Four Cities

Inception meets Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind in this captivating prequel to the acclaimed, bestselling science fiction romance “Reset” by Sarina Dahlan. Can you give up a love you can't forget? After the Last War destroyed most of the world, survivors formed a new society in four self-sustaining cities in the Mojave Desert. To halt extinction, everything in the Four Cities is carefully predicted and carefully controlled... even love. But how can you control love and freedom? In the engrossing prequel to Reset, Preset weaves the tales of Eleanor, the Crone, and Eli, the Planner, before and after the creation of the Four Cities. Much has changed in the world and their relationship, but there are some truths that have yet to come to light. Fighting for change yet still loving her husband Eli, the scientist Eleanor travels to Elara, the lone city resisting fully bending to Eli's control. There she must separate reality from lies, memories from desires, as she tries to piece together the truth about what is happening in the Four Cities. But the gulf between love and freedom, between the past and the now, between what we remember and what we strive to become can be as vast as the break between two hearts bound together. It is here, in the dark fissure left by loss, where Eleanor discovers the true cost that has been paid to save humanity.

Can you love someone you don't remember? After the Last War destroyed most of the world, survivors form a new society in four self-sustaining cities in the Mojave Desert. In the utopia of the Four Cities, inspired by the lyrics of "Imagine" and Buddhist philosophy, everything is carefully planned and controlled: the seasons, the weather-and the residents. To prevent mankind from destroying each other again, its citizens undergo a memory wipe every four years in a process called tabula rasa, a blank slate, to remove learned prejudices. With each new cycle, they begin again with new names, jobs, homes, and lives. No memories. No attachments. No wars. Aris, a scientist who shuns love, embraces tabula rasa and the excitement of unknown futures. Walling herself off from emotional attachments, she only sees relationships as pointless and avoids deep connections. But she is haunted by a recurring dream that becomes more frequent and vivid as time passes. After meeting Benja, a handsome free-spirited writer who believes his dreams of a past lover are memories, her world is turned upside down. Obsessed with finding the Dreamers, a secret organization thought to have a way to recover memories, Benja draws her down a dangerous path toward the past. When Metis, the leader of the Dreamers, appears in Aris's life, everything she believes falls to pieces. With little time left before the next tabula rasa, they begin a bittersweet romance, navigating love in a world where names, lives, and moments are systematically destroyed. Thought-provoking and emotionally resonant, Reset will make you consider the haunting reality of love and loss, and the indelible marks they leave behind.

Sequel to the #1 bestseller “Reset”, “Freeset” is an intricate sci-fi story about found family, building hope, and learning to trust your inner voice. Can true love break you free? When calamity destroyed most of humanity, the Four Cities survived by carefully predicting and meticulously controlling everything in the survivors' lives, even love. As part of this new normal, every four years the citizens face down Tabula Rasa, a process that wipes away their memories of each other. But nothing can be controlled completely, and love will always strive to be free. A brave handful of Dreamers, aided by Eleanor the Crone, have repeatedly managed to find each other again after Tabula Rasa, proving that the desire to connect is eternal. Scientist Aris and musician Metis, star-crossed lovers, have found each other again... along with a clue to a hidden library that could contain the memories erased by Tabula Rasa. At long last, there is a chance for a brave, free, new world, if they can escape before the next reset.