Ever so slowly, I lowered my mouth to the lime. As I did so, I felt the brush of her lips on mine. Just a touch. Just a breath, and it ignited fire in my veins. And at that moment, I forgot a lot. My heart stopped, my breathing quit, my thoughts ceased. But I knew one thing, and it was screaming in the hollows of my brain. 𝘐 𝘯𝘦𝘦𝘥𝘦𝘥 𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘦. 𝘐 𝘯𝘦𝘦𝘥𝘦𝘥 𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘩𝘦𝘳. 𝘈𝘯𝘥 𝘐 𝘸𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘥𝘰 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘪𝘵 𝘵𝘰𝘰𝘬 𝘵𝘰 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘩𝘦𝘳. - an academic rivals to lovers romance - Emilia Laurent, top of her class. Augustus Casen, top of his class. What happens when the school sends both to a competition in California? One month. One competition. One hotel room. Two rivals. What could go wrong? - book one in the erudite trilogy - rankings: #1 in compete (sep 12 2023) #1 in competition (oct 16 2023) #1 in academicrivalstolovers (nov 28 2023) #1 in rivalstolovers (jul 27 2024)

"You're atheist," I remind him. "You don't believe in god." "I believe in you," He murmurs, letting the cigarette hang from his lips. "I believe in whatever you believe." He says, letting the confession roll off his tongue as if it were that simple. As if god, the devil, heaven, hell-as if none of it really had meaning to him. "That's not how it works," I mutter as we walk down a few more alleyways-the city of Manhattan coated in a light blanket of snow. Henry Vitiello had never had anything to pray for, that is, until he met me-the only thing that had ever opened his mind up to the possibility of religion "Isn't it?" He argues, taking the cigarette by his middle and pointer finger before blowing the smoke out. "I'II dip my hands in holy water if it means I could touch you." "You'd probably burn." 𓆩♡𓆪 𝐇𝐄𝐍𝐑𝐘 𝐕𝐈𝐓𝐈𝐄𝐋𝐋𝐎, the reaper. He's a prick. An asshole. A pretentious son of a bitch. He's not perfect. He's not even decent. But he's hers. She could be a bottle labeled poison but he was an alcoholic, and he had drunk her empty. Now he was hungover. 𝐉𝐀𝐍𝐄 𝐈𝐕𝐄𝐑𝐒, the healer. She's known to be the perfect good girl, with perfect grades and a perfect life with a perfect family. They didn't know that behind the gated doors of their billion dollar estate, she was strapped down to a chair every night and picked apart just to be put back together in time for supper. 𓆩♡𓆪 star-crossed; adjective (of a person or a plan) thwarted by bad luck. 'star-crossed lovers' and that, they were. So they fucked under those very stars that tried so desperately to break them apart. 𓆩♡𓆪 ‼️DISCLAIMER ‼️ BOOK REFERENCES TO MARA DYER, SHATTER ME, MIND FUCK, ETC ARE ALL INTENTIONAL SO DONT BE RUDE. AS FOR TRIGGER WARN

"Life is a game and everyone's playing it. Some more serious than others. It's just a constant game of people playing each other, and if you're unlucky, you get eliminated." Two psychopaths are playing to win. #1 - deranged / insanity

Riann Hsu's life takes a drastic turn when she got engaged to Edward Vanderbilt, one of New York's richest billionaires, based on a deal. The terms are clear, the most important one is: clear abuse allegations against Edward and rebuild his dead reputation, and he'd help her repay her mom's debts and hand her the socialite role on a silver platter. The only thing keeping her from having a peaceful marriage is the animosity between her and Theodore, her fiance's son and devil-reincarnate. They're both biding their time to destroy each other. But the line between desire and hatred blurs when, in a moment of mutual wanting and vulnerability, he shows her just what his mouth is capable of aside from throwing snark comments her way. From pushing aside her growing feelings for Theo to discovering strange clues that reveal dark secrets the family hides, she has to fight off every obstacle lining up her way to remain in the household. As she digs deeper into the family's buried past, the mystery turns out to be darker than an ordinary case of domestic violence. Everyone in the Vanderbilt family holds an agenda of their own, and if she wants to find the culprit before they target her this time, she has to pretend she is just a naive, housewife unaware of the danger lurking around. But investigating an unsolved case by herself is risky, and it's only a matter of time before someone sees through her pretense and ruins her plan. · · · [ status: ongoing ] ‣ extended blurb + trigger warnings inside