The Ruse by Judy Corry

What’s the first rule of getting the lead in the school musical? Don’t fall for your bad-boy co-star.

When Elyse Cohen gets the lead in her private school’s winter musical, she thinks it’s a dream come true. That is, until she finds out she’s playing opposite Asher Park—the bad boy rumored to have been involved in the mysterious disappearance of his ex last spring. Soon, what seemed like a dream role has her worried she’ll be the next girl to get close to her enigmatic co-star and go missing.

After getting run out of the only home he had left, the last thing Asher wants is to return to Eden Falls Academy. But since a theater scholarship is his only hope for getting into a good college, he returns halfway through the school year to face the rumors swirling around him. As long as he keeps his head down and continues the ruse he started the year before, he might make it to graduation without too many scars.

He never anticipated Elyse in any of his plans.

But as the pair play love interests on stage and sparks ignite, the less Elyse wants to believe the rumors about Asher. And even though Asher knows letting people close leaves him vulnerable to being burned, he finds himself wanting to tell Elyse all his secrets.