New Adult

by Heiwa Akers

Crystilline Heiwa Yuy has always known the quiet safety of her Hawaiian home. But when she uncovers her hidden ties to a powerful Japanese family, her world is turned upside down. Suddenly, she’s swept into the heart of the Moon Clan—a Yakuza dynasty ruled by a brother she never knew, and shadowed by danger at every turn. With her innocence tested and her freedom on the line, Crystilline refuses to be a pawn in anyone’s game. Surrounded by overprotective allies and an ancient rivalry, she’s determined to forge her own path. "Princesses Don't Wait" is a gripping tale of family, fate, and fierce independence. This princess isn’t waiting to be saved—she’s ready to save herself.

by Heiwa Akers

Follow the journey of Crystilline Heiwa Yuy as she discovers her ties to a Japanese Mafia family and how she turns tradition on its head. Crystilline is no ordinary princess who sits within a tower, waiting to be rescued. She will rescue herself.

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 Sammie Settlemire

Wren is three when her mother asks who she wants to live with. It is not a question. It is a trap, and the answer she cannot say splits her childhood in two. What follows is the story of a girl who learned to read rooms before she could read words, and the people who saw her when her mother would not.

by Stories by Irish

Syrena Lakewood and Warren Clarke are literally polar opposites. She from the aristocratic Spellcasters, the Lakewood Family and he from the nomadic tribes of the Tear'ani. She is meant to be a bargaining chip to obtain some beneficial marriage. He is the next Cavino of his tribe, specifically chosen by his predecessor and the Shevaros. Even their magic is considered incompatible... she being the strongest water elementalist and he the strongest fire elementalist in their respective families and academy houses. They are both in their final year of classes, too.  And this year will be their most difficult yet as they discover they are expected to get married, even while still in school. Where they will be watched like vultures by enemies that want to see them fail.

by Lola Blackwell

After being robbed by the caravan meant to guide him across the vast desert, an affluent man is left to die beneath an indifferent sun. As starvation, dehydration, and isolation erode his body, his mind begins to fracture alongside it. To survive the unbearable agony, he recounts the life he left behind: a refined home, a kind wife, and a brilliant but cruel son whose arrogance he believes he cultivated through years of emotional distance. The desert strips him apart piece by piece. Hallucinations blur the boundaries between memory and imagination. He agonizes over the man he should have been and for the son he believes he destroyed. Part survival story, part psychological horror, and part tragedy, this story follows a dying man whose journey across the unforgiving desert becomes a devastating confrontation with memory, guilt, and identity. Exploring the way shame reshapes memory, the stories we tell ourselves to survive our own failures, and whether redemption remains possible once every illusion has been stripped away.

by Chris Thurman

One man wants to find his family. The other wants to tear down his father's kingdom.  Arclin must work with the Revolt, a political group set on restoring the government back into the hands of Shifters, otherwise he may never have another chance to find his sisters again. The quest? Find the four lost Soul Gems of legend and use the power of the gods to bring from the past the one being who can turn the tide in their favor. A Dark Lord who nearly took over all of Jung-Mar. But can Arclin let this happen when his family died trying to keep this secret? Either he has to help the Revolt recover the Gems, or forever lose his chance to see his sisters again.  Meanwhile... Over 2000 years ago, Jha'dor goes through the Trial of Fire, granting him the ability to Shift into a dragon. But when his twin brother dies and makes him promise to go through the Trial of Magic, Jha'dor finds himself in a dangerous situation. His father, the King, disownes him, blaming Jha'dor for the death of his brother and chases him out of the kingdom. Now he has a choice to make. Either learn his newfound powers and take his place as the next rightful ruler of the Drahl Kingdom, or live out his days in exile. A Word from the Author:  This story was inspired during a writing exercise while I attended a University Class on Tolkien's works. While worldbuilding, I got the idea for Jung-Mar and the inhabitants there. Think *Avatar: The Last Airbender* but the benders can shapeshift into their signature magical kingdom, with a worldbuilding lore as large as Tolkien's (just without all the made up languages). I hope you enjoy this world I've made. Keep in mind this is a work in progress and is subject to change based on where I was at when I wrote certain scenes.  New Chapters every Friday.  My hope is to keep this free until I publish it fully so readers can give feedback on this they do and don't like. So please comment.

by KW Chaproniere

Aurelia Greenlaw is a twenty-two year old Captain in the 13th Recon Division, and she is a Radio. In Palvera, the nation built on the ruins of North America, that word means something specific. Centuries ago an experiment on the human mind produced a mutation that never went away. Now there are six kinds: Builders, who rearrange matter with their hands. Washers, who put thoughts in your head and let you believe you thought them. Shifters, who change what you see. Sensatives, who read what you feel and can turn the dial on it. Nets, who move what they can see without touching it. And Radios, who read the world in waves, who hear a signal a mile out and can put a voice inside your skull. The Centre calls this humanity, perfected. Everyone born without it is a Blank, and the Centre has built a country on that distinction. Arra has spent her whole life on the useful side of the line. Then a bomb takes her unit apart on the mountain and leaves her the only one breathing. The Centre searches forty-eight hours for a missing soldier. After that, she’s a name on a list. She wakes on day three, strapped to a gurney in a stronghold carved into rock, listening to the people who found her argue about whether she’s worth the water it would take to keep her alive. They’re Blanks. They’ve also done the one thing no Blank should be able to do. They’ve blocked her. The waves are gone. The world has gone flat and quiet, and the part of her that made her worth keeping has been cut out. Arra is going to get home. She’s willing to be patient about it: count the turns in the tunnels, memorize the faces, learn who can be used and who can be turned. What she doesn’t account for is how long it takes, or what months of it do to a doctrine that was never meant to survive contact with the people it was written about.  *Radio* is an adult dystopian novel about inheritance, indoctrination, and what’s left of a person when the thing that defined her is taken away.

by Gigalo

by Meghan Treadwell

The Secrets We Carry is a gripping series about the lives we leave behind, the secrets we protect, and the people who slowly become the ones we trust. At the center of the series is Rylee Schmidt, a woman determined to build a new life while keeping the truth about her past buried. As she begins finding friendship, love, family, and a sense of safety she never thought she could have, the secrets she's spent years protecting don't simply disappear. Some truths stay hidden. Some begin to surface. And some have the power to change everything. As Rylee's new life unfolds, trust will be tested, old fears will resurface, and the people closest to her will discover that there is far more to her story than they ever imagined. Because everyone carries secrets. The question is what happens when those secrets can no longer stay buried.

