"What are you left with, if you give up everything you think you know, for love?" LYDIA YOUNG hates her life. She's rich, beautiful, and popular, and dates a future lord, but her only wish is to get as far away from it all as possible. And she would do everything and anything in her power to do so. She's been admitted to a top university and is keeping everything in her life in check, preparing for moving away to Scotland and finally starting anew. Until her best childhood friend, MARK CARTER returns from America and drops into her life like a grenade, about to explode. Devastatingly handsome, grown-up and shroud in mystery, he sucks her into a vortex of love, excitement, and secrets until Lydia is left stranded far, far away from her clearly laid out, preset path. At least, she still has Mark. Or so she thinks. She can tell Mark is hiding something. She just doesn't know what yet. When the grenade finally goes off and Mark's past and Lydia's present catch up with them, Lydia has only one question to ask herself: What are you left with, when you give up everything you think know, for love? Author's note: This is my first book! All feedback is welcome! Let me know what you think, you guys! :) 🥇 Best Beginning in the Sweet Waffle Awards 🥈 Romance in the Lovely Valentine Awards 🥈 Best Hook in the Lovely Valentine Awards 🥉 Honorable Mention in the Lovely Valentine Awards, Best Opening Chapter Category [Trigger Alert] [This book mentions mental health issues/Depression/Suicide] [There are some detailed descriptions of mental health deteoriation episodes] [This book contains foul language/swearing] [Top Rating: #1 #itsalwaysbeenyou March 2023 #5 #richkids 25 November 2022 #9 #richgirl February 2023 #16 #populargirl 12 February 2023 #18 #newadultromance 23 January 2023 Cover by: @heidicarrol

{ ᴏɴᴄ ʜᴏɴᴏʀᴀʙʟᴇ ᴍᴇɴᴛɪᴏɴ & ᴀᴍʙᴀꜱꜱᴀᴅᴏʀꜱ' ᴘɪᴄᴋ } Tate has been the bartender at The Imp's Bottle for years. The dive bar attracts a trickling array of unusual patrons, but due to his social anxiety, Tate avoids conversation and interaction. ...Until a random encounter with a beautiful girl causes Tate to open up in a way he never imagined possible. Unbeknownst to Tate, the girl's kindness plants a seed, inspiring him to abandon his wallflower nature. The changes are subtle at first, but rather than hyperfocus on his beloved retro music and impulsive need to clean, Tate begins to converse and interact with the bar's patrons. He becomes more outspoken, engaged, and confident. And his positive changes inspire changes in those around him. However, not everyone is thrilled with Tate's newfound confidence. Ali, the bar's prickly lone waitress, has a bone to pick with Tate. And she plans to come out on top of their little workplace rivalry, no matter the cost to her coworker. || A story about how the tiniest pebble can create the biggest ripples, this is my entry for ONC 2023. ||

[ONC 2023 and Wattys 2024 winner!] Drug dealer Nathan just can't be bothered to care about some of the stranger things in his life. Like the spellbook he found, complete with working magic and all. Okay, fine, maybe he tried one spell, and maybe that ended with his curtains on fire. Lesson learned: leave forces you don't understand alone. Powerful magic or not - for Nathan, this is just another Wednesday. Not everyone shares his opinion. When YouTube sensation Jamie insists on making a video about his discovery and said video goes viral, Nathan finds himself in a spotlight he completely failed to foresee. While he struggles to adjust to his newfound fame, Jamie and her oddly charming eccentricities drag him into a wacky investigation of his magical tome's origins and true nature. Finding answers shouldn't be that hard. But Nathan's criminal associates want his spellbook for themselves. And they'll stop at nothing to get it. ~Book one in the Witchcraft Wednesday Investigations trilogy~

Samantha's life had never been easy. Her abusive father was the only family she had left. Her mom had died when Sam was just a kid, and when she was eight, Sam had been diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes. The healthcare costs enraged her father and made a tough situation that much more difficult. Until one night, Sam has had enough of the abuse and runs out into a rainstorm to escape her father's wrath. Scaling a fence in the ravine, Sam lands in the backyard of a large house. As she gets caught between the owner of the house catching her in his yard, and the screaming monster in the woods, Sam's life is about to change.

For Mona's upcoming sixteenth birthday, there's only one thing she really wants: to get it over with. But with her family coming to visit her and her older sister for winter break, all she can do is listen to their suggestions and hope time passes quickly. The only problem is time seems to be at a complete standstill since Mona won't be celebrating her birthday with her twin brother for the first time in her life. The next best thing? Deflect the conversations and hope for the best. Mona's been doing exactly that for the last few months. What're a couple more weeks until her birthday passes? But when she meets Nathan and Clara, she finds that a couple of weeks of deflecting conversations and hoping for the best isn't going to cut it. Not with them, and not with herself either.

