I wasn't always in love with Colton Calloway; I was in love with his younger brother, Kyle, first. Kyle was my first one true love, my first in every way. Then, one stormy August night, he died, and the person I was died with him. Colton didn't teach me how to live. He didn't heal the pain. He didn't make it okay. He taught me how to hurt, how to not be okay, and, eventually, how to let go.

THE STORY YOU THOUGHT YOU KNEW... When Kyle Calloway died, he took a part of Nell with him. She wasn’t the only one left to pick up the pieces, however; Kyle’s death left a gaping hole in the hearts and lives of his parents and his older brother Colton, and ultimately broke the will of the girl he loved. THE STORY YOU NEVER IMAGINED... Becca de Rosa is Nell’s best friend. When Kyle died, Nell was so devastated that no one could reach her, not even her best friend Becca. As she tries to help Nell through her grief, Becca’s own life is thrust into turmoil, and everything she knows is changed. Jason Dorsey asked Nell out the week after her sixteenth birthday, but that date never happened. Instead, he ended up going out with Nell’s best friend, Becca. He had no way of knowing, then, how that one date would send him on a life-long journey with Becca. He had no way of knowing the tragedies and triumphs he would experience, or that in Becca, he might find the love of a lifetime. THE HEARTACHE YOU’LL NEVER FORGET...

My name is Colton Calloway. You've heard part of my story, but it turns out there's more. My little girl, Kylie, is all grown up. Seventeen, beautiful, and talented, just like her mother. And just like Nell, my daughter seems to have fallen for a bad boy, one with a lot of darkness and a lot of secrets. \ \ \* You thought you knew the whole story. You thought it was over. Happily ever after for everyone. You were wrong. My name is Oz Hyde, and you’ve never met me. I’m part of the story, too, but I’m an aside, a quick line or two you’d all but forgotten about. Well guess what? I’ve got my own story to tell. Buckle up, ‘cause this is gonna be a hell of a bumpy ride.

My name is Benjamin Dorsey. You know my mom and dad's story. You know Kylie's parents' story. You even know Kylie's story. You don't know mine, yet. You don't know what a broken heart is until you've loved someone your whole life, only to have her slip through your fingers because you waited too long. That's heartbreak. That's regret. And how do you live with that? How do you go through the motions when she's there as a reminder of what you lost, of what you could have had but were too damn chicken to go after? I couldn't. So I left. That's right, I ran away. I found myself across the continent, playing minor league football. I mean, at least I still had football, right? Nope. That got taken away from me too. A career-ending injury left me down-and-out, scraping the bottom of the barrel, hating myself and hating life. And then I met Cheyenne Leveaux, my physical therapist, who became my one and only friend, the one bright light in the darkness of my messed up life. But of course nothing is ever simple, or easy. Tragedy struck, and the rug was swept out from under me yet again, and this time the guilt, the doubt, the secrets, and the old heartbreak may threaten my one chance at true happiness, my one shot at my own happily ever after. Reading Order: Falling Into You, Falling Into Us, Falling Under, Falling Away

I wasn't always in love with Nell Hawthorne; I was in love with a girl named India before I ever met Nell. India? She was my first love, the girl who made me want to be better than my past, better than the blood and violence. Live by the sword, die by the sword, that's what they say, right? It should have been me, that day. But it was't. It was her. And that changed me. Sent me down an even darker path than I'd been on before. Until I met her. Nell Hawthorne. The girl who changed everything. You know that story. But what you don't know is everything that led up to that rainy day under a tree, at a funeral.

From Book 1: I wasn't always in love with Colton Calloway; I was in love with his younger brother, Kyle, first. Kyle was my first one true love, my first in every way. Then, one stormy August night, he died, and the person I was died with him. Colton didn't teach me how to live. He didn't heal the pain. He didn't make it okay. He taught me how to hurt, how to not be okay, and, eventually, how to let go. \\\* Nell Hawthorne is in love with her life-long best friend, Kyle Calloway. Their young love is invincible and life is full of promise; then one night Kyle dies suddenly in a tragic accident and Nell is forever changed. She meets Kyle's older brother Colton for the first time at the funeral. They both struggle to move on with life as best they can. Years later, they meet again in New York City, and Colton realizes that Nell has never really gotten over Kyle's death. She seems to be harboring a deeply rooted pain, a heavy weight of guilt and regret. He knows he shouldn't get involved, but he can't help himself. Trust doesn't come easily for either of them, and they both have demons. Together, they learn the purpose of pain and the meaning of healing, and the importance of forgiveness.