AustLit

'When lightning strikes...

'Emma-Louise and Rosie have been friends for life, their bond unshakeable. Both women are on the verge of a new life, a second chance at love and happiness, but the past is about to catch up with each of them.

'A story of passion, resentment, secrets, and lies.'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

'Orphaned at sixteen, Toby Harrison is already a survivor. Handsome and charismatic, yet fiercely ambitious, he’s an expert at illusion. When Toby moves to the far north of Queensland to live with his godmother and a family he has never met, he is determined to begin a new life. A life where he has total control over everything and everyone within it. But Toby's controlled existence is threatened when he meets Charlotte, his godmother’s daughter. Beautiful, wild, and seductive, Charlotte is a force of nature that Toby has little chance of resisting. As Toby and Charlotte embark on building a life together, Toby is faced with the harsh reality that love is not always enough when it comes to sharing your life with another person; while Charlotte is forced to accept that her picture perfect family might be hiding a destructive secret.' (Publication summary)

'Being a teenager can have its ups and downs, but for Vanessa, the last year of her life seems to be on a permanent downward slide that appears to have no end in sight. The one highlight in her life, her solid relationship with her boyfriend Finn, is the only thing she clings to, but Finn's life is not without its dramas also. As the two are faced with a series of shocking events, they both must come to terms with who they are as individuals if they hope to be able to move forward as a couple. For Nick, adjusting to his new life with Nora and Vanessa is not without its challenges. He finds himself increasingly torn between the woman he has always loved and the daughter he is desperate to bond with as the relationship between mother and daughter deteriorates to a near irreparable state.' (Publication summary)

'For Willow, relationships have never been a high priority. Focused entirely on her university studies, she is content to plod along, keeping to herself, leading a quiet and uneventful and entirely controllable existence. When she meets Max, not only does he catch her off guard with his irresistible enthusiasm, he also catches her heart and it's not until after she's fallen in love that she realises Max is not all he initially seemed to be.

'For Jace, relationships equate to putting yourself on the line and he has no intention of letting anyone in. When he finds himself confronted with an ugly truth about his family, he turns to an old friend and quickly learns that accepting and giving love is not always as simple as making a choice.

'For Roni, escaping an abusive relationship was the best thing to have ever happened to her. Focused only on taking care of her young daughter and coming to terms with some terrible news about her mother, she is not prepared for falling in love and sees no room in her life for anyone else. But Michael is determined to show her just how worthy she is and despite her inhibitions, she takes a leap into the unknown by letting him into her ordered world and in turn, makes a significant difference to his.

'A coming of age story that explores the many facets of being in a relationship, the highs and the pitfalls, and the deep truth that who you fall in love with is not necessarily who you get in the end.' (Publication summary)

'When Nora moves herself and her teenage daughter back to her childhood home she knows she is returning to a place that holds secrets she had hoped would always remain hidden. While her tenuous relationship with her daughter hangs in the balance, her heart is put on the line when she meets up with the man who changed her life eighteen years earlier with a love she chose not to return.' (Publication summary)