"Put down the bleach. Your skin is not dirt that needs to be cleaned out like yesterday's shirt. You are comprised of sienna, chestnut, and warm mahogany. Dark as the night sky, constellations are tucked neatly underneath your bones. Your skin reminiscent of the hot chocolate that warms winter nights. Like rings around a tree stump, you too have history etched into your melanin. Don't let the glaring whiteness, blind you from the beauty that you are. "

After running away with her baby sister from her abusive father, Juliana bumps into the last person she would expect to help her. He was rough, dangerous and extremely powerful. He tempted Juliana in ways no one has ever done before but with someone adamant on keeping them apart, will their love prevail? WARNING: Sexual content ***** He walked up to me and sat on the bed next to me. He jaw tightened, I could tell he was getting angry. "Stop being so controlling and leave me alone, I'm not having this conv-" I began but stopped as he smashed his lips against mine and moved his hand to cup the area between my thighs. "Stop fùcking playing with me" He said as he started rubbing me through the outside of my shorts. COMPLETED: MARCH 2020 - JUNE 2020 ***** HIGHEST RANKINGS: #1 love #1 romance #1 mature #1 mafia #1 drama #1 bad boy #1 billionaire Cover made by @mbaliey83

I'd Like to think I was a good person, before it all began. I didn't cheat on tests, or steal. But throughout my entire life, I was treated if I were a monster. At the age of five, after several agonizing tests, I was diagnosed with Reactive Attachment Disorder. But not even that title could describe just how strange I was. When another kid got hurt, I would cry. Whenever someone else was told a funny joke, I would laugh hysterically. People looked at me as if I were crazy- and for while I agreed with them. That was until I, Caddie Jones, was exiled to Nox Haven Academy, a school for truly special kids. Not the mentally ill, psychotic kind of special but the magical kind. Like witches, vampires, fairies and werewolves. Call me crazy if you want, you wouldn't be the first. But the stories are all true. The supernatural did exist and I was one of them. Life there was cool until suddenly, I was faced with two-faced witches, egotistical princes, hormone driven werewolves, and an army of evil warlocks who were threatening to destroy the world. ... Maybe Nox Haven was a school for psychos after all. ---------------------------------------------------------- Highest Rank: #2 in Paranormal 1st Place winner of The Night Shift's Killer Competition 4/10/16 Illustration by: Stephanie Pitino (www.ClairObscur.fr) (1st book in series)

A magic-addicted spy trapped in the queen's service must track a princess-turned-assassin in order to earn her freedom, but things get complicated when she falls for the princess she's supposed to capture. ***** Weak. Cursed. That's how seventeen-year-old Kayden Branimir, the realm's deadliest assassin, views herself. Some believe she could save the world with her rare healing magic, but she gave up on her powers long ago after failing to save her best friend. Her life changes when she receives a letter from her supposedly dead twin brother, Alaric, begging to be rescued from rival territory Leodia. For the first time since her friend's accident, Kayden is determined to be the hero, but she must learn to embrace her magic--and herself--along the way. Strange. Unnatural. Those are the words whispered about eighteen-year-old Zara Tait, a Leodian spy addicted to soul-stealing magic. Forced into the queen's service, Zara wants to escape and return home, but she has nothing to offer the queen in exchange for her freedom. When Kayden arrives in Leodia, Zara sees the quiet girl with unique magic as the bargaining chip she needs. But the more she learns of Kayden, the more her feelings grow. Now, Zara must choose between her freedom and the dangerous assassin she hadn't meant to fall for. [2020 Watty Award Winner] Content warning: This story contains mature themes of violence, addiction, abuse, self-harm, and mental illness. Cover by Faera Lane

When nineteen-year-old Angie Nohl accidentally kills a man in a skirmish one night, she never would have guessed that man could be the god Poseidon. A heavenly bounty now on her head, Angie is a fugitive at large. When the trickster god Hermes comes to her aid, however, the two spring up a wild idea: pin the disaster on another person, and take the prize money for themselves. The feat certainly won't be easy, especially not when two of Angie's childhood friends, hired by the gods to locate her, see right through her plan. Follow the unorthodox journey of a god, a part-time online college student, and a wood nymph as they attempt a divine deceit for the ages. -will likely have occasional strong language, just as a warning. As always, like and comment if you enjoy! -

