What Lessons Can Be Learned From 'The Other Wes Moore'?

I was nineteen the first time Cole Whitfield broke me. Not with cruelty. With a single word. Why. Not did you — why. Like the answer was already settled and he just wanted the story to make sense. I told him the truth anyway. He said nothing that mattered. So I picked up my bag, walked out of his apartment, and decided that a man who trusted a rumor over two years of me wasn’t worth a correction. I spent the next two years becoming someone I actually liked. New city. Graduate program. A published paper with my name on it. I was done with Cole Whitfield in every way a person can be done. Then I walked into Seminar Room 114 and he was sitting right there, gray eyes already on the door, like some part of him knew. I sat down. I opened my notebook. I did not look up. Here’s the thing about studying how people form beliefs: you understand exactly why he believed it. That doesn’t mean you forgive it. That doesn’t mean two years of silence disappear because he’s learned how to look at you like he’s sorry. He wants a conversation. I want my degree. But the campus is small, the seminar table is round, and the boy who broke my heart at nineteen is doing everything right at twenty-one — and I’m starting to understand that composed isn’t the same thing as healed. I hate that I still know the exact sound of his voice.

I gave my husband five years of loyalty, he repaid me with betrayal in my own bed. So I walked away with my pride, silence, and a secret that could ruin him. I thought that was the end with that family until another Weston stepped into my life. Xavier Weston offered me a deal I couldn’t ignore: his name, his protection, and a chance to watch my ex-husband lose everything he ever fought for. All I had to do was become his wife. It was supposed to be that simple. A contract to sign and a role to play. But nothing is ever simple about the Westons, and Xavier is the most dangerous of them all. Escaping might not be an option for me. Because the man I thought was just a mistake, a cold arrangement I thought I would one day walk away from… is slowly becoming the only place I feel safe. And when the truth finally came out, I had to face the one thing I never planned for, What if the man I married for power and protection… turns out to be the one I was always meant to love?

Skai, a shy, sweet, innocent girl, ran away from home in the hopes of escaping her abusive father, only to be thrown into a world she had no idea existed. With no choice but to stay among the vampires, she falls in love with a 200-year-old hybrid king.

My daughter, Bessie Garcia, had very little self-discipline. The only reason she studied at all was that I constantly pushed her. Three months before the SATs, I could not resist sending a question to myself ten years into the future. “Did Bessie get into an Ivy League school? What kind of job does she have now? Please tell me the last three years of hard work were worth it! How far have Meera and I gotten on our trip around the world? Did we have a second child?” A hopeful smile spread across my face. Then, I saw the man on the other side of the screen. His skin was sallow. He was so thin that he was almost unrecognizable. “An Ivy League school? After graduation, she publicly accused you of controlling and emotionally abusing her for more than ten years. The entire internet branded you a sick, controlling father. Meera divorced you and went on to have a child with her first love. As for you… years of staying up late, putting your life on hold, and constantly supervising Bessie’s studies left you with terminal pancreatic cancer. Your daughter and ex-wife have cut you out of their lives completely. You have only one month left to live.” I was stunned. Just then, Bessie’s voice sounded from her room as she talked to someone online. “My dad? He’s a pathetic control freak. His wife doesn’t love him, so he takes it out on me by trying to control my life. The more he forces me to study, the worse I’ll bomb the exams! Watching him lose his mind in rage is the only satisfaction I get. Once the SATs are over, I’m moving out and cutting him out of my life for good!” Tears splashed against the back of my hand. A moment later, I withdrew her from every SATs prep course and sent her a text. [You don’t have to attend those tutoring classes anymore. From now on, I won’t ask anything of you. It’s your life, so you should get to decide how to live it.]

My mother was an education expert who believed in the teaching method of using others as a cautionary tale. She had high hopes for my big brother, Joe, and I was used as a tool to discipline and educate him. Every time Joe did something wrong, my mother would double the punishment for me to make him remember his mistakes. When we were young, Joe touched a socket with a wet finger. As such, my mother tied me to a metal chair that was connected to electrical wires. I convulsed and started foaming at the mouth and lost control of my bowels. It scared Joe so much that he never touched another socket again. Another time, Joe saw a homeless dog and reached out to pet him. As a result, my mother found a ferocious mongrel and locked me up in a metal cage with it. I was badly bitten by the dog and wounded all over. Since then, Joe never touched another animal. My mother's methods took a turn for the worse before Joe took his SATs. He could not take it any longer and said, "I want to cut all ties with you after my SATs. I'd rather die than live as your puppet!" Joe's words prompted my mother to grab me by the hair and lock me up in a coffin. "How dare you threaten me with death? You should learn what death really looks like today!" However, my mother forgot that I had asthma. I smiled with relief as my body started becoming lighter. Mom, this would be the last time I would serve as my big brother's cautionary tale.

A few years ago, Olivia Sheridan packed her bags and moved to a new country, hoping to bury her grief and past so she could start a new life. Her only rule is ‘no attachments.’ You can't lose what you don't have. The rule serves her well until she moves into a house and meets her new roommate's brother. Dominic Moore always gets what he wants, and what he wants is a naked Olivia sprawled on his bed. But the playboy billionaire soon sees how reluctant she is, so starting a relationship with this reclusive girl will be difficult. Because of this, Dominic proposes an arrangement that will suit their wild attraction for one another while having no strings attached. The offer is almost too good to be true. Olivia accepts the terms, but not all is what it seems. Dominic has other plans and won't stop at lustful passion and desire. He intends to break her carefully guarded world so all her secrets are laid bare…