Reckless Roses

August Hayes has loved Elena Ramos since the day he found her climbing a tree in his yard to pick flowers. There's just one problem: Elena fell just as hard for August's older brother, Zach, that same day. Rather than lose Elena entirely, August settles for being her closest friend, quietly hoping that one day she'll see him differently.

For nearly a decade, Elena and Zach cycle through an on-again, off-again relationship that slowly curdles from daydream to nightmare. When they finally end things for good, it's August who's there to help her pick up the pieces — and for the first time, Elena starts to really see the person who's been standing beside her all along.

Just as August and Elena decide to risk turning their friendship into something more, tragedy strikes, upending everything they were building. Reckless Roses is the first half of a duet, continuing in Vice & Violet, and centers on grief and the slow, difficult work of choosing hope again.