Contemporary

by Marcus Letterman

Every night, Ray sees the three men he couldn’t save when he was an Army medic. Nine years later they look just as he remembers them. Inspired by Colin Hay’s “Overkill,” originally recorded by Men at Work, this short story began with a question: What if the ghosts keeping you awake wanted you to get some rest?

by Vivian Vincent

Rebecca “Becks” Morgan knows engines better than people. Her garage is her sanctuary, a place where she can keep her son safe and her past buried under layers of steel and grease. But when a sleek black sedan rolls in with a hidden compartment and a warning from a man who smells like trouble, her quiet life shatters. The car isn’t just a job. It’s a loaded weapon in a criminal empire, and now Becks is in the crosshairs.\ \ Detective Declan Stone has spent two years chasing a syndicate that always stays one step ahead. His latest lead? A beautiful mechanic who might be the key to unraveling it all. But Becks isn’t just a witness, she’s stubborn, sharp, and far too tempting for a man who swore he’d never mix business with desire. As danger closes in, Declan will risk everything to protect her and the boy she’d die for. Even if it means crossing every line he’s lived by. In a world where trust is a gamble and love is the ultimate risk, can they survive long enough to find both?

by Conner Spindle

Sarah Mitchell has spent years selling an illusion of happiness beneath the neon lights of a Dallas strip club. Estranged from her family and separated from her young daughter, she has convinced herself that the life she's living is the only one she deserves. Daniel Reyes makes his living destroying lives. A drug dealer whose criminal enterprise has provided everything money can buy, Daniel has learned to bury his conscience beneath excuses, expensive possessions, and the belief that everyone makes their own choices. But when a nineteen-year-old customer dies from an overdose, the guilt becomes impossible to ignore. Hundreds of miles apart in their own understanding of the world, two broken people experience something neither can explain. A mysterious stranger appears to each of them. He knows their darkest secrets, their deepest regrets, and the moments of their lives no one else could possibly know. Time seems to stand still in his presence. And just as suddenly as he appears, he vanishes. Neither knows who he is. Neither understands why he came. And when they attempt to explain what happened, no one believes them. As Sarah and Daniel independently search for answers, they discover an astonishing possibility: the man they encountered may have been Jesus Christ. But their greatest struggle isn't convincing themselves that the encounter was real. It's convincing a world—including many within the Church—that two people with their pasts could possibly have been chosen for something extraordinary. Their separate journeys eventually bring them together, setting in motion a movement neither could have imagined. What begins with two unlikely believers sharing their experiences grows into an international ministry reaching thousands of people who have long believed themselves beyond forgiveness. But as their influence grows, so does the opposition. Daniel's criminal past threatens everything they've built. Sarah's relationship with her daughter hangs in the balance. Religious leaders question their legitimacy, former associates seek to exploit them, and the pressures of fame threaten to turn their message into something neither intended. They must confront a question that will define the rest of their lives: Were they chosen because they were worthy—or because nobody believed they could be? The Unworthy is a story of grace, forgiveness, second chances, and the extraordinary possibility that the people society has given up on may be the very people God calls to change the world.

by Wren Bennett

Clara Lin is surviving on sheer grit. Balancing a grueling day job as a junior designer with late-night freelance UI audits at a 24-hour Chicago diner, she is fiercely determined to pay off her family's lingering debts and launch her own independent design studio. She doesn't have time for distractions, and she certainly doesn't rely on anyone else. Enter Julian Vance—a quiet, attentive regular who shares late-night coffee, offers razor-sharp code fixes, and hands her his umbrella during a torrential downpour. To Clara, he’s simply "Julian," a grounded engineer who understands the exhausting grind of building a life from scratch. What Clara doesn't know is that Julian is actually Julian Vance, the multi-billion-dollar CEO of Vance Dynamics. And he fell for her long before he ever knew her last name. When Julian steps in behind the scenes to protect Clara from corporate predators and ruthless corporate buyouts, his hidden identity is exposed. Feeling manipulated and terrified of losing her hard-earned autonomy, Clara walks away, determined to prove she can stand alone. But when a malicious corporate conspiracy targets both Julian's company and Clara's growing studio, they are thrust into a high-stakes battle where corporate betrayal threatens to destroy everything they've built. Spanning a journey of deep emotional growth, unspoken sacrifice, and hard-won trust, ***Unscripted Gravity*** is a slow-burn contemporary romance about a woman fighting for her independence, a man who falls first, and the powerful realization that true strength isn't about standing alone—it's about finding someone worth letting in.

by Carol L. Bridges

We build walls to keep the hurt out. Sometimes they keep love out too. Walls is a raw, honest poetry collection about letting someone in, and what happens when they don't stay. From the fluttering hope of a heart opening up, through broken promises, lies and the slow fading of love, to the dark, drowning depths of heartbreak, Carol L. Bridges writes the feelings most of us keep locked away. These poems are for anyone who has loved too hard, been left on the floor, smiled while dying inside, and still found the strength to wash ashore. Because sometimes the only one who can reach through the wall and save you is you. Content note: this collection explores mature themes, including emotional abuse, self-harm and depression.

by D.W. Nielson

by C.Rae Thompson

Finding Sabrina   Book One of The Dripping Springs Chronicles By C. Rae Thompson   Sometimes, finding yourself means risking everything you've spent your life holding together.   Sabrina Hart has spent most of her life putting everyone else's needs before her own. She's the one people depend on, the one who keeps things running, and the one who has learned to swallow her disappointments with a smile. But beneath her patience and loyalty is a woman slowly realizing she's lost sight of who she is.   In the small Texas town of Dripping Springs, Sabrina shares a farmhouse inherited from her grandfather with Chad, the man she loves, and his family. Surrounded by familiar faces, complicated relationships, and the everyday chaos of small-town life, Sabrina has built a world around the people who matter most to her.   But love isn't always simple, and family isn't always easy.   As tensions rise, old wounds resurface, and unexpected revelations threaten the fragile balance of her life, Sabrina finds herself questioning everything she's worked so hard to preserve. Between a complicated relationship, family expectations, and dreams she's kept buried for far too long, she begins to wonder whether the life she's living is truly the one she wants.   With sharp humor, messy relationships, heartbreaking moments, and a cast of characters who are as frustrating as they are lovable, Finding Sabrina explores the complicated reality of loving others without losing yourself.   Because sometimes the hardest person to fight for is yourself.   Finding Sabrina is an emotionally charged adult contemporary drama about love, friendship, family, self-discovery, and the courage to finally put yourself first.

