Summer Lumen has always been a perfectionist. She's had straight As all four years of high school, is President of the student council, and has never missed a single day of school. Top of her class, Summer has already begun writing her valedictorian speech for her high school graduation in just under two years. But when her estranged father dies of a drug overdose, her therapist mother insists she take a week off to "process her emotions". Summer is frustrated to lose her perfect attendance record, but when she finds out that the week off cost her the number one spot in the class, she's furious. And who took her place? None other than Baker Scott, the mysterious high school football star who has no friends and always seems to be sporting a black eye. Summer, who isn't much of a sports fan, didn't even know he existed until she found out he replaced her as top of the class. Now she has to regain her position, which can only mean one thing: the war has begun, and Baker Scott is the enemy. This is a game Summer is sure she's going to win. The only problem? While Summer is playing the game of war, Baker is playing the game of love. And it doesn't take long before Summer is playing right along with him. There's a fine line between love and hate, and Summer is about to find out how fine that line actually is.

Emersyn Collins is coming home. It's been four years since 19-year-old Emersyn has been back to her hometown of Coupeville, Washington. Four years since her grandma got sick, and she was forced to move in with her estranged mother in the city. Four years since she's seen her best friends. Four years since she's shared a meal with her Uncle Kiel. Armed with nothing but a bag brimming with clothes, art supplies, and a heartfelt letter from her grandmother bequeathing her the house she grew up in, Emersyn finds herself at a crossroads, uncertain about her future as she returns to her past. But everything changes when she crosses paths with Zeke Thatcher, an enigmatic stranger with his own quest on the island: to locate his father's grave and uncover a hidden connection to a family he never knew. For reasons Emersyn can't quite understand herself, she feels the need to help him. Before long, her days are spent obsessing over the charismatically distant stranger who seems to be struggling not to fall in love with her. And her nights are devoted to the images of gravestones as she tries to translate her new obsession onto blank canvases with the strokes of acrylic paints. But unbeknownst to Emersyn, Zeke is on a deadline to find that familial link. The clock is ticking, and if they can't uncover it before time slips away, they risk losing much more than a summer romance.