Elizabeth Grey is eleven, diabetic, and invisible in her own home. Her mother is cold, obsessed with wealth and status, and barely notices when Elizabeth skips meals or comes home pale and shaking. Her only comfort is a worn stuffed bird and the quiet corners she hides in at school-until even that safety starts to slip away. When her mother announces she's marrying a powerful man named Ethan Kingston, Elizabeth is forced into a new home with four unfamiliar boys and a father who rules with silence. She doesn't know what's worse: being alone... or being seen for the first time.

The Demir brothers accept a girl as a mere formality, one they suspect is a spy. Cold, ruthless, and indifferent, they treat her like nothing. Until a single truth shatters everything. Yerenica isn't the enemy. She's their sister.

After enduring years of neglect and cruelty from her mother and stepfather, Ariana's life changes drastically when tragedy brings her under the guardianship of five brothers she's never met and they never even knew they had a sister. For her brothers, learning they have a sister is an unwelcome surprise. Suspicious and reluctant, her brothers see Aria as an outsider, a stranger disrupting the fragile balance of their lives. For Aria, their home is both a new beginning and a constant reminder of the family that left her behind. Haunted by the pain of her past, Aria struggles to adjust, her every action guarded and her trust hard to earn. As her brothers try to understand her, they begin to glimpse the scars she hides and the strength she carries. Little by little, resentment turns to empathy, and the walls between them start to crumble. But just as the siblings begin to find common ground, the secrets and trauma of Aria's old life threaten to tear them apart. Together, they must decide whether they can overcome the shadows of the past to forge a family and whether Aria can finally find a place to belong.

Aurora's life had always been about survival, each day a quiet battle against fear and pain. When her stepfather was finally arrested, she thought the fight was over. But leaving one dangerous world meant stepping into another-one she didn't fully understand. Now, she's living with seven older brothers she barely knows, their lives a tangle of secrets and shadows they never speak of. Their house is loud, protective, and filled with rules she's afraid to break. For Aurora, it's a new kind of survival. For her brothers, it's a chance to keep her safe-no matter what it takes.

book 1 of the windows of the soul duology ✿ ✿ ✿ lucent: softly bright or radiant ✿ ✿ ✿ My brother's hand traces the cut on my right cheek for some minutes. I have no idea how a cut can be so interesting, but I won't judge a book by its cover. He unexpectedly moves and places a heartwarming kiss on my crown, brushing through the strands of my hair. But what startles me the most, is when he speaks, "Duerme bien, mi niña bonita." And just as I wasn't able to sleep hours ago because of my stupid fear, I let myself fall into a dreamless sleep as his soothing voice travels through my ears. ✿ ✿ ✿ Layla Rivera. A young naive fourteen-year-old who's just lost her childhood best friend and guardian. She's anxious and timid when meeting other people, so she usually cowers and distracts herself, immerse between the pages of books. When she is thrown into the lion's den - or also named as her older brothers' house - she's left fearful and intimidated by the six foot three males who she never had a clue about. Trying to make sense of what her new life will bring while being unaware of the dangers her new home beholds, she tries to make her way into her new family, but it doesn't seem as easy as she expected, or is it? ©️juststarsandbooks All written works on this account belong to Juststarsandbooks. I do not condone any reproduction/duplication of this book anywhere - app, website, etc - without my consent. Pics aren't mine.

Ivy Bright has always believed that a smile can fix anything - even when life keeps proving her wrong. Stuck in a cold mansion with a neglectful mother and a cruel stepfather, she scrubs floors and hides her pain behind a cheerful mask, convinced that kindness is the only thing she has left to give. But everything changes when five strangers arrive, their presence dark and commanding. The Vitalo brothers - Massimo, Declan, Zayn, Jaxon, and Vale - have come to reclaim what's rightfully theirs. They expected to find their father living off their late mother's fortune. What they didn't expect was Ivy. She's not their blood, yet something about her stirs a long-buried instinct to protect. Hardened by loss and betrayal, the brothers have forgotten what softness feels like... until they see the girl with the unbreakable smile. They came for vengeance. They met her. But can Ivy's light survive their darkness? Or will the shadows that cling to the Vitalo brothers consume her, too?

I froze. A man was slumped against the graffiti-covered brick wall, blood blooming across his side. His white shirt was soaked through, and there was a gun just inches from his open hand. My heart slammed against my ribs. Run, Skye. You should run. But I didn't. Instead, I dropped my bag and took a cautious step closer. His head lifted. Piercing, icy blue eyes met mine, sharp even through the haze of pain. His face was all sharp edges and shadowed scruff, blood trailing from the corner of his mouth. His accent was thick and rough, like broken glass. "Leave." I shook my head slowly. "You're bleeding. Bad." "Not your concern." His voice was lethal, but he flinched hard when he tried to move. "You're gonna die out here," I whispered, kneeling beside him. My hands trembled as I pressed a napkin from my apron against his side. "I'm studying to be a nurse. Let me help." He stared at me like I was something he couldn't comprehend. A stranger. A softness he didn't trust. Then his hand, heavy and warm, clamped around my wrist-not rough, but firm. "What's your name?" he rasped. "...Skye." A beat passed. Then another. "I am Mikhail." His eyes darkened. "And you shouldn't have found me."

Arabella D'Angelo is just a shell of a girl, a mere presence floating through the halls of her Los Angeles home. Her once bright grey eyes and sunshine-like spirit was crushed by the weight of her abusive parents. Living in a constant state of fear and despair, the sixteen year old girl endured the endless cycle of violence and cruelty that had plagued her everyday. She had learned to keep her head down, her voice silent and her pain buried deep within her fragile heart. Quiet and reserved were the only terms that could describe her closed-off persona. But then, in a cruel yet fortunate twist of fate, a tragedy struck. Arabella's parents were killed in a mysterious but deadly car crash, the wreckage leaving behind nothing but burnt ashes. Their abrupt deaths opened the doors to a new chapter in Arabella's eventful life, as her custody was now handed over to her elder brother, Damon D'Angelo. While Damon had everything a man could ever wish for, he didn't have that one thing, or person in this case, that he longed for everyday. His baby sister, whom he would kill or get killed for, no hesitation whatsoever. Him and his brothers were never this happier when they heard about their sister's arrival in their abode. Finally, things are looking up for them. The question is, for how long? Join the journey of the D'Angelo siblings, who go through hell and back, facing every single challenge thrown at their face and overcoming it with everyone by their sides. After all, it is the D'Angelo blood they got running through veins.

Dahlia Wellburg hates her misery as much as she loves it. She sees herself as a stone: ordinary and unwanted. Yet, they know her to be a rose: soft, but with thorns. . . . Mature Content. Check the tags.