2022 Watty Winner || At the age of ten, Sanford Crow discovers the worst secret of all--his father is a serial killer. It was the year 1969. Sanford's dream was to grow up to be a detective. Putting his intuitions to the test, he conducts an investigation into his father. The discovery he makes brings his whole world crashing down, and to the culmination of one terrible Christmas morning. Twenty five years later, it's 1994. Sanford is a divorced and a recovering alcoholic, with an eight-year-old daughter named Sadie. His dreams of becoming a detective never came to fruition. Instead, he lives vicariously through his job of being a crime scene cleaner. As therapy begins to open up doors to his past that he'd rather keep shut, the same string of murders that his father committed when he was a child are happening again all around him. Sanford starts questioning his grip on reality. The answers he finds brings his past rushing back, and has him doubting everything he thought he knew about himself, his past, and his own sanity.

John Osborne has a promising career with the War Office and lacks for nothing. Except, possibly, a wife. Unfortunately, the woman he wants only has eyes for someone else. When a shared friend offers to help him win his love's heart--if only he will assist her on a case--he reluctantly agrees. He can put up with their grating presence if it affords him the chance of the happily ever after he so desperately craves. Lady Mary Kinson is happily counting down the days until she will officially be considered 'on the shelf'. Spinsterhood is looking rather appealing when getting married means giving up everything and trusting your husband to care for you. She'd rather use her dowry for a quiet life on her own. Until her younger sister does the unthinkable and Mary has to enlist the help of a friend to save her family from ruin.

Elle Grayson's guilty pleasure is reading cheesy romance novels. Always has been, always will be. Maybe that's why she's never had a boyfriend - no guy can live up to her expectations of the guys in romance novels. She doesn't think there is one guy that can prove to be even half as decent as guys in books. But when there's somebody set on doing exactly that, things just might start to change. Romance #110 Short Story #23 - May 28, 2014

Delena is determined to have a good time at summer camp and forget about her backstabbing ex-best-friend Mei. But when Mei shows up at camp too, suddenly revenge looks a lot more appealing than forgetting. * * * * * As far as 17-year-old Delena Torres is concerned, friendship is nothing more than a quick way to get hurt. This has been her mindset for the past two months anyway, ever since her best friend Mei ditched her and started hanging out with her arch enemy. She's more than ready to spend summer vacation alone-- then her parents surprise her by signing her up for a photography course at Camp Create It, the summer camp she and Mei always dreamed of attending. Still, even if she has to be surrounded by other campers, Del's determined not to get attached to anyone. She'll spend the summer by herself, honing her photography skills and forgetting about Mei. Easy, right? Maybe, if it wasn't for the fact that her quirky cabin-mate seems deadset on becoming friends. Or if she could stop running into the cute guy from the kitchen staff. Oh, and if she wasn't in the middle of a prank war after one stupid attempt at revenge, since Mei just happened to show up at camp, too. Yeah, this "lone wolf" thing might be harder than she thought. 𝐂𝐎𝐌𝐏𝐋𝐄𝐓𝐄𝐃 (𝐮𝐧𝐞𝐝𝐢𝐭𝐞𝐝) - 𝟏𝟎/𝟏𝟓/𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟎

"Being reunited with your childhood best friend after eight years apart? Sounds like a heart-warming story. Finding out that said best friend is now a complete jerk who's determined to make your life hell? Not so much." Georgie and Connor were once inseparable. Best friends from birth, they did everything together - well, that was until Connor's dad got a once-in-a-lifetime job opportunity and the family was forced to relocate to New York. At age sixteen, Georgie's life is totally different - her main goal being to keep her head down and escape the brutalities of high school with as little emotional scarring as possible. Balancing school, work and her dwindling social life is enough of a challenge, but it's about to get a bit more complicated when her conceited ex-best friend gets thrown into the mix. Maybe friendship should come with an instruction booklet.

Angelica is arranged to be married to Lord James who seems like the perfect husband. He's got a sense of humor, two very blue eyes and a very attractive physique. However, he has a secret, one that causes Angelica to call off the wedding. She meets another man, disagreeable and "the devil incarnate" as Angelica so eloquently puts it. Unfortunately, they must work together to solve something much bigger than themselves. But, perhaps, he's not as bad as he seems Important Author's Note: This story has been largely edited. I will update all the chapters on April 1st so that if you are currently reading you can finish before then or you can wait to read until after CB is edited. Names have changed

Adulthood has many rites of passage: learning to drive, voting, moving out, going to college. The unspoken rite of passage? Losing your virginity. 19-year-old Isabel is feeling the pressure to lose her virginity as her number of friends still holding their V-card quickly decreases. Struggling with issues of self-confidence and self-love, she's convinced losing the thing she loathes most will help her find herself. Her summer goal: lose her virginity. Easier said than done, when the only guy she sees everyday hates her, and her best friend/wing-woman is an ocean away. Will she fail her mission or find her happiness? Are these two things mutually exclusive? Follow Isabel in her paradoxical quest as she looks to lose.

Confident, independent, and beautiful, Lady Cecelia is the envy of every woman in London. Nothing ever breaks her composure, not even the handsome rake Major Godfrey being in love with her. Then her childhood sweetheart Sebastian Price returns to London, and everything falls apart. 21,000 words, completed.

NO LONGER ON WATTPAD -- NOW AVAILABLE ON AMAZON AS EBOOK AND PAPERBACK What is a proper young lady to do when she finds a stranger sleeping in her bed? Angelique Grafton doesn't know much about love. Resigned to marry the man her late parents intended for her, she can't help dreaming of more than a loveless marriage. When she finds a handsome man in her bed who makes her very skin tingle, she realises that maybe losing her happiness is too steep a price to fulfil her parents' wishes. Nathaniel Howerty, the Marquess of Pensington, knows too much about love. Having seen his father destroyed by losing the woman he loved, Nathaniel wants nothing to do with romance. But when he meets Angel Grafton, he finds he wants her more than anything else. Does he dare to leave himself vulnerable to a woman who might steal not only his kisses but his heart as well? ** AVAILABLE AS EBOOK AND PAPERBACK FROM 24 SEPTEMBER 2024 **