By K.L. Donn

Bullied her entire life because of an accident she had no control over, Cecilia began college hoping for a fresh start.

To her dismay, she was faced with the same bullies, only with crueler taunts and words that can slice deeper than the sharpest of knives.

Landon hadn’t expected to fall for Cecilia when he walked back into his old college, yet there she was, soft-spoken, unassuming, and the strongest woman he’d ever met. He knew she was going to be his, so he let it be known that she wasn’t to be bullied.

I always admire KL Donn for delving into topics that are otherwise shunned in today’s world.

Here, she tackles bullying, a topic that, truth be told, has gotten out of hand with the onset of social media and the political storms happening all over the world.

Sad to say that, even today, bullying is still a subject that is not taken seriously. And when a victim succumbs to it, there are still those who will blame the victim—He or she was perceived as weak, or there is something physically or mentally wrong with them—every reason to believe that the victim did not have the backbone to fight for themselves will rear its ugly head.

It becomes a never-ending cycle of feeling unwanted and unloved, of depression, or worse, learning and believing that, to save one’s self, one must become the bully.

I am glad that KL Donn portrayed Cecilia’s character as being strong enough to rise above it all. Yes, she had Landon to fight for her, even though in the real world, heroes such as him are few and far between, but KL Donn’s message is clear: if you are bullied, fight for your right to live as you should. Stand your ground, you have the right to live as everyone else does, and only you can dictate how and what you want your life to be. Because YOU matter.

Dear reader, if there ever was a time you felt bullied, or if you are being bullied now…find strength that, with or without someone like Landon by your side, you can and should fight for what is right. It does not matter if, like Cecilia, you feel unsure and doubt yourself at first. You only have to believe that you can, and reach out. I did. I clawed my way out, and I am stronger for it.

By K.L. Donn

Yes, we can all have our own happily-ever-after.

After spending time in prison for assaulting her brother’s fiancée, Ashley is full of remorse and pain. She wants to redeem herself, but she finds herself in a downward spiral and isn’t sure how to move on from her past mistakes.

Declan Hart was hired to find out what Ashley was hiding. He finds a girl who was contradictory to what he has learned about her, and instead, he found her broken and filled with self-hatred. He then made it his mission to break her from her self-imposed prison.

I made her world a living hell, and when mine turned to shit, she became the support I never knew I would need.

–KL Donn, Happily Ever After

Coming into the first few pages of Ashley’s story, I had a suspicion that the author was not just writing fiction–she was reaching out, and giving us a glimpse into her life.

And then came this line…

“Zach has a right to be worried. There is something wrong with me. So wrong, I don’t think I’ll ever be right again…”

Reading “Happily Ever After” was a bit hard for me.

I was once bullied.

I hated myself for being weak, for running away from the problem, which, unfortunately, was a pastor who thought he could use his “God-given” right to raise a hand at me. Finding that I had no support system then, I left.  I got into the wrong crowd, made some bad decisions that to this day I still regret. However, I survived it, I am now in a better place, in a better frame of mind to help others who, like me, were, or are, being bullied.

KL Donn’s Happily Ever After came at a time when the Internet was abuzz with a game tricking kids into harming themselves. Social media has evolved into a monster, allowing, in the guise of freedom of expression, the bullies to tear into everyone’s psyche, making us doubt our preconceived notions of what we should be.

It is up to us then, the adults, those who know better, those who long for a peaceful co-existence with one another, to teach the younger generation, to guide them, to discern right from wrong … that to live means not to fight one another, but to work together for a brighter future.

KL Donn said that you, the reader, would either love or hate Ashley and Declan’s story. I beg you to read it well, read between the lines, and find the gems that she had imparted in this well-written book. Read it to the end and know that bullies, and of course victims, can still have a happily ever after.