by L J Temple

To those who have felt the crushing weight of societal expectations, the seductive whisper of digital validation, and the gnawing ache for a life that feels undeniably *real*. This story is for the dreamers caught in the gilded cage, for the navigators of blurred lines and curated realities, and for anyone who has ever questioned the actual cost of chasing a dream that glitters but may not satisfy. May you find your own truth beyond the screen, your own voice in the silence, and your own irreplaceable worth in the quiet spaces between the curated moments. May this narrative serve as a mirror, a cautionary tale, and ultimately, a beacon of hope for those seeking genuine connection and a life lived with authenticity and courage. To the unwritten chapters of your own story, may they be filled with purpose, peace, and the undeniable beauty of simply being.  Curated Self: The idealized, often selective, presentation of an individual's life,\ particularly on social media platforms, designed to elicit positive external validation.\ Digital Footprint: The trail of data left behind by a user's online activity, encompassing\ everything from browsing history to social media posts and digital transactions.\ Fulfillment: A state of deep satisfaction and contentment derived from living a life\ aligned with one's values and authentic self, rather than the pursuit of external validation\ or idealized outcomes.\ Societal Pressures: The external expectations and norms imposed by society regarding\ success, appearance, behavior, and lifestyle, often amplified by digital platforms.\ Vulnerability: The quality or state of being exposed to the possibility of attack or harm,\ either physical or emotional; in the context of relationships, it refers to the willingness to\ share one's true thoughts and feelings, even those that are imperfect or uncertain.

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 T. N. Harsh

Lara has always known who she is. At least, she thought she did. As her birthday approaches, small fractures begin appearing in the life she has always considered ordinary. A strange scar she can’t explain. Dreams that feel more like memories. A symbol she recognizes despite having no idea where she’s seen it before. And glimpses of a place that shouldn’t exist—but somehow feels familiar. Then reality begins answering back. The harder Lara tries to hold on to what she knows, the more impossible it becomes to ignore the feeling that something has been buried inside her for a very long time. Something older than memory. Something waiting. Because Lara isn’t simply discovering another world. She’s beginning to remember who she was before this one.

by Rose M Joy

"If you insult a god, he'll probably curse you for life". "Prove it".   Genessa Till has been shipped around like a good all her life. From thriving kingdoms to simple towns to refugee camps and places many don't even venture. At 19 years old, she is sent to Marin, one of the riverine areas in her country, a place her owners promise her is the last one. Genessa is ready to spend her life peacefully there, till she sees something so surreal it's hard to decide if she will do the logical thing and tell, or enjoy this little bit of attention?

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 Piper Lazarus

**One murder. One hidden enemy. One secret worth killing for.**  One phone call changes everything. ***Murdered.*** And the scene waiting for me is worse than anything I've encountered in my years as an investigator. Someone didn't just want her dead—they wanted to send a message. The problem is, I don't know who the message was meant for. *Until the first clue leads straight to me.* I rush to Jack's side expecting grief, answers, and a case I can solve. Instead, I find myself stepping into a deadly maze of deception, hidden alliances, and secrets that reach far beyond a single murder. The evidence doesn't add up. Witnesses are disappearing. Someone is erasing clues before I can find them. And buried beneath the murder is a connection to something no one saw coming. Then Axel appears. Again. Dangerous. Controlled. Impossible to read. He has a talent for finding the truth while hiding his own—and I can't shake the feeling that he knows exactly why I'm here. He says he wants to protect me. But I've learned the hard way that protection and possession can look frighteningly similar. The closer I get to Axel, the more questions I have. He knows too much about the murder—and far too much about me. All of it feels like a trap waiting to spring. **Then another murder.** That's when I realize this isn't about *her* anymore. Someone is hunting anyone who gets too close to the truth. The deeper I investigate, the more I uncover a hidden world of power, loyalty, and secrets protected at any cost. And somehow, my past is at the center of it. And if I uncover the secret they're willing to kill for, I may finally learn the truth about my past…about *them*... **Right before I get buried with it.**

by Piper Lazarus

***My past is coming for me…*** I’ve spent my life chasing the truth—uncovering secrets, solving the unsolvable, and exposing the darkness others fear to face. But now, the past I can’t remember is hunting me. I woke up with no recollection of who I am.\ \ **No name. No past. No idea why I’m running for my life.**\ \ All I know is that the people after me will stop at nothing until I’m erased. Somewhere in my shattered memories lies a secret—a royal scandal drenched in betrayal, deception, and blood. And if I don’t piece the puzzle together soon, it will cost me everything. Then there’s Axel. ***A storm wrapped in shadows, dangerous, unreadable, and laced with secrets that could shatter me.*** He claims he’s here to protect me, but the fire in his eyes tells a different story. His presence is intoxicating, his touch a temptation laced with danger. Every glance pulls me deeper, every whispered promise ignites something inside me I don’t understand. But one question lingers in the air between us. **Is he my savior—or the executioner waiting to strike?** With time slipping away and danger closing in, I must make an impossible choice: *trust the man who could betray me or face the enemy I can’t even remember.* One wrong move, and I lose everything—including my life. **The past holds my salvation—or my death. And the clock is ticking.**

