1870, Philadelphia, USA. Martha Whitcomb, the wild child of Philadelphia society, is now a grown woman, independent in wealth and in personality. At twenty-three, still unmarried and childless, she is exposed to constant rumors and ridicule, crushed by the ever-increasing weight of the sneers and jibes of her peers, and haunted by the failed engagement to the one who got away. Her dreams of becoming a successful businesswoman are blocked at every turn by the men around her, who are determined to smother the voice of a young woman intruding in their world. Realizing that she will never fit into the mold already set by society, Martha joins the droves of Americans heading west to the open frontier, a world that appears free from restraints, from convention, and from the expectations she has come to loathe. Upon her arrival to the growing town of Paradise Reach, she believes that she has indeed found her paradise. She soon realizes, however, why this town's inhabitants have dubbed it Purgatory Reach. She quickly learns that the west is free from the suffocating rules because it is a world more focused on immediate survival. It is a world where an insult could quickly escalate to a gunfight in the streets, a dangerous world crawling with outlaws, thieves, liars, and schemers. One of these outlaws is Jack Gatling, a rancher-turned-gambler. Escaping both demons of his own and the law, Jack came to Paradise Reach in hopes of making his fortune only to find himself focused on staying alive until tomorrow. In Martha, he sees an opportunity of his own, a chance to earn the riches he has been chasing. Martha knows she has two choices: return to Philadelphia with her tail between her legs and lock herself back in her gilded cage, or succeed in a world where women have few choices but to sell their bodies to make a living. Can Purgatory Reach again become Paradise? **Sequel to Dear Rhodora**

Arabella Cartridge had her heart stolen and it wasn't metaphorically. Driven by the need for revenge against the sea witch who stole it, Arabella has turned to piracy in an attempt to steal back her heart and kill the witch. There's just one problem: a curse that keeps Arabella from dying also keeps her from finding or remembering what the witch looks like. It's this curse that gives Arabella strange abilities. These abilities lead one man to question her very existence aboard his ship: Captain Kaden Lockes Suddenly Arabella and Kaden find themselves surrounded by dangerous and otherworldly creatures. Now the two of them must team up along with a wary Leviathan and Arabella's overeager brother to fight not only the sea witch, but also a nasty navy admiral with a grunge against Arabella. Witches, secrets and myths make themselves known as Kaden learns why Arabella is so jaded and why her heart was so valued. Too bad, the truth could kill them. Highest Ranking: #1 in Adventure NANOWRIMO novel 2014

Nearly fifty light years away from earth, a lone space ship lands at a space port, and the lone human steps out into the first contact being made in the first time in nearly a thousand years.

[Completed] The Royal Guard of the Empire has faithfully served Byzantia for nearly three centuries now. Hand picked from foreign lands, these guardsmen hold no political ties, carry no agendas, and bare no creeds except to those who sit upon the Onyx Throne. They are vanguards, protectors, loyalists. They are Vangen. Change has come to the Empire. An Empress sits upon the throne now, destroying any who would rebel against her with both fire and iron. To the east, her loyal Vangen work to quash the newest rebellion, until a letter arrives one day, marked with the Empresses seal. The contents within bare only dread and disturbance for the Guardsmen. The Black Ministry, the former Emperor's cabal of Sorcerers, have turned against the Empress. The Vangen's return is bittersweet. The city they once called home is now a battlefield, every street a choke-point. Every home a possible nesting ground for rebels. The Royal Guard will have to fight tooth and nail to put down the Ministry and protect the Empress, but the deeper they go, the harder the lines begin to blur. In a world where good and evil does not exist, where then does a man's loyalty lie? (Comments and Feedback are always appreciated)

He was the prince who got away. He had it all - power, fame, glory, honor. (Did I mention the unlimited supply of money, alcohol and women?) Yet he chose the human world. She wasn't shy, quiet or even remotely sweet. She wasn't your girl next door and she certainly was not a princess. When Victoria is hired to kill a mysterious stranger, she didn't know she was dealing with royalty. Of the immortal kind. Their worlds are about to get intertwined in a way neither could've foreseen. Welcome to a place where pretences are everything and everyone lies to get what they want. There will be scandals. Conspiracies. Betrayal. Love. Vampires, angels, magic and smoking hot men. And of course, a whole lot of "What the hell just happened?" *** Current ranking - #1 on Fantasy Wattpad Featured book Fiction Award Winner 2017 Completed

Iliana Katrakis couldn't care less about the will of the gods, and she's certain they feel the same way about her. After all, it's rare for the god-touched to live normal lives--and that's all she wants. Having spent the last three years aboard the merchant ship Airlea, Iliana couldn't be happier. Sure, her best friend Kain is the only one who knows she's a girl, but it's a good life. The work is simple, and her shipmates are the closest thing to a family she has. Fate, however, is not on her side. A storm tosses the Airlea wildly off course. Within the day, she's stranded, alone and injured, on a foggy island known only as Inna's Cove. She's given a choice: become one of the islands' goddess blessed sirens and rescue her best friend, or take her chance with the monster-infested woods. The choice seems obvious. That is, until the mercenaries arrive. Their captain wants a siren--and not even the threat of the goddess' wrath will change his mind. **Cover by Morana

