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."

*FEATURED ON @storiesundiscovered TALES OF THE HEART* There were two things Jen could conclude from her intimate, admiring study of Nathaniel Wells - the sleepy smile creasing an arch into the olive-skinned cheek, the thick dark hair falling into his eyes in handsome disarray, the general tidiness, gentle and unaffected politeness, accent lilting with the round vowels of the well-read and well-educated. Firstly, that the eye-watering rent would be shouldered with incredible ease. And secondly, that he and Lola would, most likely, not get on very well at all. Doctor-in-training Nathaniel Wells thought moving into a flat by the hospital where he works would make his life easier. Little did he know that the beautiful renovated loft came with an equally beautiful, wild inhabitant, who would make his life a new kind of hell... Mature (erotic) content New writer, all critique gratefully received

Autumn is a third year University student that just got out of a long-term abusive relationship. As she is trying to find herself again she runs into her ex-boyfriend at a concert where the dashing lead singer rescues her from the abuse. Autumn and Leighton's lives continue to tangle together as both of them learn to love themselves through each other. Sexual tension, murder and campus drama are just the beginning of what this story has to offer.