WATTYS 2023 SHORTLIST Sarah Kennedy's life has fallen to pieces. Her family is broken, she's growing apart from her only friend, and it's been a while since she's stopped dreaming about anything better. She embarks on a trip to Latin America, joining a retreat she hopes will mend her dwindling friendship and escape her miserable day-to-day life. Bad turns to worse, and her hopes are shattered when she is kidnapped by a cartel. While her life is miraculously spared, she's kept captive by a daunting and narcissistic drug lord, Pablo. As his obsession with her grows, so do his favors and promises. Sarah soon finds herself in a gilded cage, living a life more lavish than anything she's ever imagined. But all that glitters isn't gold, and this luxury has a price. If Sarah wants to escape the violent, treacherous, and cocaine-fueled world of cartels, she'll have to fight the demons that keep her captive, as well as the monsters in her head, armed with nothing but a dry sense of humor and a fragile strength. But as she and Pablo both know- it's a long journey home when you don't have any home to go to. _____________________ DTOD is marked as mature for strong language, drug use, violence (and also dark humor) and the occasional steam/smut. Trigger warnings are included before sensitive or explicit scenes. _____________________ "Drugs, Treasons and Other Demons, a niche erotica for people who like men who keep their socks on." "A book that will make you cry whenever you hear a Pitbull song." "By the time I finished reading this whole book, I could have read the entire Hunger Games saga. But I would have had a lot less fun." "I went to read a few chapters of this book one night, and all of a sudden a whole weekend went by on me."

"You're atheist," I remind him. "You don't believe in god." "I believe in you," He murmurs, letting the cigarette hang from his lips. "I believe in whatever you believe." He says, letting the confession roll off his tongue as if it were that simple. As if god, the devil, heaven, hell-as if none of it really had meaning to him. "That's not how it works," I mutter as we walk down a few more alleyways-the city of Manhattan coated in a light blanket of snow. Henry Vitiello had never had anything to pray for, that is, until he met me-the only thing that had ever opened his mind up to the possibility of religion "Isn't it?" He argues, taking the cigarette by his middle and pointer finger before blowing the smoke out. "I'II dip my hands in holy water if it means I could touch you." "You'd probably burn." 𓆩♡𓆪 𝐇𝐄𝐍𝐑𝐘 𝐕𝐈𝐓𝐈𝐄𝐋𝐋𝐎, the reaper. He's a prick. An asshole. A pretentious son of a bitch. He's not perfect. He's not even decent. But he's hers. She could be a bottle labeled poison but he was an alcoholic, and he had drunk her empty. Now he was hungover. 𝐉𝐀𝐍𝐄 𝐈𝐕𝐄𝐑𝐒, the healer. She's known to be the perfect good girl, with perfect grades and a perfect life with a perfect family. They didn't know that behind the gated doors of their billion dollar estate, she was strapped down to a chair every night and picked apart just to be put back together in time for supper. 𓆩♡𓆪 star-crossed; adjective (of a person or a plan) thwarted by bad luck. 'star-crossed lovers' and that, they were. So they fucked under those very stars that tried so desperately to break them apart. 𓆩♡𓆪 ‼️DISCLAIMER ‼️ BOOK REFERENCES TO MARA DYER, SHATTER ME, MIND FUCK, ETC ARE ALL INTENTIONAL SO DONT BE RUDE. AS FOR TRIGGER WARN

"Intimate relationships among the teachers is prohibited in this academy. So make sure no one hears your moans from behind closed doors." ~ After years of hard work, infinite patience and endless prayers, Antonia Rodriguez could finally achieve her dream of being a History professor at Queen's Academy, one of Britain's most prestigious universities. Even so, she felt her life succumbing to further dormancy. The consecutive disappointments in her private life only intensified her insatiable desires. Desires that included getting tied up and being used like a ragdoll by a dominant man. In an unexpected turn of events, Antonia's wildest fantasies come true in the form of a handsome thirty-two years old man named Rhys Clyde, who also happened to be the Chancellor of the very academy she taught in. Young, brilliant, powerful and with a PhD in Mathematics, Professor Clyde is more than the proper gentleman he appears to be, hiding a dark personality that is reserved exclusively for bedroom exhortations. Tempted by each other and the illicit nature of their relationship, the two are in for a dangerous gamble. Highest rank: #25 in Romance on 10.11.21 #23 in Mature on 12.11.21 #1 in BDSM on 18.11.21

Love comes in all shapes and forms, but Kelly Young had no idea it'd come in the form of her most hated teacher, Mr. Todd. •A Student x Teacher Romance. #1- Teen Fiction (30/04/2021) #3- teenfiction (03/11/2021 #5- Romance (02/04/2021) #1- studentteacherromance (10/03/2020) #1- agegap (11/13/2020) #1- feelings (01/26/2021) #1- teacher (02/28/2021) #1- student (02/28/2021) #1- teenromance (04/13/2021) #2- forbidden (12/23/2020) #5- teen romance (12/23/2020) #55- love (27/02/2022) #41- love (8/4/2022) #52- love (8/4/2022) STARTED: October 2, 2020 ENDED: April 17, 2021

"Fuck, baby. You can't say things like that to me. I want to, also. Trust me." His hand snakes down my body until he enters two of his fingers into my wet center. I can only moan in response. "However," he kisses my neck possessively, finding the right spot to drive me crazy. "I need to build you up to that." He pushes his fingers in and out of me, hitting deeper and deeper as his strokes become longer and harder and faster. "You feel that? My fingers deep in your pussy that's dripping for me?" He licks the side of my neck as my breaths come out in short pants. "My dick is going to stretch you out so much more. When I finally fuck you, you're going to be sore for days. And you're going to love it." ---------- Thea Brooks, an 18-year-old college student, lives her life by a schedule. She has school, homework, her job at the Coffee shop where she drinks way too much caffeine to be healthy, and the rest of the time she is watching her little sister while her mother is at work. She thinks that everything will remain the same as she starts her college classes, but that all changes when a new friend of hers introduces her to an attractive guy that she can't seem to get out of her head. Grayson Dark, a 22-year-old Alpha of his pack, has been searching for his mate since he turned 16. All hope is lost until one of his pack mates strolls into his home with the most magnificent scent- his mate's scent. After only slightly maiming his pack mate, it is revealed that his mate is close by- and human. Without understanding the supernatural world existing around her, Thea will have to learn to look past Grayson's faults- mainly his possessiveness and anger issues- while staying out of danger from unknown threats and learning her place at Grayson's side. Oh... and keeping her grades up. How hard can that be?

She was there for it all. Starting in the 1940s, Finley's journey sparked to life as soon as she saw the first punch thrown. Young Steve didn't stand a chance in that Brooklyn alleyway- not until she came along. It was always in her heart to help someone in need, but little did she know that helping Rogers meant so much more. Nobody had ever heard of Finley Reaser except for two people. Slowly though, her standings would grow. With the help of Steve Rogers and Bucky Barnes, Finley's future would flourish beyond anything she could ever dream of. It all started with one alleyway, with one punch, with one overpowering emotion; it would all start something that Finley would never be able to forget. It all started with one person: Bucky.