❝ Things are only as beautiful as you make them, Charlie. Including murder. ❞ It's the opening night of Burton Abbey's production of Romeo and Juliet and all is going smoothly - that is until the climactic death scene. Romeo takes a big gulp of the poison to be with his lover, except it really is poison and Elijah, who plays Romeo, is now dead. Charlie Monet, in charge of props, is the first suspect but soon the suspicion around her turns to worry as it seems she's the next target. Khaleel Rahim, an aspiring writer, is dying for a mystery to solve at his new school. When he sees Charlie sneaking around at night he thinks he's finally found something worth writing about. After discovering Charlie's ability to see visions of the past, Khaleel decides that they're the perfect pair to solve the mystery. With threatening notes, a quiet library and poison disguised as props; somebody in the school is blurring the lines between theatre and reality and the fast friends are about to discover that there's more to boarding school than just silly rumours. [2022 Watty's Shortlist]

Blackwell Boarding School is swarmed with cameras that prey on the students in order to film for the reality TV show that shows an exclusive inside to an elite school. Zora McQueen avoids the glistening TV screen when her nudes are spread around campus, instead taking comfort with the only other person who keeps secrets from the public. Alluring mystery and dubbed slut, Eliott Hearse. Except now, Eliott is missing and no one has the faintest idea where she could've gone. Taking matters into her own hands, Zora believes that the answers may lie in Eliott's favourite game: chess. Partnering with the school's best chess club player, Arwyn Truong, Zora learns that not everything is as it seems and that perhaps the old school holds far more secrets than they'd care to admit. Some secrets hitting dangerously close to home. In order to see things for what they are and find her friend, Zora must escape the gossip and cameras that follow her closely and embrace the title she adorns. The only way to do that? Follow the Slut's Guide to Chess. [2022 Watty's Shortlist] [Featured on Wattpad Editors' Picks, April 2021 + 2023]