Hot Nights Cold Shoulders – Carina Gaskell

We’ve mostly been texting, so it’s good to hear her voice. Then I send Amparo a quick message, just to check in and see if she needs anything. She asks me for an update on my manuscript, and I sheepishly tell her I’m working on it—which is true, if you count scrolling on Pinterest for inspiration every chance I get as work. After that, Dra. Gotiangco calls me.

Rocío is right; when I tell Dra. Gotiangco what I’ve been up to, she sounds pleased. “You’re making friends. You’re putting yourself out there again. You’ve come a long way, Isabel.” A lump forms in my throat. I didn’t realize how badly I needed to hear that. I was so afraid, so, so afraid, that I was doing the wrong thing, impeding on my own progress by being here, by getting involved. “Now, of course, I’m not saying to put yourself in dangerous or harmful situations,” Dra.

Gotiangco says, “but you’re proving to be resilient in the face of distress. I know it’s not easy, facing Natalia. But you’re taking the good with the bad. You’re trying. You should be very proud of yourself. Are you still keeping up with your medications?” I nod. Same time every morning with my first meal.

“And your journal? You mentioned you were writing.” I hold up the cheap stack of notebooks I’ve been using. They came in a set that cost me less than two hundred pesos and were a pain in the ass to lug around, but I can’t imagine ever going out without them. The covers are near tattered from being tossed around in my bag and just general wear and tear. There are several, because I like to keep separate ones for specific purposes, including my writing notebook.

Dra. Gotiangco encourages it, because it helps me organize my thoughts, and when my memory fails, we go over my entries together. At first it horrified me, going over my innermost thoughts with my doctor. But now I’m used to it. I tell Dra. Gotiangco everything. Or—well, most of everything, anyway.

After I scrapped my initial idea, I write a lot more about Kieran now. Things I’m not even ready to fully admit to myself: how handsome I find him, how much I like it when he gets annoyed at the others and stands up for me. Those gorgeous dark curls. The stubble that grows back quickly every time he shaves. There’s a shameful part of me that’s a little giddy, to finally be chosen over Natalia.

It’s shit and I know it. My anxiety creeps up on me. “But doesn’t it seem like I’m using her?

True North (Invincible Summer #1) Trust Issues (Invincible Summer #2) All’s Fair (Invincible Summer #3) OceanofPDF.com Contents Content Advisory Prologue Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Chapter 6 Chapter 7 Chapter 8 Chapter 9 Chapter 10 Chapter 11 Chapter 12 Chapter 13 Chapter 14 Chapter 15 Chapter 16 Chapter 17 Chapter 18 Chapter 19 Chapter 20 Chapter 21 Chapter 22 Chapter 23 Chapter 24 Chapter 25 Chapter 26 Chapter 27 Chapter 28 Chapter 29 Chapter 30 Chapter 31 Chapter 32 Chapter 33 Chapter 34 Chapter 35 Chapter 36 Chapter 37 Chapter 38 Chapter 39 Chapter 40 Chapter 41 Chapter 42 Chapter 43 Chapter 44 Chapter 45 Chapter 46 Chapter 47 Chapter 48 Chapter 49 Chapter 50 The End Can’t get enough?

Acknowledgments About the Author OceanofPDF.com This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events, locales, and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental. Copyright © 2026 by Carina Gaskell.

All rights reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the author’s permission, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law.

ISBN: 978-621-06-4386-2 (E-book) Published in the Philippines If you enjoyed this book, please encourage your friends to purchase their own copy from their preferred authorized retailer. The author forbids the feeding of this work to AI for machine learning. Edited by: Alyssa Daily (adailyeditorial.carrd.co) Proofread by: Sebbie Leaño (Silver Press Edits) Cover illustration: Claudia (@clauins_) Cover design: Louise Anog OceanofPDF.com Content Advisory Dear Reader, you may find the full content advisory on my website (carinagaskell.com) for your reference.

Readers who are sensitive to any of the listed elements, please take note and read with care. OceanofPDF.com To anyone who has ever struggled to fit in and worried they weren’t enough. You will find your place in this world. You will find your people. And you are enough. OceanofPDF.com B Prologue ISABEL Eight years ago y the time girls enter high school, we’ve already spent half of our lives looking forward to it.

Books and movies have promised us four years that we’ll look back on as our best; if they’re to be believed then our coming-of- age, growing pains and all, will be cinematic.

This is a short excerpt from the opening of “” by Unknown, quoted for review and introduction purposes. All rights belong to the copyright holders.

Book Information

• Unique ID: 41349fe2addeaef9
• File Extension: .pdf
• File Size: 2,087,656 bytes (1.991 MB)
• Title: –
• Author: Unknown
• ISBN: 9786210643862
• Pages: 335
• Language: English (en)

Reading & Word Statistics

• Estimated Reading Time: 439.75 minutes
• Total Words: 87,949
• Total Characters: 472,651
• Average Words per Page: 262.53
• Average Characters per Page: 1410.9

Most Frequent Words

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