When Frances Barrett accepts a position of housekeeper, nanny, and nurse to the Fellowes family, she believes that it will be simply a stepping stone to get over a personal tragedy. But as she cares for the ailing Helena Fellowes and her three children, she finds herself drawn into the family dynamics. A mother lies dying of consumption, bitterness building against her husband. A father struggles with inner demons while filling his children's heads with fantasies and dreams. And three children are caught in the middle of a feud without even knowing it. All they do is listen to their father's stories and the wedge is driven deeper. The longer Frances stays, the more she sees of the pain behind the father's stories and the sadness and fear the mother faces, not of dying but of leaving her children with their father. What Frances had hoped would only be a few months of mind-numbing domestic work turns into a time of discovery, war, love, and tragedy. Copyright © 2014 Veronica Graham. All rights reserved.

Whistleblower is now published as a Paperback, and E-book with W by Wattpad Books. As Wattpad reader you can read the original version and get details for Published book inside. ***** A journalism major gets tangled up with the beloved quarterback of her university's football team when she uncovers a scandal involving his coach. ***** Laurel Cates is a people-watcher. She's determined to get through college without stepping on any toes or causing a scene, and so far, it's going pretty well. But when Laurel uncovers a scandal involving the head coach of Garland University's beloved football team, she knows she has to do the right thing. Even if her classmates don't believe her. Even if her boss tries to fire her from the side job she desperately needs. Even if the heart-of-gold quarterback, Bodie St. James, seems hell-bent on hating her for writing the article that got Coach Vaughn put under criminal investigation (a feat which proves difficult when Laurel and Bodie wind up in the same group for a class project in BIO 108: Human Sexuality). ***** (#9 NewAdult, #3 TeenFiction. The Fiction Awards nominee for Best Romance, Best Diverse, and Best Overall. Reader's Choice Award finalist.) © 2020 Kate Marchant

❤️ WATTYS 2018 WINNER ❤️ WATTPAD FEATURED ❤️ When sixteen-year-old Janie Myers' grades hit an all-time low, she is pulled from her blow-off class with her best friend and placed into a course the guidance counselor says will boost her confidence: theater. There, she meets a group of theater "misfits" who accept her into their troupe. Armed with a full troupe of actors, the misfit theater company takes on a one act that will not only challenge Janie's shyness, but also her feelings for fellow misfit Thatcher. Cover photo credit to Anthony Ginsbrook. Found on Unsplash.com and edited using Canva.

2019 WATTY WINNER FOR HISTORICAL FICTION. Charity loves Ian. Ian thinks Charity is an incorrigible flirt and he is certainly not tempted. Not one bit! Or at least that's what he tells himself... Bright, optimistic, and a bit naïve, Charity Crewe has always been in love with Ian Douglass. And it would certainly help if he loved her back... just a little bit! Though Ian was raised on the estate and generously given lessons with the Crewe siblings, no one, especially Ian, has ever forgotten he is the housekeeper's son. Charity might not care what anyone thinks of her, but Ian certainly does, so he is determined to protect her reputation as well as his own. He's worked too hard to secure his position to risk his livelihood, not to mention his mother's. He has discouraged her affections at every turn... with only a few moments of weakness. However, while Charity is away gaining some polish, circumstances drastically change and Charity must decide if she is willing to risk everything, even complete and utter ruin, in pursuit of the man she loves. Authors notes: This is Book One of The Crewe Legacy, a four-book series in progress, involving the Crewe siblings and other characters you'll meet along the way. I hope you enjoy Ian and Charity's story and that everyone else intrigues you! CONTENT WARNING: this story contains some mature sexual content, descriptions of spousal abuse, child abuse, murder, and suicide.

A Coruna, Spain 1801. Anna Maria Gonzalez and her mother live impoverished in the basement of a Catholic boarding school where they work. Their lives were simple: work had all week for measly pay, Church on Sunday. Rinse and repeat. Anna's mother has led a mysterious life in which she refuses to talk about. A past, which includes Anna's estranged father and her immigration from Venezuela to Spain. After a devastating smallpox's wave comes to the school takes the life of Anna's mother, she is left only with her best friend, Anthony. Mama's last dying words to Anna were a request: Leave A Coruna. Now, with the help of Anthony and with others along the way, she must: -Defeat the evil school Dean who had oppressed and abused Mama -Find her Father all the way across the Atlantic -Get an education and write her way out of the basement. And do all of this in the face of racism, classism, her depression and her own self doubt.

