ONC 2025 SHORTLIST. Book 3 in the Black Cat series. Born to drug-addicted parents, Linc Bridgestone was crippled in an accident when he was a child. After breaking up with his girlfriend, he overdoses and is brought back to life by his sister. Linc doesn't believe in luck. He doesn't believe in love. He doesn't believe in anything except broken relationships, pain, torture, and the demons that possess him. Darby Dermot has a beast list. They come in different shapes and forms. Sometimes, she questions her career choice. Little Help Home Services has its ups and downs. Most of her clients are evil fiends, monsters, and devils. Falling in love with a demon wasn't on her wish list, but here he was, crippled, curled in a ball, spitting hate and vengeance, smelling like a sewage pit and demanding she leave him the fuck alone. ONC 2025 Prompts - 2: To be in love with a demon was the last thing on your wish list. 32: - A non-believer of love wakes up one day to find themselves in a world where love is everything. What will they do in a land ruled by hearts? THE DEMONS AND BEASTS IN THIS STORY ARE THE ONES WE BATTLE EVERY DAY. Thanks for taking a look at my first-ever entry in ONC. Wish me luck. ♥♥♥

AMBY'S 2025 ROUND 2 QUALIFIER Fin Hamilton has been isolated in the backwoods of Cooktown in Northern Australia for a very long time. She can barely read. Everything she knows comes from the television. Belittled and backhanded by her alcoholic father, Findlay, Fin spends long days hiding in the dim shadows of a booth, at the back of Snakes Bar, where Findlay drowns his sorrow. Cody Compton is a stranger, hidden within the dark recesses of the bar. Fin watches him watching her. On the day Cody abducts Fin, heavy monsoons roll in and isolate the pair in Cody's old shack, changing their lives forever. In a field, on Delaney Road, a body is found. When Fin opens a box of secrets their world erupts. There's more to Cody than Fin understands.

On a ship bound for home, a sickness spreads silently among the crew. As their minds and bodies falter, the men turn against each other, the line between survival and murder growing thin. But this is no ordinary plague. Something dark and unnatural festers aboard, twisting the minds of even the strongest. As the shore draws near, one thing is certain: the ship is bringing back more than just its crew. It carries something far worse.

She is her father's daughter. He taught her to hunt. He taught her to fight. "You are your own sword, and you belong to no one," he always told her, but she knew there was more behind his words. There was a mystery to be revealed, something to be abstracted from the implicit. But there is no time now. The Beasts of old are on her kingdom's doorstep. The mystery is unraveling within her, manifesting on her tongue. They want her sword. But who is she to stop the wars of kingdoms? ... The foundations of Nore's world are being shaken. Her once simple life ended in tragedy, and now she must venture forth into the unknown. All around her are secrets, whispers, and conspiracies. Nore knows how to use a sword, but is the blade of her cunning sharp enough to pierce through the deception? Enter the world of Endrebor where Elves conspire in their forests, Dwarves hoard in their mountains, and Men wrestle for dominance. Enter the life of Nore, a girl who finds herself amidst the chaos, but which is greater: the chaos of the world, or the chaos within her own blood?

As a single mom in a small town, there's only one thing I want. Another baby. When all the roads to getting what I want lead to dead ends, I turn to one of my best friends for help. In my mind, Trent Castillo is the perfect baby daddy. He has good genes, already cares about my son, and he has no interest in a long term relationship with me. But Trent seems to have other ideas, and convincing him that my plan is the best way forward is going to take some work, and what happens might just lead to the birth of something neither of us expects. **This story takes place at the same time as the end of Mending Hearts, which is available on Radish Fiction for the next few months. There are spoilers from the first two books in the series, if you haven't read them yet** Content considerations: discussions of grief for spouses and parents, discussions of ALS, discussions of jail/imprisonment, discussions of drug use/abuse

When hostile townsfolk imprison a transient teen girl accused of murder, her best friend struggles against a stacked legal system to protect her from being railroaded.--- Local law enforcers eager to solve the case rush to judgment and arrest Cozbi Miraslova, a pretty teenager of Roma heritage working with a traveling carnival. The evidence against her is scant but the tight knit community believes carnies to be nothing more than gypsies, tramps, and thieves. After the carnival leaves town, Cozbi's best friend and co-worker, Jason Muir stays behind to defend her. In the process of solving the mystery, he discovers Cozbi's manipulative and duplicitous nature and learns how blind loyalty comes with a steep price. Cover photo credit: Shutterstock/Kisto

(Complete) Something bad happens to Dahlia when she reunites with her long lost sister in Sapphire Cove. And the only one who notices? Her sister's best friend- the annoying handsome, irritably arrogant, popular boy who Dahlia just happens to hate. This story in now in paperback and kindle ******

With Over a Billion Story Uploads, its Netflix Syndrome 10x. To Help - Here is The Top 7 of the Week. Each week our team will review different books of specific theme and then promote what we came to a consensus on and in our humble opinions... What You Should be Reading. :) Please enjoy our thoughts of what we have found that is interesting, unique, well written, and of course worth your time.

Inspired by true events, 'The Blue Hour' is a story of political intrigue and doomed love set in the dying days of the Ottoman Empire during the summer of 1876. All Prince Hamid and the Belgian glove-maker, Flora Cordier, want is to pursue their forbidden love. But how can they amid backroom dealings, deadly conspiracies, and when an ominous prophecy seals Hamid's fate as the saviour of the Empire? ***** It's the summer of 1876, and rebellion, corruption, famine, and the impending threat of war plague the Ottoman Empire. As European powers circle like vultures for spoils, the century-old dynasty fears Allah has abandoned it. Presiding over the decline is the deranged Sultan Abdulaziz. A prophecy emerges that Hamid, second heir to the throne, will ascend to sultan-hood by summer's end. Fearing for his life and haunted by an inner darkness, he flees the palace. Meanwhile, Hamid's step-mother Peresto, and his enigmatic tutor, Reshid, conspire to fulfil the prophecy by betraying the Sultan and Hamid's step-brother, Crown Prince Murad. Intoxicated by love and freedom, Hamid pursues a secret affair with Flora Cordier, about to marry a man she does not love to escape her past. Over a few passionate summer months, they fight for their forbidden love to become the persons they dream of being, in defiance of society and of the powerful forces of history that conspire to drive them apart. Intimate and intensely atmospheric, 'The Blue Hour' encapsulates eternal themes of love, power, and the struggle for freedom. Blending the epic romance of 'Doctor Zhivago' with the rich historical detail and political intrigue of a Jason Goodwin novel, it is entertaining and vividly immersive, with deep emotional resonance. COMPLETED.