Eleven years later, in the city of Oxford, he met her again for the first time... In 1870, Jack Cade is admitted to the new-breed stronghold of Pandemonium, a colony of people just like him: descendants of the vanished demon race, all of them extraordinary in little ways, and deranged in much bigger ones. There, he falls in love with Ellini Syal, a shy, insular woman who spends most of her time scampering barefoot over the Edinburgh rooftops. In 1881, he meets her again, but has no idea who she is. All he knows is that there are dark, horribly suggestive gaps in his memory, and that Ellini is running from something she refuses to talk about. Can he work out who she is and what she's done in time to save her from the creatures pursuing her? Can he save himself from the amnesia and the creeping indifference that are eating him up piece by piece? Or is amnesia preferable to the kind of memories he will have to unearth? The Great Ellini is the first book in the epic historical-fantasy-romance The Powder Trail, a series where the past and the present meet, part, and reunite with explosive consequences. AWARDS (for full list see Author Notes): 1st Place - Paranormal (The Misfit Awards 2022) 1st Place - Fantasy (Clouded Ink Awards 2022) 1st Place - Fantasy (The Pink Cloud Awards 2023) FEATURES (for full list see Author Notes): StoriesUndiscovered - Into the Abyss (01/10/2022) StudsandVixens - On-going Beaut (27/09/2022) WattpadDarkFantasy - A Kingdom in Shadows (11/09/2022) Lowfantasy - A History Unlikely (05/12/2022) Rankings: #1 Oxford (23/09/2022) #1 victoriangothic (09/09/2022) #1 darkfantasyromance (09/09/2022) #2 wellwritten (24/10/2022) #9 historicalfantasy (15/09/2022) #14 gothic (31/10/2022) #20 mysteryromance (24/10/2022) Cover and graphics by the amazing @AnnamitaMuscaria

Everyone knows the band Zenith, but nobody knows how they managed to rock Zerkovkia's youth into starting a revolution... until now. Tolya Viktov is coming of age in the 1980s to the tune of spinning records, cheap liquor, and Zerkovkia's nine year war with neighboring Blivdova. The perms and denim jackets are hip, but it's the underground music he's most excited about. By the time he enters university, his lyrics and his talent have helped him break through on the student musician scene. Tolya, a duo of genius guitarists, and a bandless drummer soon come together when a producer realizes the key to achieving radical change in Zerkovkia is getting them to make music. What happens next is the stuff of legend and a whole lot of love, revolution, and rock and roll. Honors/Awards: ONC 2023 Honorable Mention ONC 2023 Ambassadors' Pick (Round One) "VIKTOV LIVES!" is featured on @music's "mighty drumset" reading list @storiesundiscovered's "feast on fiction" reading list @flexiblebookexchange's "read these gems!" reading list @opennovellacontest's "2023 honorable mentions" and "2023 ambassadors' picks" lists Copyright © 2023 Elle Chaika Open Novella Contest 2023 | Prompt No. 44

Lora Scicluna grew up in a Catholic family and never doubted her faith. When her older sister committed suicide, she stepped in to take care of her two young nieces and make sure their father, Jonathan, does not wander down the wrong path. Despite being several years older, Jonathan developed a liking to her and asked her to marry him. For the outside world, the two were the perfect example of true love, with young Lora sticking by her husband's side even after his crippling car accident. But nothing could be farther from the truth. And when she meets Dr Owen Shaw, the neurosurgeon treating her husband, Lora's world is shaken to its core as he fills her with emotions she doesn't know she is capable of and makes her question everything she knows. *FEATURED on Wattpad official Adult Fiction and Psychological Novel* DISCLAIMERS *This story addresses disputes experienced in small Catholic communities, extreme beliefs and lifestyle choices and their effects on people. **There are no heroes or villains in this story. Only victims. ***This story is based on real people and events. ****All religions (and lack thereof) are RESPECTED. This story in no way aims to disrespect or shed a bad light on any religion or belief.

The House of Atreus bears a curse. One steeped in blood and nourished by decades of violence. Klytemnestra knew this when she married Agamemnon, but being a princess in Sparta doesn't leave you with much choice, though she longs for it. The Fates spin their threads impassively but all Klytemnestra wants, is to be free of the shackles that bound her. Iphigenia has always been the perfect daughter, the perfect princess, beloved by both her people and her father. With Greece on the brink of war, destiny chooses her to fulfil a higher purpose. But she might just have to sacrifice everything. Elektra is sick of being held down by those in power. Despite being a princess, she is living a life in poverty, one she didn't choose. But when her brother returns home after a long absence, she might just take matters into her own hands. *** Three women. Three secrets. Three tangled lives. *** This story is intended for an adult audience and features depictions of violence, murder and sexual encounters as well as mentions of rape, incest, cannibalism, and suicide. Cover design by AnnieRosebud * ONC 2023 Best Cover Award Winner * * Ambys 2024 Grand Favorite *