The Secrets We Kept
Lily Velez
Publication date: November 8th 2015
Genres: Contemporary, Romance, Young Adult
One year. That’s how long it’s been since childhood sweethearts Sully Graham and Cadence Gilbertson broke up, since one adoption and one out-of-state move turned their worlds upside down.
Suddenly, Cadence is back in New York City, but something’s different about her. The light in her eyes, the music in her laughter, the warmth in her smile—all of those things have entirely vanished. In their place stand the makings of a girl Sully can’t even begin to recognize, much less understand.
Still, despite the collective history of heartbreak between them, he’s convinced he can win her trust again, and he’s committed to proving the invincibility of their love no matter what it takes.
But Cadence is quietly harboring secrets of her own. Dark secrets. Ugly secrets. Secrets that could break a person. And though broken herself and unbearably lonely, she’s determined to protect Sully from her terrible, biting truths. Even if it means locking him out of her life forever.
The only problem is it seems her heart hasn’t quite received the memo. One glimpse of him is all it takes for her to trip into familiar (and, she’ll admit, addictive) feelings that threaten to all but consume her. Now her biggest fear is that her secrets will begin to slowly unravel one by one…long before Sully’s resolve ever does.
The Secrets We Kept is a moving story about first love, friendship, and forgiveness, and the enduring bonds that forever connect us and give us our strength.
Read an Excerpt
The rooftop memory revisited her. Sully had first brought her there on their six-month anniversary, where they celebrated their romance with an afternoon picnic of peanut-butter-and-jelly sandwiches and barbecue-flavored potato chips. Dessert was a melting sundae pie from Burger King.
She remembered the way the sun felt on her skin, like it was painting her with fire. She remembered the way the light reflected off the metal steamers, making them glow like pillars of white. She remembered the look in Sully’s eyes. So gentle, so soft. His fingertips ghosted down the length of her arm to her wrist, and then he raised their hands and pressed their palms together before interlocking their fingers. He held her eyes for a long time, saying nothing. There came a point when they didn’t really need words anymore. They could read each other so easily, say so much simply by being in each other’s presence.
He touched a lingering kiss to the back of her hand, the one he held, and then smiled at her in a dreamy way as he said, “I think I’m in love with you, Cadence Livingston.”
It was the first time he’d used the L-word, and her heart had beat as rapidly as a hummingbird’s wings, so rapidly in fact that for a moment, she wondered if it was possible to die from happiness. She remembered smiling so hard that her cheeks hurt, but it was worth it. So was reciprocating his sentiment and watching his eyes light up like twin fireflies in response. Drunk on their love for each other, they’d spent the rest of the afternoon pointing out the shapes in the clouds, laughing, making heart shapes with their hands and holding them up against the sunlight.
Author Bio:Lily Velez has been writing stories since she was six years old. Not much has changed since then. She still prefers the written word and her overactive imagination over the ‘real world’ (though to be fair, her stories no longer feature talking dinosaurs). A graduate of Rollins College and a Florida native, when she’s not reading or writing, she spends most of her days wrangling up her pit bulls Noah and Luna, planning exciting travel adventures, and nursing her addiction to cheese. All this when she isn’t participating in the extreme sport known as napping. You can learn more about Lily and her books at www.lilyvelezbooks.com.
Lily’s debut novel, The Secrets We Kept, comes out November 8, 2015.
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