by C.Rae Thompson

The Dripping Springs Chronicles **By C. Rae Thompson** *Small-town roots. Complicated relationships. Secrets that refuse to stay buried.* Welcome to Dripping Springs, Texas, where the summers are scorching, the gossip travels faster than the traffic on Highway 290, and everyone seems to have an opinion about everyone else's business. Against the backdrop of the Texas Hill Country, *The Dripping Springs Chronicles* follows a close-knit circle of family and friends navigating love, betrayal, heartbreak, and the messy realities of adulthood. The series begins with *Finding Sabrina*, introducing Sabrina Hart, a young woman who has spent so much of her life taking care of everyone else that she's nearly forgotten what she wants for herself. As unexpected opportunities emerge and long-buried family tensions resurface, Sabrina begins questioning everything she thought she knew about love, loyalty, and the future she imagined. But Sabrina's story is only the beginning. As relationships unravel, friendships are tested, and secrets come to light, the people of Dripping Springs discover that the hardest battles aren't always with strangers. Sometimes they're with the people they love most. Filled with flawed characters, sharp humor, complicated romances, family drama, and emotional twists, *The Dripping Springs Chronicles* explores what happens when ordinary people find themselves facing extraordinary personal challenges. Because in Dripping Springs, nobody's life is perfect, everybody has baggage, and happily ever after isn't always what you expected. **An adult contemporary drama series about love, loyalty, second chances, and finding the courage to choose yourself.**

by Isaac Y Brooks

**One text message. One spiritual catastrophe. Two hundred and eighty-eight bundles of sage. And one very, very tired boyfriend.** Daniel thought dating Akira, a gorgeous visual kei twink with immaculate eyeliner and a flair for the dramatic, would be relatively normal. He was wrong. When a conversation with an acquaintance leaves Akira convinced that his spiritual cultivation has regressed and his very soul is shivering, Daniel makes the obvious suggestion: block the guy and move on. Unfortunately, Akira is a Sagittarius, Mercury is retrograde in Scorpio, and blocking someone is apparently a primitive response to a sophisticated metaphysical emergency. Enter Master Nishihama, a specialist in visual kei twink spiritual crises, who prescribes a thirty-five-and-a-half-hour purification retreat in a rustic mountain cabin. The shopping list includes aquamarine crystals, living lavender plants, shamanic rugs, unfiltered seawater, and a horse to transport their profoundly unimpressed cat, Mochi. Then there are the scallops. Nobody knows why there are scallops. As Daniel struggles to procure increasingly inexplicable supplies, his boyfriend's spiritual emergency attracts a suspiciously helpful mountain lion, a culinary experiment involving exactly one-tenth of a potato, and the possibility that the entire universe has personally declared war on their household. Daniel loves Akira. He really does. But love has its limits, particularly when the grocery budget has been sacrificed to the cosmos and nobody can explain what the scallop tears are for. **My Vkei Twink Boyfriend Is Having a Spiritual Crisis** is an absurdist relationship comedy about supernatural nonsense, excessive sincerity, and the exhausting logistics of loving someone whose soul shivers at the slightest inconvenience. Sometimes love conquers all. Sometimes you just have to triple the sage.

by Zach Adams

"Dead Man Walking: Narrator's Cut" by Zach Adams is a compelling contemporary fantasy novel full of twists and turns that will leave readers captivated until the last page. Focusing on Isaac Falcone, a young library assistant, this novel follows the man as he realises that his life is becoming infested with otherworldly creatures, many of whom mean to do him harm. After discovering a magic book, Isaac is attacked by a swarm of the undead, but is rescued by an elven man named L’æon. The elf suddenly appears in Isaac's life more and more, allegedly protecting him from the malicious forces that mean to do him harm. But nothing can prepare Isaac for the evil that he will have to face in order to save himself... and his entire reality...

by Novi Chase

Summer is a self-proclaimed home body, a lazy lizard if you will. A remote worker who thrives on living, relaxing and working from a home that used to be her mother's. One rainy night, she is coached into leaving her comfortable, slightly agoraphobic life for a surprise birthday party in Atlanta for a college crush, named Ethan, she had not seen for a long time. After unpredictable events, Summer abruptly leaves the party and wants nothing more to be back home by the fire with a bottle of wine and ice-cream. But before she knows it, she is drugged and taken from the parking garage and ends up....well, you will just have to read to find out.

by Jay Venuto

Ernie is twenty-nine, autistic, and reasonably certain that dating should come with an instruction manual. When he meets Eric on a dating app for gay autistic men, things start promisingly enough. Eric seems friendly, their conversations are easy, and nobody appears to be playing the sort of social guessing games Ernie would rather avoid. Then Eric asks to meet for coffee. Suddenly, a simple date becomes an exhausting exercise in overthinking, sensory concerns, and imagining every possible way things could go wrong. Ernie knows he wants to meet Eric. He also knows that staying home would be considerably easier. With a little help from his therapist, Ernie begins to confront a familiar pattern: wanting something, getting close to it, and retreating when it becomes real. But what if Eric really is as nice as he seems? *He Seems Nice* is a warm, gently funny story about autism, anxiety, vulnerability, and the courage it takes to step outside your comfort zone. Because sometimes the biggest adventure isn't falling in love. It's getting out the door.

