Total pages in book: 102
Estimated words: 96178 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 481(@200wpm)___ 385(@250wpm)___ 321(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 96178 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 481(@200wpm)___ 385(@250wpm)___ 321(@300wpm)
Ren has never held an iPhone, googled the answer to a question, or followed a crush on social media. What she has done: read a book or two, or three (okay, hundreds). Taught herself to paint. Built a working wind power system from scratch. But for all the books she’s read, Ren has never found one that’s taught a woman raised on a homestead and off the grid for most of her twenty-two years how to live in the real world. So when she finally achieves her lifelong dream of attending Corona College, it feels like her life is finally beginning.
Fitz has the rest of his life mapped out: graduate from Corona at the top of his class, get his criminal record wiped clean, and pass himself off as the rich, handsome player everyone thinks he is. He’s a few months short from checking off step one of his plans when Ren Gylden, with her cascading blonde hair and encyclopedic brain, crashes into his life, and for the first time Fitz’s plan is in jeopardy.
But a simple assignment in their immunology seminar changes the course of both their lives, and suddenly they’re thrown out of the frying pan and into the fire on a road trip that will lead them in the most unexpected directions. Out on the open road, the world somehow shifts, and the unlikely pair realize that, maybe, the key to the dreams they've both been chasing have been sitting next to them the whole time.
A witty and deeply romantic modern reimagining of Disney’s Tangled.
*************FULL BOOK START HERE*************
CHAPTER ONE
REN
Fragile morning sun sent its thin, golden fingertips dancing across a fresh blanket of snow. The view was spectacular; even the barest hint of light turned the ice into diamonds, transformed each blade of grass into a menacing shard of emerald. It was the kind of view to be taken in with a long inhale and sweeping gaze.
Maybe another day.
Ren Gylden’s boot made a satisfying crunch as it smashed through the hard, lacy surface of last night’s snowfall. Her sharp whistle cut through the still air, drawing her animals right up against the fence.
With a full bucket in each hand, she whistled again and pressed her back against the gate, pushing up on her toes to unlatch the lever with her butt. She was met with a chorus of snorts and clucks as she opened the gate and entered the enclosure.
“Today’s the big day.” Unable to meet their eyes, she kicked the gate closed, crossed the barnyard, and set her buckets down. She dumped one slop bucket into the trough, saying, “I know you’re all happy for me, but maybe you’re worried, too.”
Her favorite pig, Frank, nudged her leg with his muddy nose, and she stepped out of his way, letting him have a go at breakfast.
“Yes, this is a big change,” she continued, “but don’t worry. I’ve told Steve everything he needs to do to take over the morning chores during the week.”
Dumping the rest of the slop at the low end of the trough where the smaller piglets could reach it, she said to them, “It’ll be the first time in your lives that someone else is feeding you. I wonder if any of you will notice.”
Sitting down on one overturned bucket and leaning back against the chicken coop, she patted her lap for the tomcat, Pascal. As if his legs were spring-loaded, he hopped up, landing gracefully. “What do you think of all this, huh?” she asked, scratching him between his ears. “Are you going to miss me? I wish I could be in two places at once. Here and there. I’d love to hide behind the oak tree and watch how you all react tomorrow morning.”
Pascal flexed his right paw, pressing his claws into the thigh of Ren’s thick denim overalls.
“You don’t think it’ll be any different? Yeah, me either.” She exhaled, long and slow, her breath condensing into a white puff. “Not for you, at least.”
The cat purred.
“For me…I don’t think it’ll ever be the same again.” She leaned her head back, closing her eyes and focusing on this exact moment—the sharp dawn air, the snuffling of the pigs rooting in their breakfast, the hypnotic pecking of the chickens at the dried corn and barley—rather than the one she’d be facing this time tomorrow. Tomorrow was a yawning black of unknown. For as many books as she’d read in her lifetime, Ren had never found one that taught a woman like her—raised away from society and off the grid for most of her twenty-two years—how to live in the real world.
Still, she was so ready for the change, she could practically taste it.
Another whistle cut through the air, her father calling her back to the cabin. When she opened her eyes, the sun had fully tipped its yellow cap over the crown of the mountain. It was her cue.