Twelve Beats In A Bar Series by K.K. Hendin

Everyone thought we’d be the ones who made it through high school. The ones who’d get married and stay married forever. The example of how young love can work. We thought so, too. Too bad life had other plans. It’s been three years since Hayley and Nate broke each other’s hearts. Three years, and a lot has changed. Hayley’s a freshman in Bushwick University, and the only things keeping her sane are stress baking, and her a cappella group, Twelve Beats in a Bar... moreEveryone thought we’d be the ones who made it through high school. The ones who’d get married and stay married forever. The example of how young love can work. We thought so, too. Too bad life had other plans. It’s been three years since Hayley and Nate broke each other’s hearts. Three years, and a lot has changed. Hayley’s a freshman in Bushwick University, and the only things keeping her sane are stress baking, and her a cappella group, Twelve Beats in a Bar. Nate’s a Marine, stationed in Afghanistan. The only thing that’s keeping him sane is the last picture he has of him and Hayley, and the hope that maybe when the hell of deployment is over, he can find her again and apologize. One explosion will change everything. When a bomb kills all of Nate’s unit, leaving him missing a leg and eyesight in one eye, he’s sent back home to Texas. Texas, where he loved Hayley more than he could possibly imagine ever loving anyone else. With seemingly endless amounts of free time and needing something to distract himself, Nate starts making YouTube videos, imploring Hayley to come back to him, and come back to Texas. Hayley’s life is wrapped around the Beats, making sure she doesn’t flunk out of biology class, and babysitting Ohio’s smallest monster, Brandon. She doesn't want to admit it, but she misses Nate more than anything. It’s too bad she doesn’t know just how much he misses her, too… less

Happily Ever After is never as easy as it seems… Hayley’s finally come back to Texas, and seeing her is everything Nate dreamed it would be. But three years apart means that everything has changed between them, and all the things that broke them up in high school have come back to haunt them. Nate’s barely recovered from the explosion that lost his leg, part of his eyesight, and his entire squad... moreHappily Ever After is never as easy as it seems… Hayley’s finally come back to Texas, and seeing her is everything Nate dreamed it would be. But three years apart means that everything has changed between them, and all the things that broke them up in high school have come back to haunt them. Nate’s barely recovered from the explosion that lost his leg, part of his eyesight, and his entire squad. Being able to spend a week back in Leland was supposed to help him recover, yet all it has done is make everything worse. Everything still seems like a threat, nothing is safe, and Nate’s nightmares are only getting worse. His survivor’s guilt is crippling him, and ruining his relationship with Hayley. He loves her more than anything, but she deserves more than a broken man slowly losing his mind. Being with Nate again is all Hayley’s wanted for the past three years. But reality isn’t exactly like her dreams. Nate’s fighting demons he brought home with him from Afghanistan, and Hayley’s scared that she’s not enough to help him fight them. When an unexpected ice storm and road trip stumble into their Christmas plans, Hayley and Nate are both forced to face their pasts and the unknown future. It’s a love story that has spanned four years, over seven thousand miles, and countless YouTube videos, and it all boils down to a seven hour road trip. less