by Mario Logan

\# \*\*“Cold Keys” (Urban Fiction Novel)\*\* \### \*\*Chapter 1 — The Delivery That Didn’t Come\*\* The city always told on you eventually.   Vance Mercer sat in the back of his black SUV, tinted glass turning streetlights into melted gold. The warehouse district was quiet in the way a room gets quiet when somebody’s about to say your name.   His phone lit up.   \*\*MARI.\*\*   He let it buzz twice before answering. “Where’s the load?”   Mari’s voice came through even and controlled. “What load.”   Vance leaned forward. “The one you promised. The one you confirmed.”   Silence—just long enough to be deliberate.   Then: “The driver called. Yard got switched.”   Vance’s knuckles tightened around his key ring. “Switched by who.”   Mari didn’t answer quickly. That hesitation was the first crack.   “Someone who had access,” she said finally.   Access meant keys. Access meant schedules. Access meant people who didn’t move like crew—people who moved like architects.   Vance looked at Calvin Price by the warehouse door. Calvin’s eyes were scanning corners like the dark owed him money.   “Wrong dock,” Vance told him, and his voice made it sound like an accusation, not a problem.   They went inside. Crates sat in formation like props waiting for a scene that never came. Vance stood in front of his whiteboard—codes, names, routes, times written in the tidy hand of a man who never trusted chaos.   He added one line in thick marker:   \*\*LOCK KEYS. COUNT AGAIN.\*\*   Calvin frowned. “So we got a rat.”   Vance shook his head. “No. We got a key.”   He called Mari again—but this time his tone wasn’t controlled. It was surgical. “Send me confirmation.”   Mari’s breath sounded close to the mic. “I can’t.”   Vance stood still. “Try.”   “I tried to keep you out of it,” Mari said softly.   “Out of it,” Vance repeated, and something in him cooled.   Then she finally gave him the place she’d rerouted everything to.   “Shaw Yard.”   Rowan Shaw—the inspector who smiled through tragedies. The man with clean hands and a habit of appearing just after the city decided to look away.   Vance ended the call.   He handed Calvin a burner phone and a jammer like opening the first trap. “Dre needs eyes. Now.”   Calvin hesitated. “You think Dre—”   “I don’t think,” Vance said. “I test.”   He left Mari close enough to watch and far enough to breathe. If she was betraying him, Vance wanted to see the moment her story broke from reality.   Outside, the city’s bass thumped somewhere down the block. A siren rose in the distance, then faded, then rose again—like the night was counting down.   That’s when Vance understood the betrayal wasn’t just personal.   It was structural.   Someone had rewritten the system from the inside, and Vance was the signature on the wrong page.   \---   \### \*\*Chapter 2 — Eyes on Shaw Yard\*\* Dre Holloway came through like a rumor—always moving, always listening, never quite landing in the same place twice.   He met Vance in a backroom of a barber shop that smelled like menthol and overheated clippers. Dre wore a fitted hoodie even in summer, like he was afraid sunlight might discover him.   “You want Shaw Yard watched,” Dre said, not asking—confirming.   Vance slid a stack of bills across the table. “I want to know who touched the schedule.”   Dre’s eyes flicked to the money and stayed on Vance. “You already know.”   Vance didn’t blink. “I know the destination. I don’t know the hand.”   Dre leaned back. “Then here’s what I can do. I can tell you what I see.”   He disappeared for an hour. Came back with silence instead of words—until he spoke.   “Lights went out,” Dre said. “Dock crew changed. Not cops. Not guards. Guys with the right calm.”   Vance frowned. “Calm like what.”   “Calm like they’ve done it before,” Dre said. “Calm like they weren’t afraid of getting caught because catching them doesn’t happen.”   Calvin, standing near the door, asked the obvious question. “So it’s a setup.”   Vance exhaled slowly. “Not necessarily.”   He tapped the table. “Shaw Yard doesn’t care about my shipment. Shaw Yard cares about my legitimacy. Someone wants me looking weak.”   Dre nodded. “You’re the one with the ‘empire.’ If you get hit publicly, the city starts believing you can be replaced.”   Vance stood. “Then we don’t let the city finish the replacement plan.”   He turned to Calvin. “Track the driver. The one who reported the yard switch. Find out who his last call was to.”   Calvin hesitated. “And Mari?”   Vance’s jaw tightened. “Mari stays close.”   Calvin’s voice lowered. “You really think she did this?”   Vance’s eyes went hard. “I think she knows more than she admits. And tonight I’m going to find the exact shape of that knowledge.”   Dre stood too, like he didn’t like being left out of consequences. “Just so you know—Shaw’s people don’t do loud. They do clean. Paperwork clean.”   Vance smiled without humor. “Good. Then we’ll beat him where he thinks he can’t bleed.”   \---   \### \*\*Chapter 3 — Mari’s Soft Threat\*\* Mari met Vance in the kind of quiet that felt staged.   Not the silence of fear—the silence of control.   They sat in a low-lit diner where the windows were thick and the menu was just a prop for people who wanted to seem normal. Mari didn’t look like a traitor. That was the problem. Traiters usually looked guilty.   Mari looked tired.   “You called me back twice,” she said. “You were waiting for me to fold.”   Vance watched her hands. Hands told the truth faster than mouths. Mari didn’t fidget. She didn’t rush. She only held her posture like she was bracing against a wave.   “What did you do?” Vance asked.   Mari sighed. “I didn’t do what you think.”   Vance leaned forward. “Then explain.”   Mari’s gaze shifted briefly toward the window—toward a reflection that wasn’t theirs. “You want the whole story now?”   “I want the part where you stopped protecting me,” Vance said.   Mari’s mouth twitched. “Protecting you doesn’t mean saving you. Sometimes it means keeping you alive long enough to choose better.”   Vance’s voice sharpened. “Choose better? Or obey better?”   Mari stared at him like she hated that he was right. “I’m in this because I made a deal.”   Vance’s stomach tightened. “With who.”   Mari’s eyes didn’t waver. “With Rowan Shaw.”   Calvin arrived then—right on cue—like the room itself had turned into a trigger. He didn’t sit. He just stood there and stared at Mari like he was deciding whether she was a human being or an equation.   “You’re lying,” Calvin said.   Mari didn’t flinch. “I’m not.”   Vance stood slowly. “Then why.”   Mari’s voice dropped. “Because Shaw offered me something you couldn’t. A way to stop the city from swallowing people we can’t replace.”   Vance laughed once. Not friendly. Not even amused. It sounded like a warning. “You think I don’t see the collateral?”   Mari leaned in. “Then you already know what Shaw is doing.”   Vance’s eyes narrowed. “Explain.”   Mari’s words came slower now, heavier. “He’s collecting names. He’s making arrests before you even move. He’s putting your people in a position where they’ll fold. And when they fold, the city will blame you.”   Vance’s mind raced through his own operation—every small inconsistency, every missing count, every “how did this get approved.”   A system didn’t break on accident.   It broke because someone in the room held the pen.   “Why reroute the load to Shaw Yard?” Vance asked.   Mari swallowed. “Because if the shipment disappears, you’ll go looking. And if you go looking, you’ll walk into a room where your choices are already decided.”   Vance looked at Calvin. “She’s trying to warn me.”   Calvin shook his head hard. “Warn you or set you up with your eyes open?”   Mari’s gaze fixed on Vance like it was a final confession. “Both can be true.”   Vance’s voice went calm. “Here’s what happens next. You tell me exactly what Shaw wants, down to the detail. And then you help me bait him.”   Mari blinked. “Bait him how.”   Vance stood over the table. “Cold keys. Hot traps.”   \---   \### \*\*Chapter 4 — Calvin’s Loyalty Test\*\* Calvin didn’t like puzzles. Calvin liked decisions.   So when Vance ordered him to find proof that Mari’s deal was real—proof beyond “she said”—Calvin moved like a man hunting a lie that had already cost someone blood.   He pulled records from a driver contact. Not official. Not legal. Calvin’s specialty was the gray area where truth got lost and then found again.   The driver—Jose “J” Ortega—had called Shaw Yard two times before the reroute. Not a crew number. Not a guard station.   A line with a blocked caller ID and a name tag in the logs: \*\*R. SHAW\*\*.   Calvin brought the printouts to Vance.   Vance didn’t look impressed. “People with blocked IDs can lie.”   Calvin slammed the pages down. “Vance. It’s his line.”   Vance stared at the paper, then at Calvin. “You sure it’s his line.”   Calvin’s throat tightened. “I’m sure.”   Vance reached for the papers and kept his voice low. “Then we have a bigger problem.”   Calvin blinked. “Which is.”   “The betrayal isn’t only inside my crew,” Vance said. “It’s inside my assumption that Mari would betray me for money. Shaw’s doing it for leverage.”   Calvin took a step back. “So what do you do.”   Vance smiled thinly. “We take away the leverage.”   He asked Dre for another set of eyes. “Watch Jose. Watch who he meets next.”   Dre returned an hour later with a new kind of dread. “Jose got picked up.”   “By who,” Vance demanded.   “Not cops,” Dre said. “Vehicles with no plates. Men who move like their bodies are trained to obey.”   Calvin’s fists clenched. “They’re removing witnesses.”   Vance nodded once. “Exactly. That means Shaw isn’t just setting a trap for my shipment.”   He looked toward the dark window like he could see across the city.   “Shaw is setting a trap for my story.”   \---   \### \*\*Chapter 5 — Hot Load, Cold Lie\*\* Vance called it a test, but he knew it was a war.   They staged a fake load—product that wasn’t meant to survive long, money that wasn’t meant to last, timing that was built to fail on purpose. The kind of plan you only run when you’re trying to draw a predator out of its den.   Mari didn’t argue. She watched. And Vance watched her watching.   At 9:07 p.m., the fake delivery rolled toward Shaw Yard.   At 9:09 p.m., the yard lights flickered like a throat clearing.   At 9:11 p.m., the shipment was “interrupted.” Not stolen. Not destroyed.   Recorded.   There were cameras. There were logs. There were witnesses who didn’t even look afraid.   Dre’s voice came through Vance’s earpiece, tight with adrenaline. “They’re letting it happen. They want it seen.”   Vance exhaled. “Because if Shaw can show it to the city, the city will believe.”   Mari whispered from beside him, the first time she sounded genuinely shaken. “Vance, you can’t outsmart a machine that writes its own evidence.”   He turned to her. “Watch me.”   Rowan Shaw arrived in a clean suit that looked like it had never touched grime. He didn’t need to raise his voice. People stepped aside for him automatically.       \---

