AustLit

'For a woman determined to find her missing mother, the secrets of her past lead them both into dangerous territory.

'Diane Nolan thought she’d hit rock bottom when she was forced to move back home with her mother. She never imagines going home early will turn her world upside down, but the moment she steps into the tattered remnants of her family home, life as Diane knows it is about to change forever. They’re looking for something—something worth killing for.

'With no sign of her mother, except for a strange phone call mentioning the Emerald Pearl and finding something called the Well Watchers, Diane is tasked with keeping the pearl safe and out of the hands of the Viridian Society.

'Lincoln Ryner has enough on his plate after the exam scandal threatens his position at university. When he finds beautiful, shivering Diane hiding in his old family treehouse during a storm, he knows he has to help her, no matter the cost.

'Torn between wanting to go after her mother and keeping her promise, Diane teams up with Lincoln to find the answers she needs. With danger lurking and the Viridian Society on the war path, can they find the truth in her family’s secrets…without getting killed in the process?' (Publication summary)