🏆 WINNER of the 2021 Ambys! Historical Fiction genre & Contest! Something is amiss within the halls of Elsinore Manor. Something that cannot be defined. With her husband away on business, Gertrude Bard awaits his return in their manor in Cornwall, England. She spends her days in the company of her three children - Ophelia (12), Rosen (8), and Gilbert (6) - and her husband's younger brother, Claude, who has come to stay with them during the patriarch's absence. Not long after Claude's arrival, strange and unexplainable things begin to occur. Objects go missing, the piano plays on its own, and Gilbert has a sudden imaginary friend who may or may not be a ghost. Claude claims ignorance, and Gertrude begins to doubt her sanity. Is the new darkness enveloping Elsinore Manor the product of calculated deceit? Or is the truth something far more sinister and otherworldly? ~ ~ ~ HIGHEST RANKINGS ~ #1 Period Fiction #1 Hamlet #1 Jane Eyre #2 Haunted Mansion #3 The Ambys 2021 #4 Ghost Story #4 Red Room

[ONC 2021 Grand Winner] After the events of Ragnarök, the God Vidar has settled in the nice and quiet city of Antwerp where he keeps an eye on the local paranormal community. Nearly a millennium later, Vidar is a grumbling bookstore owner by day and a lazy paranormal detective by night (albeit a slightly furry one during a full moon). The morning after a particularly rough transition, the young teenage girl who normally wastes her days on the skatepark across the street enters his shop, fervently looking for a book on the legend of Brabo and Antigonus. As she struggles to pay, she reveals that the bronze giant has disappeared from the statue on the town square. At the foot of the fountain now lies a body that has been dead for three hundred years. Prompts chosen: (25) The war has ended, and thus the immortals return to their natural state: forgotten, hiding in the shadows until humankind is in need of them once more. They did not expect to be stumbled upon by a young farm apprentice. (*) (60) Rumours of a mysterious dark force under the earth have spread around the city. You are sent to investigate. (*) To fit the plot I have in mind, the young farm apprentice will become a bookstore "apprentice"

Fitness-trainer Winston settled in Corbeau Woods for a quiet life with his husband, free of the superstition and madness of his childhood. When a mysterious statue of an eye circulates the town, people go missing and he and his husband make a shocking discovery about their neighbour's inexplicable fate. After the statue lands on his doorstep, Winston must wrestle with his denial of the paranormal to avoid losing his husband and his life. 2nd place and Best Cover Horror Category The Berry Pancake Awards (2023) ONC Shortlister and Round 3 Ambassador's Pick (2021) 1st Place Winner Mystery/Thriller 'The Level Up Awards' 2021 WattpadDarkFantasy's 'Dark Arts' reading list (May 2022) PsychologicalNovel's 'Terrible Speculation' reading list (Sept 2021) Paranormal 'Chills and Thrills' reading list (Sept 2021) StoriesUndiscovered 'Can You See Me Now' reading list (Sept 2021) Ghost's 'Featured Ghostly Tales reading list (August 2021) Cover image credit: Perchek Industrie on Unsplash Story copyright 2021 Sarah Paradis

Guardians of Freecaster High #1 "That doesn't make any sense. You were the one who left me. You didn't care anymore." "If I didn't care, Alexis, then why is it I can't touch another girl unless I'm imagining you?" He pushes against me, trapping me against the wall, his minty beer breath skating across my lips. "J-Jace, you don't have t-to do this," I stammer, already losing the fight as my body melts against his. Jace's hand moves to trace his thumb across my bottom lip. "Why do I obsess about kissing you again? Why do memories of holding you still haunt me?" His face pinches in agony. "Why can't I do the right fucking thing and leave you alone?" _______________________________________________ Alexis 'Lexi' Young has four goals; pass her senior year of high school, buy her own wheels, get accepted to culinary school, and forget that her ex-boyfriend ever existed. Seems easy enough, right? Nope! Not when the school across town burns to the ground and all the students are sent to her school. Included in those new students is none other than Jace Hall, Lexi's ex, and his motorcycle riding, street fighting, off the wall friends. As for Jace, he'll forever regret breaking Lexi's heart, but it was either that or put her in the line of danger. Now that she's in arms reach, staying away is a lot harder to do. Especially when everything she does drives him crazy. But being part of the Guardians means trouble is never far behind, and getting close to Lexi again could put a target on her back. She wants to resist old temptations and protect her heart. He wants nothing more than to pull her close and keep her safe. But are you ever really safe when kissing your ex? ______________________________________________ Recommended age is 17+ for cursing, sexual content, and violence Best Ranking: #1 in HighSchool Romance 6/4/2022 #3 in teenlove 6/3/22 #1 in MatureThemes 1/11/21 #8 in Drama 12/31/20 Copyright © Chelsea Frey 2020 All rights reserved

