PREVIOUSLY KNOWN AS "The softest place to fall" "Who did this to you?" The question hangs in the air between us. I can't look at him. I stare at my hands instead. "Ella." His voice breaks on my name. "Please. Talk to me." "I- " The word comes out as barely a whisper. "I can't." "You can. Whatever it is, you can tell me. I'm not going anywhere."

SHORT AND FAST PACED STORY!!! ⚠️ "I've been trying not to do this" he whispers, his voice rough and low. "So stop trying" I whisper back. And then he kisses me. His lips are soft but insistent, coaxing mine open, pulling me deeper into him. One of his hands tangles in my damp hair, his fingers threading through the strands, tilting my head back slightly so he can kiss me the way he wants to. The other hand stays at the small of my back, his palm splayed wide, anchoring me against him. Chest to chest. Heartbeat to heartbeat. I lose all sense of time. All I know is the way his mouth moves against mine, the way his body curves into mine like it's always known the shape of me. The way his thumb traces lazy circles along my spine, sending shivers racing through my entire body. I kiss him back with everything I have, my hands fisting in the fabric of his shirt, pulling him closer, needing him closer. "This kiss just sealed the deal. You're mine and only mine now, Grace" Benjamin's voice is low and rough like gravel and laced with something primal.

They called her a mistake. They called him a monster. Princess Ariel Ravenspire was born of forbidden passion - the bastard daughter of a king who cannot bear to look at her and a mistress long since forgotten. In the court of Elarion, she is a ghost draped in silk, invisible except when her half-siblings need a target for their cruelty. They've spent years trying to break her and snuff out the gentle fire that burns within her chest. But Ariel refuses to become the villain of her own story. Where they offer hatred, she gives grace. Where they see weakness, she harbors an unshakable strength. Across war-torn borders, in the shadow-draped Kingdom of Umbrahal, Crown Prince Caden Valtara is the nightmare that haunts the wicked. They call him the Demon Prince - a title he's earned with blood and brutality. Ruthless to his enemies, merciless to the corrupt, he moves through the darkness like vengeance incarnate, dismantling trafficking rings and crushing those who prey upon the powerless. The aristocracy trembles at his name. The common folk whisper prayers of gratitude. He is judge, jury, and executioner - and he has never apologized for the monster they've made him. When two kingdoms exhausted by endless war finally seek peace, the price is steep: a royal bride to seal the treaty. Ariel, the unwanted princess, becomes the sacrifice - a lamb offered to the demon. She expects death, or worse. He expects a fragile, terrified girl who will cower in his presence. But neither expects to find, in the person they were taught to fear, the one soul in all the realms who truly sees them. She was raised to be forgotten. He was born to be feared. But some bonds are forged in fire - and no kingdom can stand against them. A demon feared by all. A princess loved by none. Tropes: Only soft towards her Insta Love (INSTA) Arranged Marriage (forced) Love at first sight Villian mmc (kinda?) Touch her and die 🤭 HEA

Alex Anderson is not your typical professional athlete. He is all about giving back to his community and making sure that he can take care of everyone he can with, given the wealth he has. So when he decides to volunteer his time at a group home for kids, a cause so close to his heart. He meets Carrie and an unexpected friendship strikes up. He likes the fact that Carrie doesn't care who he is and what he does for living. All she cares about is that the kids are getting the experience of a life time being mentored by a person who seems to have his head screwed on right. Carrie Conners is your typical girl. Growing up with a mother who has high expectations for her daughters was not easy. While her younger sister has met all of those expectations being blonde, skinny and a highly successful influencer who just snagged a rich, handsome husband. Carrie is the complete opposite, brunette, curvy and works as a social worker for the state. She first meets Alex when he comes to volunteer at one of the group homes and is unsure of his motives for doing so. She watches as all the women gravitate towards him and watches from the sidelines as usual. However Alex sees her caring, kind way with the kids and is drawn to that immediately. Can these two people from entirely different worlds navigate a friendship that one or both want it to turn into more. Or will being from different worlds completely break them apart?

"You're-- you're a... a..." he stammered, his face pale as he struggled to speak. "A girl," Kayla finished flatly, rolling her eyes. * Nathan Kingston seems to have it all. He's the newest star player at St. Thomas Academy, an elite all-boys private school. Nathan is charming, confident, devilishly handsome, and dangerously talented on the ice. But there's one problem. Behind the flawless smile and perfect facade. Nathan is a girl-Kayla Kingston-living under the stolen identity of her dead brother. Keeping her secret at an all-boys school is hard enough. But then there's Louis Auclair. Team captain, top student, and the one person who sees through the cracks. Louis knows something isn't right. And as his suspicions grow, Kayla finds herself torn between protecting her identity and facing the boy who could expose her... or destroy her first. Because in a school built on reputation, talent and secrets. One wrong move could mean the end of everything she's fought for.

