Short story, published in The Atlantic

    Denver, Colorado1987There are two sides to every story.The surface reality that’s presented to the world.And then there’s the other side.The real one.The one that matters.Seventeen-year-old, self-proclaimed asshole, Toby Page, is alone.No friends.No family.He trades maintenance work in exchange for room and board.Every day he fights demons no one else can see.Every day he wants to give up.But he can’t.Not yet.When Alice Eliot moves in downstairs, she offers Toby some light in his dark world.At a crossroads and barely hanging on, it’s hard to have perspective.It’s difficult to see your own worth when you’re the villain in your story.Luckily for Toby, Alice brings things out in him that no one else ever has.As the two sides of Toby’s story are revealed, and the full reality comes into view, truth is gained.Improbable alliances prove that kindness is fundamentally human.Unlikely heroes emerge.The question is, Will it all be enough to save him?

    He avoids relationships lasting more than a few hours and sets his sights on breaking out of this college town and opening a shop in Miami. Hailey Matthews is ready to leave her college days behind her except for one last hoorah, getting matching tattoos with her sorority sisters by the best artists in the Tri-state area at Steele Ink. After passing out twice a few minutes into the tattoo, Vic Steele refuses to touch her skin again, at least not with the tattoo gun. When she shows up at his shop day after day demanding he finish the tattoo he finally agrees with one stipulation, she goes out to dinner with him. They both get more than they bargained for when their feelings take them by surprise and Hailey finds herself in the midst of the full Vic Steele experience, but Vic’s playboy status comes back to haunt him threating to ruin it all. Will Hayley’s first ink be her last or will Vic leave a permanent scar?

    Shot trying to stop him, Valerie inadvertently saved the life of a classmate, but was implicated in the shootings because of the list she helped create. A list of people and things she and Nick hated. The list he used to pick his targets.Now, after a summer of seclusion, Val is forced to confront her guilt as she returns to school to complete her senior year. Haunted by the memory of the boyfriend she still loves and navigating rocky relationships with her family, former friends and the girl whose life she saved, Val must come to grips with the tragedy that took place and her role in it, in order to make amends and move on with her life.

    Adelaide Carmichael and Damien Allen couldn’t be more opposite.Adelaide’s mother abandoned her when she was ten years old, leaving her to be raised by her abusive and alcoholic father.Damien on the other hand came from a wealthy family, was a local celebrity, and seemed to have a bright future ahead of him.Despite their differences, Adelaide and Damien were young, wild, and fiercely in love.And they had a plan.They were going to run away.Be together forever.And their plan was set in motion, until tragedy struck and for some reason, Adelaide wound up in The Oakhill Institution for the insane.Adelaide has no idea what she did to wind up at Oakhill, but she knows one thing for sure...She wants out.And after Damien follows her there to aid her in escaping, Adelaide slowly begins putting together the pieces of her memory that are missing.And it doesn’t take Adelaide long to figure out that sometimes...That one true love never dies.Warning:Do not read if you have a weak heart.

    They had been together for a few months, but it wasn’t working out. They got along good, had fun together, but the sex left something to be desired. She dealt with it because he was such a nice guy. But then she got an anonymous note from a neighbor. One that heard their antics and offered to help her. Kate was in need of some good lovings and the note promised just that. She wasn’t sure who it was that offered such things, but she was intrigued. When she found out who it was, Kate was ready to take on his offer and once she got a taste, she was never going to look back.

    It doesn't matter that Kai is gay, or that he'll never look at her the way she looks at him. Jem is okay with that. But when Kai is outed online by one of their classmates, he does the unthinkable and commits suicide. Jem is left to pick up the pieces of her broken life. Before he died, Kai left her twelve letters—one for each month of the year—and those letters are all Jem has left. That, and revenge. Although Kai's letters beg her not to investigate what happened, Jem can't let it go. She needs to know who did this, and she'll stop at nothing to find the person responsible for Kai's death. One way or another, someone is going down. Someone is going to pay.

    You can’t rewind the past.The only way to learn the secret . . . is to press play.Clay Jensen returns home from school to find a strange package with his name on it lying on his porch. Inside he discovers several cassette tapes recorded by Hannah Baker–his classmate and crush–who committed suicide two weeks earlier. Hannah’s voice tells him that there are thirteen reasons why she decided to end her life. Clay is one of them. If he listens, he’ll find out why. Clay spends the night crisscrossing his town with Hannah as his guide. He becomes a firsthand witness to Hannah’s pain, and as he follows Hannah’s recorded words throughout his town, what he discovers changes his life forever.