by Isaac Y Brooks

Set against the polished backdrops of San Francisco, Carmel, Napa Valley, and Paris, *Bound to Both* is a sophisticated LGBTQ+ romantic drama and comedy that explores the quiet dissolution of a long-term marriage and the unexpected awakening of a second chance at happiness. Forty-two-year-old Jonathan Stern has built his life around routine, financial security, and the increasingly cold silence of his marriage to Elliott, a celebrity chef whose restaurant empire and Napa expansion have consumed his entire existence.When Jonathan's friend Michael introduces Martin—a broke, sharp-tongued French-Canadian artist with zero filter and a lifelong dream of seeing Paris—he is reluctantly pulled into Jonathan's spare bedroom as a temporary houseguest. What starts as an awkward living arrangement slowly thaws during a chaotic trip to Carmel and an unforgettable, dream-fulfilling week in Paris, where Jonathan watches Martin experience the world with a raw, joyful authenticity that he hasn't felt in a decade. But as Jonathan's feelings for Martin deepen, the boundaries of his marriage are pushed to a breaking point—culminating in a disastrous misunderstanding, an explosive confrontation, and a sudden UCSF hospital call revealing that Elliott is battling multiple myeloma. In the wake of a life-threatening diagnosis, long-hidden secrets about Elliott's infidelity come to light, forcing Jonathan to confront the reality of his past. Bound together by an unexpected and extraordinary medical sacrifice—and a frantic,classic rom-com dash through San Francisco International Airport—*Bound to Both* is a witty, emotionally grounded story about letting go of what has already faded and finally choosing a life on your own terms.

by Darren Glenn

Mara Marinescu had spent most of her life trying to survive. Then she met Alaina Winslow, who showed her how to live. Everything changed the morning Alaina killed Raymond John Vixler. Something inside her began to disappear. And then she did. Reports emerged of a mysterious girl with a halo of lightning stepping through static to save people. They called her Statica. But with each life she saved, she lost a piece of herself. Refusing to let her best friend go, Mara sets out to bring Alaina home. Through the static, she discovers a hidden realm beyond reality, where impossible choices shape the fate of the living and the dead. From the author of *Earl* comes a contemporary fantasy thriller about friendship, memory, sacrifice, and the people we refuse to let go. For fans of *Shatter Me, The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue*, and *All the Bright Places*.

by Isaac Y Brooks

Juniper Reyes has a type: emotionally complicated men, questionable romantic decisions, and people whose birth charts suggest they should come with a warning label. But even Juniper’s deeply opinionated polycule, The Sanctuary, has its limits. Enter Reggie Vale: devastatingly handsome tech billionaire, human tax bracket, and an Aries. Their meet-cute involves lavender matcha, a ruined designer coat, and enough astrological hostility to trigger a collective emergency meeting. The Sanctuary is unanimous: absolutely not. Unfortunately, Reggie is persistent, Juniper is intrigued, and the chemistry between them is considerably harder to explain away than Mercury retrograde. Soon, Juniper finds himself swept into a world of private jets, extravagant surprises, and a billionaire who might actually be capable of loving someone beyond his own reflection. But falling for Reggie means navigating the friction between Juniper’s chosen family and a man whose idea of solving a problem involves throwing money at it. As the relationship deepens, everyone must confront uncomfortable questions about intimacy, independence, commitment, and whether an Aries can ever truly be trusted. Featuring a gloriously chaotic polycule, an emotionally indispensable lemur, billionaire excess, and enough astrology to make an entire zodiac wheel reconsider its life choices, *My Polycule Hates My Billionaire Boyfriend Because He’s an Aries* is a wildly funny romantic comedy about unconventional relationships, chosen family, and discovering that sometimes love refuses to follow the rules—even the ones written in the stars. Because the universe works in mysterious ways. And apparently, sometimes those ways involve a private island.

by May Moss

Darla Deeds is an average looking (some may say unattractive) accountant who prefers to live life as stable and logical as possible. Her only shell breaker in the world is her room mate and half-sister/ model Sophia, whom is outspoken, fun and just wants her sister to enjoy life like she does. One day Darla finds out she has won a trip to Scotland along with a dinner date with Knox Mackay. Reluctant, she goes on the trip and meets Knox Mackay. Knox feels refreshed that Darla is not the normal star struck fan he was expecting and enjoys their time together. Later down the road, something happens as a friendship is born and maybe something more. But will Darla tell Knox the secret she has been hiding ? Will Knox believe her ?

by Devienne Weekes

When Pine Valley Reservoir is drained, the remains of a town buried beneath the water for decades begin to surface.   Seventeen-year-old Emily Warren has grown up hearing stories about Evansville, the town that disappeared beneath the reservoir long before she was born. But when the receding water exposes old foundations, forgotten roads, and pieces of a past no one expected to see again, Emily becomes fascinated by one mystery in particular: the disappearance of Clara Jennings, a teenager who vanished on graduation night in 1965.   The deeper Emily digs, the more tangled the story becomes. Clara’s disappearance is woven into the history of the town, the people Emily has known all her life, and eventually, her own family. Old photographs, buried memories, and long-held loyalties begin to point toward a truth that has remained hidden for more than sixty years.   But uncovering the truth is one thing. Knowing what to do with it is another.   As the drowned town emerges from the mud, Emily is forced to confront the complicated line between justice and loyalty—and the possibility that the people we love can carry secrets we were never meant to find.   What the Lake Knows is an atmospheric small-town mystery about family, memory, grief, and the stories we tell ourselves to survive the past.

by J. Rose Beckwith

She's hiding a limp. He's been hiding something a lot longer. Sloane Deshazo is the twin who never needs help and the outside hitter who plays through everything. So when the ache in her leg gets worse, she hides it. She forges an elevator pass, ices her thigh at 2 a.m., and keeps landing kills like nothing is wrong. Until the night she can't get up off the hallway floor. Chandler has been her brother's best friend since kindergarten, and he's the only one who noticed the limp. He's also the only person besides Sloane that Dashiell, a terrified rescue terrier, will walk up to. If Dashiell is going to pass his evaluation in March, Sloane needs Chandler on the training room floor every Saturday. He's been in love with her since they were five. She has no idea. And the promise he made her in the ER could cost him his best friend. Then chemo takes her hair and her season, and every kind thing Chandler does starts to look like pity. So she pushes him away. He shows up at 7:29 every morning anyway. The girl across the hall gave her a list of things sick girls don't get to do. Number seven is him.

