{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.*

Volume 1: Pickpocketing Living in secret and stealing to eat is a hard life , but it's all Kuro has ever known. Fear and necessity honed him from a young age into the finest young thief in in the wizard kingdoms. Nobody can hide forever, though, and a run of poor luck lands Kuro in a place where his quick hands and quiet feet count for nothing: Avalon Academy, school of magic. Out of his depth and unable to escape, can Kuro find a place among the other misfits at the school, or will his past return to ruin the one chance he has to leave his life in the shadows?

COMPLETED: 2019 Watty Award Winner in Fantasy Every night she plays...and every night they come... Lira is a violinist by nature and a performer by imprisonment. Stolen as a child by a malevolent wraith and trapped in the Spirit World, Lira now spends her days playing the very music that seduced her in the first place. She sees no escape from her existence under the sorceress Bebinn, until one day her music lures Owen who, at age 16, is supposed to be too old to succumb to its spell. Imprisoned alongside Lira and desperate to find a way back home, Owen vows to find a way to free them both. The only problem: no one has ever escaped Bebinn and the Spirit World alive. 1st Place Winner in Fantasy for the Undiscovered Writer Awards! 1st Place in Fantasy for the Hidden Author Awards! 1st Place in Fantasy for the Hot Dog Awards! Winner of @EventualElites "Hypnotized and Hooked" Award! 3rd Place in Fantasy for the Book Center's Summer Awards! Cover by: @Baneen121

The deepest darkest prison on the planet is not where anyone would choose to start their day, particularly when they have a job to do. A princess and her personal guards fighting to stop a war, arrested for trespassing; an expert assassin stalking a merciless wizard, arrested for poaching; and a confused boy, utterly lost and severely concussed, arrested for failing to adequately explain who he was or how he came to be lying in a sizable crater. Together this unlikely, and somewhat unwilling, band of allies will perform daring escapes and battle an onslaught of mages, monsters, and malodorous thieves as they race across a continent to save two nations from mutual annihilation.

Misunderstood and overmedicated, twelve-year-old Lilith Bloom finds the prospect of a grand family reunion decidedly dull... That is, until she discovers that the rose garden surrounding her grandfather's Berlin mansion is, well, completely and utterly carnivorous. Armed with Panther, her talking pet whippet, and the help of the mute boy next door, Lilith must unravel the secrets behind the mysterious estate, all while her family remains gloriously unaware that they are about to be devoured.

[New Chapter 1-2 per week] Sofia, Orì and Ami are visiting the Kingdoms of Nihon in preparation for the Games that are being held every ten years and that define the power structures of the magical world of Nihon. While trying not to be sucked into Mother's and the Masters' power machinations, each of the children faces a challenge of their own. Sofia learns what it means to be a sorceress. Orì is torn between her desire to please her mother and becoming her own person. And Ami is being approached with an enticing offer.

[COMPLETED] Book TWO of the magical Nihon Series follows Sofia and Orì, as the abducted children are being brought to Mother's castle. There, they shall form an elite army of children. Orì frees Sofia, and together they flee deep into the magical land of Nihon, making new friends and new enemies. But will their friendship survive Orì's betrayal, and will they be able to trust each other?

Highest Rank #1 Fantasy - Bridges are meant to be crossed, aren't they? And yet, Sofia doesn't know of anybody who has ever crossed into Nihon, the shrouded unknown half of the world where magic rules and reality is pliable. One day, Sofia meets Orì, a girl with light blue skin from the other side of the river, and the two girls strike up an unlikely friendship. But Sofia is supposed to follow her aunt and become the Guardian of the Bridge, doomed to spend her life on the lookout for the things that nobody seems to want to see... When Orì suddenly vanishes, will Sofia have the courage to finally cross the bridge to Nihon and go to her friend's rescue? (First Book of the Nihon Series)

The core survivors of the Bottle Island massacres lived happily ever after, but there is still one more story to be told. In the fourth instalment of the Altswood saga, Annabelle Martinez and Jules Sodrepena may have left Altswood, but the psyche of Altswood is unlikely to ever leave them. It is their senior year of college and they are en route to Venice, Italy with the rest of their class as part of their final Art History project. Annabelle can't wait-they are graduating in mere weeks, so she doesn't really care about doing well in class anymore. She just wants to sit back and relax, which includes not admitting to herself that she may or may not have developed a crush on Jules, whose new girlfriend is also on this trip. If only the universe didn't hate her. Within her first few seconds in Venice, Annabelle collides with a man running for his life. Just before he dies in her arms, he whispers: "The cipher is in the phone." Annabelle had sworn to herself she would never get involved with another investigation regarding a killer running rampant on a paradise island. But as the situation turns from a murder investigation to a bomb threat that could destroy the whole of Venice, the authorities continue scratching their heads with no solid leads. What Annabelle overheard could be the key to solving this mystery, and preventing the whole island from blowing to smithereens. With only twenty-four hours before the countdown ends, Annabelle and Jules take it upon themselves to uncover who killed the man and why. Their talents for sleuthing in Altswood have followed them to Venice, and there is no time to spare. Only as the seconds tick away, it would seem both the island and their friendship are at risk of falling into pieces.

After the chaos of two serial killers in Altswood, the island is finally at a calm. Luca Fern and Gabriel Kingston have become media darlings: the heroes of Bottle Island that every tourist wants a photo with. That is, until philanthropist Maire Reeve drops dead, and the two are accused of her murder. From power couple to homicidal duo, the stakes are high as the conspiracy threatens to destroy the very foundation of Bottle Island. As if that wasn't bad enough, Luca is receiving ominous notes asking her to solve a mystery that she has nothing do with. Or is a previous tragedy in Altswood the very cause of her current situation? As old secrets resurface and mix with new suspects, it is clear that this is not only a grudge against the present, but an avenging force from the past. Despite how much Luca wants to leave the Hunt behind and move forward, it all ends where it began: with the death of Beatrice Willis.