DarlenePollard4's Reading List
188 stories
The Water Witcher (Completed) by Van_Carley
Van_Carley
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During a massive drought, a Water Witcher goes trekking across several states to visit a friend but finds himself in danger when a group called The Hounds begins hunting him down. 𝘽𝙤𝙤𝙠 1 ~ 🅦🅐🅣🅔🅡 𝙎𝙚𝙧𝙞𝙚𝙨 Corbin has been witching water since he was a young boy. It's a skill his grandfather taught him to survive living in a time of thirst. He also taught him never to venture farther than their property because the world had become too dangerous with people fighting over water. As an adult, however, he finds himself alone. The home he once shared with his grandfather feels more like an empty shell with echoes of memories. Deciding to head for the road to visit a friend, he sets out to wander what's practically become a wasteland. Except, he soon discovers that since his last adventure north, Water Witchers are being captured and sold to high bidders by a group called The Hounds. With his friend Coyote living up north, a few states away, he'll have to figure out how to get there safely, but it won't be easy with danger at every turn. * * 𝐅𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞𝐝 𝐨𝐧: ~Editor's Pick - Oct 7, 2022~ @Wattpad - Adrenaline Rush @WattpadExplorer - Adrenaline Rush @WattpadDarkFantasy @Adventure - Featured Stories @Fantasy - Featured Fantasy @Mystery Featured Mystery @Adultfiction - Featured Adult Fiction @Action - Featured Action Stories
Like Water Through a Sieve by Van_Carley
Van_Carley
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Short story from former Paid Stars Anthology: ✨The One That Got Away✨ In this spin-off from The Water Witcher, Romie Ramirez is a drifter with burn scars disfiguring her face. As a woman in her twenties, she hides them with a bandana, but emotionally drowns her insecurities with needles, men, booze--anything to numb her past. After being convinced to rob a man named Luca who lives in the desert, she's reminded why only bad things happen in Nevada. 𝘽𝙤𝙤𝙠 1.5 ~ 🅦🅐🅣🅔🅡 𝙎𝙚𝙧𝙞𝙚𝙨 **This story is now free**
Water in a Time of Thirst  by Van_Carley
Van_Carley
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🅦🅐🅣🅣🅨🅢 ➋⓿➊➑ 🅢🅗🅞🅡🅣🅛🅘🅢🅣 (𝘽𝙤𝙤𝙠 2) **Incomplete/on hold** During a terrible nationwide drought, desert--land stretches as far as the eye can see. Corbin is a Water Witcher, who can sense and find water beneath the ground, but doesn't advertise it due to fear of being enslaved for government purposes. Drifting through the wasteland, he runs into a pair of siblings desperate to survive and learns that first impressions are deceiving. Especially Everleigh. There's a child-like innocence about her, yet she shows zero hesitation in murdering a desert thief. Thanks to past betrayals, Corbin keeps to himself, but a barbaric new law forces him to step out of his comfort zone. There are ways around this law, some are legal, but most are not. Either way, he's is not losing sight of the two siblings and will even risk revealing his gift of water witching if it means helping them. Limits are tested, loyalty is questioned, and trust becomes fragile, but if there is one thing threading their lives together, it's the determination to survive living in a time of thirst. ♡♡ What the critics are saying ♡♡ "I just wanted to tell you that your first chapter was one of the best intro chapters I've read on Wattpad. It was very well written, and I already love the characters. You earned a new follower! Hope to read more :)" - DC_Outlaw "This is really good, I'm definitely going to keep reading!" - Heatheranno "My heart was pumping the whole way!! Really incredible![...] Loved how you introduced all the characters, and the description throughout the story was very well done
Unleashing Chaos by CrystalAndFelicity
CrystalAndFelicity
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*TRADITIONALLY PUBLISHED BY FRAYED PAGES x WATTPAD BOOKS! COMING TO BOOKSTORES 6/11/24!!* |2022 Wattys Shortlist| When a demon princess and a human man collide, it is beautiful chaos. Desideria is the princess of the demonic realm, and it is time she inherits her Circle of Infernis. She has just one enormous problem. Before she is made queen, her father demands that she find a being who will rule beside her and be her eternal partner. Desi has never fit in with the anarchy demons love. She thrives on structure and plans to oversee her Circle of lazy demons and energies with complete order. Rather than search for the impossible in her own realm, Desi sets out to find a future husband amongst the humans. After a series of dating mishaps, Desi quickly learns that humans are just as chaotic as her own people, and she turns to her sexy new roommates for help. Cannon is driven, fun, and charming, where Jace is nerdy, brooding, and damaged. Together, they make the perfect team to guide Desi through the trials of dating. Can Desi find an eternal partner in ninety days, or will she fail and thrust her realm into destruction? Perhaps she will find the answer with one of the two men living under the same roof as her.
