What really happened to Mother?Lauren has come home seven years after her famous mother's mysterious drowning. They said it was an accident, but the tabloids screamed murder. Her father, a senator, hadn't protected her. Aunt Jule was her only refuge, the beloved godmother she's returning to see.Lauren stops at Wisteria's annual street festival and meets Nick, a tease, a flirt, and a childhood playmate. The day is almost perfect -- until she realizes she's being watched.Arriving at Aunt Jule's, Lauren is shocked at the decay of the riverfront home. Aunt Jule seems angry and defensive, even as she fusses over Lauren at her daughter Holly's expense. Nora, Jule's other daughter, is silent and spooky, and stares at Lauren with frightening intensity. Meanwhile, Nick has acted as if he wants to be more than Lauren's friend. So why is he suddenly glued to Holly and almost hostile to Lauren? How can she trust him -- especially now that a series of nasty "accidents" makes Lauren realize that somebody wants her dead? This time, there's no place to run.

 

 

This book is part of a book series called Dark Secrets .

This book is aimed at children at US 7th grade+.

This book has been graded for interest at 12-18 years.

There are 208 pages in this book.

It is aimed at Young Adult readers. The term Young Adult (YA) is used for books which have the following characteristics: (1) aimed at ages 12-18 years, US grades 7-12, UK school years 8-15, (2) around 50-75k words long, (3) main character is aged 12-18 years, (4) topics include self-reflection, internal conflict vs external, analyzing life and its meaning, (5) point of view is often in the first person, and (6) swearing, violence, romance and sexuality are allowed.

This book was published in 2010 by Simon & Schuster .

Elizabeth Chandler is a pseudonym for Mary Claire Helldorfer. She is the author of the Kissed by an Angel and Dark Secrets series. She lives in Baltimore, Maryland.