Burning Gold

At age fifteen Jenni Ann had always thought she was sturdy, strong and stable. Until the horrific night her family was ripped away from her she never could have imagined life without them. 
 
Aunt Lyn and Uncle Charles took her in willingly but they insisted that she goes to see Dr. Stewart. But that shrink doesn't understand her all! The secret she holds torments her.  She even stops talking to her best friend, Lizzie. She finds new friends when she meets Rickie and Kiara in the alley.  And they show her another way, a better way, rolled up and lit with lighter, to feel good again. But even "feeling good" has a way of ruining you - when you're with the wrong crowd. 
 
Jenni Ann has to get help!  Through her painting and visiting the old homeplace her Pappy built up in the North Georgia mountains peace might become hers. Then the handsome Ashton Holt Parker, Jr. enters her life and she knows that love and happiness could be hers -- if he doesn't discover her secret and her lies from her dark past.  Is the secret she is hiding really the reason for The Night - or is there still danger out there waiting...waiting for her?  Waiting for them?
 
A crisp autumn breeze shakes the leaves as they twirl and twist, some staying firmly on their graceful oak limbs while others are spun lazily to the ground that is their destiny. Jenni Ann had always thought she was the sturdy leaf holding on strong. But like the leaf that doesn't stay on the limb - will she ultimately spin in the wind twisting out of control to her fate?