Oddity by kitbit2468
kitbit2468
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Throughout her life, Alice Redwood has had only two bestfriends, Sarah and AJ. She always found herself lost within books about the supernatural. But what happens when her life becomes one from the books? Sarah starts acting odd and who are these weird hooded men? Could it be an illusion of the eye or perhaps, something more? .... Hey guys! I'm not that great at summarizing my story, so please don't judge it on the basis of my short introduction. And because I've written only a few chapters, I'm afriad I'll give out the plot by mistake. But I swear it's interesting! Thankyou for being here =)
The Third Shadow by bigimp
bigimp
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Sometimes the truth is just too terrible to ever be guessed... Readers' comments: 'Excellent story', 'gripping page-turner', 'marvellous read', 'great writing', 'simply remarkable', 'a fabulously emotional ride', 'wow', 'what a great book!', 'had me engaged right to the end' Wattys award-winning author (The Painted Altar, literary fiction 2020) When two British brothers are reported missing whilst on holiday in southern Italy, the local carabinieri turn to retired detective Jim Jacks for help. Still pained by a recent divorce, he has started a new life for himself as a small-scale wine producer. Along with commander Nuzzo, he will slowly unravel a mystery which is even darker than it had first seemed... Genre: murder mystery Length: 75,000 words (300 novel pages) Target audience: adult, fans of crime fiction, anyone who likes mysteries full of twists and which are populated by three-dimensional characters Extract: I stayed there at the holiday bungalow with Sarah and Olivia for the rest of the afternoon and evening. Would return again the following morning. An analyst would no doubt conclude that my actions weren't entirely selfless; that as a lonely old divorcee I found a nostalgic comfort in female company. And yes, this might have been part of it. But there was a very practical reason too for my more or less continued presence in the house. I just didn't want to leave them to themselves I suppose, was afraid of what might happen. Yes, the thing I remember most about that forty-eight hour period is the silence. There was something brooding to it. Something ominous, almost delicate, like if it cracked you feared it would explode. An edgy, precarious silence stretching on and on, minute after minute, hour after hour... About the author: I'm a 47-year-old English teacher who has lived in Italy for the last 15 years. I have two other novels on the site, The Painted Altar and Kill Who You Want
Kill Who You Want by bigimp
bigimp
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What if it came to the starkest of all choices: kill, or else suffer the loss of a loved one? Readers' comments: 'simply the best', 'one of the best books I've read', 'loved it', 'amazing', 'great reading', 'stumped me to the very end' and others Plot: When a pregnant doctor is brutally murdered in her own kitchen, the husband claims to have some weeks earlier received an anonymous and darkly menacing letter. For the small town of Ravensby, it's just the start of a living nightmare - one in which nobody is spared from the murderous cross hairs, and which will drive Detective Inspector Kubič to the edge of his own sanity... Genre: suspense/thriller Status: completed Length: 70,000 words (approx. 275 standard novel pages) Target readership: Though aimed primarily at adults, the novel features several teenage characters and so may also appeal to a younger audience Extract: "Warn you sir, not a pretty sight in there." Kubič took a deep, preparatory breath, his footsteps slow and leaden as he moved towards the kitchen door. Not for the first time over the years, he found himself wishing he'd chosen an entirely different sort of career. Paper-pushing, something out of doors. Anything at all. He'd always been reasonable enough at woodwork back at school, he recalled. Why hadn't he done that, he thought? Become a cabinet maker or some damn thing. A reluctant hand pushed open the door... "Oh dear Christ." The words escaped his mouth forcefully, involuntarily, like blood gushing from an open wound
The Scent of Death by bigimp
bigimp
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When all hope is lost. When there's no-one else left to call... Dudley the Labrador is a cadaver dog specifically trained to sniff out human remains. His handler, Jennifer, suffers from an unusual phobia which has left her socially isolated. When together they uncover the corpse of a missing child, Jennifer begins to feel a deep, personal connection to the case. Dissatisfied by the direction of the official police investigation, she resolves to unravel the mystery herself. In doing so, she must first unravel herself... Readers' comments (final chapter): 'great book', 'superb' 'wonderful, incredible, fantastic!' 'wow, just wow', 'wonderfully satisfying', 'I love this book' Status: completed Genre: mystery/suspense Target readership: adults Narrative style: psychological depth, frequent twists, semi-literary Length: 75,000 words (approximately 300 standard novel pages) Author: Michael D Smith, Wattys award winner (The Painted Altar, 2020, literary fiction) Extract: It was then that the barking came, somewhere a hundred or so metres off to my right. Not his usual playful response, but instead a focused, constant noise - a quick-fire volley of woofs like rounds from a machine gun. His 'found something' bark. My heart quickened along with my step, the flashlight boring through the darkness. The moist barks of the trees deflected against my outstretched hand; pernicious branches whipped at my thighs, my chest, my face. "Stay there boy! You just stay right there." The barking was incessant, grew louder with each step. At last the thick maze of tree trunks relented and there he was, framed in the soft-edged beam of the torchlight in the centre of a small clearing. His tail swooshing manically, snout directed at the ground. Stooping myself down beside him, I slanted the flashlight to the earth, squinted in close examination. Nothing - just dirt, twigs and damp leaves. A shallow grave. The lifeless body of Meghan Shaw had been tossed into a shallow grave.
Crumbling Cakes by AnnalisNolan
AnnalisNolan
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(Wattpad Picks - Up and Coming List - 06.07.2018) There are three things Dalia is sure of about her life. She will always refuse to join her Mother's ranks, her luck is absolute shit, and her boss might be in the running to beat that wench as The Devil. When one giant mishap forces her into a massive debt, she has no choice but to stick it out with a boss that's hellbent on making her pay for it. But is there no more to The Devil than just a brooding demeanor and an ill temperament? Or can he help Dalia finally find a place to ground her? With the Red-Haired heathen on her heels and what she deems as indefinite servitude to pay off her debts, Dalia is about to find out. **Warning** There is strong language included. Possible triggers: Assault, Homelessness, some violence. I will also be keeping any author notes at an all-time low to maintain a steady story flow. Have questions? Feel free to comment or PM me! (All rights reserved) [Cover Design Credit to @seyachowdhury]