*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.

Henley agrees to pretend to date millionaire Bennett Calloway for a fee, falling in love as she wonders - how is he involved in her brother's false conviction? ****** Henley Linden's brother is in jail for a crime he didn't commit, and she'll take any job to raise the money needed to free him. Soon, she's agreed to pretend to date millionaire Bennett Calloway for ten thousand dollars, so his mother will ease up the pressure on him to find a wife. But once Henley is enmeshed in Bennett's world, he falls for her, and she starts to have feelings for him as well. Despite her romance with Bennett, as she grows closer to the Calloways, Henley realizes they are somehow involved in her brother's conviction. Journeying deeper into a world of wealth and conspiracies, Henley is forced to rely on Bennett, though doing so could cost her everything. [[word count: 200,000-250,000 words]]

"Never call a girl a bitch," I glared into his eyes as he opened them, piercing into me, the bright blue drink I had just poured over him still dripping from his dark hair. "Or she just might act like one." I gave him one last sarcastic smile before pushing by him and walking away, practically strutting. Well, this year will be fun... • • • • Crystal Summers; a self-proclaimed expert in all things sarcastic and the human embodiment of destructive decisions. Trying to get away from her troubled past, she moves with her mom to California to start a new life, and potentially not screw this one up. There, she quickly meets Scarlett and Savanah, her new-found partners in crime, and her life finally begins to feel normal again for the first time in years. But she just so happens to also collide with the school's sexy, notorious jackass, Ashton Monroe.. and his pack of asswipes. She loathes him, and the feeling is mutual. But as the poets say, the line separating love and hate is a very thin one. And often times, when two people hate each other, it can grow into much more. Hopeless devotion, if you will... • • • • !!!TRIGGER WARNING!!! • slight mention(s) of suicidal concepts • substance abuse, addiction, anxiety, PTSD • sexual assault, domestic abuse • strong language and mature scenes • • • •

"You are mine," He murmured across my skin. He inhaled my scent deeply and kissed the mark he gave me. I shuddered as he lightly nipped it. "Danny, you are mine and only mine, you understand?" Daniella Saunders had a pretty rough life. After being heartbroken and betrayed by both her father and her boyfriend, Danny moves to a small town to find the comfort of her mother. Everything is not what it seems and soon, Danny finds herself in the middle of a world she didn't even knew existed outside of fiction novels and movies. Not only does the town seem bizarre, but her senses heighten, her temper is out of control, and her hunger amplify. Throw in an arrogant, selfish, sexy, possessive player who didn't even want her in the first place, her life just seamlessly attract madness. Especially with those creepy threats coming from a "Silver Bullet", she can't keep still.