*Wattys 2018 Winner / Hidden Gems* CREATE YOUR OWN MR. RIGHT Weeks before Valentine's, seventeen-year-old Kate Lapuz goes through her first ever breakup, but soon she stumbles upon a mysterious new app called My Dream Boyfriend, an AI chatbot that has the ability to understand human feelings. Casually, she participates in the app's trial run but finds herself immersed in the empathic conversations with her customizable virtual boyfriend, Ecto. In a society both connected and alienated by technology, Kate suspects an actual secret admirer is behind Ecto. Could it be the work of the techie student council president Dion or has Kate really found her soulmate in bits of computer code? She decides to get to the bottom of the cutting-edge app. Her search for Ecto's real identity leads Kate to prom, where absolute knowledge comes with a very steep price.

When Desmond Mellow transfers to an elite all-boys high school, he immediately gets a bad impression of his new deskmate, Ivan Moonrich. Gorgeous, mysterious, and menacing, Ivan is exactly what Desmond doesn't need in his life - or so he thinks... ***** After causing trouble in his previous high school, Desmond is struggling to adapt to his new environment at Ivory High and to stop living in the shadow of his perfect older brother. As usual, trouble follows Desmond wherever he goes and nothing is going well. To make matters worse, he seems to have attracted the attention of The Class Prince, aka the infamous Ivan Moonrich. But despite their rocky start, Desmond begins to grow feelings for Ivan, discovering a new side of his identity that he never thought to experience. [[word count: 50,000 - 60,000]] Cover designed by Joe Resch

After a year and a half of trying to move on from the what-ifs, the tides have pulled Alexandra Rivera and Zachariah Kim back together again. ***** In the heart of Hawai'i, Alex finds an instant connection when she meets her best friend Emmie's new boyfriend at a party. And even as the relationship becomes strained, their friendship continues to grow until Alex finds herself stuck between the two people she loves the most. Though she learns how hard it is to balance these two relationships, especially after Emmie and Zach's relationship ends, they dive deeper and deeper into the depths of their secrets until their lies pull them under. After everything falls apart and Zachariah moves away for a year and a half, he returns and Alexandra's life is shaken up because he's not the only one back in town. With Zachariah and Emmie both returning to O'ahu, Alex is forced to reconcile what she wants out of life, and who she wants to be. » 2021/2022 wattys shortlist » editor's pick « » featured on @ContemporaryLit, @NewAdult, @StoriesUndiscovered, @Romance, @WattpadAsianFiction, @WattpadEmpowered «