Mad Honey

"The only way out is through."

Renee McDowell thought she'd finally escaped the past. A fresh start in her old hometown, a new job, and strict rules about keeping her heart locked tight. But healing isn't linear, and trauma has a way of following you home, especially when the people around you seem too perfect… or too familiar.

Then he reappears: a charming man with watchful eyes, sweet gestures, and a memory she can't quite place. When he offers her comfort, and then more, Renee's walls begin to crack. What starts as cautious chemistry soon morphs into something deeper, more dangerous, and impossible to ignore.

But just as she begins to let herself feel again, the past resurfaces. Unseen forces are pulling strings behind her life, feeding her lies, twisting her truths. And someone is watching. Someone who knows her. Someone who calls it love.

As memories bend and reality slips, Renee must confront not just who she trusts, but who she's become. And when the truth finally breaks through, it may already be too late to escape.

Mad Honey is a dark, seductive psychological thriller about obsession, memory, and survival. With sharp emotion, provocative intimacy, and twists that sting, debut author Annalise VanGallows weaves a haunting story of love turned weapon, and the cost of finding your way out.