Shady Cove, New Girl in Town — Ava Catori

Can a big city girl go country? Jenna's life grinds to a halt after her brother's suicide. With her college funds non-existent and her future plans put on hold, she's forced to relocate to a sleepy town. Just when her entire world is crumbling, she meets Benji Preston, a local guy she doesn't expect to fall for. He's not even her type! A harmless flirtation quickly escalates into something more. The only catch? He's the same guy her cousin has been harboring a crush on for ages. With tongues wagging and jealousy dogging her every step, Jenna has to decide what's more important; her heart or her family ties?

Take a peek inside:

Jenna shoved her bus ticket into the pocket of her faded jeans. Lugging her overstuffed bags onto the vehicle, she groaned at the lack of overhead space available. Squeezing between her  bags, she sat glaring at people as they judged the extra space she took up. Confrontation was the last thing she needed after the last big fight with her parents; she didn't have the energy left. Bitter over her new circumstances, Jenna closed her eyes to ignore the other passengers.

How had it come to this? She was still alive, but that didn't seem to matter to her parents. She understood that they were still reeling over the loss of her brother, but he's the one that committed suicide. She's the one that they shut out. She was living and breathing, something that seemed to go unnoticed. It's not that she didn't grieve for her brother - but since it happened, her parents had checked out emotionally.

Jenna grieved for months on end - how could she not. Her only brother, the one she shared all of her secrets with was gone. Did he have his own secret? Why hadn't she seen it coming? It left her with a hole in her heart. There was no way she'd fully recover, but at least time softened the blow a little. She felt like the shell of her former existence. Distraction was the key to helping her live again. Jenna hated not knowing why he took his life, and wished she could have done something, anything, and somehow made a difference. It was pointless now, he was gone.

Forced to leave her family, the city she knew and loved, her friends, and any chance of going to college next semester, Jenna's world was crumbling. She had plans, and just like that her world stopped spinning. After Derek killed himself, the money that had been put aside for college tuition was gone, going instead to funeral expenses, and living expenses after Mom quit her job to deal with her grief and depression. Now there was nothing left. Without money to pay the bills, Jenna was forced to accept that college would have to wait. She'd find a way to pay for it eventually. Loans or grants; whatever it took - but for now, what she needed more than anything was time.

This last year took every bit of strength Jenna had to get by. Between her mom and dad being emotionally absent, and her need to keep going, distraction pushed away the past. She still had a lot of feelings to sort through. Derek didn't leave a note behind, and it left everybody questioning what was going through his mind that made him want to take his life. Closure was a hard thing to find when you didn't have answers.