What happened in EMANCIPATED (book 1 of Emancipated series)?
This month sees INCRIMINATED (book 2 of EMANCIPATED) published in Italy and the Netherlands. I thought this might be a good time to write a summary of everything that happens in book 1, in case readers need an refresher.
Six very different teenagers move into a deluxe but bijoux beach house on the boardwalk of Venice, California. They settle into living together pretty happily. But all but one is guarding a dark secret. And some of these secrets - Lucy’s, Grace’s and Maya’s - are linked in ways that not ONE of them is aware.
Here’s a quick guide to our #EmancipatedSix
Grace is 16 and she’s the quiet, introspective one, the ‘good girl’, if you will. She observes the actions of the characters around her, while quietly nursing a huge crush on gorgeous ladies man, Paolo. She’s well aware of what a dumb idea this is, because Paolo isn’t shy about his popularity with women ... but the heart wants what it wants. Luckily, Paolo’s initial obsession with fellow housemate Lucy seems to fade after he gets the brush-off. You’d think this would make Grace happy, right? But she’s too conscious of the dangers of falling for a bad boy. She wants to resist but ooooh...will she?
Grace’s Big Secret: Her father is on death row in San Quentin, for the murder 9 years ago of movie star Tyson Drew/
Who knows Grace’s secret?: She confided in John-Michael, and suggested that he tells Lucy, which he did. However, at the end of the book, Maya’s cellphone remains connected while Grace talks to John-Michael about her father being on death row...Maya overhears and now she knows Grace’s secret, too.
In Maya’s ideal world, she would be left alone whenever she feels like it, headphones blasting music to drown out her surroundings, and she’d get on with coding her app. But guess what, life isn’t ideal. Instead, Maya, aged 15, is forced - blackmailed - to spy on her housemates. And through a twist of fate, at the end of book 1, Maya discovers to her horror that her blackmailer (the movie star, Dana Alexander) is trying to silence someone who may know the truth about the murder of Tyson Drew.
For Maya, this is a game-changer. How can she continue to spy on her friends when she knows that her blackmailer might be trying to cover up her involvement in murder? At the end, Maya resolves to stop spying - whatever the cost.
Maya’s Big Secret: She is spying for Dana Alexander, the movie star who employs her mother as a driver.
Who else knows Maya’s secret?: Only you, dear reader!
Thrown out of her parents’ comfortable Claremont home for her drug habit, Lucy is struggling to stay on the straight and narrow. A former child TV star, Lucy’s memories are a dark and troubling place for this 17-year old. What did she really see, the night of Tyson Drew’s murder? Is the wrong person on death row for that crime?
Meanwhile, fellow housemate Paolo has badly misread the vibe between them, and when he makes a move on her, Lucy isn’t amused. Can they stay friends, or is her rejection of him going to sour the friendships in the house?
Lucy’s Big Secret: She may have seen who really killed Tyson Drew.
Who else knows Lucy’s secret?: Lucy confides via phone to her old rehab buddy, Ariana.
Paolo King is ranked 24th in tennis in the USA. He suspects he might not be quite good enough to be a world champion, which is why his backup plan is to go to law school. But all that changes when he buddies up with a con-man to hustle another amateur tennis player out of a fancy convertible car. To make matters worse, the mother of the rich kid he hustled tracks him down and blackmails him into sex.
Now Paolo is afraid that his legal career might never get off the ground.
A hopeless romantic at heart, Paolo sets his sights on the confident rocker, Lucy. But she’s not into him. Can they still be friends? Or will Paolo finally notice that someone else in the house is quietly falling for him?
Paolo’s Big Secret: He was talked into conning a rich kid out of a fancy car. Then he slept with the rich kid’s mother, to buy her silence. He’s a bad boy.
Who else knows Paolo’s secret?: Only you, dear reader. Paolo knows how to keep something in the vault.
Of the #EmancipatedSix, only John-Michael really knows how badly life can suck. After months of living rough, it’s a dream to find himself in the Venice beach house with five other attractive teens. The dream turns sour when his dad’s mean ex-girlfriend accuses him of murdering his father. The truth is - he assisted his father’s suicide, which is a crime in the USA. If the cops find out, he’ll go to prison for sure. But so far - there’s no proof, only suspicion.
At the end of book 1, John-Michael realizes that he can’t continue to benefit from the Mercedes Benz car that his father loved more than his son. To Grace’s horror, he drives it off a cliff on the PCH (Pacific Coastal Highway) and together, they watch it burn.
John-Michael’s Big Secret: He assisted the suicide of his terminally-ill father.
Who else knows John-Michael’s secret?: On the drive back from San Quentin, where she visited her father on death row, John-Michael confides in Grace.
Dear Candace, she’s the only one without a secret! Not only that but she remains blithely unaware that everyone else is hiding one. Introspection isn’t a big priority for the actor in the Venice beach house. All her free time is taken up with working on a pilot for a new TV series, and hoping that this will be the big break of which all young actors dream.
However. Don’t rule out Candace in the sneaky stakes - her time will come!
Okay, now you;re all set for book 2!
