they say to be soft is to be powerful but it gets harder to believe that every passing day

101 poems. #190 in poetry triggering content: disclaimer in first chapter. © natalie whatley. "cringeful" started: 12/22/17 ended: n/a

all the things I love about you

When college student Kasey Whitton takes a job babysitting for single dad Jian Li, she doesn't expect to fall in love with the newborn baby -- or with Jian. ***** Love is the last thing on Kasey Whitton's mind when she agrees to take an overnight babysitting job to help support her struggling family. But as her business relationship with single dad Jian Li slowly develops into something more, Kasey is surprised to find herself falling in love with him despite his hot-and-cold attitude towards her -- and the fact that she has a long-term high school boyfriend. Will her growing feelings for Jian and his newborn son be enough to convince her to risk everything stable in her life? Or will Jian's fear of commitment -- and his belief all the women in his life are cursed -- be enough to keep them apart? [[Best Diverse Story, The Fiction Awards]] [[word count: 100,000-150,000 words]]

There are so many things that Jonah doesn't like about his neighbor, Alexandra Allen. For one, her name. It was so long and ridiculous. And when she talks she never shuts up, she babbles on until your ear bleeds. And her smile is insanely huge, as if she is in a constant smiling competition and is dead set on winning. To put his hatred into simple words, Alexandra was just too much. But when Jonah's dad is unexpectedly thrown out of the picture, he finds himself finally able to open up. The problem? He's spent his entire life pushing everyone away. An even bigger problem? The only person willing to listen to him is his annoying neighbor, and she won't shut up long enough to let him get a word in edgewise. cover @spapce

"She seemed to have forgotten her standards when she fell low for a boy who's dignity was falling almost as much as she was for him." Penelope sells flowers at Stubby Stems to help her ill mother get better and meets a previous seen face buying flowers for his one night stand. --- she's a girl struggling to sort out her feelings for a heartbreaker with a cheerful grin, the one she knows awfully well she fell for. -featured in the "rising" list under adventure -highest rank: 87 in adventure

A WATTPAD FEATURED STORY ❝Love pays no attention to color❞ Jasmine Karesh never thought she'd spend her senior year of high school struggling to accept her Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder diagnosis, a disease that forbids her from forgetting the school shooting that led to her uncle's murder. She never expected that her parents would turn on her either, not when she was finally coming to terms with her blood-stained past. The last thing she needs is for an anonymous letter to fall out of her locker, penned by a vigilante who knows her history much too well and is more than willing to use it against her. It's the only way they can avenge the other life lost during the tragedy- the shooter's. Jasmine must identify her threatener before they pick off the remaining survivors of the shooting, one by one. As she tries to stop them, she is faced with a crippling secret- she has fallen for her childhood best friend, a boy that goes against everything her family stands for. Highest Ranking: #20 in GF | 10/17/2017 Highest Ranking: #123 in TF | 10/17/2017 Highest Ranking: #76 in MT | 2/26/2018