Charcoal Memory: Echoes of a Stolen Life Series

Toni came back to Baltimore to save money, make art, and leave for Europe. Her brother’s spare room is only a temporary stop on the way to the life she actually wants.

Then Leon becomes impossible not to notice.

Her brother’s best friend used to be the lanky boy who stole her cereal and taped her ruined drawings back together. Now he’s tattooed, infuriatingly attractive, and living across the hall. Somehow, he still remembers the things about her no one else does—morning light for her sketches, no mushrooms on her pizza, and exactly how easily she gets under his skin.

Toni has no intention of giving up Paris for a man, and Leon refuses to become the reason she stays. So they flirt around the edges, date other people, cross lines they shouldn’t, and keep pretending the pull between them is something they can ignore until she leaves.

But the closer Toni gets to leaving Baltimore, the harder it becomes to imagine leaving Leon behind.

She thinks she knows how their year ends.

She’s going to Europe.

She’s wrong.