The Girl I Was Before

I'm the selfish one. I suppose that's the nicest thing people say about me. I've heard the other things, too. "Paige Owens is a pretty girl with nothing else to offer. She's just a good time at a party. She's stupid, heartless, cold and useless. All she cares about is getting a guy to look at her. Why would anyone want to be her friend?"Some of those things are true. Others were true. They're all hurtful.None of it matters.I'm ready to make the hard choices. I'm ready to face the consequences. I'm ready to be the girl I was before, and I'm done being the one who lost her way.I'm ready to become the girl Houston Orr sees when he looks at me.Houston isn't a star athlete. He doesn't play in a band. He's never going to be president, and his life is so far away from simple and easy it isn't even funny.He wasn't part of my plan. But I'm starting to think plans are overrated, and maybe our stories are what we make them. And mine depends entirely on me, and the choices I make…starting now.Houston is my fairytale. He's perfectly imperfect. He's poetry and life. He's truth and heartbreak, all rolled up in a tall body with dark hair, broad shoulders and green eyes that lull me into submission. He's nothing I ever thought I wanted, but the very thing I need. He's the only guy I've ever really loved, and he thinks I'm a princess. I fell into him, and now I'm holding on.But sometimes life takes away our ability to choose. Sometimes…things aren't in your control. Sometimes, it hurts to be selfless. My only hope is that when it comes time to choose, I get it right.Welcome to my once upon a time and wish for happily ever after. Ginger Scott is a USA Today, Wall Street Journal and Amazon-bestselling author from Peoria, Arizona. She was also nominated for both the Goodreads Choice and Rita Awards. She is the author of several young and new adult romances, including bestsellers The Moon and Back, The Varsity Series, The Hard Count, This Is Falling and Wild Reckless.A sucker for a good romance, Ginger's other passion is sports, and she often blends the two in her stories. She has been writing and editing for newspapers, magazines and blogs for a hella long time. She has told the stories of Olympians, politicians, actors, scientists, cowboys, criminals and towns. For more on her and her work, visit her website at http://www.littlemisswrite.com.When she's not writing, the odds are high that she's somewhere near a baseball diamond, either watching her son field pop flies like Bryce Harper or cheering on her favorite baseball team, the Arizona Diamondbacks. Ginger lives in Arizona and is married to her college sweetheart whom she met at ASU (fork 'em, Devils). Rowe Stanton has survived a nightmare, and somehow she has been able to put one foot in front of the next and get herself to college. The pull to just give up is strong, but soon she meets the Preeter brothers and the Owens sisters, and the group forms lasting bonds during their freshman year of college--each filling a void for another and giving strength to overcome something that felt insurmountable alone. Each book in this series focuses on a different couple, but the common thread is the group's friendship. Life is a journey filled with true love, betrayal, fear, courage and strength--and sometimes you just need to know when to fall, and when to let someone catch you. This...is falling.