The harsh winters and freezing blizzards of the tundra are all familiar to Anyu. Living amongst her tribe in the frozen wasteland, she has learned to survive and fend for herself. But when she is lost in a strange blizzard, Anyu finds herself in a world of creatures, spirits, and magic that she has only heard of in legends. Led by her mysterious guide Kano, Anyu searches for a way back home. But before she can leave, she will have to discover the truth about herself and the land she calls home. What has Anyu's tribe been keeping hidden? What is her connection to this strange new world? And what are the secrets hidden beneath the ice? Highest Ranking: #44 in Fantasy Cover by @KatrinHollister

What happens when the man you can't live without is your husband's brother? On the eve of her tenth wedding anniversary, Kameron and Aaron Youngblood are planning to renew their vows. They have the perfect life and are the very definition of couple goals. Yet, Kameron feels unease about her relationship and can't figure out what's missing. Until Bakari, Aaron's hot, younger brother arrives in town for a job interview, bold in his attraction toward his sister-in-law. Kameron finds herself hopelessly drawn to him again as she did all those years ago when she first met him. Now, that he is back, Bakari is determined to get Kameron to risk it all for him, even if it means losing his brother forever...

Ella is falling apart trying to live a "perfect" high school life. Then she meets Ren, who can see past her scars. Suddenly perfection isn't her only option. ***** Ella Volkov is a gifted music student, but she's depressed and starting to crack under the pressure of high school. Her overbearing father won't even let her choose what instrument she plays. Then she finds herself alone at a party with Ren, her best friend's crush. She'd always thought he was rude, but after that night he's all Ella can think about. Now she's trapped. If Ella dates Ren, it will ruin her friendship with Jenny. But if she stays true to Jenny, she's losing the one person who can see past her scars. It's up to Ella to decide if she will forge her own path, or stay in the "perfect" box designed for her... Content and/or Trigger Warning: depression, anxiety, self-harm, violence, sexual assault. [[word count: 50,000-100,000 words]]

He needs a wife. She needs the money. The playboy prince needs a respectable girl to play his doting fiance for the weekend. If he doesn't convince his parents he's a changed man, he can say goodbye to his crown and inheritance. Enter Jenny, an actress who has just been hired to play the role of her life. Especially since she doesn't like him. But soon the two find out that they will need each other in ways they never thought possible.

On the WATTYS 2017 SHORTLIST and Featured in COSMOPOLITAN!!! A Wattpad featured story with LOTS OF STEAM! A new life, new friendships, new love... and a secret that may destroy all three. Emmie Marsden's past is a closed book locked in a secure vault. Alone in a new town and two months pregnant with the child of a man she wants nothing more to do with, she is attempting to start her life over again. When she meets the handsome owner of a successful robotics company, she decides to embrace her new life by having a one-night stand with him. Recently betrayed by his money-hungry fiancée, Ryker James isn't looking for anything more permanent than Emmie is. They make a deal: Sex without entanglement. This agreement works at first, but as their one-night stand turns into a month of nights, Emmie realizes she wants to tell Ryker the truth; she can't keep her baby a secret forever, after all. Will telling Ryker of her shrouded past destroy the life they'd begun to build together? ***Note: This story will include adults engaging in fun, adult sexy times. Each scene of this nature will be noted so that delicate readers can skip over it and indelicate readers can dive in with gusto. Enjoy!

"Deliciously captivating! It's the perfect amount of laughs, love and drama. You won't be able to put this book down!" - Grace K @ HQ. When Agatha becomes the Everard's governess, she's grateful for a way to escape her dark past. That is until her growing feelings for the mysterious Lord of the house begin to present an even greater risk. ***** The Everard's are one of the most esteemed families in Wickhurst. And Benedict, the Lord of Devonshire and the eldest of the clan, is as mysterious and brooding as anyone The Town has ever seen. His face is marked with scars, and no one dares to speak on how he got them. Known to all as 'the beast,' the townsfolk tremble in his wake. But little does he know that he is about to meet his match in Agatha Blair, his sisters' new governess. Agatha is witty, smart and gives him a run for his money when he tries to peel back the layers of who she really is. She truly intrigues him more than any woman he has met but she is a governess and he is a Lord. The Town would shun the union of two people from different stations and any romance between them is surely a recipe for social disaster! But what can they do when the burning hot feelings refuse to relent? And when Benedict uncovers that Agatha is hiding a secret far more dangerous than anything he could have imagined, will love save the day and will Agatha finally tame the beast? *This story is a standalone title in the Everard Family series. [Now a Hachette Audiobook!] [[word count: 100,000-150,000 words]]

