Things I Can't Forget by Miranda Kenneally (Hundred Oaks book 3)

Kate Kelly has a couple of brief mentions in Stealing Parker. She attends the same church as Parker Shelton. Kate has a huge crush on Will Whitfield. Parker and Will are camp counselors with Kate. Jordan Woods also makes an important appearance.

"Sometimes you need to make your own trail."

Kate Kelly, 18, is a recent high school graduate. She is going to be a camp counselor at Cumberland Creek Camp for the summer although she feels like she has no business being one. She only signed up to be working with her best friend, Emily Mansfield. That was before Emily found out that she was pregnant and her parents kicked her out of the house when they found out that she had had an abortion. Now it is too late for Kate to look for another job to make some money before college starts. She is having a difficult time dealing with her role in supporting her friend's decision to end her pregnancy. She feels as if she has committed a sin and Emily doesn't understand that. She hasn't spoken to her friend in weeks.

On her first day at the camp, Kate notices a beautiful boy starring at her. He is carrying his clothes in a laundry basket and has a guitar case. He looks familiar but Kate cannot place him. During the group introductions, he tells everyone that his name is Matt and he keeps looking at Kate. Afterwards, she goes to her car to check her messages but her phone doesn't have a strong signal. Sitting in the driver's seat while sketching, Kate begins to question once again who she is without Emily, without soccer; she tore her ACL in the fall and without her relationship with God, which she felt she lost by helping Emily. She prays for a sign that she might be forgiven and can eventually forgive herself. Just then, something hits her car window and Kate hits her head in surprise. Getting out of her car, she sees Matt picking up his basketball. He apologizes and asks if she is alright. Fine, Kate says and Matt comments that she looks familiar. He asks if she has ever been to the camp as a camper. Suddenly, they recognize one another and begin to catch up. Turns out Matt gave Kate her one and only kiss when she was eleven years old.

The counselors spend the next couple of days getting ready for the campers. Kate and Parker have words when all of the counselors decide to share a cabin together, boys and girls. Kate believes it would be a sin to sleep in the same cabin as the boys and she has sinned enough already. Parker is tired of being judged by others. Alone in her cabin for the night, Kate cries herself to sleep over the loss of her only friend and how alone she is. She has done everything the church has told her to do. She is a good girl but somehow she doesn't fit in. Will has a talk with Kate to let her know how hurt Parker was when her mother left and everyone at their church turned on her. Kate didn't know. Over the next several days, she tries to apologize to her. Parker is not quick to accept Kate. Matt does try to get her to do things and seems to be flirting with her. Another counselor, Andrea, is trying to get Matt's attention. Kate overhears her tell her friend Carlie that she fell for him and wishes she knew how to work things out with him. Carlie tells her that she was a good friend when he needed one. Carlie tells Kate when she catches her eavesdropping to mind her own business. Kate takes a walk and sees the boys playing basketball. Matt makes a score and waves at Kate as she walks by. She waves back and wonders what exactly Andrea was talking about and what Matt meant when he told her earlier that she had saved him all of those years ago.

Soon the youth campers arrive and Kate has her unexpected highs and lows as the first week progresses. At the talent show, she sees how kind Matt is with some of the kids and she decides then and there that she wants Matt. When the camp director calls her in for a meeting, she reprimands her for having difficulties getting her campers' dinner on time and being late getting the talent show started. As she is leaving, Kate asks her who told her about her problems. Andrea had heard from Matt she is told. Leaving, Kate is devastated to hear Matt sold her out.

Does Kate find the forgiveness she is seeking? Can she trust people again? Will Kate be able to repair her friendship with Emily? Does Matt feel the same about Kate as she does him or is Matt interested in Andrea instead? How did Kate save Matt the first time they met? Will Kate rethink her "judgmental" attitude towards others? Can Kate and Parker find friendship?

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The Savage Grace by Bree Despain (Dark Divine book 3)

SPOILER ALERT! If you haven’t read the first two books in the series, The Dark Divine and The Lost Saint, Stop! I don’t want to ruin the story for you.

