Adelaide Durant had spent twelve long years trying to scrape back together the pieces of her once perfect life.

She knew from the beginning that it was useless. Her parents were not the sort to overlook even the tiniest of imperfections, and the problem with Adelaide was anything but small.

That did not, however, stop her from trying.

She was seventeen now, yet her mother still spoke to her with disappointment and regret lacing her every word, and her father still had an ever-present shadow of disapproval in his eyes when he looked at her. And every word out of their mouths, every sideways glance they gave her--every subtle indication that she should try harder, be better--made her heart feel heavier in her chest. It seemed as though no matter what she did, she would never be good enough.

It was never supposed to be like this.

Her parents were the perfect couple, the perfect pairing to produce a perfect child with a perfect Gift. But, of course, it didn't work out the way it should have. She was not the golden girl, the poster child, the human embodiment of literal perfection. She was not the flawless child that she was expected to be.

Instead, she was a disappointment.

She was a dark blot of shame in her parents' otherwise perfect life.

She was flawed.

And, after twelve years of attempting to win her parents' pride--something that she should have realized much earlier was a pointless waste of her time--Adelaide had decided that she would finally do something about it.

COMING SOON