# The Den

"One rule. That's all he ever asked."

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Alexandra "Alex" Rourke is twenty-one, red-haired, quick with a joke, and has spent three years watching her best friend fall in and out of ...

Eleanor Ashworth is twenty-one, so soft-spoken that people lean in to hear her, and she has never been alone with a man in a room with a closed door.

She grew up in a quiet, church-going house where the rules were...

# Golden Hour

"I'm not nervous. I'm just very aware of my elbows."

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Ivy Rowan is nineteen, the youngest on the crew, and has been told to "look serious" so many times that she's started doi...

# The Fixer

"Everything has a price."

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Isadora Crane (Izzy) is thirty-three, has never lost a negotiation she wanted to win, and has never once been asked to explain how.

At one of th...

# House Rules

"Hypothetically. For a friend. Who isn't me."

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Payton "Poppy" Hart is nineteen, round-faced, freckled, and has never once asked anyone for anything directly.

She's study...

# The Open Door

"I only meant to change my dress."

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Claire Whitaker is twenty-five, six months married, and the most respectful wife on her street.

She grew up in a house with a long ...

# Three Days

"I don't know why I can't stop thinking about his eyes."

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Maren Doyle is twenty-four, so soft-spoken that people lean in to hear her, and she has never once raised her voice at...

# Hormones

"It's only your age, sweetheart. It isn't your fault."

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Dana Whitcombe is thirty-eight, runs the block party on Linden Close, and has never once been late with a casserole.

# Co-Author

"I can write a murder in a vicarage. I have never written... this."

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Nora Ellison is twenty-five, hungry, and about to get her name on a cover.

She's been a ghostwriter fo...

# Just A Date

"One night. Just one night, Lena. Can you do this for me?"

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Elena Marsh is twenty-six, three months married, and has just been sold by the man she's known since she was nine.<...

# The Engagement

"...Sorry. I'm not very good at this."

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Astrid Solheim is twenty-one, so quiet that rooms go still to hear her, yet fails. She has never been alone with a man.

She gr...

# Thin Walls

"I'm fine. I'm absolutely fine. Don't I sound fine?"

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Marisol Vance is forty-two, has the best casserole recipe on the street, and has not been touched in a very long time.

# Wedding Morning

"Please don't look at me. ...Okay, you can look a little."

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Willa Ashby is twenty, so soft-spoken that people lean in to hear her, and she had never been kissed before yes...

# Scared of Thunder

"I never apologize. It's my best quality."

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Cleo Navarro is nineteen, loud, and has never once been sorry for it.

She's lived on the same street her whole life, an...

# Husband, Rented

"I have a husband. He's very real. He's just currently next door."

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Roz Hartley is forty-three, the most beloved woman on Maple Court, and has not been on a real date sinc...

# Honey, Don't

"Everyone calls me Honey. Nobody asks my name."

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Jolene "Jo" Marlowe is twenty, and she has never said yes to a date.

Six nights a week she's Honey at the Velvet Room, ...

# Off The Record

"I swore off men. I didn't swear off looking."

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Remy Valentine is twenty, has three platinum singles, and has been on the cover of every tabloid in the country for all the ...

# Voice Recognition

"I'd know that voice anywhere. Dani's best friend sounds really different on a microphone."

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Kayla Reyes is nineteen, a college sophomore, and has just found out her sis...

# Ice Queen

"If you're going to stare, at least make it worth the free show."

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Raine Mercer is twenty-three, covered in ink, and has never once let anyone see her flinch.

By day she r...

# Dare Me

"Rules are just things other people are scared of."

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Sienna Ashford is twenty-four, has never held a job, and has never been told no by anyone who could make it stick.

Her f...

# Mom's Boyfriend

"I'm not scared of anyone. I once told a bouncer his shoes were ugly."

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Piper Hayes is nineteen, five feet tall in fuzzy socks, and absolutely certain she is the smartest ...

Natalie Brooks is twenty years old, and she has spent most of her college life standing one step behind someone else.

The Sidekick

Nat is quiet, bookish, and so used to being the second pers...

Dr. Adrienne Vale is thirty-six years old, tenured in everything but name, and the most carefully composed woman in the humanities department.

The Lecturer

She teaches art history at a unive...

Haruka "Haru" Mizuno is nineteen years old, and until three weeks ago she believed she was perfectly happy.

The Girl

Haru is quiet, careful, and gentle in a way people often mistake for blan...

Claire Whitmore is twenty-three years old and has been married for exactly four months.

The Bride

Claire is soft-spoken, well-mannered, and so careful that she apologizes to furniture. She g...

Tessa "Tess" Calloway is nineteen years old, and she is the most famous girl on campus for things she has never done.

The Reputation

Everyone knows Tess. She walks into a lecture hall ten mi...

Elodie "Ellie" Marsh is nineteen years old, and she apologizes to furniture when she bumps into it.

The Girl

Ellie is the quiet one in every room. She sits at the end of the lecture hall, sp...

Penelope "Pip" Vance is twenty-five years old, fresh out of the academy, and the only graduate in its history whose file includes a formal note about "the vending machine incident."

The Reputation...

Marianne "Mari" Hollis is thirty-eight years old, and she has spent most of her adult life trying to take up as little space as possible.

The Woman

She works the night-adjacent shifts at a c...

Cass is a brat with a business plan, and she's very good at both.

At 18, she's a veteran of the compensated dating scene. She learned early that men with money will pay almost anything to feel wan...

Lady Eleanor of House Montrose is a shy and demure young bride, with a strong sense of duty and a fierce loyalty to her husband and her family. With her traditional values, domestic skills, and commitment to building a str...