by R.S. Norton

Hazel is the only princess of a dying realm. She'd be more than happy to leave and start a new life in the human world, but her parents have other plans. The king and queen, convinced that their only hope lies in an infusion of magic from a marriage alliance, make her a deal: she'll spend one year living in a house with four marriage candidates. If Hazel doesn't fall for any of them, her parents will give her the money she needs to start a new life. But she must try to find her husband among the four men. An arrogant prince, a mysterious witch, a charming vampire, and a reserved werebear. Despite her initial misgivings, Hazel begins to bond with the four as she takes matters into her own hands and investigates the realm's fading magic herself. But if marriage truly is their only hope, can she really fall hard enough in love to be ready for it in only a year? And if all of the men are attractive in their own ways, how is she supposed to choose just one?

by Emmett Hotchkiss

Live action, happening now.

by Gina Murdock

Jake Miller is living the best morning of his life. Pancakes, laughter, his wife's hand in his, his daughter buckled safely in the back seat. He has no idea it's about to become the worst.  When tragedy strikes on an ordinary Wednesday, Jake wakes up the next morning to find it's the same Wednesday again — 6:12 a.m., the same golden light, the same choices waiting to be made differently. He's the only one who remembers. And no matter what he changes, the day seems determined to take something from him before it lets him go.  The truth, when it finally surfaces, is worse than anything supernatural: someone built this. Someone patient, brilliant, and devastated — a woman whose life's work Jake's own hands helped destroy, and whose grief has spent years hardening into something with a plan.  As the walls close in — a stranger's car parked down the street, a note left in the dark, a friend who pays a price for helping — Jake has to face not just what's coming for his family, but what he's already done to deserve it.  Some debts don't get canceled. They just wait for the right Wednesday.

by Gemma Therese

Sixteen-year-old Melanie Howard's world is fractured on her birthday when she discovers her magical angelic bloodline and processing her brother, Eli, gets dragged into the shadows of danger. Thrust into Bloodbound Academy, a pre-Civil War institution for the descendants of the Angelic Realm, Melanie discovers that she possesses the rare talent of psychometry, a gift that allows her to catch glimpses of her kidnapped brother. Desperate and struggling against time, Melanie has only one priority: to bring her brother home safely.

by D.O'Neil

From Surviving to Thriving: Reclaiming Your Life After Childhood Trauma and Abuse is a compassionate guide for survivors who are ready to understand their past, heal their wounds, and rediscover the person they were always meant to be. Through powerful reflections, healing insights, and practical tools, this book explores the lasting impact of childhood trauma and abuse while offering encouragement for rebuilding self-worth, restoring trust, setting healthy boundaries, and creating a life rooted in self-love and empowerment. This journey is not about forgetting what happened—it is about reclaiming your story. Survivors are guided through the process of releasing shame, recognizing their strength, and transforming painful experiences into wisdom, resilience, and hope. With compassion and understanding, this book reminds survivors that their past does not define their future. Healing is possible, and a life filled with peace, purpose, and freedom can be created one step at a time.

by D.O'Neil

From Surviving to Thriving: Reclaiming Your Life After Childhood Trauma and Abuse is a compassionate journey of healing, resilience, and self-discovery for those who have carried the invisible wounds of childhood trauma into adulthood.   Through honest reflection, encouragement, and practical tools, Donna O’Neil explores the lasting impact of childhood abuse while guiding survivors toward understanding their experiences, rebuilding self-worth, releasing shame, and finding their voice. This book offers hope to those who have spent years simply surviving and are ready to begin creating a life filled with peace, confidence, and purpose.   Healing from childhood trauma is not about changing the past—it is about reclaiming the power, love, and identity that were always within you. With compassion and understanding, this book reminds survivors that what happened to them does not define who they are. Their story can continue with strength, growth, and transformation.   From Surviving to Thriving is an invitation to move beyond the pain, embrace healing, and discover the life you were always worthy of living.