“A troubled soul. An impossible choice. A final battle.”

The Savage Grace picks up six nights after the horrifying events that took place in The Lost Saint. Daniel is still trapped in the white alpha wolf form he turned into saving grace from his father Caleb and the Shadow Kings gang at their warehouse hideout. Grace is full of self-doubt as Daniel drifts from her and struggles to keep her own inner wolf in check. Her family is splintered with Jude’s return to town. Her mother suffers a nervous breakdown and is hospitalized, her father struggles to make things right not only for his children but Daniel as well. Talbot’s betrayal of their friendship over his feelings for Grace has left her angry. With Daniel howling in the woods all night and another dead body discovered, the town of Rose Crest is up in arms. When the sheriff sponsors a wolf hunt, Grace knows she must stop at nothing to help Daniel.

To make matters worse, the people Grace relies most on suddenly become unavailable to her. Will Grace be able to bring Daniel back to her? Can her fractured family be repaired? Will Caleb Kalbi and the Shadow Kings be stopped? And what will become of Grace?

Don't miss this thrilling conclusion to the Dark Divine series.

Visit Bree Despain's website.

The Lost Saint by Bree Despain (Dark Divine book 2)

"A family destroyed. A love threatened. An enemy returns."

SPOILER ALERT! Please do not read any further if you haven't read the first book in the series, The Dark Divine. I don't want to ruin the story for you.

Ten months have passed since the ending of The Dark Divine. Jude has disappeared, Daniel is cured of the wolf curse and Grace is learning more about her new found abilities. Life in the Divine house hold is difficult since Jude's disappearance. Grace's mother watches news reports and constantly looks for him in the background while her father is always gone looking for him. Now Daniel has become sistant and is pulling away from Grace. Grace is determined to use her neew wolf abilities into finding Jude, even if her life is in danger. Since Daniel is keeping secrets, Grace turns to Talbot, her volunteer partner for a service project for school. Talbot knows who Grace is and offers to help train her abilities and find Jude. But what happens when things aren't what they seem and a deadly enemy returns? Fans of The Dark Divine are going to be completely blown away by the ending and left waiting for the next installment.

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The Dark Divine by Bree Despain

"A thought hit me like a slash of paint on canvas. What if Daniel, in his own sideways manner, had been asking for help the other night? Asking for my help?"
"I knew what I had to do."

Grace Divine is the member of a loving, tight-knit family. Her father is a pastor and the family devotes themselves to charitable deeds and supports their parishoners. That even meant taking in the boy next door four and a half years ago when Daniel came to live with the Divines after being beaten by his father. Daniel who became their brother before disappearing that night. The night Grace's brother Jude came home covered in his own blood.

Now two and a half years after disappearing, Daniel Kalbi has returned and shows up in Grace's AP Art class. When Grace announces at dinner that she saw Daniel, everyone gets quiet and Grace is told never to mention his name again. Nothing was off limits for discussion at the Divine dinner table, except Daniel. And Grace is troubled by the fact that Jude makes her promise not to talk to Daniel again. But according to her upbringing, were you not suppose to talk to help those in need? And didn't everyone deserve forgiveness? Grace feels the need to Help Daniel, but it means breaking her promise to Jude.

First, Grace helps Daniel get readmitted to AP Art in the hopes of going to design school. Then she leaves with him after a funeral and ends up inviting him to Thanksgiving dinner. The Divine family is none too happy to see Daniel, but invite him to stay. When a tragic disappearance occurs during dinner, Grace slowly learns Daniel's secret and the dangerous implications that go along with it. Will the "prodigal son" be welcomed back home? And can Grace survive what can only be a dangerous love, one that may require her to risk her soul?

Grace's story of what one person would do for love will keep the reader on the edge of their set until the very end. The Lost Saint comes out December 28, 2010.

Visit Bree Despain's website.