Delilah: An Under Your Scars Novella

Under Your Scars #1.5

by Ariel N. Anderson

Seventeen years after the events in Under Your Scars, Caroline makes her yearly visit to Meridian City and is taken on a heartbreaking and bittersweet journey that gives her something she's been searching for her entire closure.

This is a sequel novella to Under Your A Dark Romance Novel, and the series must be enjoyed in order.

Genres: Dark Romance, Audiobook, Novella, Dark, Romance, Fiction, Thriller

Audible Audio

Published November 12, 2024

About the author

Ariel Anderson is a native Texan enjoying a simple life with her husband, Helaman, her cats Lemon Pepper and Burnt Toast, and her dog, Pippin. Ariel graduated from the University of North Texas with a Criminal Justice degree. When she is not putting her characters through soul-crushing trauma, Ariel enjoys playing video games and drinking an unhealthy amount of Mountain Dew.

Reviews

[♥︎ Heather ⚔ (New House-Hiatus) · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a nice little extended epilogue. I'd love more from Caroline's story though. Ugh lol I'm not ready to let this story go. So good.


➽─────────❥
Obviously I have to jump right into book 2 right now 😭🤸🏻‍♀️😭🤸🏻‍♀️😭🤸🏻‍♀️

[Ariel N. Anderson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Author here to fix everything I ruined in Under Your Scars (:

I mean, not really, but I promised you that Caroline would get her HEA, and I did deliver on that promise, even if I had to traumatize you all a little more to get there.

Despite this Novella being probably the shortest story I'll ever publish, I feel like it's one of the more emotional ones of my writing career. I thought writing Under Your Scars was therapeutic, but then I started writing Delilah and realized that just like Caroline, I was still holding onto my grief. The guilt after losing someone so traumatically is indescribable. It's crippling.

But just like Caroline, I'm still holding on.

[♥Milica♥ · Rating 5 out of 5]

This novella has reduced me to a puddle of tears, I fear I will never recover. LITERALLY, I was crying the whole way through, I'd stop for a few pages then start again for the next several, I AM NOT OKAY FRIENDS.

Does this help a little? Maaaaybe, yeah. But I'm not ready to say goodbye. These characters will always have a part of my soul.

Anyway, read Under Your Scars and then this novella if you want major emotional damage!!!

[aira · Rating 4 out of 5]

"I’ve always been confused and lost, wondering why you left me. But I’m not lost anymore, Dad."

I'm glad that Caroline got her closure, granted it took a long time, but she got it regardless. The poor girl deserved the world; Christian and Elena did their best to provide that for her, but they just ran out of time.

The letter was everything. Christian is a complicated man, but the way he loves Elena and Caroline was always clear. He reaffirms my faith that real, true, pure love exists in this world even in the hearts of those that are "morally-gray" or even "morally-black".

I'm so glad that Caroline got her happy ending with a man that she loves.

--------

pre-read: I need to know what happens to Caroline!

[TheConnieFox · Rating 4 out of 5]

❥ My Overall Thoughts ❥

This novella was so short and to the point. It is the book after “Under Your Scars”. I don’t want to give any spoilers, I will just let you know how I felt about it.

I thought it was a good novella and I loved the female main character! The book was named Delilah and I was all sorts of confused, until I read the book of course! I read the digital version and listened to the audiobook at the same time. I recommended reading this book after reading “Under Your Scars”. The only downside to this book is that I wish it was longer and I wanted to learn more about the female main character. However, this book was really good and I definitely recommend it! 4 out of 5 stars!


⮕ Not sure if I will ever get over this story. 🤧💔😔🥞

》* 。 • ˚ ˚ ˛ * 。° 。 • ˚《

❥ ୨⎯ Connie ⎯୧ ❥

ツ౨ৎ

[Youssra (semi ia) · Rating 5 out of 5]

I AM NOT OKAY AND NEVER WILL BE 😭

[britt · Rating 5 out of 5]

got any other letters from christian reeves?? *twitches like a junkie*

[Yasemin˚｡⋆୨୧˚ · Rating 5 out of 5]

Literally have no tears left 😭

[Olivia Alonzo ♡ · Rating 5 out of 5]

well that didn't make anything better! my heart is still broken!! 💔💔💔💔 im glad that she found a way to enjoy her life though!