************************************************************************************** An outcast rogue must break a curse put on his fate, or die on his nineteenth birthday. To survive, he'll need the sword of a maiden, the aid of an immortal, and the power of forbidden magic that could cost him the only girl he ever loved. ************************************************************************************ *** THE JACK OF SOULS won a Silver IPPY this year! *** THE JACK OF SOULS won 1st place in the PNWA Competition in Fantasy! * *** THE JACK OF SOULS won 1st place in the Southwest Writers competition! * *** A "Featured Book" on Wattpad! * *** Now a "Staff Pick" on Kickstarter! * *** Available on Amazon in paper, hardback, and ebook ! * *** My contract with Kindle Select won't allow me to post more than 3 chapters here, but... *** Sign up for my newsletter on stephenmerlino.com for alerts when it's free on Amazon! * MY INSPIRATION I wrote this out of pure love of trickster rogues; I love the wit over brawn motif -- Odysseus over Achilles, Raven over Eagle -- so I like to play with it in my stories. In JOS I set the rogue and con-artist Harric against a foil of warriors in a land threatened by magic and civil war. Whenever possible I turn familiar tropes on their heads: instead of a handsome young Lancelot, I cast a broken-down ex-champion addicted to pain-killing herbs; instead of a dashing Squire Brian, the old knight reluctantly takes an ambitious young woman as squire. Similarly, I re-imagine the standard medieval milieu by infusing aspects of two of my favorite historical periods, Elizabethan England, and The American Frontier. Both eras boast a kind of nationalistic arrogance that borders on hubris, and a magnificent spirit of resourcefulness and re-invention that is fun to play with. SERIES The Jack of Souls is first in a series. I am posting parts of the sequel here now (The Knave of Souls), to help me refine the story.

College is just like her old life . . . bleak. Surviving it won't be easy, especially when the girlfriend of the guy she's loved her entire life would rather see her dead. So much for that clean slate. Instead she's constantly looking over her shoulder, watching, waiting and worrying. Lucky for Emma she met The Senator's Son. Zach Walker is the typical rich kid . . . or is he? He's all heart, not like all those other guys. She isn't supposed to fall for him. She doesn't even know if she can trust him. He is completely tempting and totally out of her league. Please note - there is profanity and sexual situations. All rights reserved. I hold copyright so my work cannot be copied in any form whether in print or electronically, or any other form for that matter. So please, don't plagiarize. It's not nice.

Sinead had met her first real boyfriend through high school. They had stayed extremely strong through till college when he had suddenly left her stranded, hurt and confsued. With no warning he had packed all his things and disapeared for a year. He did come back though but she had then turned into a new Sinead. She found out the comfort of being loved. Why be loved by one when you could be loved by 3. But she soon grew up after her world came tumbling down and that one person then changed the rest of her life, she turned into such mature woman when her past then haunts her. People come to ruin what she now has sending her perfect life down a dark tunnel. Through all that she has been through you'd think she'd deserve the break but sometimes not everyone gets that happily ever after...

It was pity that first made Dannie speak to him. She had known Ryan since she was a kid, but he had always been the popular Golden Boy, and she had always been the tomboy that didn’t mind not having any friends. It was odd, she had thought, that all the popular kids who had once kissed the ground he walked on, didn’t so much spared him a glance anymore, and it was this that made her sit with him that one faithful day and begin something that would only end up causing her pain.