Exiled (2023)

"Close your eyes. I'll close mine too." Growing up, I was the problem child teachers didn’t know what to do with. The troubled teen whose parents wished was never born. The system’s made of cracks, and I fell through each and every one, all in a futile effort to protect the family legacy. They tried to fix me. Doctors…therapists…teachers…pastors… And they failed. Epically. Now, eighteen, and fresh out of Hell, I’m thrown into the last place I ever expected. Rehab. Enter Nolan Dresden. Newly divorced. A recovering alcoholic. Almost double my age. He doesn’t think he needs to be here anymore than I do, and all he sees when he looks at me is a privileged little prince. But when a team building exercise takes a deadly turn, stranding Nolan and I out in the wild for a night, not only do we find ourselves bonding over our shared trauma… But surrendering to a current neither of us can escape. Six weeks. That’s all we have together before we have to come up for air. He’s worried I’ll grow attached. I’m worried he’s right. But like the storms that rage inside me… There’s no stopping the inevitable. And when all is said and done, it’ll be a miracle if either of us walk away unscathed. Exiled is a full-length emotional age-gap MM standalone. Previously published as part of the Unlucky 13 multi-author series, the ONLY commonality between this book and the others is one of the major settings: the island, Black Diamond. This book deals with some difficult topics that may be triggering for some readers. A list of triggers can be found at beginning of book, and a more detailed breakdown can be found on author's website as well as the back of the book, after the Acknowledgments.