Penn Romero is a smart girl. Smart girls don't get involved with their professors. ***** It begins with a casual meeting at a speakeasy. It begins with a drink. It begins with a stolen stare. It begins with the not-knowing, the secrecy, the sneaking around. Penn Romero hardly knew what she was getting into when she was drawn in by Chase Steele's magnetism, and she hardly knew he'd be her new Film Theory professor. Against everything she's ever known, against everything she should do, she stills falls into a dark spiral of manipulation that keeps her trapped in a spider web, losing sight of who the real Penn is--all that's left is what he has made of her and all he's taken. It ends with him taking and taking. It ends with the should've-knowns. It ends in ruin. ***** THIS IS NOT A ROMANCE. DON'T ADD THIS TO ROMANCE READING LISTS, PLEASE. [[THE AMBYS 2024 TOP PICK IN CONTEMPORARY]] © 2021 caterina george // all rights reserved

[wattpad editor's picks, nov-dec 2023] After a one night stand in Monaco between a fallen from grace championship surfer and an up and coming Formula One star, the two are sure they'll never see each other again...but what happens in Monaco doesn't always stay in Monaco. [extended summary inside] [10x wattpad featured story / featured on wattpad's sports romance reading list / wattpad's litfic, romance, mental health, chick-lit, humor, and contemporary lit profiles] copyright 2020-2025 | Taylor Romagnoli [moonraess]

Seth is dead. Without his best friend, Sam no longer wants to live. Concerned with the state of Sam's mental health after his stint in an inpatient care facility, his parents uproot the family and move to a small town in Michigan for the summer. Sam is determined to hate everything about it until he meets Charlie, a girl whose perspective on life clashes drastically with his own. Intrigued by Charlie's way of thinking, Sam slowly starts to trust her as she works to prove to him that real friendship is unconditional and that life, however painful, is worth living. Through a series of adventures within their small town, he and Charlie explore the healing process together until tragedy strikes once more and Sam is forced to put to practice everything he's learned. **CONTENT WARNING** Contains themes of mental health, suicide, depression, self harm, parental abuse, death, and grief.

Storie Sovany is used to being dismissed as the fat friend, until she moves from New York City to rural Ohio for college and the charming frat boy Liam Alexander approaches her. Torn between disbelief and flattery, Storie hopes her luck may have finally changed - but is it too good to be true? [author's note: this is not a romance!]

Two strangers meet on a night train. A has given up on her life, whilst R would prefer to run away from hers. It is by mere happenstance that they are seated opposite each other on the train, merely the fear of being impolite that gets them to start a conversation. But perhaps it will be by choice that they kindle a connection. GENRE: literary fiction, woman x woman romance COMP TITLES: Alone With You In The Ether, The Reader on the 6.27 featured in: Social Themes: Ambassador Spotlight

2020 WATTYS WINNER in NEW ADULT! Oliver Ausman has been given a second chance at life, but it's hard to feel grateful when he was the one trying to end it in the first place. Returning to his normal life after being released from the hospital is hard, especially since his parent's idea of normal is made up of dinner parties, prep school, fancy suits, and fake manners-- all paired with a complete disregard for the mental health of their firstborn. He's long been fed up with it, but the final straw is when he finds out that his "father" isn't actually his father at all. Oliver decides he's had enough of the perfect facade, so he packs a suitcase and grabs his younger brother, "borrowing" his mother's car to sneak off on a trip to find his biological father. But he never expected to pick up a girl with her own similar set of problems, to be followed across the country by a money-hungry pair of criminals, or most of all, to find out that maybe this life thing isn't as bad as he thought. 𝐂𝐎𝐌𝐏𝐋𝐄𝐓𝐄𝐃 (𝐮𝐧𝐞𝐝𝐢𝐭𝐞𝐝) - 𝟏/𝟐𝟐/𝟐𝟎

Seeking an escape from his overbearing mother, Evan McKenna fills his free time with hockey practice and extracurricular activities, counting down the days until he graduates. Hoping to keep a routine, and after being diagnosed with severe anxiety, Peter Delacroix hides behind the front desk of his father's quiet hotel. When his best friend starts an astronomy club to help him socialize, nobody expects Evan McKenna to walk through the door. As Evan struggles with acceptance and his ever-changing plans for the future, Peter slowly forms a bond with his club members and attempts to reconcile with his past. With the astronomy club's preparation for a meteor shower and an eclipse on the horizon, Evan and Peter have two hundred days to make sense of their hectic lives before parting ways forever. || Content Warning: Descriptions of abuse, alcoholism, and homophobia as well as discussions of mental health and sexuality. Please use discretion while reading. || * Cover by @newsies- ! *

When star lacrosse player Chandler England's best friend and teammate is targeted by vicious gossip, she learns that not everyone at her prestigious boarding school is ready to come to her defense. Unfortunately, this seems to include the elusively charming captain of the boys' lacrosse team, Trip Mckenna.

[This story will become free on DECEMBER 13TH, 2024] Isaiah always had his focus set on school and baseball, but when he meets August, he suddenly begins questioning more than just his lack of a social life. ***** As the star of his high school baseball team, Isaiah Carr is looking forward to senior year. While not the most popular of guys, he's got his friends, he's a shoo-in for a baseball scholarship, and he's perfectly content sitting on the sidelines when it comes to his social life. However, when he meets August, a strange but cute boy with a prosthetic leg, there's no denying the connection between them. From friends to more, the two begin to grow a relationship that balances the troubles of their pasts with the hopefulness and acceptance of a future. [[word count: 90,000-100,000 words]] Cover designed by Eva I. WATTY'S 2020 YA WINNER

Seventeen-year-old Apollo Reyes-Perez is struggling to understand two things: his identity and his best friend's suicide. But when Amory Hartmann, the new boy in town, catches his attention, he discovers that the answers to those questions may be more complicated than he had anticipated. ...... After the passing of his best friend, Apollo is left in an unfamiliar world, or perhaps one he never understood. Swimming, friends, and family. That was Apollo's universe. Until one day it wasn't. His friends expect too much, his parents don't talk enough, and swimming feels wrong. It only took one day for his life to change. Isn't the world supposed to stop when the person closest to you is gone? That's what he believed. But when the realities of growing up as a Mexican-American teenager hurdle towards him, he must accept the simple fact that life goes on. This becomes abundantly clear when Amory Hartmann enters his life, forcing Apollo to face the parts of himself he intended to keep hidden. Pieces of himself he's been too afraid to share with a boy. Will Apollo learn to leave the past behind him and move towards the future, or will his demons keep dragging him back to the darkest point of his life? Featured by @TeenFiction 🥇1st place LGBTQ+: The Novelists Awards 2022-2023 🥉3rd place Romance: The Pride Awards 2023 💜 @YARomance Undiscovered Book of The Month {November 2022}