A Harvest of Stars Series

*contains sexual situations, strong language, violence, and depictions of abuse This has all the hallmarks of CLASSIC AMERICANA: rural small town life, poverty, dark family problems, love, and friendship. author Paul Russell Parker III An EMOTIONAL ROLLER-COASTER. author Nikki Landis Locklyn Gaines isn’t her mother, but the residents of her small southeastern Kentucky town don’t care. Her mother’s secrets are Lock’s shame, and every time her drunk stepfather uses her as a punching bag, Lock wonders how much her dying mother knows about what goes on in the crumbling old house her mother’s family has lived in for generations. Isaiah Parker hardly remembers life before the first day of kindergarten, before he became obsessed with the serious, dark-haired girl in sunglasses who lives just beyond the field behind his house and rides the school bus with him every day. Protecting Lock had been a fantasy for the child he was, but Isaiah and Lock are nearly finished with high school, and Isaiah knows that now is the time for him to save her. Her stepfather has other plans, however, and one night may be all they have to do whatever it takes to escape and start over again, together.

Lanie's quiet small town life is rattled when a mysterious stranger suddenly appears, upending her family along with the past. A strange man has been watching Lanie as she leaves high school with her friends every day, but she is reluctant to tell her parents about this unnerving development. An only child, she is close to both of her parents, but her mother's unexplained distrust of others makes Lanie worry about sharing anything distressing with them. When the stranger ventures closer to home, his intent is revealed, and her parents' carefully concealed past is brought back in all its impossible horror.   *this sequel to A Harvest of Stars includes the A Harvest of Stars prequel short story, Moonlight