A shattered world, a sea of sky, and a thousand islands linked together only by the ships that sail beneath the endless blue. Where island kingdoms dream of empire, old allegiances fray under new stress, and old secrets are being unearthed. And into this maelstrom of change, the Ravens' Child is born. They are a clan of four now. Vincent Locklear, cast out of Volante's navy, and carrying the fate of the sky in his heart. Mercy Larkin, giving up finding her place in the world in favour of building it. Anita Hoffman, adrift by choice with one ear to the winds for the family she abandoned. And Leslie Madrigan, stripped of his title by family, and his family by pirates and politics. And in their new ship, paid for by a burden that has shattered islands, they will make their own place beneath the endless blue sky. Children of unkindness, the Ravens' child. And the legacy of unkindness is sorrow. Sorrow, and wings. (Cover art by @rentachi)

Cara’s mother has disappeared. Her father isn’t talking about it. Her big brother Max is hiding behind his iPod, and her genius little brother Jackson is busy studying the creatures he collects from the beach. But when a watery specter begins to haunt the family’s Cape Cod home, Cara and her brothers realize that their scientist mother may not be who they thought she was—and that the world has much stranger, much older inhabitants than they had imagined. With help from Cara’s best friend Hayley, the three embark on a quest that will lead them from the Cape’s hidden, ancient places to a shipwreck at the bottom of the sea. They’re soon on the front lines of an ancient battle between good and evil, with the terrifying “pouring man” close on their heels. One chapter will be posted Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays until all 10 chapters are up. These will be followed by the second book in the series, The Shimmers in the Night. A Junior Library Guild Pick; Kirkus Reviews Best of 2011; Selected for the ABC Best Books for Children Catalog; Locus Notable Books.

{WATTY'S 2020 WINNER & EDITOR'S PICK.} Hopeless romantic and aspiring writer Mare Atwood has fallen madly in love with her childhood correspondent. There's only one catch-she doesn't know who he is. When the beaus of Star's Crossing return from boarding school to begin the courting season, Mare is determined to uncover the identity of her writer, flout her family's intentions of orchestrating an advantageous marriage, and procure the life of writing and romance she's always sought. But as in the tales she so adores, it won't be easy. Galas, masquerades, picnics, and hunts-alongside an old friend, a former teacher, and an unlikely ally, Mare delves into an investigation that leaves her torn between three clever, deceptive, and wealthy young bachelors. If Mare can confirm which is her writer and claim his hand before the courting season ends, she'll have her wish: the love of her life, a valuable marriage, and a future of writing romance. But with the eyes of Star's Crossing upon her, a business plot forcing invisible hands, and the unwillingness of her writer to come forward-Mare's future may not end in triumph, but tragedy. Set against the gilded Victorian backdrop of coastal Connecticut and lush with pre-war luxury, fans of Jane Austen, Margaret Mitchell, and Louisa May Alcott are sure to enjoy this lighthearted, lyrical novel of young love, independence, and identity. #1 Literary #1 YA Romance #1 Victorian #1 Lyrical #8 General Fiction

❝I know I dream about her all day, I think about her with her clothes off.❞ ember gaines starts a lsd drug ring in her high school with the help of the brooding yet attractive, soon-to-be valedictorian, elias wolfe. how long until her illicit activities catch up to her... and her heart?

Lily is a laidback slacker with a phobia for commitment...who happens to owe the devil her (nonexistent) firstborn. When the ruler of Hell comes knocking, what choice does she have but to let the devil play matchmaker? *** Lily has never been good at relationships, not that it matters to her. That is until Eve, a seductive woman claiming to be the devil's apprentice, shows up to collect a debt Lily doesn't remember owing: her firstborn child. Without a firstborn to give, and with the threat of eternal damnation at her heels, Lily finds herself on a chaotic matchmaking quest with the devil herself. Eve swears she's only playing matchmaker to collect the debt owed to her, but with each failed set-up, Lily suspects there may be something more to the devil's plan. [[word count: 60,000 - 70,000]] Cover designed by Joe Resch [[Wattys 2020 Winner]] Content warning: this story includes dark humour, mature themes, and scenes of violence and gore