Guinevere knew exactly what her breaking point had been in her wretched marriage to Charlie, which had seemed like salvation then only to end up like a curse. Girls who come from bad family situations are often scooped up by men who seek them out for their vulnerability, their lack of protection — not to save but to exploit them. She knew for a fact she had never loved Charles. But she wondered if Charles had loved her — not her, but who he had thought she was. Because she

Spectra’s hands shake as she opens the mysterious envelope. She nearly ruined it with the dirt from her shoes. It is on the floor as she enters the Victorian flat she shares with her aunt in Notting Hill. Someone must have hand delivered this? She slips the opal tipped silver letter opener, a gift from her alma mater, the British Academy of Paranormal Investigation, like a surgical instrument under the seal to preserve the wax and the image stamped on it. She holds the seal

When I was a young girl, I was convinced that one day, I would fall in love. There was no question in the matter. It was a fact. A truth of life evident from every movie and TV show I entertained myself with. I started off with Disney princess movies. My favorite was Sleeping Beauty for a while, and then it was Beauty and the Beast. I’d watch these and then play make- believe, pretending I was a princess being rescued and wooed by a handsome prince. Then came Disney Channel s

In a metropolis inhabited by millions, Liz expects to avoid seeing anyone too familiar in her happy space, away from the cacophony of noise in New York City streets. She often escapes into stories finding solace in the pages of books, and making peace with being alone, a single- family unit. She strolls along 34th Street bundled in a Burberry scarf wrapped around her neck like the muffler her mother used to tie when she was a little girl. Entering Barnes and Noble, Liz smells