{WATTYS 2020 WINNER} {FEATURED BOOK} Paris, 1663. 500 girls selected by King Louis XIV embark on a journey across the seas from their homeland. Each is given a dowry, and the expectation that they are to marry a French settler, in order to increase the population of New France. They are the historic Daughters of the King, or "les filles du roi." Eighteen-year-old Celeste Dubois is a free-spirited, educated and headstrong girl. She comes from a wealthy Parisian family that has squandered their money and is subsequently forced to journey to New France. However, Celeste doesn't plan on marrying a complete stranger. She hopes to use the dowry and the free voyage as a way to escape the poverty and social ranks of Paris. Matters are complicated when against her will, she falls in love. Romantic, kind and stunningly beautiful Lorraine Leblanc is a girl from a large family with children to spare. Unlike Celeste, she happily dreams of the day she will meet her future husband in New France. When she marries a mysterious widower with two young children of his own and still reeling after his broken heart, she realizes that married life isn't all she had hoped it would be, and begins to question her new husband's complicated past. - Wattpad Picks Blast to the Future Past list 2018 - The 50 Best Wattpad Stories of 2018/19 by Design Wizard - 2018 Youngblood Awards Winner (Romance) - 2018 True North Awards 2nd place for Historical Fiction and 2nd place Truly Canadian special category award - Featured by Wattpad Historical Fiction profile under Kings, Courtships and Empires, Young Adult Fiction profile under Love, Actually and Romance profile under Time will Tell *Please be aware that since this book covers the colonial period, it does contain sensitive themes of racism and violence that readers will find disturbing. There are resources at the back of the book that prompt further learning in the Historical Notes section.*

{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

When Adrienne's app TMI is a resounding success, she can't wait to reveal the dirty secrets of the glamorous "it" crowd of her prestigious school, but soon, lines begin to blur and she might find herself being the one who falls. *** Adrienne's plans have come to fruition. Her app, TMI, has taken Petraka Academy by storm, with its promise to reveal and confirm the juiciest gossip. It is also endorsed by the shiny "it" crowd who can't wait to ridicule the fallen. But they have no clue that Adrienne is coming for them, ready to push them off their pedestals one by one. Because she knows something no one else would believe. She knows that top-of-the-food chain Rosie Geld killed Audrey Hart. And once the truth hits TMI, everyone will know, and the guilty will finally pay. [[Watty Award winner in Mystery/Thriller]] Content warning: This story contains themes of bullying, sexual assault, eating disorders, drug use, abuse, violence and suicide. *** Cover designed by Holly Thurston

Ara, the only woman left alive after a plague, is searching for a way to save humanity. She thinks there isn't a man she can trust, until she meets Kaden. ***** A plague has swept over the Earth, killing the majority of the population and every female. Except one. Ara witnessed the horror and destruction, but for the last three years she has survived. Now, desperation and hunger force her out of the mountains and onto a dangerous path; across the flooded downtown and through the gangs of survivors is hope. Ara's father spoke of a clue that could save not just her, but humanity. Then she is captured by a group of men. Despite the seeming kindness of Kaden, a young man her own age, Ara doesn't know if she can trust them. Then again, there's no way she can cross the plague-ridden city on her own. Men. Monsters. Is there a difference? This is the story of The Last She. (This book contains all of The Last She Series - Book 1: The Last She, Book 2: The Last City and Book 3: The Last Creation) [[word count: 250,000-300,000 words]]

The first agricultural revolutions began about 10,000 BCE in Egypt, China and Mesopotamia (Iraq). Trading require counting and the first written language; in general use by 2600 BCE. The first epic poem, Gilgamesh, was written in cuneiform. The first alphabet assigned Semitic characters to Egyptian hieroglyphs about 2000 BCE. It was adopted by the Greeks about 800 BCE and later modified for the Roman Latin alphabet. The Chinese built the first blast furnaces (using piston-bellows driven by waterwheels) and cast iron farm tools and weapons were common by 500 BCE. Austronesians sailed outrigger canoes over 6,000 kilometers from Taiwan to reach New Zealand from about 3000 BCE. About 100 BCE the Malays of Indonesia traded between China, India and Africa in sailing ships carrying 1000 people and a 260 ton cargo. The Greek navigator, Pytheas, sailed to the north Atlantic about 325 BCE where he recorded polar ice, the Midnight Sun and lunar tides. The Roman Prefect of Egypt (26-24 BCE), Aelius Gallus, noted 120 trading ships leaving Myos Hormos for India. WHO THE HELL ARE WE? is a series of short books and videos describing the evolution of civilization. Almost everyone on the planet is five times wealthier than their ancestors only 50 years ago. This astonishing phenomenon has also improved health, education, and longevity. The cause; an explosive growth in ideas and productivity. It began when we learned to control fire, evolved articulate speech and stumbled onto the way to create infinite wealth; free trade. The discovery of agriculture made us richer but we also learned how to destroy wealth. Great civilization grew up but then disappeared leaving only incredible ruins and ideas. Later books detail some of the ideas and developments that increased the average life span from about 40 years to more than 80 and the average world income from less than $3 to more than $33 per person per day (and to $140 per day in some countries).

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)

Science fiction novel set in year 3031 (the ultimate future): Jake Utter wakes up in a strange planet stranded with a female humanoid, Kira. Things goes south after a virus attack on his particle transporter wormhole passage, having his transport taking wrong turns and leaving him at his fate with no idea of his present situation. With planetary troubles and a seemingly transport highjack, Jake has more troubles to worry about than the ever surprising Kira and the hunting memories from his past.

WATTYS 2021 Historical Fiction winner | Writers Of The Past Series. 4000 years ago, in an empire where women were little more than flowers on the wall, one princess cemented her story in history and changed the art of writing for centuries to come. *** Based on the real-life Akkadian princess and high-priestess Enheduanna, this novel explores the life of history's first author. An outspoken visionary with a talent for writing down her deepest emotions, Enheduanna's life is turned upside-down when the god Nanna chooses her to become the high priestess of Ur. As her power in the city of Ur grows, so does her list of enemies. But her own safety is the least of her worries when thousands depend on her to keep the vengeful gods happy, and their land safe. Either way, Enheduanna is not willing to go down without a fight. One way or another, she will carve her own path, and nobody is going to erase her from the pages of history. - part 1 of the Writers Of The Past Series -

❝It is not enough to notice the beautiful flowers as you walk past them. You need to reach for their soft petals, feel their essence, remember what it is to grow.❞ - Christy Ann Martine There is no escaping the past, or what's to come. Ellie Davis knows that all too well. Even as she lays in the field, with the sinking sun and the fading blue sky, suspended in time; she knows it can't be that way forever. As much as she wants it to be. She turns to her side, wringing the daisy chain on her wrist. The evening summer breeze brushes against her exposed skin. Her lids fall shut. "I wish you were here." She says to no one, no one at all, her words lost in the wind. Ellie Davis has had anything but a normal life. Living in a small, tight-knit town with a family like hers and all the secrets with them - her only escape is the graveyard. No one else goes there, for obvious reasons. That is, until she meets a boy - one she's never seen before. The rest of the town is bound to unravel his story soon enough. After all, they know her's. Or at least, part of it. The new guy in town, however, no one knows anything about his. But when he meets her, his story almost seems like nothing compared to her's - and she doesn't even know it.