book 1 of the windows of the soul duology ✿ ✿ ✿ lucent: softly bright or radiant ✿ ✿ ✿ My brother's hand traces the cut on my right cheek for some minutes. I have no idea how a cut can be so interesting, but I won't judge a book by its cover. He unexpectedly moves and places a heartwarming kiss on my crown, brushing through the strands of my hair. But what startles me the most, is when he speaks, "Duerme bien, mi niña bonita." And just as I wasn't able to sleep hours ago because of my stupid fear, I let myself fall into a dreamless sleep as his soothing voice travels through my ears. ✿ ✿ ✿ Layla Rivera. A young naive fourteen-year-old who's just lost her childhood best friend and guardian. She's anxious and timid when meeting other people, so she usually cowers and distracts herself, immerse between the pages of books. When she is thrown into the lion's den - or also named as her older brothers' house - she's left fearful and intimidated by the six foot three males who she never had a clue about. Trying to make sense of what her new life will bring while being unaware of the dangers her new home beholds, she tries to make her way into her new family, but it doesn't seem as easy as she expected, or is it? ©️juststarsandbooks All written works on this account belong to Juststarsandbooks. I do not condone any reproduction/duplication of this book anywhere - app, website, etc - without my consent. Pics aren't mine.

They were her sentinels, her saviors, the reason that she refuses to let her past consume her. 𝐆𝐈𝐔𝐋𝐈𝐀 𝐕𝐈𝐓𝐓𝐎𝐑𝐈𝐎, a young girl who's never known stability. Raised by a reckless, unstable mother, she spent her childhood caught between drug runs and police raids, ruining her right for a normal childhood. One night when her mother goes missing, Giulia's whole life changes... again. Will being under the guardianship of her new older brothers give her a chance at normalcy in her life or will they cause even more mess than before? Healing isn't easy and trust doesn't come free. ☆ ☆ ☆ As I lied there in the hospital bed with a pounding headache, practically suffocating me while barely conscious, I heard that familiar, raspy, deep, sleep deprived voice that I've recently come to find comfort in. "Nessuno oserà toccarti di nuovo senza perdere le mani, amore," they whispered. (No one will dare touch you again without losing their hands, love.) I felt two hands hold my face with a soft kiss on my forehead. Their rough and large hands a contrast to their gentleness. The comforter over me shuffled as the familiar person brought them up to my chin and tucked me in. "Riposati ora sei al sicuro, bambina," they murmured, stroking my hair. Before I knew it, simply the presence of them reassured me as I felt myself drift off again into a deep sleep. (Rest now, you're safe, baby). ☆ ☆ ☆ 𝐑𝐄𝐕𝐄𝐑𝐈𝐄 (noun): a state of being pleasantly lost in one's thoughts; a daydream.

When an intruder breaks into her house, Tarryn's life is flipped upside down. Soon, she discovers her parents aren't the people she thought she knew and that their dark past that has caught up with her family, including a killer determined to cause chaos for her and her siblings.

Haven Sinclair, survivor of a horrific tragedy, one that will haunt her for the rest of her life, begins to unravel her family's secrets.

When Ryan is assigned a male dorm by accident, she has no choice but to put up with infuriating(ly hot) college bad boys. But what will she do when things get out of control? ***** Ryan Knightley is just trying to make it through her freshman year of college without any issues, but she ends up being accidentally placed in a male dorm and is roomed with Nixon Hyze, the most notorious drug dealer on campus. She finds herself intertwined with Nixon after someone close to her dies, and quickly loses herself in the same substances her roommate sells. Nixon's playboy best friend, Seth Jameson, wants to save her...but the more boys she gets involved with, the more out of control Ryan's life seems to get. Content and/or trigger warning: This story contains scenes of sexual activity, violence, and drug use, which may be triggering for some readers. [[word count: 100,000-150,000 words]] Cover designed by Anastasia Wright

' i have spent my entire life trying to be perfect for people-- the only person who i don't have to be perfect around is you ' jack abbott x maeve montgomery (oc)

Bethany Voight has built a life she never imagined-surrounded by family, belonging, and a love that makes Chicago feel like home. But in a city where change comes without warning, happiness proves fragile. As Erin moves on to a new chapter and Intelligence shifts around her, Beth finds herself caught between what she's gained and what she stands to lose. When tragedy strikes, she is left broken in ways even her sharp wit and unshakable resolve cannot mask. In the aftermath, Beth must face her greatest challenge yet: finding the strength to keep going when the life she dreamed of is torn apart.

Sergeant Hank Voight thought he buried his only daughter the night she was born. A stillbirth, the doctors said. A loss he carried with him through years of heartbreak - the death of his wife, the murder of his son. But when Elizabeth Harrington, a sharp and fearless young woman raised across the ocean, walks into the 21st District with proof of her DNA, Voight's world is shaken to its core. She isn't just alive - she's determined to uncover the truth. Drawn into the city's flames and shadows, Elizabeth forges her own path. With a brilliant mind for deduction, the grit of Chicago rubbing off on her, and a stubborn streak that rivals Voight's own, she refuses to stand on the sidelines. Even if it means clashing with the father she only just found. As secrets unravel and loyalties are tested, father and daughter must face the past that tore them apart - and the dangerous present that could cost them everything. Lost and Found is a gripping story of family, betrayal, and second chances, where blood ties are tested in the heart of Chicago's fire and police brotherhoods.

Camryn Wells wasn't trying to rebuild her life so much as outrun the version of it that nearly destroyed her. After a year and a half off the grid, nursing wounds no one could see and some that still ached like hell, she's back in Pittsburgh. Sort of. She's here for Gwen, the woman who adopted her, who's now fading into early-onset dementia. She's on night shift, working trauma at PTMC, trying to remember the nurse she used to be-and to convince her small army of overprotective siblings that she's fine now. That she's not the broken girl they saw in that hospital bed in Boston. Camryn is sunshine incarnate: bright-eyed, too kind, stubbornly hopeful, and despite everything, still believes in second chances. What she didn't plan on? Her new next-door neighbor just happens to be the gruff, quiet, unflinchingly calm ED attending who runs her shift with surgical precision... and dry quips that cut sharper than a scalpel. Dr. Jack Abbot doesn't do distractions. Not from interns. Not from administration. And definitely not from the impossibly cheerful nurse who crash-landed into his backyard and, somehow, into his life. Guarded, fiercely competent, and more at ease in chaos than comfort, Jack prefers solitude-until Camryn. With her pastel mugs, man-hating cat, and maddening habit of calling him out with a smile, she worms her way into every corner of his neatly boxed-off world. She's not what he expected. And he's exactly what she wasn't ready for. But on the night shift, where everything broken comes through the door eventually, maybe they'll both learn healing doesn't always look like what you thought.

" neither of us have ever been good with emotions... kind of why we work out so well, right? " " yeah, i guess so. " OR er doctor meret dupont struggles with her intense job, her disappointed parents, her rough past, all while training a bunch of interns. jack abbot x fem oc trinity santos x fem oc brief frank langdon x fem oc john shen x fem oc ALL LOWERCASE PARTS ARE ON PURPOSE AND ONLY USED AESTHETICALLY FOR THINGS SUCH AS DESCRIPTIONS, CASTING, AND PLAYLISTS. THE REST OF THE STORY IS IN PROPER CAPS AND GRAMMAR.