In 1937, Derrick Hardy went to work on the Desmond farm, hoping only to keep a little bread on the table and a few dollars in his pocket. What he found instead was a family of monstrous tendencies and a penchant for violence. Now, Derrick is on the run from a nation-wide manhunt. He is suspected of kidnapping four of the Desmond children and there is no safe place for him to hide. From a 2008 novella by Grady Richards, split up by chapter.

In 1874, Ivy Steele's deafness is more than a handicap. It's a disease. Surrounded by a family that doesn't understand her, she's learned to cope and find solace where she can. Then, the unexpected happens. Her aunt dies, and her uncle sends her away to rejoin her father's family in Montana. Left to fend for herself, after the companion hired to escort her abandons her, Ivy faces continual hardship and danger. Several men see an unaccompanied Ivy as a flower ripe for the picking, and things only get worse when masked men hold up their stagecoach. Barely scraping through, Ivy makes it to Montana with her nerves shaken and what little money she has in her boot. Expecting a peaceful if not affectionate welcome, Ivy finds herself in greater hardship than she's ever known. Surrounded by a stepfamily that hates her, and flung into a life where hearing is vital, Ivy finds solace in a handsome cowboy named Remy. But things with her new family are not what they seem. And Ivy is about to find out that the danger she faced on the journey west, has followed her to Montana... Bethany Swafford dazzles with her stunning young adult debut, introducing a strong heroine, the hardships of frontier life, shocking twists, and a slow-burning romance that will leave you wanting more. Third place winner of the 2018 Rosemary Award

The story of a girl who grows up with an alcoholic for a father, only to marry an alcoholic for a husband. ~~~~~ The walk to the school would be fifteen minutes, on a good day. Today, however, I managed to get there in seven. As soon as I walked onto the property, I could hear the nonsense ramblings spewing from my husband's mouth. "He's my son! You are holding him hostage!" He yells - his words slurring together, almost making them unintelligible. Luckily for me, I have heard him like this many, many times throughout my life and can understand him clearly. "Michael?" I call out to him and he turns his head slowly in my direction. He stumbles a little as he walks towards me, placing a hand on my left shoulder. "Ella? Love, they won't give me our son. I got here on time like you told me. I remembered! See! I got here, but they won't give him to me. They are keeping him away from me." He turns, his face getting angry. "Give me back my son, you bastards!" "Michael, that's enough." I say firmly, trying to make my hands stop shaking. "You're drunk. They couldn't give you Tyler like this. You aren't fit-" "Not fit? Not fit? I am capable of taking care of our son, Ella." He spits, literally, into my face. ~~~~~ This story contains mature themes, sensitive topics and coarse language. Reader discretion is advised.

(Currently Editing) Poland, 1942. When Celina Rudaski took the evening train to Warsaw, she did not expect to return responsible for the lives of two Jews. Then again, she did not expect her father to be whisked away in the middle of the night by soldiers, nor did she expect her house to become swallowed by flames of fiery hatred. Yet it all happened in the matter of twenty-four hours. A stubborn, introverted fifteen year old girl, Celina refuses to believe the many stories of the horrific genocide against the Jews, often turning a blind eye to anything that reminds her of the war. But when she unwittingly promises to hide two Jews in a home she does not have, Celina must journey across Europe with these strangers in search of lady who might be able to rescue them. They are filthy, they are broken, and Celina cannot seem to control the hatred burning inside her. Together they travel town to town, witnessing each cities own branch of horrors, even hiding in basements of strangers. In ways painfully unimaginable to Celina, these two Jews affect her life in the deepest of ways. As they dodge bullets, stumble upon an injured enemy pilot, and attempt to escape the hands of the Germans naming them fugitives, Celina must learn to face what she has been too terrified of her entire life. ***Edited by the lovely @jgfairytales

Sara is the temperamental, quick-to-judge daughter of an upstanding Protestant family in the countryside of Cologne. To her, the war has always seemed a far-away nuisance. That is, until a warm night in the summer of 1944, when a jarring dose of reality is dumped upon their doorstep: young, fraught, and Jewish. Enter Benjamin Jastrow, the child of an old family friend and the new and indefinite resident of the Fleischers' attic. He is violently shy, coping with various stages of post-traumatic stress, and can hardly form a sentence without stammering—a nearly perfect opposite of the blustering Sara, who positively abhors his presence in her home. But for better or worse, they are the most important people in each others lives, and everything they thought they understood of their world will soon change forever.