It Doesn't Fall Far from the Tree

Laynee is a charmer, the apple of everyone’s eye, and a master manipulator of her relationships. Her family and friends think they know everything about her, some believing they are closest to her; their strings pulled precisely. However, Laynee lives in two worlds, one for herself and one for everybody else. When a life-altering event strikes her loved one, it threatens Laynee’s dual existence, forcing her to make a decision that will eliminate a part of her. And no one wants to choose between water and food.

Laynee’s eventual choice leads her into an unexpected journey, where she meets Samuel, a free-spirited man who also lives a secret life, though for the benefit of others, especially his brother, Ricky. Ricky quit medical school to help his aging father run the family business. After he passes, Ricky is given a card with a message inside, his father’s dying last wish. Honoring his request causes Ricky’s world to intertwine with Laynee’s, and more secrets ensue. Ricky questions if it was fate that brought this young woman to his doorstep, destiny that would give him and his wife, Aubra, who is desperate to become a mother, a second chance.

But at what cost and whose?

Meanwhile, Andy, a college dropout who lives a parallel life to Laynee's, is caught in a custody battle over a child who isn’t his. Sabrina is the daughter of Andy’s best friend, Elana, who was in a car accident and has been in a five-year coma. Elana never met her daughter, who was born while she was unconscious. Andy brings Sabrina to the hospital for visits, hoping that she has the healing power to wake her mom. When Sabrina’s deadbeat father, Royce, mysteriously disappears, her paternal grandparents, who won full custody of Sabrina, forbid Andy from seeing her. As an investigation ensues over Royce’s disappearance, the police interrogate Andy for being the last to have seen him.

It Doesn’t Fall Far from the Tree follows the female protagonist, Laynee, and uses multiple first-person POVs to capture each character's mindset as they navigate the chaos she brings to their relationship. It's a character-driven psychological thriller that reveals the depth of someone's love for another—a devotion that isn’t necessarily reciprocated. However, the advantage of being deeply revered, even if not requested, makes it hard for the adored to turn away.