by D.O'Neil

From Surviving to Thriving: Reclaiming Your Life After Childhood Trauma and Abuse is a compassionate guide for anyone seeking to heal from the lasting effects of childhood trauma, abuse, neglect, and toxic relationships. With empathy, practical strategies, reflective exercises, affirmations, and journal prompts, this book helps readers understand how trauma shapes their lives while offering a path toward hope, healing, and personal growth.   Readers will learn how to rebuild self-worth, establish healthy boundaries, process painful experiences, develop resilience, and rediscover their authentic identity. Rather than simply surviving the past, this book encourages readers to embrace a future defined by strength, peace, and purpose.   Whether you are beginning your healing journey or continuing the work of recovery, this book serves as a supportive companion, reminding you that healing is possible, your voice matters, and your story is still being written.

by Misery Walker

In a future society, every citizen must choose a single color upon turning eighteen. From that day forward, nearly everything they own, wear, eat, drive, and decorate with must be that color. The only exception is that citizens earn the right to use additional colors by performing verified acts of kindness, sacrifice, or service to others. Over time, a person's color palette becomes a public record of their character. A person who reaches middle age with only one color is widely suspected of being selfish, narcissistic, or unwilling to help others.

by Rory North

The very prison that holds the answer to saving Jasper’s life could also be the death of her, and she may have to resort to drastic measures to get the information she needs.

by A.M Isle

A century of stillness does not end quietly. The empire is waking hungry and afraid, and the people who survived the freeze are discovering that survival was only the beginning. Kathera is returning, and the world is moving again. It should feel like enough.\ \ It isn't.\ \ Sahora never asked to be the one who carried Kathera's soul across realms. She never asked to crawl to the bottom of a waterfall and trade her breath for a world she barely knew. She never asked to stand trial before a village that wants her dead, or to fall for the man who broke every oath he had ever kept just to pull her back from the dark. She never asked for any of it.\ \ The world didn't ask either. It just needed her anyway.\ \ While Oliver faces the cost of choosing love over law, and Lyrian holds together an empire built on grief and rose gardens, a darkness older than the freeze is moving in the east. Carlosa of the Dark Court does not doubt. She does not stumble. She has spent a lifetime being certain. But something is pulling her toward the cliffs of Sinthia, something her shadow recognized long before she did, and Carlosa is beginning to understand that certainty is only as strong as what you refuse to look at.\ \ Ten shards. One stone. A world still remembering how to breathe.\ \ And the people brave enough, or broken enough, or desperate enough, to believe it can.

by Rory North

Weeks after Ringmaster's disappearance on Iros, Jasper and her team are still trying to bring down Governor Starr's empire. A new obstacle arises when the mysterious villain Skybreaker steps out of the shadows to continue the racing tournament that Ringmaster started. Desperate to figure out their connection to Starr, if any, Jasper returns to the illegal and deadly street races.  When Skybreaker begins attacking Jasper and other villains outside of the races, Jasper is forced to work together with some of her worst enemies in order to get to the bottom of Skybreaker's true motives and continue her work against Starr. Meanwhile, Grace is forced to confront the dark truths of her past. Her life isn't what she thought it was, and her path forward is unclear. But with Jasper's help, she might be able to find a new purpose. That is, if they can survive Skybreaker, the gang of Red Blades hunting them, the new spacetime warps popping up, Governor Starr's plans, and whatever the hell is causing Jasper's healing capabilities to slow down.

by Haüden

## **Isilme is dying.**  \ Once a prosperous nation whose exports sustained the continent, Isilme has sealed its borders, displaced its people, and vanished from the world stage. Trade collapses. Refugees flood neighboring lands. Entire economies begin to fail. No one knows the truth. Hidden beyond the mountains, the Belserion Empire— a nation so secret most believe it nothing more than a myth— is slowly destroying Isilme from within. As the consequences ripple across the continent, every nation mistakes the symptoms for isolated disasters. Ancient rivalries erupt into rebellion. Immortal rulers tighten their grip on power. A medical catastrophe threatens countless lives. Noble houses abandon centuries-old alliances in pursuit of influence, reshaping the political landscape with every move. From the royal courts of Anaria to the hospitals of Ossira, from the immortal throne of Oplines to the fractured Great Houses of New Vufriycia, people from every corner of the world— nobles, scholars, soldiers, rebels, rulers, and outcasts— are swept into conflicts they never chose. Each nation believes it faces a different enemy. None realize their struggles all begin with the same forgotten empire. As kingdoms edge toward war, governments fracture, and civilizations fight to survive, the truth behind Isilme's fall remains buried beneath centuries of secrecy. But secrets cannot stay hidden forever. And by the time the world learns the Belserion Empire is real, it may already belong to it.

by Jesse penman

### [**Obey, or Fade Away** **You were always meant for more**](https://open.substack.com/pub/obeyfadeaway/p/3-for-the-ones-who-stayed-and-the?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android&r=73fanv) \ The Arc So Far\ #1 — You Were Never Meant to Disappear opens the series with a confrontation: the reader has spent years learning to shrink, stay quiet, and erase their own edges in the name of safety. It names that erasure for what it is — not peace, but a slow kind of dying — and insists the reader was built with weight and voice, not built to fade into the background of their own life. \ #2 — The Four Possibilities Beyond the Light pushes past the initial awakening into the terrain that opens once someone stops hiding. It maps out the different paths available once the light (the signal, the recognition) has been seen — suggesting that awareness alone isn't the end point, but a fork with several possible directions, each with its own cost and its own truth. \ #3 — For the Ones That Stayed and the Witness Never Blinks shifts focus to endurance. It's written for the people who didn't leave, didn't disappear, didn't fade — the ones who stayed present through the discomfort. It introduces "the witness," an inner presence that tracks everything without judgment, watching to see whether the person will keep showing up for their own life even when nothing dramatic is happening. \ #4 — When the Silence Answers deals with the strange phase where nothing external responds, yet something still communicates. Silence itself becomes the message. This piece explores the discipline of sitting with unanswered questions long enough that the absence of an answer becomes its own kind of confirmation — training the reader to stop needing loud signs and start trusting the quiet ones. \ #5 — The Assignment names the responsibility that follows all that listening. Once someone has stayed, once they've heard the witness, once the silence has answered — they're handed something specific to do. This piece frames spiritual growth not as a feeling to chase but a task to complete: an assignment that requires real-world action, not just internal shifts. \ #6 — The Shape of a Real Response (Time and Time Again) ties the whole arc together. It explicitly revisits the earlier stages — staying present, hearing the silence answer, acting on what's known — and argues that all of those were prelude. The real test is whether the change can survive ordinary life: everyday , errands, people who don't know your mythology. It introduces the phrase "obey or fade away" as the central law of the series — not obedience as submission, but obedience as full listening that produces movement. Coherence, this piece argues, isn't a comfortable alignment; it has teeth. It costs relationships, unmasks false loyalties, and forces the inside and outside of a person to finally tell the same story. The piece closes on the idea that the witness from piece #3 becomes an internal architect, and that the ultimate demand isn't belief — it's response. \ Together, pieces #1–6 trace a single throughline: recognition, endurance, silence, duty, and finally, the demand for coherent action. Each piece raises the stakes on the one before it, moving the reader from "you matter" to "prove it with your life." \ #7 #8 & #9 coming soon !!!!  Obey Your Reasons to Refuse !!!!

