After escaping a stalled elevator into a zombie apocalypse, Emily must learn how to trust people again or risk losing everything in this terrifying world. ***** For Emily, every day of the last two years have been a blur. She keeps her head down, takes her college courses online, and only goes out to work at her mandatory internship. But all that changes on the day the office elevator breaks down, leaving her trapped when the screams begin. And when the doors finally open, revealing a dystopian world ruined by bloody teeth and disease, Emily is launched into a terrifying run for her life, caught between the strangers she's not sure she can trust and the man-eating monsters that hunger for her flesh. Now she must learn not only how to survive in this new and dangerous world, but also how to overcome her own inner demons before they cost her something more precious than her life. [[Wattys' Shortlist]] [[Promoted by AMC]] Content and/or Trigger Warning: The story contains some gore, violence, strong language, and dark themes. [[word count: 100,000-150,000 words]]

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]]

When the notebook containing their deepest, darkest secrets is stolen, two former best friends must unite, despite crushing on the same heart-stopping boy. ***** Best friends, Alex Canterbury and Alexx Lorde have been inseparable for years, but when school, family pressure, and even other friends begin to get in the way, the two girls decide to update each other in a notebook. As tough as it is sometimes, they are candid and real about EVERYTHING, until a mysterious boy with a dimpled smile gets in the way. When their notebook is suddenly stolen by someone who threatens to upload all their secrets to social media, the girls must unite despite their massive rivalry. Will they stop the perpetrator in time to save their reputations and their friendship? [From the author of The Cell Phone Swap aka Textrovert.]

Cigarettes, lilac skies and poetry at 3am: sixteen-year-old Pietro ''Pit'' Rossi knows the adrenaline of feeling empty and infinite at the same time. With the reputation of a goofy idiot who doesn't care about anything at all, getting held back at school doesn't seem like a problem. But it is. Because Pit cares about everything, and he always cares too much. [[word count: 70,000-80,000 words]]

something dark is woken far in your mind.

Reece Bremer goes through life with a scowl and cold personality. Jessica Andrews goes through life with a glowing smile and positive outlook. Reece looks at life with dull, judgmental eyes that make him hate the world and the people living in it. Jessica, well... She looks at life through a camera. Literally. They're polar opposites, and that's what sparks Reece's immediate hate for Jessica the moment they meet. All he sees is a girl with the best life, put in the category of those who get everything handed to them on a silver platter. But who says Jessica's life is like that? Just like a photograph, there's more to the story than what you see. Stumbling across one of Jessica's hidden portfolio might reveal that her happiness isn't all that true. Behind that smile and each picture she takes, holds a thousand words of a very big secret - one that Reece is determined to find out. And who knows? It just might change everything between them. cover by dysanic || 2015 watty's winner for talk of the town ||

Amanda Rose is too young for her best friend to be dead. She went to bed to one world and woke up to an entirely different one the next morning when her best friend, Roxanne, committed suicide, leaving Amanda behind with only one missed phone call, a message she can't bring herself to listen to. And then comes in Orion Mathers, Roxanne's ex-boyfriend and the reason why everyone in Madison high school turned on Roxanne. Amanda blames him for what happened since to her nothing was wrong until he revealed her unusual eating disorder. But then, to honor her best friend, a former model, Amanda decides to take part in modeling competitions in her place in hopes that if she won, things would start to make sense again. But she soon finds out, the deeper she gets into the model world, the harder it is to come out. She sheds being Amanda, the boring, shy friend of the dead girl and becomes Mandy, the more outspoken, beautiful girl. Mandy is distant toward her family, develops an eating disorder of her own, and just wants to win. Her family, her wild child sister, and even Orion urge her to stop but she can't now. Maybe not ever. 𝐓𝐑𝐈𝐆𝐆𝐄𝐑 𝐖𝐀𝐑𝐍𝐈𝐍𝐆 - 𝐬𝐮𝐢𝐜𝐢𝐝𝐞, 𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐝𝐢𝐬𝐨𝐫𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐬, 𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐬𝐞𝐱𝐮𝐚𝐥 𝐚𝐬𝐬𝐚𝐮𝐥𝐭. (𝐚𝐥𝐬𝐨 𝐈 𝐰𝐚𝐧𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐟𝐚𝐜𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐈 𝐰𝐫𝐨𝐭𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐈 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐟𝐢𝐟𝐭𝐞𝐞𝐧. 𝐈'𝐦 𝐢𝐧 𝐦𝐲 𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐭𝐰𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐞𝐬 𝐧𝐨𝐰 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐫𝐞𝐜𝐨𝐠𝐧𝐢𝐳𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐝𝐞𝐩𝐢𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐬𝐮𝐢𝐜𝐢𝐝𝐞, 𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐝𝐢𝐬𝐨𝐫𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐬, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐒𝐀 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐛𝐨𝐨𝐤 𝐦𝐚𝐲 𝐧𝐨

A collection of EXCERPTS. [poetry, quotes, and otherwise]. Your place to come when you feel lonely, because you're not alone when you feel this way. "We cling to music, to poems, to quotes, to writing, to art because we desperately do not want to be alone. We want to know we aren't going insane and someone else out there knows exactly how you're feeling. We want someone to explain the things we can't." IMPORTANT: Read 'not an update; read please' beforehand. Note: parts more towards the end are fairly better than the beginning, just a fair warning. **TRIGGER WARNING** [Highest ranking: #1 in Poetry]

[COMPLETED] •I'm Sam McClain and I am a stereotypical, tomboy. My dad works a lot, work trips which go on for months at times. My mom died recently and my dad ships me off to live with his work pal... who has a few sons. This is my story of how my life turned into hell, with a twist or maybe a first kiss? Who knows, in this house and with these people, anything can happen.• A/N don't diss the book at the start (first chapters are terrible). It gets better as it goes on.

❝You can't cling to the past. Because no matter how tightly you hold on, it's already gone.❞