The first book of the USA Today Bestselling series! "Though much of the book is light-hearted and occasionally outright hilarious, the author sneaks in a few home truths along the way that will hit you where it counts, like how even someone’s best intentions can box you in." --Everybody Needs a Little Romance "This was one of those books that I kept telling myself one more page, then I need to put it down. Instead I found myself tearing through the book instead, needing to know the outcome." --Just Jump Book Reviews **** For Rose Gardner, working at the DMV on a Friday afternoon is bad even before she sees a vision of herself dead. She’s had plenty of visions, usually boring ones like someone’s toilet’s overflowed, but she’s never seen one of herself before. When her overbearing momma winds up murdered on her sofa instead, two things are certain: There isn't enough hydrogen peroxide in the state of Arkansas to get that stain out, and Rose is the prime suspect. Rose realizes she’s wasted twenty-four years of living and makes a list on the back of a Wal-Mart receipt: twenty-eight things she wants to accomplish before her vision comes true. She’s well on her way with the help of her next door neighbor Joe, who has no trouble teaching Rose the rules of drinking, but won’t help with number fifteen-- do more with a man. Joe’s new to town, but it doesn’t take a vision for Rose to realize he’s got plenty secrets of his own. Somebody thinks Rose has something they want and they’ll do anything to get it. Her house is broken into, someone else she knows is murdered, and suddenly, dying a virgin in the Fenton County jail isn’t her biggest worry after all. ***** Winner of The Beacon – 2010 Unpublished Division, Mainstream Category "Thirty-Two and a Half Complications" releases on June 24, 2014.

A 2014 WATTPAD FEATURED STORY. First her uncle betrayed her, then Hector Barbossa tried to kill her. Now Nina Bitter wants revenge on them both. Will Jack Sparrow help her put her plan to work? Can love conquer fear? And will she realise what, and who, she truly desires before it is too late? Fabulous cover image courtesy of MarcellaUva!

Sophie Green Is a nerd. Everyone picks on her. There is only one person who protects her and when he is not around they pick on her twice as much. What would happen if her schools most popular jock in the school, takes a sudden like to her? Will she trust him after all the bullying he has done to her? Why is he talking to her? Is it a bet? Or does he really like her? Is that even possible?

**BOOK FIVE of "The Taylor Family Series"** Aidan Taylor was left to raise his daughter Maci after the sudden death of his wife Callie on the day their daughter was born. After three years he's still learning new things about being a single parent to a little girl, he spends all his time with her, and he's finally settling into his sole parenting role, and he absolutely loves it and her. He's happy with it being just the two of them, he doesn't want to move on, he wants to keep his heart free from more heartache and the only girl he wants in his heart is Maci. Aidan's twin brother Cade tries to help him move on and find someone to fill his heart with love again, while he settles in to his new home with his wife, Annabelle and their daughter Mia. But things don't seem as the same as anymore...until one night out changes everything.

He doesn't know love at all. She wished she never knew love. What if love came between them? Would he believe it? Would she give it another chance?

WATTPAD FROM A-Z Contents: What's Hot on Wattpad, Books I Recommend, Wattpad Interviews, Ambassador Stuff, Special Articles, Filipino/Tagalog Articles, My Rants and Musings and many more! Subscribe Now! :) ***Credits to @DarkLeague for the cover***

Hope Montoya knows someone is poisoning her, but who? She suspects her mother was also poisoned and knows her father was murdered. Who wants her family eliminated? She vows to fight! She realizes she won’t last the eight months until she turns twenty-five and her uncle no longer controls her or her estate. Never will she be dominated by a man as she was by her father, as she has seen her mother and grandmothers dominated. If she marries, she gains control now, but only if she weds a man she can trust. Only one man meets her requirements. Can she trust him to protect her and capture the killer...but then to leave? Micah Stone has been in love with Hope since the first time he saw her. But he was accused of her father’s murder and surely would have hung if not for his two brothers’ aid. Most in the community still believe him guilty. But the drought has him too worried about water for his dying cattle to care about his neighbors’ opinions. When Hope proposes a paper marriage in exchange for land on the Brazos River and much needed cash, her offer rubs his pride raw. His name may be Stone, but he’s not made of it. He can’t refuse her for long, and so their adventure begins. He and Hope have to stay alive and discover the killer before they become victims in the deadly assaults.

************************************************************************************** An outcast rogue must break a curse put on his fate, or die on his nineteenth birthday. To survive, he'll need the sword of a maiden, the aid of an immortal, and the power of forbidden magic that could cost him the only girl he ever loved. ************************************************************************************ *** THE JACK OF SOULS won a Silver IPPY this year! *** THE JACK OF SOULS won 1st place in the PNWA Competition in Fantasy! * *** THE JACK OF SOULS won 1st place in the Southwest Writers competition! * *** A "Featured Book" on Wattpad! * *** Now a "Staff Pick" on Kickstarter! * *** Available on Amazon in paper, hardback, and ebook ! * *** My contract with Kindle Select won't allow me to post more than 3 chapters here, but... *** Sign up for my newsletter on stephenmerlino.com for alerts when it's free on Amazon! * MY INSPIRATION I wrote this out of pure love of trickster rogues; I love the wit over brawn motif -- Odysseus over Achilles, Raven over Eagle -- so I like to play with it in my stories. In JOS I set the rogue and con-artist Harric against a foil of warriors in a land threatened by magic and civil war. Whenever possible I turn familiar tropes on their heads: instead of a handsome young Lancelot, I cast a broken-down ex-champion addicted to pain-killing herbs; instead of a dashing Squire Brian, the old knight reluctantly takes an ambitious young woman as squire. Similarly, I re-imagine the standard medieval milieu by infusing aspects of two of my favorite historical periods, Elizabethan England, and The American Frontier. Both eras boast a kind of nationalistic arrogance that borders on hubris, and a magnificent spirit of resourcefulness and re-invention that is fun to play with. SERIES The Jack of Souls is first in a series. I am posting parts of the sequel here now (The Knave of Souls), to help me refine the story.