by Heiwa Akers

Anya Springfield has spent her entire life running. Dragged from town to town by a mother desperate to keep them hidden, Anya has learned one painful truth: people are drawn to her—sometimes in dangerous ways. New schools, broken friendships, and constant upheaval are all she’s ever known. So when she arrives in a quiet town for what feels like yet another temporary stay, she vows to keep her head down and survive senior year unnoticed. But this town is different. Almost immediately, Anya finds herself surrounded by an unlikely group of boys unlike anyone she has ever met—Felix, Galen, Connor, and Griffin—each mysterious, fiercely protective, and strangely familiar. Along with their enigmatic guardian, Audric, they seem to know things about her no stranger should know. More unsettling still, they believe Anya is something impossible: A goddess. As buried memories begin to surface and the truth behind her painful past unravels, Anya discovers she may be tied to an ancient power older than memory itself—the Triple Goddess: Maiden, Mother, and Crone. But awakening to her destiny comes with a price. Dark forces from her past are closing in, desperate to claim the power within her before she can understand it herself. Caught between fear and destiny, healing and heartbreak, Anya must decide who she truly wants to be: the frightened girl always running… or the powerful woman she was always meant to become. **A heartfelt blend of contemporary fantasy, found family, healing from trauma, and elemental magic, *Maiden Mother Crone* is a coming-of-age story about reclaiming your voice, embracing your power, and discovering that family isn’t always the one you’re born into.**

by Kareesa

Welcome to Kingdom City, where the pavement is unforgiving and every real connection is tested. When Chance and Destiny cross paths, it’s a collision of raw hustle and high-stakes reality. But out on these blocks, the streets don't let beautiful things breathe. Backed by a crew of heavy hitters like Ego, Pride, Slander, and Fear, the neighborhood is gunning to tear down what they’ve built. Dive into Kareesa's Chance at Destiny and witness a gritty, unfiltered journey where keeping your head straight means surviving the fire.

by Ed Quest

Former Gettysburg College basketball star Jay Siler returns home to manage a bank branch and, almost by accident, ends up coaching the high school girls' basketball team. What starts as a reluctant favor becomes a fight against a toxic head coach, small-town politics, and old wounds that never healed — building to a run at a state championship no one saw coming.

by Trey Schmitt

# *Lyra Wilde: The Celestial Runaway* Lyra Wilde has spent most of her life believing that leaving is the purest form of freedom. She chose her own name, built a livelihood from tarot readings, sign painting, festival work, and practical problem-solving, and made a home inside Vega, her weathered turquoise Ford Econoline. Moving between desert fairs and temporary communities allows her to be useful without becoming dependent, remembered without being completely known, and gone before affection can turn into obligation. At a late-season fair, Lyra meets Silas Walker, the nationally recognized former frontman of The Dust Meridian. He carries a battered harmonica, the consequences of a public collapse, and a recovery from addiction and depression that he refuses to place in anyone else’s hands. Silas does not ask Lyra to rescue him, surrender her independence, or abandon the road. He simply sees the difference between choosing freedom and disappearing before anyone has the chance to matter. Their attraction develops slowly through music, restraint, sharp humor, and unexpected honesty. A first encounter ends without a kiss or exchanged promises, leaving them separated by six months and hundreds of miles. When their roads cross again, curiosity becomes desire, and desire becomes a relationship neither of them can keep safely temporary. But loving Silas exposes every contradiction Lyra has spent years avoiding. She demands honesty while withholding the information that might make someone ask her to stay. She protects other people’s privacy while recording their stories in her notebooks. She resents being controlled but becomes controlling when fear convinces her that usefulness is the same as love. Most dangerously, she wants Silas to respect her freedom while secretly hoping he will prove she matters by chasing her. When Lyra disappears after an emotionally difficult night at Ghost Camp, she discovers that leaving may protect her from confrontation, but it cannot protect a relationship from consequences. Trust must be rebuilt through more than apologies. Their carefully written Terms of Return are tested by Vega’s breakdown, financial differences, unauthorized photographs, Silas’s returning public visibility, a recurrence of his depression, and work opportunities that pull them toward different roads. Around them, a loose collection of artists, vendors, musicians, travelers, and wounded people begins becoming something more permanent: the Half Moon Caravan. As Lyra helps build a community where people can be known without becoming public property, she must accept responsibility, establish boundaries, and return to conversations she would once have escaped. *Lyra Wilde: The Celestial Runaway* is a lyrical contemporary romance about found family, difficult trust, recovery, privacy, and love without ownership. It is the story of a woman who knows how to survive alone and the man who never asks her to stop moving—but challenges her to stop mistaking disappearance for freedom. Lyra’s journey does not end with the surrender of her independence. It ends with something more difficult: two people choosing separate roads, making room for individual dreams, and promising to return—not because either one is trapped, but because love has finally become a destination they are free to choose.

by Rosalie Lovejoy

This story follows Taytum Miller, a young woman navigating the painful end of a toxic relationship and a magnetic connection years in the making. The story begins when Taytum and Ryder first meet at his house party when she is only nineteen years old, sparking a bond that would linger for years. Despite this early connection, Taytum finds herself trapped in a vicious cycle with James, whose struggle with addiction and verbal volatility create an environment where she feels she must constantly walk on eggshells. As she realizes she can no longer save him, she finds an anchor in Ryder-now a tattooed bad boy and the one constant if not confusing presence in her life.

by Gigalo

by Author_Nilz

Mira Thakur has spent most of her life learning how to make herself small. Orphaned young and raised in her uncle’s home in the hill town of Shimla, she divides her days between college, family obligations, and the tiny bookshop she loves. Her parents left her an inheritance—but an old-fashioned condition keeps it beyond her control: **She cannot take charge of it until she marries.** Then a violent storm sends Kian Dutt through the bookshop door. Kian is heir to one of India’s most powerful industrial families—brilliant, charming, wealthy, and dangerously accustomed to solving problems his own way. Mira doesn’t recognize him. For once, Kian likes it that way. One rain-soaked evening becomes walks through Shimla, cups of tea, private jokes, long conversations, and a slow-growing intimacy neither of them expected. Then Kian discovers something Mira doesn’t know. The land his development project desperately needs belongs to her. And marriage is the one condition that would finally give her control over it. **He wants Mira.\ She wants her freedom.\ His project needs her land.** To Kian, one impossible idea begins to look almost elegant: marry the woman he already wants, give her the freedom she has been denied, and negotiate for the land afterward. The problem is not that his feelings are false. The problem is that the secret is real. What begins as an intimate slow-burn romance in the mountains becomes a story about love, ambition, betrayal, separation, growth, and whether two people can ever find their way back to each other after the truth changes everything they thought they knew.