[Bryanna · Rating 5 out of 5]

no words. just tears.

[Alya ( 20 comments restriction ) · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thoughts
This was the perfect ending it was short but hit in all the right places... I have no words ... These 2 books will have in a chokehold for the rest of my life...❤️‍🩹😭

When I tell you I'll read anything from this author after these 2 books although I know nothing will hit the same 😭😭

My Bookstagram

[adriana · Rating 4 out of 5]

"So…that’s why I’m here. To share my breakfast with you."

letters are always the end of me. a great closure for this character.

I'm sorry but Elena's brother is a horrible person, I get that he's also mourning but he can't even take accountability for what his father did, "oh but this was his tumor", the man literally killed his own wife and daughter to prove a point for the things that happened in the past and you can't even acknowledge that? Telling your niece "What kind of father abandons his own kid like that?" SHE WOULDN'T BE AN ORPHAN IF ELLIOT LEFT HIS DAUGHTER ALONE AND INSTEAD FOCUSED ON CHRISTIAN!!!

[Kiandra 🦋 · Rating 5 out of 5]

Under Your Scars is the reason I won’t read books without happy endings anymore, it hurt so bad. It took me 8 months to even look at this. Poor Caroline :( but I’m so glad she finally got closure.

[_blondebooknerd · Rating 4 out of 5]

Seventeen Years Later... and Still Hurting ✨💔 😭 Read this if you needed closure on Caro... because GIRL... I absolutely did after the ending of Under Your Scars. 💥🫠

I didn’t expect her to have so much pain and hardship still weighing her down 17 years later... 🕰️💔 The emotional gut-punch this novella delivered? It hit HARD. 💣🥀

📚 Delilah is the novella companion to Under Your Scars, and if you're wondering whether it's worth picking up — YES. YES IT IS. 🙌🖤
Caroline makes her yearly visit to Meridian City 🏙️ and what unfolds is a heartbreaking and bittersweet journey that leads her to something she’s been chasing her whole life... ✨ CLOSURE. 🕊️🫶

The emotions in this one?? They were SO raw. 🥹🩹
It wasn’t just a story, it felt like a final goodbye letter sealed with grief, guilt, love, and the ache of what could’ve been 💌🖤

⚠️ Tiny but mighty warning: prepare to cry 😭
And hug your favorite book character a little tighter tonight... because closure like this hurts.

[andrea.el · Rating 4 out of 5]

needed that🙂‍↕️

[•°Dahlia ( hiatus ) · Rating 5 out of 5]

I WILL NEVER BE OKAY AFTER THIS ..
Just know am not the same person after this .

---
the urge to read this after k just finished book 1 ( or shall I say after the book finished me)

[Bailee Latham · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars

The perfect closure for Under Your Scars.

[Melanie Dubois · Rating 5 out of 5]

For a book that took 30 minutes to read, it's so not cool that I cried like 5 times🤣🤣

Ariel Anderson has throughly fucked me up today

[Norbbu · Rating 1 out of 5]

Maybe I’m just a heartless bitch, but yeah, a waste of my time. They spend 4 months together??

I don’t usually criticize this harshly, but I HATE when things happen too quickly and feel totally unrealistic. I need at least something that feels real to get hooked on the story.

I liked the idea, but the execution, both in the first book and this novella, was just ludicrous and incoherent. Nothing in this storyline made sense?

I also didn’t feel attached to this main character at all. Pining after her "parents" 17 years later when she barely knew them? I mean I get the trauma, but still dumb.

And the supposed “closure” coming down to money again??