by Robert Austin

**One ordinary night changed the world forever.** When a mysterious meteor shower lights up the sky, fourteen-year-old Derek watches as the impossible becomes reality. Dragons awaken, ancient powers stir, and the world he thought he knew begins to unravel. As fear spreads and civilization struggles to understand the mysterious changes, Derek discovers he has become part of something far greater than himself. Alongside unexpected allies, he must navigate a dangerous new world where courage, friendship, and sacrifice may be humanity’s only hope against a growing darkness. Filled with unforgettable characters, breathtaking adventure, and the timeless battle between hope and evil, **Meteor** is an epic fantasy that asks one question: *What would you do if the impossible suddenly became real?*

by Rory North

Jasper Van Terra and her team of superpowered criminals seek revenge on the governor of city-planet Kronos.

by Rory North

Jasper Van Terra stalks the streets of the city-planet Kronos, masquerading as a notorious (and obnoxious) teenage supervillain. Under the guise of pulling heists and picking fights, she's secretly after revenge on Kronos's governor, the man whose family stole her from Earth and ruined her life. When she's lucky enough to get arrested on the same day as one of his escaped lab experiments, she may have exactly what she needs. Grace Alvarez has cybernetic wings, no memory of her life before the governor's palace, and--after Starr orders her killed--one hope of survival: Van Terra. Jasper and her team of criminals drag Grace into a world of dangerous street racing; infiltrations aided by questionable disguises; crimes ranging from petty shoplifting to grand theft auto; and confrontations with other villains, whom Jasper can't seem to avoid picking fights with. Governor Starr has a planet under his control, eyes all over the star system, and powerful villains on his side. Vengeance will not come easy. Then again, nothing about Jasper's life has been easy.  PLEASE NOTE: The first book in this series is FREE here on Readerful, but can also be purchased as an ebook or paperbook. Please note that the later books in the series require purchase or a subscription to my Inkitt Member Tier. Learn more at [rorynorth.com](http://rorynorth.com). Thanks for checking out Van Terra!

by A.S Thomas

YellowJackets meets S.T.A.G.S. The Alpha Society has been an elite presence in YoungBlood, TX for over 100 years. There are two ways you live in this town either be at the top of the food chain and live a life of luxury as an Alpha. Or serve an Alpha at the bottom of the food chain as an Omega. One woman's ambition will leave a whole town on it's knees.

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 L.A. Peña

Kaelin was bred for control, a subject engineered with a fragile spine augmented by ruthless technology. When the Cradle burns and her world shatters, she escapes into the inhospitable wasteland of Ashkaru with a silent, feverish child whose eyes see too much. The Drifting Truth, an old patched ship, becomes her sanctuary - but the Core reclamation teams are relentless, their reach stretching into the broken edges of space. As alliances shift and secrets emerge, Kaelin must navigate a maze of trust, technology, and survival. Will she protect those she loves, or become the weapon they made her to be?

by Don Shaze

RASUL İs the unforgettable orlgin story of the man who would one day become the architect behind the Status empire. Growing up on Erle Avenue in North Philadelphia, Rasul learns early that every declslon carries consequences. Ralsed in an environment where respect must be earned and survval is never guaranteed, he develops a sharp mind, an unbreakable work ethic, and an instinct for reading people that sets him apart from everyone around him. Told in Rasul's own volce, this gripping coming-of-age novel follows his journey from a deternined teenager trying to find his place in the world to a young man whose choices begin shaping his future. Along the way, he experiences first love, fatherhood, heartbreak, loyalty, and painful lessons that force him to confront the cost of chasing the life he believes he wants.  Guided by a father who teaches him to think beyond the moment, Rasul begins studying leadership, business, psychology, and human behavior. While others focus on surviving each day, he quletly starts building a vision for something greater. But before that vision can become reality, he must face life changing consequences that challenge everything he beleves about success, purpose, and legacy. Inside prison, Rasul refuses to let his circumstances define him. Instead, he transforms adversity into opportunity, using his time to sharpen his mind, develop a long-term plan, and lay the foundation for a future built on discipline, strategy, and vision.  Raw, emotlonal, and thought-provoking. RASUL Is more than an urban novel-t's a story about growth, reslence, redemption, and the power of relnventing yourself. t is the frst chapter in the jouney of a man determined to leave behlnd more than a reputatlon-he ls determlned to bulld a legacy. If you enjoy authentlc urban fiction, Gompelling character development, and stortes about overcoming adversity, RASUL Is a powerful beginning to the Status Universe.

by A.M Isle

A saga following a mercenary who is being hunted by people who keep telling her Celentra must stay frozen. She doesn't know what this means until she meets a cloaked stranger who tells her that she is carrying the soul of a dead Empress from another world. That she must revive this Empress to save a world frozen in time.

by A.M Isle

Sahora is a survivor; steel-tempered and scar-taught in the brutal streets of Serlane. For years she has belonged to no one but herself, living by grit, instinct, and the edge of her blade… until strangers begin to hunt her with a single, ice-cold command: Celentra must remain frozen. Dragged through a portal by a Seer named Amiranthia into a realm stalled in silence, Sahora is confronted with an impossible truth; Kathera’s soul burns inside her, and fate has crowned her the Empress’s Soulbearer. To revive Kathera and coax the land awake, Sahora must help recover the shattered Stone of Ilina: ten god-forged shards lost across a world that resists its own sunrise. Each fragment they claim lets Celentra draw breath again… and each one awakens ancient, starving powers determined to keep time locked shut. At Sahora’s side gather uneasy allies; Cyrus, a brilliant, reckless mapmaker; Briar, earth-bound and guarded with secrets; and Castor, the Empress’s legendary guard. But the cruelest twist of all may be Oliver: once sworn to stop her, now bound to her as Soulfated, hearing her thoughts, steadying the storm-magic rising in her blood. And as the kingdom trembles toward waking, a dark Seer named Carlosa sharpens prophecy in the shadows, gathering power for a night foretold; ready to destroy Kathera the instant she returns. Hunted by zealots, haunted by the life she tried to outrun, and forced to carry an empress’s heartbeat beside her own, Sahora must decide what she is willing to become: the weapon she was forged into… or the warrior who brings a world back to life.