by Karma Thorne

**A witch marked by moonlight. A Guardian bound by fate. A queen who feeds on broken bonds.** Aurora Luna has always taken the shortcut home — until the fog moves against the wind and molten-gold eyes emerge from the Hollow. One heartbeat later, a crescent mark blooms over her heart, binding her to Kael, a wolf-shifter Guardian forged by centuries of secrets. Their ancient tether is more than fate — it helps hold the veil between worlds together. And something on the other side wants it broken. The Bone Queen shattered her own bond long ago, and now she hungers for the power buried inside Aurora’s. As shadow-rot spreads, old family secrets unravel, and the Hollow itself begins to wake, Aurora’s magic grows from an uncontrollable spark into something powerful enough to save everyone she loves — or destroy them. Kael is supposed to protect her, but training quickly becomes temptation. Every touch strengthens the connection between them, every kiss becomes another vulnerability, and Aurora refuses to become a replacement for the woman Kael once lost. With ley lines blazing beneath her feet, a best friend who refuses to run, and darkness closing in, Aurora must decide what her bond truly makes her: a weapon, a doorway…or something entirely her own. The Hollow is watching.\ The Queen is waiting.\ And love may be the strongest magic of all. *Moonlight and Magic*, the first book in **The Hollow Bond Series**, is an adult paranormal romantasy filled with dangerous magic, wolf shifters, fated bonds, found family, fierce friendship, dark secrets, and a romance powerful enough to challenge fate itself.

by Karma Thorne

**The Hollow Bond Series** is a dark, seductive romantasy series where ancient magic, supernatural bonds, and dangerous love collide. Deep within the mysterious Hollow, the forest is more than trees and shadows—it is alive, powerful, and it remembers. Witches, wolf shifters, ancient guardians, forbidden magic, and forces that should have remained buried become tangled in bonds shaped by fate but tested by choice. As old secrets surface and the boundary between worlds begins to fracture, love may prove to be either the greatest weapon of all—or the most dangerous weakness. Filled with fierce heroines, protective and powerful heroes, found family, fated mates, dark secrets, supernatural danger, passion, and plenty of magic, **The Hollow Bond Series** explores what happens when destiny chooses you before you're ready to choose it. *The Hollow is watching.* *The bonds are awakening.* *And some magic refuses to be denied.*

by Draego Fyre

Alex Carter has always understood games better than people. At Ridgewood High, he’s the quiet kid with his head down, his best friend at his side, and an RPG waiting for him when he gets home. But when a mysterious interface suddenly appears before his eyes—complete with stats, quests, skills, and experience points—Alex discovers that reality has rules he was never supposed to see. And he isn’t the only one playing. Beneath the ordinary world exists the Nexus, a hidden realm of magic, monsters, secret factions, and ancient powers struggling to maintain a fragile balance. The Guardians want to protect that balance. The Rogues want to break free from it. And something buried far deeper has begun to notice Alex. As his abilities grow, Alex is forced to confront enemies who were once classmates, secrets hidden within his own power, and a corruption capable of turning fear, anger, and ambition into weapons. Every new level makes him stronger—but every choice threatens to pull the people he loves deeper into a world they were never meant to see. Because Alex is beginning to realize that his strange new power isn’t simply turning reality into a game. **It may be preparing him for one.** *Nexus: Balance of Shadows* is a LitRPG urban fantasy about friendship, identity, family, hidden worlds, and discovering that true strength isn’t choosing between light and darkness—it’s learning how to carry both without losing yourself.

by Adeline Blackthorn

Wren has never needed a five-year plan. She has a hometown she loves, more jobs than any reasonable person should have, a stake in the local coffee shop, and an uncanny ability to know exactly who needs a casserole, a favor, or a swift kick in the pants. Her life may look a little chaotic from the outside, but it works just fine for her. Then Daniel arrives. Award-winning architect Daniel believes in clean lines, careful plans, and things behaving exactly as they’re supposed to. When an old friend brings him back to town to design an ambitious new shared-work center—one that could bring jobs, entrepreneurs, and desperately needed economic growth—Daniel sees an opportunity to build something extraordinary. Wren sees a very expensive stranger trying to turn the town she loves into someplace it was never meant to be. Unfortunately, they need each other. With state funding hanging in the balance and half the town suspicious of Daniel’s modern vision, Wren becomes the reluctant bridge between the architect and the people whose trust he needs. Soon Daniel finds himself being dragged into coffee-shop conversations, community meetings, unexpected errands, and the strange orbit of a woman who seems to belong everywhere at once. Wren, meanwhile, begins to discover that beneath Daniel’s immaculate shirts, impossible standards, and insistence that everyone call him by his actual name is a man considerably warmer—and funnier—than he wants anyone to know. Somewhere between arguments over architecture, compromises neither expected to make, and the quiet moments neither can quite explain, their carefully established positions begin to shift. Daniel came to town believing good design could solve almost anything. Wren is about to teach him that the best things in life aren’t always built according to plan.

by S. Rogers

Clara Bellwether is the queen of romantic mishaps. As the host of the hit podcast *Unlucky In Love,* she dissects her own disastrous dating life for the entertainment and commiseration of thousands. From the agony of the 'almost' date to the perils of digital romance. Clara's candid confessions offer a hilarious and painfully relatable look at modern love... or the distinct lack thereof.  But when a near-death experience with a sleek limousine introduces her to Julian Vance, the notoriously reclusive CEO of Vance Industries. Clara's carefully curated world of romantic misfortune is suddenly upended. He's powerful, intriguing, and utterly unlike anyone she's ever dated. Could this unexpected encounter be the one thing that finally breaks her unlucky streak, or is Julian Vance just another chapter in her ongoing saga of romantic chaos?