    Everything points to him having a wonderful life, but in reality, he’s crippled with a debilitating case of depression – one that he feels so suffocated by that he starts to believe that suicide is his only way out. However, he knows that killing himself would absolutely shatter his high school sweetheart Olivia. So instead of doing so, he promises her that he’ll get the help he needs, and in return, she vows to support him in every way she can. But finding that light at the end of the tunnel proves to be the most challenging, tumultuous, heartbreaking thing either of them have ever had to do. And, just when it looks like they’ve glued their hearts back together again and finally found it, Jimmy’s illness brings him face to face with death. And in a bizarre twist, also puts Olivia’s life at risk too. You'll find this book appealing if: You’re a fan of gritty, passionate love stories that build towards a climactic, heart-pounding finish. You want to relive the highs, the lows and the intoxicating rush that’s unique to first love. You’re a young adult who wants to read about another young adult striving for the same things you are. You’re interested in understanding depression better; you suffer from depression yourself and you want to feel like you’re not alone; or you want to see how you can better support a loved one with depression. You’re a parent of a young adult and you want to understand how easily your child can tumble into depression, and you want to prepare yourself to be able to recognise the symptoms if they ever do fall victim (unfortunately, depression strikes as many as 20% of teens, and for 15-24 year olds, suicide is the third, the second and the leading cause of death in the US, the UK and Australia, respectively). You're unlikely to enjoy this book if: You despise swearing. You are put off by explicit sex scenes. You're after a light-hearted story. Editorial Reviews "Centred around Jimmy and Olivia's heartfelt, passionate and troubled love, I WILL NOT KILL MYSELF, OLIVIA is a painfully honest, authentic and provocative novel ... one that presents a mesmerising portrayal of the all-consuming force of depression that dominates the main character ... one that takes the reader on a highly emotional journey ... and one that achieves a perfect balance of emotions, action and drama." The Columbia Review "A modern day Romeo and Juliet - a powerful, heart-wrenching story that takes you on an emotional rollercoaster ride as Jimmy and Olivia try to hang on desperately to love in the face of Jimmy's mounting depression." Nick Bleszynski, bestselling author "An explicitly realistic, absolutely intriguing and stunningly gritty novel ... one that snatches the reader's attention right from the start ... and one that provides fantastic food for thought for all young adults.

    I’m going to block it all out. Just for today."Happy Christmas," I say.The festive season isn't always happy for Tori and her brother Charlie. And this year's going to be harder than most.

    The only one who knows the dark secrets inside her home is her best friend and next-door neighbor, Adam. Cara’s only escape is by writing and sharing her stories with him through their facing bedroom windows late at night. Just when everything seems to get better, Cara’s world shatters, causing her to spiral into a deep depression and writer’s block. Even though Adam promises her “everything will be okay,” she knows things will never be the same. As she clutches to the fractured wounds of the past, how will Cara ever be able to love or write again? Breathtaking is a heart-wrenching coming-of-age story that fans of John Green and Nicholas Sparks will love.

    Sometimes they never get over it, destined to be alone for the rest of their lives. And no matter how hard they try, they can’t be happy, because the guilt is enough to kill them too.When my husband dies in a freak boating accident, I’m barely able to function, let alone pick up the pieces of my shattered life. Yes, we had our problems, but I never wanted him to die. My friends tell me it’s time for me to move on and when I finally try to put the past behind me, it comes back to me, shattering everything I thought I knew about my past, my husband and my future.Somebody is lying and will do anything to stop me from finding the truth. But I have to know. Did my husband really die in the waters of Broken Sound?

     It’s 1996 and high school sweethearts, Zoe and Stefano, are enjoying a valentine’s night in when Zoe realizes she is about to miss her midnight curfew. Worried about losing her car privileges, she jumps into her Ford Escort and begins the long and dark drive home. Meanwhile, Stefano is caught off guard by a troubling psychic premonition of blood – lots of blood. As the clock ticks down to midnight, Zoe comes to the bone-chilling realization that she has a bigger problem than answering to her strict father about the time. Will Zoe and Stefano survive the night? If you like paranormal thrillers, don’t miss this fast paced short story.

    Normal friends, normal parents, normal grades.. normal life. Until him. Clayton Reed was running from his past and an army of personal demons that threatened to take him down. He never thought he had a chance at happiness. Until her. Maggie thought their love could overcome anything. Clay thought she was all he needed to fix his messy life. That together, they could face the world. But the darkness is always waiting. Sometimes the greatest obstacle to true love is within yourself.

    Some boys will break your heart. But one boy can make you whole.When Grace meets Ian she's afraid. Afraid he'll reject her like the rest of the school, like her own family. After she accuses the town golden boy of rape, everyone turns against Grace. They call her a slut and a liar. But...Ian doesn't. He's funny and kind with secrets of his own.But how do you trust the best friend of the boy who raped you? How do you believe in love?A gut-wrenching, powerful love story told from alternating points of view by the acclaimed author of Send.