Sophia Kell Hagin

What do you do when the whole world breaks?

Like when you make it through a plague with the woman you’ve loved for way more than half your septuagenarian life—only to watch her die, leaving you alone. And then, just weeks later, the world around you descends into relentless dark and cold.

Besieged, desolate Hester is too numb to know what to do. And even though she’s lucky to have the means to endure for quite a while, she’s tempted—really tempted—to just give it up. What, after all, is she enduring for?

But giving up will have to wait when she stumbles upon people who introduce her to the first rule of survival: Don’t try to go it alone if you don’t have to.

War veteran Jamie Gwynmorgan had made a sweet life for herself. Then, one morning on her way to work, she’s abducted off the street. She doesn’t know why. Or who did it. Or where she’s been taken. She can’t even measure the passage of time. 

Utterly alone, only rarely able to hear a human voice, prohibited from seeing human faces, even her own, Jamie endures in a sinister, disorienting fog that devours her memories of before and weakens her grip on sanity—until a bit of contraband darts into her imploded world with a message, and with hope.

It’s just a tiny voice recorder/player, no doubt unwillingly forsaken, but it gives Jamie the means to measure time, to remember. And if she can remember before, then maybe she can find her way home to reclaim the life and the deep, abiding love some unknown enemy has stolen from her.

In some ways, Marine Lieutenant Jamie Gwynmorgan has it pretty good. The motherly kindness of Lynn Hillinger, the senator she saved during the war that nearly killed them both, never wavers. Plus she has a great place to stay while she's on convalescent leave—and a steady supply of the best lemonade on earth.

But flashbacks and nightmares shadow her as she tries to decide: Attempt a return to active duty, or...what? Jamie doubts she can ever achieve the peaceful life she dreams of—until she meets smart, idealistic Adele Sabellius. As their relationship deepens, almost anything seems possible.

Soon, however, Jamie learns that something more menacing than nightmares and flashbacks has begun to twist the restless shadows around her. Though she may never understand why Adele loves her, Jamie will do whatever it takes to keep Adele safe when relentless enemies emerge from those darkening shadows to threaten yet another war.

Jamie Gwynmorgan doesn't believe in prayer. She doesn't believe in anything much. Except that people can't be trusted—certainly not anyone she's ever met.

But Jamie knows some things. From experience. She knows if she died, nobody would give a damn. Nobody would even notice. She knows the better she can fight, the safer she'll be. That's why she can't resist the sleek, dark lethality of the weapon—and the recruiter's promise that yes, if she's strong enough, good enough, she'll get to fire that weapon in combat. She doesn't care about the uniform. And screw the pretend-camaraderie. Only Safe matters—and if she can do combat, then maybe she can fight her way to Safe.

Jamie expects a grueling fight that she might lose. What she never expects is to win love.