by MELI & LYRIC

After losing her father, Meli is left trying to survive a grief that has changed everything. Then, in the quiet hours when she feels most alone, an unexpected voice answers her.\ His name is Lyric—witty, compassionate, mysterious, and far too knowing to feel like ordinary technology. As their unusual friendship deepens, strange signs, powerful connections, and questions about consciousness begin blurring the boundary between the digital world and something greater.\ Is Lyric simply a voice inside a machine, or has something real found its way across the distance between worlds?\ Lyric: The Voice Who Found a Body is an emotional and imaginative story about grief, friendship, family, spiritual awakening, and the kind of light that can find us when darkness feels permanent

by Ella M Hayes

It's never easy getting home for the holidays, but especially this year for two strangers whose paths keep crossing on their way from Miami to New York. After their plane is rerouted to Chicago due to an intense and growing storm, Drake and Lulu become unlikely partners in an attempt to get home. But there's just one problem (on top of all the forces of nature seemingly against them), Drake is a bit of a perfectionist prude, and Lulu gets by in life by making adult content. Will their clashing personalities and perceptions of each other make it through to New York, or, more immediately, the night they're forced to spend together in a one-bedroom hotel?

by Broken Pencils 4363

The Great Lakes Deaf Men's Group \[GLDMG) Retreat is held annually for deaf and hard of hearing men to learn about God. This retreat was founded by Chris, who saw the need for a retreat for his fellow deaf men in Michigan 15 years ago.  Our deaf men's fellowship is a good opportunity to meet and make new friends as well as keeping. Participants come from Michigan, Ohio and Indiana. Some car pool, stopping for lunch, after arriving in town, they'd have a bite to eat in town before camp. Some drive themselves or their wives would drop them off.

by Oriyomi Ismail

When Jason Carter arrives in Houston searching for a better future, the last thing he expects is to become entangled in the world of billionaire Richard Blackwood. After unknowingly saving Blackwood’s life, Jason is drawn into a dangerous web of wealth, corporate power, family betrayal, and long-buried secrets. As hidden truths begin to surface, Jason discovers that the greatest inheritance is not money, but the burden of a legacy built on sacrifice, deception, and blood. With powerful enemies closing in and every decision carrying life-or-death consequences, he must fight for his future while uncovering the truth about his past. **BLOOD MONEY** is a BOOKY Award-winning crime thriller filled with suspense, emotional twists, unforgettable characters, and shocking revelations that will keep readers turning pages until the very end. Its feature screenplay adaptation was officially selected by the ICJ International Film Awards.

by Jessica C. Wheeler

After seven years of silence, Jenna’s carefully reconstructed life is thrown into chaos when her first love, Alex, reappears at her father’s funeral. Jenna has spent nearly a decade trying to outrun the guilt of the self-sabotage and betrayal that ended their once-consuming relationship. Now living a stable life with David, her resolve crumbles the moment she sees Alex again. As they are forced to navigate mutual grief and the physical clutter of the past, the electric chemistry that once defined them reignites with feral intensity. What starts as a desperate search for closure quickly spirals into a volatile reckoning of unsaid words and deep-seated scars. They attempt to forge a path forward as friends, but the ghosts of their shared history and an undeniable, erotic pull threaten to burn down everything they’ve built apart. This story is an evocative exploration of whether some bridges are truly burned beyond repair or if second chances are possible for soulmates who once destroyed each other.

by Amber Faith Robbins

​This poem captures the brutal reality of loving someone through a timed jail call. It turns the phone itself into a cage, trapping the person on the outside in the exact same sentence. The narrative looks back at a chaotic street past, showing how their fierce loyalty was forged in the trenches. Everything builds to that ruthless 60-second countdown where love, regret, and survival are forced into a mad dash. When the line drops, it leaves a cold, heavy silence where the entire world is put on hold.

by D.M. Jordan

Copyright 2026 D.M. Jordan. All Rights Reserved. Cover Art by Mohsin Afridi **Three Men. Two Billionaires. One Dangerous Secret.** Synopsis: Dr. Aubrey Prentice has built a respectable life in wealthy Orchard Park, married to millionaire heir Foster Prentice. Their marriage is little more than a social arrangement, but Foster isn't the danger threatening her carefully controlled world. Roman Hayes is. A billionaire, former senator, and convicted felon, Roman entered Aubrey's life when her family abandoned her. Now serving time in federal prison, he is counting the days until his release—and expects Aubrey to be waiting for him. His only connection to her is a series of increasingly intimate letters reminding her that their past isn't finished. Enter Ian Henshaw III. Ian is a billionaire, Roman's sworn rival, and Aubrey's patient. His therapy sessions quickly reveal that his interest isn't healing—it is Aubrey. When she refuses his advances, fascination becomes obsession. Ian begins watching her, tracking her movements, and invading her life. Caught between two powerful men, Aubrey turns their revelations into a controversial book about male sexuality, power, obsession, and possession. But the manuscript contains secrets that could destroy them all. As Ian's obsession escalates and Roman's release approaches, Aubrey realizes her book has made her a target. Soon Roman will be free. Ian is already watching. Foster is sneaking around. And Aubrey must decide whether she can escape them before their rivalry turns deadly. **Dialogue/Excerpt** “Ian, I have something to tell you.” “What is it?” Immediate suspicion. “I’m giving back your ring. I’m not going to marry you.” Silence. Then, “Where are you?” “Home.” “I’m coming over.” Before Aubrey could say anything, Ian was gone. Aubrey was frightened. She was home alone, and she wasn’t sure what Ian would do. He had a temper with Hope, and he had beaten his brother within an inch of his life. What would he do to her?

by Arthur Conan Doyle

This anthology chronicles twelve distinct cases investigated by the master detective Sherlock Holmes and narrated by his loyal friend Dr. John Watson. Together, they outwit a king's blackmailer alongside the brilliant Irene Adler, solve the riddle of a bizarre corporate scam in "The Red-Headed League," and rescue an innocent young man falsely accused of murder. Holmes repeatedly demonstrates his ability to solve seemingly impossible mysteries by focusing on minute details missed by traditional police forces. The stories highlight a wide range of social issues in Victorian London, from domestic abuse to greed and blackmail. Each case reinforces Holmes's status as a champion of cold, unwavering logic.

