Lotus
In 1998, five-year-old Sydney and six-year-old Oliver became inseparable next-door neighbors, sealing their bond on a Fourth of July hillside with a secret code — "sn + ol" — that Oliver read upside down as "lotus." That same summer, Oliver vanished, taken by a kidnapper who kept him hidden in captivity for the next twenty-two years. When Oliver finally returns, Sydney has spent over two decades haunted by his disappearance, and their rekindled friendship starts to feel like something more — even as painful, jagged truths still stand between them.
Jennifer Hartmann delivers an emotional second-chance romance about reclaiming a childhood bond broken by unimaginable trauma.
A man returning home after twenty-two years held captive since childhood.
Oliver's childhood best friend, haunted for decades by his disappearance.
Oliver's brother and Sydney's close friend, present through their reunion.
No. Lotus is a standalone novel — it shares its fictional universe with Jennifer Hartmann's Still Beating and includes a few character cameos, but it can be read and fully understood on its own.