Pearl Blankenship, an autistic investigative journalist, witnesses the end of the world. Before the nuclear fallout can kill her, a mysterious being offers her a choice: come with him or stay on a dying planet Earth. **** Dumuzi, the being who offered, is an Anunnaki: a descendant of humankind's ancient alien creators. It is his mission to wipe out what remains of humanity in a few short weeks, sparing only those with a thirst for knowledge and moral character. After becoming a journalist, Pearl was mocked online, arrested for trespassing, and challenged globally for her conspiracy theories. Two things she knows for a fact: mankind deserves a second chance, and staying on Earth sounds... well, hazardous. She hopes that by getting closer to Dumuzi, she might be able to change his mind about humanity, as he is a councilman with power. But it isn't going to be easy. Communicating? It's difficult for her. And he is cold, wary of humans, and has weeks left to live due to an illness that plagues him. The more time she spends with him, the more his illness accelerates, and the more steamy attractions ignite into something seriously dangerous. The clock is ticking. 𝐂𝐖: 𝐒𝐞𝐱𝐮𝐚𝐥 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐭, 𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐯𝐢𝐨𝐥𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐨𝐧𝐠 𝐥𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐮𝐚𝐠𝐞. 𝐂𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐬 𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐝𝐞𝐩𝐢𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐠𝐧𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐲, 𝐦𝐚𝐲 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐛𝐞 𝐬𝐮𝐢𝐭𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐞 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐬.

When the sun goes down, the gravestone statues in Willow Hills Cemetery come to life--including Gretta. As a granite guardian of the dead, it's her job to make sure her charge--the snarky, hot-headed, lesbian spirit Quinn Rivera--crosses over and finds spiritual peace. But that's a little hard to do when Quinn's twin brother Jason blames himself for her premature death. And for Quinn to agree to cross over, he must learn the truth of her accidental passing and the bipolar episodes that led her to shut him out beforehand. But reaching out to the living is against the rules, and to break them would mean facing the most power-hungry and terrifying spirit of all: Death. *** Inspired by 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘈𝘥𝘷𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘗𝘪𝘯𝘰𝘤𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘰 (but not a retelling), Willow Hills is a southern gothic story with paranormal/horror elements. 𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟐 𝐖𝐚𝐭𝐭𝐲'𝐬 𝐖𝐢𝐧𝐧𝐞𝐫 (𝐏𝐚𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐨𝐫𝐦𝐚𝐥) C/W: Gore, some violence, and light to moderate swearing. Neurodiverse and LGBT #ownvoice rep.