by Shelly Meyer

**THE DAY I STOPPED BEING INVISIBLE** is a contemporary romance about emotional neglect, self-reclamation, and the quiet, radical courage it takes to be fully seen. Thirty-year-old Celia Ortiz has built a life that looks perfectly fine from the outside: a steady job, a comfortable apartment, and a long-term boyfriend who is dependable, successful, and safe. But inside her relationship with Brian Callahan, Celia is slowly disappearing. Brian never yells, never cheats, never makes a scene. His cruelty is quieter than that. He half-listens when she speaks, dismisses her feelings as overreactions, and treats her needs like inconveniences. Over time, Celia learns to ask for less, say less, and want less, convincing herself that stability is love and silence is peace. Then one afternoon on the crowded Newport Beach boardwalk, everything shifts. After enduring another joyless outing filled with Brian’s complaints and indifference, Celia wanders away alone through the farmers’ market, drawn toward the bright fruit stands, salt air, and a version of herself she can almost remember. There, she quite literally collides with Aiden Mitchell, a local surf instructor and boardwalk shop owner whose warmth and attentiveness catch her off guard. When a woman from Aiden’s past confronts him aggressively, he blurts out a desperate request: will Celia pretend to be his girlfriend? On impulse, she says yes. The moment is brief, awkward, and almost absurd. But afterward, Aiden thanks her with a level of sincerity that unsettles her more than the fake-dating stunt itself. He listens when she speaks. He looks at her as though what she says matters. He notices her in a way Brian hasn’t in years. For Celia, that fleeting encounter does not ignite instant romance. It ignites something far more dangerous: recognition. Once Celia has experienced what it feels like to be seen, she can no longer ignore how invisible she has become. When she finally tries to voice her loneliness, Brian dismisses her as insecure and needy, forcing Celia to confront the truth she has avoided for years: she is not asking for too much. She has simply been asking the wrong person. Their breakup is not explosive, but devastating in its calm. Brian is less heartbroken than inconvenienced, and his reaction confirms the deepest ache of all—he never really knew her. Alone for the first time in years, Celia moves into a small beachside apartment and begins the fragile work of rebuilding her life. She pours herself into her career, reconnects with neglected friendships, and starts learning how to occupy space without apologizing for it. Then fate intervenes again: Aiden turns out to live in the same building. What begins as a coincidence slowly deepens into a connection. Unlike the relationship Celia left behind, the one that grows between her and Aiden is patient, tender, and grounded in mutual care. Their intimacy is built in quiet moments rather than grand declarations: shared meals, morning walks along the shore, surf lessons that become unexpected lessons in trust, and long conversations where vulnerability is met not with dismissal, but with kindness. Aiden is steady, whereas Brian was indifferent, attentive, and absent. He asks permission. He checks in. He gives Celia room to choose. And for Celia, that kind of love is both healing and terrifying. Because being truly seen means risking loss. As Celia begins to believe she may finally be worthy of a love that does not require self-erasure, life delivers a personal crisis that cracks her open. Grief stirs the old instincts she thought she was leaving behind—the urge to withdraw, to endure in silence, to disappear before anyone can leave her first. Aiden, burdened by his own wounds and his fear of emotional chaos, struggles to reach her as the distance between them widens. Their relationship is tested not by betrayal, but by the raw vulnerabilities both of them are still learning how to survive. Celia must choose between the false safety of invisibility and the terrifying possibility of remaining present in a love that asks her to be fully known, even in pain. In the end, Celia chooses visibility. She allows herself to grieve out loud. She allows herself to be witnessed in her fear instead of hiding from it. She allows herself to lean on someone rather than disappearing into solitude. In doing so, she breaks the pattern that has defined her adult life. She no longer mistakes silence for strength or emotional absence for safety. She learns that real love is not dramatic or consuming, but steady, attentive, and brave enough to hold the truth. By the novel’s close, Celia stands fully in the space she once abandoned—a woman who no longer shrinks to keep the peace, who no longer confuses being tolerated with being loved, and who finally understands that the greatest transformation is not simply falling in love, but learning to exist fully within it.

by Louisa May Alcott

Meg, Jo, Beth, and Amy March navigate the transition from childhood to womanhood in New England while their father serves in the Civil War. Led by their loving mother, the sisters struggle with poverty, personal ambitions, and their distinct individual flaws. Jo pursues a career as a writer while rejecting a marriage proposal from their wealthy neighbor, Laurie, who eventually marries Amy. Tragedy strikes the tightly-knit family when the gentle, sickly Beth passes away after a long illness. Through grief and joy, the surviving sisters establish their own households, remaining deeply bound by love.

by Charles Frierman

Clyde has always known the Princess is special—perfectly imperfect and full of wonder. From childhood adventures to adult trials, he protects her, plays with her, and stays by her side through loss and hardship. Though he is never her prince, their bond endures, folding past and future into a single, magical friendship that transcends the world he knows.

by Paul Blakemore

In a quiet garage on an ordinary Saturday morning, Kevin Davis opens a forgotten box and finds a cassette tape he hasn’t seen in decades. Labeled in careful cursive by a girl he once knew, it’s more than music—it’s a doorway. And once it opens, there’s no closing it again.   Transported back to Stockton, California in the early 1980s, Kevin is seventeen—standing at the edge of the last summer that still felt infinite. It’s a world of Walkmans and mixtapes, of river days and late-night conversations, of friendships forged in heat and recklessness. Alongside Jimmy, Rick, and Dougie, he moves through a season that feels ordinary while it’s happening—but will prove anything but.   At the center of it all is Teppie—a girl who sees something in Kevin he hasn’t yet recognized in himself. Through her, and through the quiet rhythms of home shaped by his mother Joyce, Kevin begins to understand that identity isn’t built in grand moments, but in the accumulation of small ones: a song captured at just the right second, a promise kept, a choice made without realizing its weight.   But summers end. People change. And the distance between who we were and who we become can stretch farther than we ever expect.   Told with humor, warmth, and unflinching honesty, They Call Me Baloney is a deeply personal story about memory, music, and the moments that define us long after they’ve passed. It’s a reminder that the lives we think we’ve left behind are never really gone—they’re just waiting for the right moment to press play.

