Beauty's Ashes

Kaitlin Alexander was a sweetly idealistic young woman, almost dangerously so. Naivete isn't normally a cause for alarm, unless it causes you to fall in love with the wrong man. Kaitlin realized just how wrong he was as she lay severely battered in a Baltimore Hospital Emergency room. When the police question her about her abusive live in boyfriend, Marcus, she makes the pivotal decision not be a victim anymore. She finally has him arrested and presses charges.

Three years later, Kaitlin decides to go back to New York to ready the family home for sale. Her only desire is to start over, but trouble dogs her every step. Her new friend and neighbor, Sherise, is in a violent relationship herself. Kaitlin feels compelled to intervene, attracting unwelcomed attention from Sherise's violent, drug dealer husband, Craig. Meanwhile her old crush/new lover Justin's inexplicably sketchy behavior has her terrified she's doomed to repeat the same mistakes of her past. Or was she simply the kind of woman that men felt comfortable leaving like her own abusive father did so long ago? Escalating consequences demanded fateful decisions that she couldn't trust herself to make. If all of that wasn't bad enough, her biggest mistake to date, Marcus, was now on the loose and trying to track her down. How can she manage to build a worthwhile future when her past keeps sucking her back in? Or will she even live long enough for that to be an issue?