***NEW YORK TIMES & USA TODAY BESTSELLER - HAVE NO SHAME*** Amazon's HOT NEW RELEASE in HISTORICAL FICTION & COMING OF AGE from BESTSELLING, AWARD-WINNING author MELISSA FOSTER GOLD MEDAL, Southern Fiction, READERS' FAVORITE AWARD FINALIST, Historical Fiction, READERS' FAVORITE AWARD * Book Club Recommendation * Contact author Melissa Foster to Skype with your book club. Where civil rights and forbidden love collide... The racially-charged prejudice of the deep South forces eighteen-year-old Alison Tillman to confront societal norms--and her own beliefs--when she discovers the body of a hate crime victim, and the specter of forbidden love turns her safe, comfortable world upside down. A meaningful combination of romantic suspense and coming of age at its very best. "This book will resonate with readers who enjoyed Kathryn Stockett's, THE HELP, Julie Kibler's, CALLING ME HOME, John Grisham's, A TIME TO KILL, Sue Monk Kidd's, THE SECRET LIFE OF BEES, and Kathleen Grissom's, THE KITCHEN HOUSE." PLEASE NOTE: This book contains TWO versions of this novel. Readers have the option to read with or without the southern dialect in the narrative (two versions, one novel, one purchase). Both versions reflect the exact same story, with the only difference being the style of the narrative. SUMMARY Alison Tillman has called Forrest Town, Arkansas home for the past eighteen years. Her mother's Blue Bonnet meetings, her father toiling night and day on the family farm, and the division of life between the whites and the blacks are all Alison knows. The winter of 1967, just a few months before marrying her high school sweetheart, Alison finds the body of a black man floating in the river, and she begins to view her existence with new perspective. The oppression and hate of the south, the ugliness she once was able to avert her eyes from, now demands her attention. When a secretive friendship with a young black man takes an unexpected romantic turn, Alison is forced to choose between her predetermined future, and the dangerous path that her heart yearns for.

Author Biography

Melissa Foster is a New York Times & USA Today bestselling and award-winning author. She writes sexy and heartwarming contemporary romance and new adult romance with emotionally compelling characters that stay with you long after you turn the last page. Melissa's emotional journeys are lovingly erotic and always family oriented--perfect beach reads for contemporary romance lovers who enjoy reading about wealthy heroes and smart, sassy heroines.