Mia Evian has to piece together the mystery of Zack Maddox, the bad boy whose life she saved, while simultaneously keeping her own crumbling life together before Zack ends up in trouble again - or worse yet, dead. ***** This is a love story. When Zack Maddox, a notorious bad boy, meets Mia Evian, a nobody with a disdain for arrogant pretty boys, the two teenagers' lives are thrown into chaos. Zack is a mystery Mia can't unravel, and as her family is torn apart by her father's infidelity, her newfound thrill-seeking attitude is the only thing keeping her head above water. As Mia's behaviour turns increasingly reckless, Zack becomes the lifeboat keeping her afloat. Mia thought she had a good grasp of the world, but she's beginning to realise the people around her are far more complex than she could have ever imagined. Worse still, she may not be the only one who needs a lifeboat. This is a love story - just not the kind you might expect. ***** Content warning: This story contains mild drug and alcohol use and themes of mental health, self-harm, and suicide. Cover designed by Lucas Fisher

[Wattys 2021 Shortlisted] In the ancient French perfume capital of Grasse, lives bohemian recluse Cassandra Ducasse, the last remaining member of a legendary family of perfumers. Trapped by her past, Cassandra is unwilling to take up the reins of her family business. When she is forced into an unlikely working partnership with hotshot marketing executive Vince, the two could make the perfect team to create a hit fragrance for global superstar, Imogen. But can they put their differences aside for long enough to see that each holds the key to unlock the other's happiness. Featured by @Beauty, October 2021; @adultfiction, October 2021 Winner: Contemporary Romantics Award by @Contemporarylit 2022 Highest rankings (at different times) #1 in perfume # 1 in France # 1 in Provence # 1 in Riviera # 9 in womensfiction # 3 in familyhistory And for one brief, glorious, but likely flawed moment... #10 in romance.

🎖 Featured on Teen Fiction Reading List #YA Ambassadors🎖Love or Music... Which should they choose and what price do they have to pay? Love will give Kit and Tully a future together, but music can make Tully's dream come true. Sixteen-year-old Kit has zero interest in new guy, Tully, a nobody who's always there for her. Neither of them believe a half-forgotten legend is true, but once a sleeping Celtic god awakes, it's too late to turn back, too late to refuse his offer... Love or Music... Which will they choose? Breakfast Club vibes, 1990s Ireland, Normal People banter!

Some ghosts never die. For William Slate, there's always been his troubled older brother Charlie. When Charlie left home in the aftermath of a violent confrontation, scars and a childhood cut short was the legacy he left behind. Seven years later, William Slate is finally in control, and he won't give that up for anything. Athena Slate is an open book. Self-reliant and brutally honest, she refuses to let anything get in her way. Not an increasingly distant twin brother, not a best friend she hasn't seen in months, and certainly not the things people start to say about her at school... When their father announces that Charlie is returning home, Will and Athena must navigate minefields of memory and family. ⭐️FEATURED by @StoriesUndiscovered, @YA, @CommunityTeam, and @NewAdult ⭐️

In a world where people are followed by animals that reflect their personality, Taylor is devastated when she starts being followed by companions of the creepy crawly variety. As her passionate science teacher's annual companion showcase rapidly approaches, Taylor's mind is abuzz with anxiety about what her newfound companions mean about who she is.

Janelle Beckley thought she was ready for her first year of high school. With best friends, a loving boyfriend, and an aptitude for learning, freshman year should have been a guaranteed breeze. But before she can even set foot on campus for the first day of school, one wrong summer turns Janelle's world upside down, unraveling her plans, her relationships, and her sanity. As the stress of the school year builds, so does Janelle's guilt over the mistakes she made. And with every piece of bad luck she's served, Janelle struggles more and more to pull herself free of her demons. Will she find a way to overcome her past and free herself of the guilt and shame that weighs her down? Or will the darkness she feels consume her entirely? After all, one mistake can change everything. Drawn from personal experiences and told in a mix of first- and third-person narration, this blend of real-life and fiction will allow readers to get to know Janelle inside and out, relating to her and the hardships she faces on a personal level as they root for her to overcome her flaws and insecurities. Perfect for fans of "Speak," "I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter," and "Thirteen Reasons Why." WARNING: this story contains mature topics, including mental health issues and sexual violence; it may not be suitable for all readers. Recommended for readers aged 16 and up. |ranked #1 in freshman year 08052020| |ranked #1 in sexual assault 11272020| |ranked #20 in freshman 08062020| |ranked #31 in realistic fiction 08062020| Copyright J. Bodwell, 2020 First Draft; under revision.