Excerpt: The Unwilling

Layla Delaney is a seventeen year old living in the dreary town of Maybell, Mississippi, with a father who is grieving after the loss of his wife and friends who are so afraid that she's going to snap -again- that

they just stay away from her. Layla too is grieving but in a different way, instead of drowning herself in alcohol like her father, Layla talks to her mom via a trip to the cemetery once a week. Other than the

obvious lack of her mother, the ostracization from her friends, and the depression her father has slipped into, everything else in her life is seemingly normal. Which means that pretty much nothing is normal.

Including Meredeth Lowdes, Layla's new friend -only friend- that she meets one day at the cemetery. She's there visiting her twin sisters grave who died around the same time Layla's mom did, and it doesn't

take long for Layla to sense that isn't quite right about Meredith. With a little research and help from the new guy in town Wes, Layla realizes that Meredeth is hiding a secret agenda, and if she doesn't find out

how to save herself then the cemetery that's become like a second home to Layla will end up being her only home. Permanently.