Allison is just a regular girl from Toronto, she grew up playing hockey, sometimes she coaches her cousin's team and helps out with the Timbits practices. One night, Ally and her best friend Leah go to watch Toronto's local AHL team's game. When it just so happens that one specific player happens to capture Allison's eye. What will happen when Ally suddenly begins to see him appear everywhere she goes? Will she avoid going to talk to him or will she go out of her comfort zone and develop a new relationship and fall in love?

Sterling Carter's life is built on control-perfect grades, perfect form, perfect trajectory straight to the Olympic volleyball team. At twenty-two, she's the star outside hitter at the University of Michigan and top of her class in dentistry, the golden product of an old-money family that only loves success. One game, one bad landing, and one opponent's foot hidden under the net is all it takes to blow it apart. With a torn ACL and PCL and a nine-to-twelve-month recovery, Sterling's dream is suddenly on life support. The scouts stop calling. Her parents pull away. For the first time in her life, there's no plan she can grind her way through, no version of "try harder" that will fix what's broken. Enter Maddox King-twenty-four, captain of Michigan's D1 hockey team, human freight train on the ice, and soft-hearted menace off it. He has everything Sterling doesn't: a loud, loving family, a stupidly loyal group of friends, and the unshakable belief that people are worth more than what they can do. When a twist of timing and one overinvested best friend pull Sterling into Maddox's orbit, he becomes the one person who refuses to treat her like she's ruined. As the season she was supposed to dominate turns into a year on the sideline, Sterling has to learn how to exist without the one thing that's always defined her-and decide whether letting Maddox in is one more risky play she can't afford... or the first choice she makes entirely for herself. Book #1 in the 'Carter' series

Eve Kingston is sick of being pushed around by hockey. Her entire life, the spotlight has been on her older brothers. She adores Nick and Logan, but she's been fighting hockey practices, tournaments, and games since she was a toddler. Not to mention all of their accomplishments, awards, exam scores, and achievements that she could never seem to earn. Now that she's all grown-up, she wants nothing to do with hockey (other than going to a couple of Logan's games every year). So far, she's avoided hockey pretty well. She's a first grade teacher, living in a tiny, cramped apartment with a kitchen older than her parents. Everything is going smoothly. Except when she's at the educator convention of the year, Eve ends up trapped in Seattle due to a snowstorm. Worse, she runs into Graham Everett, Logan's teammate and captain. Also the guy she's been crushing on for years, but that's not important. Suddenly hockey looks a lot harder to stay away from if it involves Graham. Especially since he's just as sweet, and kind, and adorable as she's ever imagined. Logan seems to be interfering as well, naming Graham the best man at his wedding while Eve is the maid of honor. Eve just wants to have her brothers back, like when they were kids and everything was easy. But if she happens to find love along the way, it might be with the man of her dreams. This is the sequel to Full Strength, but it totally can be read as a standalone! This is a closed door/clean romance, but there maybe be some more heated moments in the story.

𝐇𝐚𝐫𝐩𝐞𝐫 𝐌𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐢𝐧 - has lived her entire life under the weight of perfection-daughter of a world-famous model and Hollywood actor, she's been trained to smile through pain and keep up appearances. Now a sophomore at Columbia University and a dedicated ballerina, Harper is determined to carve out her own identity, far from the shadows of her elite upbringing. But when a class project partners her with someone who understands that pressure all too well, Harper begins to discover what it means to be truly seen-and what it feels like to fall into something real. 𝐌𝐚𝐬𝐨𝐧 𝐂𝐨𝐨𝐩𝐞𝐫 - Mason Cooper has spent his life performing under pressure-son of a powerhouse businesswoman and a CEO, he's always known how to play the part: polished, perfect, untouchable. But behind the charm and control is a guy who's quietly exhausted by the weight of expectations. Now a sophomore at Columbia and a key player on the hockey team, Mason keeps his head down and his last name out of conversations. Until a class project pairs him with Harper Martin-someone who knows all too well what it's like to grow up in the spotlight. For the first time, Mason isn't just playing a role. He's being seen.

Mackenzie "Mac" Weaver has spent almost two years perfecting the art of being low-maintenance-quiet, accommodating, and easy to love. As an international student from Australia studying design at Frostford University, Minnesota, she's built what she thought was a stable life: a solid relationship, a carefully curated apartment, and the promise of a future that won't fall apart like her parents' marriage did. But when that carefully constructed life shatters in a single afternoon, Mac finds herself with nowhere to go and everything to lose. Her student visa depends on staying enrolled, her budget can't handle living alone, and going home isn't an option. Enter Maya Laurent, Mac's fiercely protective best friend, and her older brother Jace. A charming hockey player for the Frostford Wolves with a reputation for being as smooth on the ice as he is off it. What starts as a temporary 'crash on their couch' becomes something more complicated when Mac officially moves into their spare room and finds herself pulled into the loud, chaotic world of college hockey. As Mac learns to take up space instead of making herself smaller, she'll discover that sometimes the people who see you best aren't the ones you bend yourself into shapes for-and that finding your voice might mean letting go of everything you thought you needed to be. A story about healing, finding your strength, and learning that being soft doesn't mean being weak.