Without Merit is a standalone contemporary romance novel.
Description[]
Not every mistake deserves a consequence. Sometimes the only thing it deserves is forgiveness.
The Voss family is anything but normal. They live in a repurposed church, newly baptized Dollar Voss. The once cancer-stricken mother lives in the basement, the father is married to the mother’s former nurse, the little half-brother isn’t allowed to do or eat anything fun, and the eldest siblings are irritatingly perfect. Then, there’s Merit.
Merit Voss collects trophies she hasn’t earned and secrets her family forces her to keep. While browsing the local antiques shop for her next trophy, she finds Sagan. His wit and unapologetic idealism disarm and spark renewed life into her—until she discovers that he’s completely unavailable. Merit retreats deeper into herself, watching her family from the sidelines when she learns a secret that no trophy in the world can fix.
Fed up with the lies, Merit decides to shatter the happy family illusion that she’s never been a part of before leaving them behind for good. When her escape plan fails, Merit is forced to deal with the staggering consequences of telling the truth and losing the one boy she loves.
Plot Summary[]
The Voss family's living situation is highly unconventional and deeply complex. Barnaby Voss divorced his first wife, Vicky, and later married Victoria Finney, who was Vicky’s oncology nurse. Despite the divorce, Vicky continues to reside in the basement of Dollar Voss, creating an ongoing source of conflict among the adults in the household. The situation is further complicated by the presence of Barnaby and Victoria’s youngest child, Moby.
Characters[]
- Merit Voss
- Sagan Kattan
- Honor Voss
- Utah Voss
- Moby Voss
- Barnaby Voss
- Victoria Voss
- Victoria Finney-Voss
- Luck Finney
Trivia[]
- In chapter 11 there's an specialty bookstore, for charity, that only sells signed books donated by authors. This is The Bookworm Box Bookstore owned by Colleen. Working inside is a 30 something woman, behind a laptop, with her hair in a messy bun on top of her head, offering Merit a Diet Pepsi, this is a small Colleen cameo.
- The coordinates where Sagan and Merit first met "33°08'16.8"N, 95°36'04.4"W" are of a real town square in Sulphur Springs, Texas, near it it's The Bookworm Box Bookstore.