by Brianna Hale at Untold Design
Edited by Becky at Rebecca Fairest Reviews Editing
Proofread by Dominique Laura
Book Formatted by Dani René, Raven Designs
No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission from the publisher, except the brief quotations for reviews. Thank you for respecting the author’s work.
This book is a work of fiction. All characters, places, incidents and dialogue, are drawn from the author’s imagination and are not to be construed as real. Any similarities were surely not intentional.
To Mary Laberge…
Rest in peace and light. You will be missed.
Playlist
Broken Ones - Jacquie Lee
Come Into My World - Kylie Minogue (Acoustic version)
Faith’s Song - Amy Wadge
Water Under the Bridge - Sara Farell cover
You Set My World On Fire - Loving Caliber
Insecure - iamnotshane
Let Me Down Slowly - Powell Sullivan cover
All I Need - Within Temptation
Gravity - Sara Bareilles
Faded - Alan Walker
Thief - Ansel Elgort
Already Gone - Sleeping At Last
Say Something - A Great Big World feat Christina Aguilera
You Ruin Me - The Veronicas
Chapter One
Ramona
I stare at the wooden box, sitting on my nightstand, mocking me.
I should’ve given it to my dad the moment I bought it for him. I should’ve known there wouldn’t be a chance for me to do it this week with all the chaos of the upcoming party. I cringe with the shattering noise coming from somewhere in the house and roll my eyes at the yelling following it.
I hate Mom’s parties. But every year, she insists on going over the top, spending an unnecessary amount of money, filling the house with an event planner team for days and days of planning, and inviting all the people I don’t know or care about to our special days. A month ago, it was my eighteenth birthday party. A week from now, it is Daddy’s. Two months later, Mom’s follows. And instead of celebrating these occasions together as a family, she includes strangers into our lives to share those special moments.
I hate them.
The more people Mom fills our house with, the more I feel alone. They’re all fake, laughing and talking loudly, making inappropriate jokes while checking out other men’s wives or daughters. No one cares about the actual reason behind the parties they attend; all they think about is the lavishness of everything they’ve come to expect and my mom gladly provides. They don’t care that we don’t have the money to throw such over-the-top parties