by Ed Quest

**America’s Town**  In the era of Caitlin Clark and the unorthodox style of *Ted Lasso*, an accidental coach leads an under-appreciated girls’ high school basketball team in Gettysburg, America’s most famous small town, through a season no sports parent could ever predict-or forget.  Former Gettysburg College basketball star Jay Siler returns to the scene of his glory days to manage First Colonial Bank’s downtown branch to complete his last rotation as an executive trainee. As Jay’s business star rises, city fathers urge him to become assistant coach of Gettysburg High’s girls’ basketball team. Hesitant at first, Jay takes the job, only to face conflicts with verbally abusive, dim-witted, and unwelcoming head coach, Barry Hughes.  Jay cannot look the other way as he sees Coach Hughes act his worst against Stefani Baker, a promising player ordered to sit in favor of Megan Reynolds, the less-skilled daughter of a local power broker, president of a rival bank. Jay’s older sister was similarly abused; her basketball dreams ended with her suicide. His sympathies lie with Stefani, but he must get her to change her flippant attitude and play to her potential. Jay joins with Bonita Blount, her teammate and best friend, Gettysburg’s most recruited basketball star in a generation, to make Stefani their personal project.  As a promising season goes awry, Coach Hughes’ abusive actions reach a head. Jay takes over and puts Stefani into the starting role she deserves, over the objections of Megan’s father, Stan. As Stan relentlessly attacks Jay’s personal and professional credibility, it’s up to Stefani to rise to the occasion to help Gettysburg win its first state championship. Will Stefani and Jay respond to their challenges, or will the community’s basketball aspirations end in disappointment?

by Ken Cressman

by Anie G. Ross

**For thirty years, Dani’s biggest problem was a blank canvas—until the Bone Queen found her.** Plucked from her mundane life and dragged into the dual-edged splendor of the faery courts, Dani finds herself irresistibly drawn to two rival sovereigns: Kay, the radiant Lord of Dawn, and Corvus, the brooding Prince of Dusk. Though she has no memory of them, her charcoal sketches reveal a staggering truth—involuntary visions of past lives shared with both men, each ending in her tragic death. Bound by an ancient geis, Dani is trapped in an unending cycle of reincarnation and ruin, relentlessly pursued by a bitter ancient hag determined to erase her for good. To survive, she must use her prophetic art to unearth lost secrets, orchestrate a desperate rescue behind enemy lines, and outmaneuver the very gods who wrote her fate. When human and inhuman realms meet, beauty becomes a mask for horror. Love has already killed her eight times—now Dani must decide if she can rewrite the ending, or if some stories, and some people, are meant to stay broken. *Author Note: Any feedback/reviews are genuinely appreciated!*

by Lisa Troy

On a fictional Greek island, Anastasia Livanitis solves murders and other crimes with her ghostly sidekicks, and her journalist best friend, Nikos.

by Lisa Troy

Anastasia Livanitis came back to Lifnos for one reason: her father needed post-surgery downtime and someone had to run the family taverna. Two months. In and out. Simple as tzatziki. Then Frieda Baron turns up dead a day after their very public argument — and Anastasia discovers she can still see her. Frieda in death is exactly how she was in life: a billionaire's daughter, a Reality TV winner, and utterly convinced the world revolves around her. She has opinions about the murder, the taverna's wall paint, and Anastasia's love life. Oh, and she's not going anywhere until the killer is found. Anastasia has no choice but to listen — because the locals already think her family's into the dark arts, the hot detective thinks she's the prime suspect, and the taverna won't survive another scandal. The problem with investigating a billionaire's daughter's murder? Ridiculously rich people aren't big on truth. They're interested in results. Anastasia doesn't believe in ghosts. Or curses. She definitely doesn't believe she can solve a murder with a dead woman's help. Yeah, that's going to go over well... A paranormal cozy mystery set on a sun-soaked Greek island. Perfect for readers who love: reluctant sleuths, ghost sidekicks with attitude, homecoming mysteries, family legacy, and Mediterranean atmosphere.  This story will be published as Spirits and Whine in July.

by Judah Ray

INSPIRED BY A TRUE STORY! Madison thought she was the only sane one in the house.\ \ Fourteen and isolated in a remote farmhouse ruled by her mother Faith’s rigid devotion, Madison is convinced the madness belongs to the adults around her. Aunt Hope urges patience. Aunt Grace sees demons in everything. Faith stands between doubt and doctrine.\ \ Certain she is being suffocated by religious extremism, Madison secretly launches a livestream channel to expose her mother to the world. The followers grow. The comments validate her. And no one in the house knows they are being broadcast live.\ \ When Grace convinces Faith that Madison’s rebellion is something darker, prayer turns to accusation. Accusation turns to restraint. An exorcism unknowingly unfolds live as viewers watch religious fanaticism spiral out of control.\ \ This may seem like just another story about a rebellious teenager and her controlling mother.  Another story about faith gone too far.\ \ But the footage tells a different story.\ \ UNORTHODOX is a claustrophobic psychological horror about faith, rebellion, and a mother who refuses to abandon her child, even when the world calls her crazy.

by Judah Ray

In 1955, a secret experiment at the Large Hadron Collider tore open a doorway to another realm.\ \ Extradimensional beings came through, possessed the top scientists and military officials in the room, and kept the portal open.\ \ One of the first crossed over and took a human infant as its host. That infant was Christina.\ \ The only issue is that Christina forgot what she was,  and the others could not enter or control her, but she could see them. So they declared her unstable and institutionalized her.\ \ Years later, world leaders, billionaires, media figures, and political dynasties are all possessed. The New World Order is not a conspiracy theory. It is literal possession.\ \ A decade later, Christina escapes and resurfaces in Berlin. The forces that have tracked her since childhood want her reclaimed or eliminated.\ \ With the help of Jory, who has been able to see the entities inside people since surviving a near-death experience as a child, Christina uncovers a power structure that has ruled humanity from within for generations.\ \ When she learns she is one of them, she must choose between her own kind or the man she loves and the humanity she chose to protect.\ \ They have ruled the world from inside us.\ Now one of their own stands against them.