Captain Alex Woodward was fighting Napoleonic troops on the Peninsula, until his wounds forced him to retire. Now he travels to an estate of his former comrade, killed by the enemies, to fulfill his promise and help the slain officer's sisters any way he could. The estate is entailed, but the eldest sister Rebecca comes up with an ingenious solution to their problem. Although Rebecca's idea is highly irregular and somewhat illegal, Alex's promise wouldn't let him to back off. It could've been easy, if their mutual attraction didn't complicate matters. And then, Rebecca's brother's secret past comes to light, and a worse entanglement ensues.

Criminal necromancer & vampire private eye team up to solve the case of the missing barista. *** When a client drops dead in her fortune telling parlor, 'reformed' necromancer Isla has no choice but to illegally resurrect the poor gal. Your girl's got priors, alright? Hiding a corpse will send Isla back to the slammer. The client's just a Tourist, so Isla is certain nobody will notice. But you know what they say: The only things certain in life are death, taxes, and a handsome vampire poking his fangs where they don't belong. Gregor, a vampire private detective, has been hired to find another vamp's misplaced favorite bloodbag-- I mean, barista. Greg knows the fraudulent and distractingly attractive psychic, Isla, is the key to the barista's whereabouts, but he just can't put his fangs on what it is she's hiding from him. If her little whoopsie is discovered, Isla fears both the otherworldly authorities and an ancient vampire will have her throat. So she does what any girl would do in her situation. She hires Greg to find the risen barista for her first so that she can undo the resurrection. Sparks fly and blood splatters as Greg and Isla investigate Philadelphia's secret paranormal society, throw literal bones at the werewolf mafia, commune with the spirits of dead vampire-brides, dodge arrest by the magic fuzz, and occasionally pop off for late night cheesesteaks. The Vampire Always Bites Twice is the Wattys 2022 Grand Prize Winner! The "Bites Twice" Mysteries 1 - The Vampire Always Bites Twice 1.5 - Doubull Indemnity [revised version coming soon) 2 - Shadow of a Curse (Coming Fall 2025) This book contains explicit sexual content, paranormal violence, animal harm, and gore.

{WATTYS 2020 WINNER} {FEATURED BOOK} Paris, 1663. 500 girls selected by King Louis XIV embark on a journey across the seas from their homeland. Each is given a dowry, and the expectation that they are to marry a French settler, in order to increase the population of New France. They are the historic Daughters of the King, or "les filles du roi." Eighteen-year-old Celeste Dubois is a free-spirited, educated and headstrong girl. She comes from a wealthy Parisian family that has squandered their money and is subsequently forced to journey to New France. However, Celeste doesn't plan on marrying a complete stranger. She hopes to use the dowry and the free voyage as a way to escape the poverty and social ranks of Paris. Matters are complicated when against her will, she falls in love. Romantic, kind and stunningly beautiful Lorraine Leblanc is a girl from a large family with children to spare. Unlike Celeste, she happily dreams of the day she will meet her future husband in New France. When she marries a mysterious widower with two young children of his own and still reeling after his broken heart, she realizes that married life isn't all she had hoped it would be, and begins to question her new husband's complicated past. - Wattpad Picks Blast to the Future Past list 2018 - The 50 Best Wattpad Stories of 2018/19 by Design Wizard - 2018 Youngblood Awards Winner (Romance) - 2018 True North Awards 2nd place for Historical Fiction and 2nd place Truly Canadian special category award - Featured by Wattpad Historical Fiction profile under Kings, Courtships and Empires, Young Adult Fiction profile under Love, Actually and Romance profile under Time will Tell *Please be aware that since this book covers the colonial period, it does contain sensitive themes of racism and violence that readers will find disturbing. There are resources at the back of the book that prompt further learning in the Historical Notes section.*

Wattys 2021 Short List. Shipwrecked on a criminal-infested mining colony, military telepath Reid Kaplan needs answers about the attack on his ship and the unusual alien activity on the planet he's stranded on. Unfortunately, some of those answers might lie in a mind as unique as it is dangerously flawed. Customs inspector Jinsin Koel is used to having guns pointed at her head - but not ones attached to weapon-heavy cyborg insects who consider her lower on the food chain. The Xykeree, past enemies of humanity, should never have been allowed to dock at her home port. And they're just the start of her problems. Throw in a hereditary neurological illness and a secret society of soldiers genetically tailored for psionic combat and she has herself a whole new level of trouble ... the kind that could destroy her personal foundations and imperil billions of lives. Complete novel (word count approx. 115,600; no cliffhanger ending) Action adventure, space opera Reader advisory: strong language, violence/horror, sexual content UK spelling