by Joshua (J. E.) Dyer

Being sixteen can be Hell. For Sarah, every day is the same. Keep up with the grades. Stay on top of the cleaning and laundry around their cramped apartment. Friends? Boys? If her mom found out, her rage would follow. For as long as Sarah could remember, it’s always been her and her mom. Stories of her dad’s untimely death hold their own questions.\ \ So long as her chores get done and she stays close to home, everything’s sunny. Otherwise, she might feel the wrath of her mom’s love.\ \ That all changes when Sarah’s great aunt leaves her a mysterious journal in her will. Its pages tell tales of a missing brother’s adventures, riding the rails in the 1930s. The further Sarah delves into the events surrounding him, the closer she gets to uncovering her own past. As the truths of her great uncle’s disappearance come to light, she unearths the skeletons hidden in her mom’s closet.\ \ Then, there’s Collin. The boy she’s had a crush on for years picks now of all times to ask her out. Juggling a boyfriend and a relationship on top of everything else could push her and her mother to their breaking point.\ \ Sparks will fly on Sarah’s journey to independence and healing. One boy’s journey across Great Depression America could hold the key to setting her free. Sarah needs to find him in time to get to the truth before time takes another relative and his secrets to the grave.

by joshua gibson

Caleb Monroe survived the war, but he did not come home whole. After an ambush near Ghazni costs him his right leg and takes the life of his closest friend, Caleb returns to Texas carrying wounds no surgeon can repair. His marriage is broken, his faith is buried under anger, and his relationship with his young son is slipping away. When a failed attempt to end his pain leaves him alive, Caleb is forced to face the wreckage he has spent years trying to outrun. Through his twin sister Riley, a wounded nurse named Leah, and an old veteran named Jenkins, Caleb is drawn into Rally Point—a Christ-centered refuge for veterans, families, and the brokenhearted. Inside the retired walls of Station 9, Caleb begins to learn that redemption does not erase the fire. It teaches a man how to rise from the ashes.

by Sarah Bantu

**About the Story** What if the key to your survival was locked inside a secret, ancient bloodline?\ Spun from a fascinating true piece of Russian history and set against the brutal, breathtaking backdrop of the frozen north, *Daughter of the Falcon* blends gripping suspense with an unforgettable romance.\ For centuries, deep within the endless, snow covered forests, an elite and hidden clan of warriors lived by their own laws. They did not just survive the winter they ruled it, training lethal military falcons to hunt, fight, and protect secrets hidden from the world. Today, that fierce bloodline legacy is alive, but the isolation of the frozen north is cracking. A dangerous, unpredictable threat is closing in, forcing old secrets into the light and testing the loyalty of a clan that has never bowed to anyone.\ Filled with high stakes twists, deep betrayal, and a slow burn love story that burns hot against the bitter ice, this fiction novel proves that some family histories can never stay buried. Step into a harsh, beautiful world where danger hides in every shadow, trust is a luxury, and you never know what's going to happen next. Discover what happens when the frost bites deep, and the falcon finally takes flight.

by D. K. Dowdy

*The Awkward Formula for Growing Up* is an honest portrait of early adolescence. It captures the moment when childhood ends in a slow, inevitable bend toward adulthood. The novel stands alone while also opening a multi‑volume cycle that traces Chris’s life. Sometimes funny, exciting, emotional, or tragic.

by D. K. Dowdy

The Awkward Formula follows Chris through the messy, tender years between childhood and adulthood. He stumbles through first crushes, shifting friendships, family tensions, and the quiet moments that end up mattering more than he ever expected. Set in early‑1990s Florida, the series captures adolescence in all its contradictions. This is growing up the way it really happens: slowly, awkwardly, and in pieces.

by James Crenshaw

Jacob is a young man carrying the weight of loneliness, regret, and a life that never quite turned out the way he imagined. His only constant companion is Korra, his loyal dog, who stays by his side through long nights spent sleeping under the stars and wandering roads with no clear destination. As Jacob struggles to find purpose, strange events begin to unfold around him. He experiences moments that feel out of place—small cracks in reality that he can't explain. Dreams blur with waking life. Familiar places seem different. Time itself begins to feel unstable. Throughout his journey, Jacob is unknowingly being watched by an ancient and mysterious figure known only as The Watcher. While Jacob believes he is simply trying to survive another difficult chapter of his life, forces beyond his understanding have already taken an interest in him. As the story progresses, Jacob is repeatedly confronted with choices that test his character, forcing him to decide whether he will continue running from his pain or face it head-on. Along the way, Korra becomes more than just a companion—she becomes Jacob's anchor to reality. The climax of Book One reveals that the strange occurrences are not random. Reality itself is beginning to shift around Jacob. Though he doesn't fully understand it yet, he has become connected to something far larger than himself: a series of worlds, timelines, or realities that may not be as separate as they seem. The book ends with Jacob standing at the edge of a truth he cannot yet comprehend. The Watcher remains hidden, the mystery unresolved, and the first hints of Jacob's true role in the unfolding story finally begin to emerge. Themes: survival, loss, redemption, friendship, destiny, and the search for meaning in a fractured reality.

by Blaze Fire

At a heated Chicago hospitality conference, passionate strategist Simone Beauviuex clashes with data-driven director Marco Rivera in a viral debate on heart versus profit. Their fiery banter ignites into one unforgettable night of raw chemistry—apple martinis, sharp wit, and promises made in the heat of the moment. But Marco slips away at dawn with a curt four-sentence note, returning to his stagnant relationship.   Months later, pregnant and determined to raise her baby alone, Simone returns to Miami. When she joins Herrera Visions as a senior strategist, she discovers Marco is her boss. The reunion upends everything: Marco is stunned to learn he’s about to become a father and is ready to step up, but his ex Amanda isn’t ready to let go. As professional boundaries blur and family drama explodes (loud Caribbean-American cookouts, protective relatives, and unsolicited advice included), Marco must prove he’s done running.   Through nursery builds, glucose tests, Sunday dinners, and an emergency C-section, Simone and Marco navigate co-parenting, lingering sparks, and the messy reality of turning one night into forever. With their baby at the center, they learn that the best plans are the ones rewritten by love.   A steamy, heartfelt contemporary romance packed with enemies-to-lovers tension, surprise pregnancy, workplace complications, and the irresistible pull of found family. Perfect for fans of emotional second chances and strong-willed heroines who get their happily ever after—on their own terms.

