?After a series of tragic deaths in Shadow Swan's family, the young ginger finds herself being shipped off to Forks, Washington. A town that Shadow hasn't stepped foot in years. Here she finds the prospects of a fresh start awaiting her and the chan...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
TRIGGER WARNING: This book contains mentions of blood, su*cide, and death.
DEATH IS SOMETHING MERCILESS, something relentless. Cold and cruel, death has no enemy. But, life— with all of its unpredictability— is far worse than death itself. More-so when it's life after death.
The afterlife is said to be a place of peace; a sanctuary free of pain.
If that were true, then the opposite could be said of what's left for the living. With grief following closely in death's wake, suffering lives on in absolute. You might be spared after you die, but the people you leave behind are left in mourning.
Despair fills its belly with the grief of loved ones because life has no mercy for those that live.
But, Death... Death carries its mercy at the edge of a scythe and Shadow Swan couldn't help but wonder if that was why her mother chose to follow its siren song.
All Shadow wanted was a reason. Some sort of explanation as to why her mother left. She wanted to know if her mom ever fully understood what her actions would bring; if she ever took a moment to think about the incomprehensible sorrow her daughter would feel.
Was Kora Swan's own grief so overwhelming that she'd forgotten the girl she had spent 17 years of her life raising?
Thinking about it now, Shadow wasn't entirely sure if she wanted to know the answer. What she did know was that loss had changed her mother. The woman she had grown up with— caring, determined, and kind— stopped existing the very moment Shadow's father, left this world.
Grief had changed both Swan women, there was no denying that. But, it seemed to hound after Shadow's mother the worst. It was like her body had been emptied, leaving only the shell of a person in its stead.
The tragic accident of Carl Swan had filled Kora with something haunted and hollow. A ghost of a person, not yet dead. Things were never the same after that.
Shadow knew now that she hadn't just lost her father, but her mother as well. Learning to grow up came quickly after that, though the adjustment to it wasn't easy. There was no time for her friends, their laughter, or even a smile.
Between the upcoming exams and the responsibilities of their home falling onto her, Shadow had no time for things that had once seemed so important. Things like parties, and dates, and passing her tests. They were old joys that fell trivial in comparison.
There wasn't even time to grieve. In the midst of all this weight on her shoulders, how could Shadow possibly comprehend what had happened? For a while, she'd almost forgotten that she had lost someone too.