[Candy · Rating 5 out of 5]

My heart will never recover. -Fin

[✨️ Jessica's Bookshelf ✨️ · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved this novella and getting to know Caroline's story. It was short, sweet, and wrapped up beautifully.

[Toni · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wrap up

KU Read
44 Pages
Novella
Time jumps (17 Years later)
Grief/Loss
Closure

This book is so let from Caroline POV as a 21 year old woman who has lost everything but still clings to the Reeves name and the love for the parents she only got to cherish for 4 short months. She has been raised by Travis (Elana's brother) since their death and returns to MC every year to visit their graves.
This conclusion wraps up the "But what happened to Caroline?" question a lot of people will have had at the end of Under Your Scars. I am still raw from book 1 so read this knowing it wrapped it all up and can add it to my mental trauma box that these books have now given my soul.

[Ashley · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was super short so very hard for me to rate if I’m being honest. I’m honestly just pretending it’s a bonus epilogue from the first book.

I was hoping it would put my heart back together just a little bit I’m still destroyed 😭

[yaz · Rating 4 out of 5]

caro got her closure but im never moving on from this i fear

[Kendra Renae · Rating 5 out of 5]

⭐️5

To read this novella right after Under Your Scars solidified how broken I truly am 💔. I knew they would treat Caroline so bad , but my girl ain’t weak remember who tf her parents were 👏🏾

[Lauren Lara · Rating 5 out of 5]

Closure is satisfying but also heart wrenching. I loved it. I thought this short novella was a sweet wrap up that left me in tears.

[Casey Reads 🌸 · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was great to see what happened to Caroline. At least there was a somewhat happy ending for her.

This was super short & my only complaint is that I wish we got a little more glimpses of her growing up & what it was like after.

**Only read this if you have read book 1 or it will make no sense.

[Wobilba · Rating 3 out of 5]

A short and straight to the point follow up to the Under Your Scars book about Christian and Elena's daughter, Caroline reminiscing about the love of her parent, their death and the inheritance she finally comes across.

This was a an unnecessary follow up in my opinion considering Caroline was a major plot in the Under Your Scars and it also didn't give any new context to the main story.

But it was nice to hear Joe Arden's voice even if it was for a brief moment.

Not a bad novella, overall.

[Read_withchan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Delilah (Under Your Scars #1.5) — Ariel N. Anderson
I was not prepared — at all.
If Under Your Scars shattered me, Delilah walked back in seventeen years later just to press on every bruise and whisper, “you still feel this, don’t you?”
This novella is short, but it hits like grief wearing steel-toed boots.
We follow Caroline as she faces the echoes of a past that never truly let her go. Her pain, her loneliness, her tiny sparks of hope — it’s all raw, intimate, and so painfully real.
This isn’t some neat “healing story.”
It’s the version of healing we don’t talk about enough:
grief that softens but never disappears, love that lingers long after the people are gone, and a life rebuilt not because she’s “moved on,” but because she deserved to keep living.
Caroline’s growth is quiet and powerful — she carries every scar, every memory, and still chooses to keep breathing, loving, and rebuilding. And Christian’s presence… even in absence, it’s felt in every heartbeat of this story. The man planned for a future he would never see — and Caroline honours it in the most beautiful, aching way.
By the end, I wasn’t crying — I was emotionally exiled from stability.
Audiobook
Joe Arden & Lee Daniels absolutely delivered again.
Soft devastation.
Controlled heartbreak.
Just… perfection.
Final Thoughts
Bittersweet. Beautiful. Relentless.
It hurts, it heals, it haunts.
This book doesn’t offer “closure” —
it offers acceptance.
And somehow, that’s even more powerful.
Sometimes love saves you.
Sometimes it ruins you.
And sometimes… it does both, and you learn to live with the echo.
4.85⭐️

[marylife · Rating 5 out of 5]

5 ⭐️s

I needed this book like i needed air. Best spent $1.49 fr. Those 44 pages gave me closure and stopped me from having a panic attack 😅🫶