<em>There were no surprises in <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:placename w:st="on">Gatlin </st1:placename><st1:placetype w:st="on">County</st1:placetype></st1:place>. <br>We were pretty much the epicenter of the middle of nowhere.</em><br><em>At least, that's what I thought.</em><br><em>Turns out, I couldn't have been more wrong.</em><br><em>There was a curse.</em><br><em>There was a girl.</em><br><em>And in the end, there was a grave.</em><br><br>Lena Duchannes is unlike anyone the small Southern town of <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Gatlin</st1:place></st1:city> has ever seen, and she's struggling to conceal her power and a curse that has haunted her family for generations. But even within the overgrown gardens, murky swamps and crumbling graveyards of the forgotten South, a secret cannot stay hidden forever.<br><br>Ethan Wate, who has been counting the months until he can escape from Gatlin, is haunted by dreams of a beautiful girl he has never met. When <st1:place w:st="on">Lena</st1:place> moves into the town's oldest and most infamous plantation, Ethan is inexplicably drawn to her and determined to uncover the connection between them.<br><br>In a town with no surprises, one secret could change everything.