From USA Today bestselling author J.L. Berg, comes a poignant story about young love that will stick with you long after the last page.

Head down.
Don't look up.
Never make eye contact.

Those were the words I lived by growing up, the words that protected me in a house where men frequented, but did not stay. But, even with all the rules and warnings, I couldn't keep them all away.

I couldn't keep him away.

Hoping to leave behind the shattered life of my past, I find myself in a small town, with an aunt I've never met and at a school I loathe.

But soon I learn, not everything in this world is as black and white as I've determined. Sometimes those we are so quick to judge need a second or third time to make a first impression.

And often, there are friendships and even love—real love, waiting just around the corner, if we are brave enough to take that first step.

Am I brave?

Or will I hide behind these tattered gloves of mine forever?