Eleanor never really stood a chance. Her mother was in love with a married man and a little bit crazy. And even though Eleanor's tired mother hated children, she was convinced that he would love her too if they just had a child together. That's how Eleanor was born. And when Eleanor didn't work, when he didn't leave his wife, she decided that one baby wasn't enough and so she had another. And that's how Casey was born. When she realized that having his children wasn't going to make him fall in love with her, she remembered just how badly she hated children. Eleanor and Casey were suddenly thrown aside by their broken-hearted mother; and then their father, being the married man that he was, completely denied their existence. Which left 8-year-old Eleanor and newborn baby Casey in foster care, hidden from the world like a blemish. As Eleanor gets older, she is forced to protect her brother from the cruel world that they live in. She doesn't want him to grow up like she did, feeling like a thrown away misfit. Eleanor learns that she needs to do whatever it takes to get her brother a better life. And that's when the trouble starts for her. By the time that Eleanor turns 22, she has been consumed by a world of lies, money, and sex. Convinced that doing the wrong thing is okay for the right reasons, Eleanor is used to living with two separate identities. When it all starts to catch up with her, Eleanor has to figure out how she is going to make it out of the mess that she's created. Poor girl. She never really stood a chance.

Yasmin used to love living on an apple orchard with her family. She loved going out into the orchard in the mornings to pick the apples with her family, running around with her brother and their dog while her mom and dad would sneak kisses behind the trees when they thought nobody was looking. When Yasmin was twelve, however, everything changed. Her mother died and then, slowly, so did all of the apple trees. As the trees started to lose their leaves and shrivel up, she watched her dad cure his broken heart with whiskey. She watched her brother turn into somebody unrecognizable. As the apples died, so did her family. Even now, at eighteen, Yasmin lives with a dreadful sense of hopelessness in her small town with her twisted family and their stupid yet lovable dog. No way up, no way out. Yasmin is stuck. Until, of course, she meets Dex and he accidentally starts to change everything.

Vera Markov was born into this life. She did not choose it. Had she been given the choice, she never would have even considered this life to be an option. She was born a human but she was raised to be a monster. A killer, a fighter, a warrior. She was trained until there was no more humanity left inside of her, there was only cruelty, hatred, and apathy. She lived under her father's rule, executing his demands to the syllable. Dante Berardi knew her pain. He too was born a human, raised to be a monster. A killer, fighter, and a warrior too. They are practically the same person, except for the fact that they were also raised to hate each other. They were both born to rival crime families in the same city, fighting over money, territory, and just about anything else that they could fight over. Vera and Dante have never met until Vera is sent undercover to get answers from Dante's side of the city. She gets much more than she bargained for, finding answers to questions that she's never asked and feeling human emotions that she's never felt before. As she discovers more about herself and her past, Vera starts to wonder if the monster inside of her can ever be conquered or if she's doomed to this life forever.

Reece Bremer goes through life with a scowl and cold personality. Jessica Andrews goes through life with a glowing smile and positive outlook. Reece looks at life with dull, judgmental eyes that make him hate the world and the people living in it. Jessica, well... She looks at life through a camera. Literally. They're polar opposites, and that's what sparks Reece's immediate hate for Jessica the moment they meet. All he sees is a girl with the best life, put in the category of those who get everything handed to them on a silver platter. But who says Jessica's life is like that? Just like a photograph, there's more to the story than what you see. Stumbling across one of Jessica's hidden portfolio might reveal that her happiness isn't all that true. Behind that smile and each picture she takes, holds a thousand words of a very big secret - one that Reece is determined to find out. And who knows? It just might change everything between them. cover by dysanic || 2015 watty's winner for talk of the town ||

Lana and Sutton thought that they were going to take college by storm. Being on their own isn't easy but they have each other and when they have each other, they can do anything. Best friends, family, sisters, twins. They are with each other through thick and thin. They're trying to adapt to adult life, everything is going perfectly and they're ready for anything thrown their way. Homework, friends, exams, college parties, and college boys. It's their second year and they're ready for it to be the best year yet with new friends, new romances, and new memories. Little did they know what kind of storm was coming their way, and that nobody could ever be prepared for this.

*SEQUEL to The Bad Boy's Girl' and cannot be read as a stand-alone. Tessa O'Connell is a girl as in love as possible. Her goal for her freshman year of college is live wholly and love deeply, a task made easy by the spectacular man whose name reminds her of ice-cream and who supplies her endlessly with Kit- Kats. But with the couple in college, it becomes apparent that her boyfriend has the ability to charm the pants off of everything with a pulse. When status quo, clingy college girls, old insecurities and her slightly neurotic tendencies cause Tessa to question whether she can actually make the relationship work, it's up to Cole to show her that he's never letting go. Bu even for Cole Grayson Stone it's not easy to convince his Shortcake of never ending devotion as time apart, communication problems and a quirky new group of friends start to unravel the delicate thread that binds the two together. Can the boy who once protected her from the world protect Tessa from herself? Warning: Despite great efforts Cole Stone has still not been located on eBay, if you happen to come across him please let the Shortcakes know!

The White Cloud Hotel: Where dreams come true. Except for Bea Holloway, who was uprooted from her home in Illinois to move to Florida when her dad decides to buy this luxury hotel on the coast of Eastern Florida. Without any close friends or any school to return to, Bea doesn't look at this move as a bad thing until she realizes that this sunny paradise isn't all that it seems to be. Bea notices everything changing: Her family dynamic, her outlook on life, and her social life are all unlike how they were back home. With a flirty bellhop, a pretty lifeguard, a weird little brother, and her two dogs, Bea starts realizing that that living in a luxury hotel isn't so... luxurious.

"You know the good old days when we were joined at the hip? How about we just reset everything?" Jasper and Savannah. Those two has been inseparable since the day they met, they've been through everything together. Apparently, high school changed the both of them - from being the best of friends to total strangers. Sometimes, life just needs a reset button. [This is the spin-off for Falling For The Opposite. You don't need to read it in order to understand this story.]

Published under Pop Fiction/Summit Media. She's rich, he's not. She's the student body president, he's struggling to pass math. She's the queen bee, he's the loner in school. Celeste Graham is on the top of the high school food chain. Students look up to her, but some just plainly feel intimidated. Being popular isn't exactly the greener side of the meadow, but just one night of getting locked into the school with a "nobody" made Celeste feel normal and genuinely happy. Both of them bring a hidden side to each other. They might disagree most of the time, but that was a little price to pay for falling for their polar opposite.

She wasn't that drunk. So the six-foot something creature rummaging through her fridge half-naked, at eight in the morning was real. Now here's the tinsy winsy problem; She lives alone. ------------------------------------------------ Let's just say Catherine Wright wasn't having the best day. Everything just wasn't going well-right. So after a couple of sips of wine, she ended up 'praying' for some kind of distraction instead. Who knew the heavens answered prayers from drunk women. Now Damon Grace would be exactly what she asked for. And a few other things that would make her wish she never drank at all. (p.s. It wouldn't hurt to check the tags this story is on) Copyright © 2015 Liz Martinez All Rights Reserved