Nicole Wheeler

Featured book

Before You Saw Me

In 1962, seventeen-year-old Evangeline "Evie" Miller is entirely invisible. While the rest of the decade explodes in vibrant music and cultural revolution, Evie’s world remains a suffocating shade of monochrome. At home, her parents are either locked in volatile, wall-shaking screaming matches or wrapped in a chilling, neglectful silence. They routinely forget her birthday, skip her school events, and treat her existence like an afterthought. Trapped in a deep pool of loneliness, Evie's hopelessness runs so heavy that she has often found herself contemplating whether it would be easier to simply disappear entirely. Her sole escape from these dark thoughts is a pack of stolen cigarettes and a hidden spot behind the high school gym.Everything changes the afternoon she spots Cal.With his perfectly styled, fresh hair and an effortless, magnetic warmth that cuts right through the schoolyard smog, Cal looks like he belongs to a completely different world. A single, locked gaze forces a fierce blush to Evie's cheeks and sends a violent rush of butterflies to her stomach. For the first time in years, a genuine spark of life fights through her darkest impulses—because Cal doesn't just look at her; he truly sees her.What starts as a stolen glance quickly spirals into an intense, whirlwind romance. As Cal pulls Evie out of the shadows and introduces her to a vibrant world of late-night diner runs, 1960s counterculture, and unconditional affection, Evie begins to believe she might actually have a future worth living for. However, breaking free from a lifetime of neglect and internal darkness is a gritty, painful battle. To stay together, Cal and Evie must navigate the deeply rooted emotional scars of her home life and fight through the wreckage of her past before the shadows drag them both under.