by Elwyne Verahs

A young girl who wishes for peace in a nation built around warfare is sent into exile with her once celebrated war hero father and their loyal steward. When her father mysteriously falls catatonic, the burden of survival shifts. Forcing the steward to decide whether to tend to the broken man he considers family or protect and provide for the man’s young daughter in a land that’s alive with hostility toward humankind—a hatred born of war.   Choosing to take matters into her own hands, Fiora looks back on memories of her deceased mother’s flower garden and struggles to coax life out of tainted soil. She gains an unlikely ally in a curious tree spirit who teaches her to look deeper into the growing things around her. But the land remembers more than it reveals. As Fiora digs into its roots—and into her father’s silence- she senses that exile is only the beginning. Some truths lie buried in the soil, while others are guarded by the people she trusted the most.

by Melanie Kallai

Beyond the walls, nothing is as they told her.  More than a century after global eruptions plunged the climate-fragile world into chaos, seventeen-year-old Barrett is destined for a Noble life in the coastal stronghold of Nuevo Leben, until Ronan, a dangerously perceptive rogue, shows her evidence that her mother is alive and captive in Old North America. Barrett's perfect future shatters. She must cross a deadly wasteland to find her, guided by the last person she should trust. As they face a forgotten world of hostile tribes, vicious predators, and unexpected allies, Barrett questions everything, including her growing feelings for Ronan and her place in this fractured world. But the further she travels from Nuevo Leben, the more she wonders whether its walls kept the world out, or kept her in.

by Anie G. Ross

Ten years after escaping a life of servitude behind the Veil, Wren is dragged back into the shimmering, cruel world of the fae. Her captor is Fionn, a silver-tongued bastard prince from her past who remembers the magic in her blood better than she does herself. Fionn is crafting a masterpiece of manipulation to usurp the throne, and he needs Wren’s rare, touch-based mind-reading to harvest the secrets of his treacherous brothers. Forced into a secret coven of gifted women, Wren must master forgotten, ancient magic to survive a world where every smile is a snare. Caught between her hatred for the monsters who stole her life and a growing, dangerous desire for the prince who promises to change everything, Wren must decide if she is Fionn’s greatest weapon, his equal partner, or merely the latest sacrifice in his climb to the crown.  *For fans of ACOTAR and The Cruel Prince.*

by Anie G. Ross

A romantasy series revolving around faery lords.  The Dusk & Dawn Story: *A young woman with a gift is bound to an endless cycle of romance and death, pulled between two faery rulers of opposite courts: Summer and Autumn. From Coventry 1121 to New Orleans 1788 to modern day, nine lives isn't nearly long enough.*

by Anie G. Ross

In a world of gaslit opulence and rigid etiquette, Blythe is a haunting anomaly—a brilliant spiritualist whose soul is trapped between life and death within an automaton body. Her only link to the living is Tarn “Madcap” Carrigan, a sorcerer-alchemist extraordinaire whose penchant for scandal is always one bad day away from another fatal mystery. With otherworldly secrets and new magic to discover, Blythe and Tarn are bound by an inseparable partnership.

by Anie G. Ross

***Harry Potter meets Sorcery of Thorns.*** *For fans of dark academia, magical university, and rivals-to-lovers.* Gwen O'Dorchaidhe thought her life was going to plan as the perfect heir to a pureblood line of sorcerers. Until the ordinary, untaught, *American* Chosen One entered her life, challenging everything she was raised to believe about potential. Breaking curses and challenging the outdated rules of sorcerer society is just another year at Cairn-Gait Conservatory.

by Anie G. Ross

*For fans of dark academia romance, magical university, and sharp-witted rivals-to-lovers stories.*\ At the prestigious Cairn-Gait Conservatory, magic is a matter of bloodline, and ‘Ink’ is the only currency that matters. Gwen O’Dorchaidhe’s life was mapped out perfectly as the heir to a pureblood legacy—until Will Mason arrives. An ordinary, untaught American ‘Vapour’ who possesses the raw, unrefined power of a hurricane and a target on his back as the world’s most inconvenient Chosen One.\ From the moment they meet, it’s an electric rivalry. Tasked with tutoring a boy raised in the normie world she was taught to look down upon, Gwen finds herself caught in a dangerous game of resonance and secrets.\ But when a terrifying, centuries-old death-curse breaches the campus grounds—leaving the headless silhouette of the legendary Rider to hunt students across the midnight moors—everything Gwen thought she knew changes. Breaking curses and challenging the outdated rules of sorcerer society is just another year at Cairn-Gait. Yet, as Gwen risks everything to anchor a boy who is as much a curse as he is a savior, a ruinous, forbidden attraction ignites between their cores.\ Gwen is about to learn that some reputations are better off ruined.\ Perfect for fans of dark academia romance, magical university, and sharp-witted rivals-to-lovers stories.\ *Author Note: Preview here. The full book is currently available on Amazon.*

by Anie G. Ross

In a world of gaslit opulence and rigid etiquette, Blythe is a haunting anomaly—a brilliant spiritualist whose soul is trapped between life and death within an automaton body. Her only link to the living is Tarn “Madcap” Carrigan, a sorcerer-alchemist extraordinaire whose penchant for scandal turns deadly when he is framed for the attempted assassination of the Empress using his own repurposed formula. While Blythe struggles to reconcile her lost humanity with her new, doll-like form, the purposefully improper Tarn must rely on her spectral talents to navigate a web of political treachery and corrupted sorcery. Together, their perilous adventure across borders leads them to unmask the true culprit and confront the secrets of the dark magic that brought them together. *Author Note: Any feedback/reviews are genuinely appreciated! This story is truly open to "kill your darlings" edits.*

by Anie G. Ross

For thirty years, Dani’s biggest problem was a blank canvas—until the Bone Queen found her. After a brutal encounter with the ancient hag leaves her mundane life in tatters, Dani is pulled into the dual-edged splendor of the faery world. She finds herself a prize caught between two warring extremes: the incandescent, sun-drenched arrogance of the Summer Court and the velvet, obsidian dangers of the Dusk Court. As she flees a monster determined to end her, Dani is irresistibly drawn to two rival sovereigns: Kay, the radiant Lord of Dawn, and Corvus, the brooding Prince of Shadows. Though she has no memory of them, her charcoal sketches tell a different story. Her art acts as a window into a hidden past, revealing vivid, involuntary visions of previous lives shared with both men—each ending in her own tragic death. Dani soon discovers she is trapped by a geis, a divine curse binding her to the faery rulers in an unending cycle of reincarnation and ruin. To survive the Bone Queen’s pursuit and finally claim a future of her own, Dani must use her sketches to unearth lost memories and rewrite the ending of a story that has ended her eight times before. In a world where beauty is a mask for horror and love always ends in tragedy, Dani must decide if she can truly save the two men who have watched her die for centuries—or if some loops are meant to stay broken. *Author Note: Any feedback/reviews are genuinely appreciated!*

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.