Everyone expected the quiet princess to die. The tyrant king had buried wives before, and the fragile girl forced to marry him was supposed to become just another forgotten tragedy. But the soft-spoken queen does something no one expected. She survives. While the court fears the monster on the throne, she remains beside him calm, gentle, and far stronger than anyone realizes. At first, the king tells himself she is simply useful. Her mind is sharp. Her kindness dangerous in a palace built on cruelty. And kings protect what is useful. But the longer she stands beside him, the more the kingdom begins to notice something unsettling. The tyrant who trusted no one now watches her like she is the most valuable thing in his world. His words remain cold. His temper still deadly. But everyone can see the truth the king refuses to admit. The monster on the throne has fallen in love. And the quiet queen who was supposed to die has learned something even more dangerous The only way anyone could ever hurt her... Is by surviving the king who would burn kingdoms to the ground to protect what belongs to him. (Book 1 )

"No-please-don't do this!" Seraphina sobbed, her voice cracking as she clung to her eldest brother's wrist. "I-I'll be good. I'll do whatever you say, just don't-" A sharp crack echoed through the room as his palm struck her cheek, sending her crashing to the marble floor. Pain exploded across her skin, but it was nothing compared to the terror clawing at her chest. From above, his voice was cold. Unmoved. "You will marry him." She shook her head wildly, crawling backward until her spine hit the wall. "He's a monster," she whispered, her breath shuddering. "He's not human. Please, don't make me do this. I'll die." Her second brother crouched in front of her, grabbing her chin roughly, forcing her to look at him. His lips curled, eyes void of warmth. "Then die." Her breath hitched. "But you will die as his wife." The door behind them creaked open. Heavy footsteps. Her father stepped inside, his expression unreadable. "Lock her in this room," he ordered. "She will not step out until her wedding day." Sera thrashed as hands seized her, dragging her toward the massive iron doors. "No! Please-Father, please!" But he didn't even look at her. The last thing she saw before the door slammed shut was her brothers standing side by side, indifferent as she was thrown into a fate worse than death. Then darkness. And the only thing left was the suffocating truth. She was a sacrifice. A bride to the Sinister, a devil himself. #A STANDALONE BOOK

"You're a thorn in my side." . . . The bane of my existence has always been Alessandro Silvestro. He's the reason my blood boils every time I'm in the same room as him. The reason why I do things out of my character. He brings out the nasty, rotten side of me. He was my first love. First enemy. And if that wasn't enough, he's also the identical copy of my best friend. The person I hate the most also has the face of the person who means the most to me. And he'll stop at nothing to see me crushed and wither in front of his eyes.

Book 2 in the Sins of the City series. ✯✯✯ In the great cosmic shit-show we call the justice system, there's the law... and then there's the counterweight. Forget Lady Justice, that blindfolded hack. She's just the statue out front. The real work, the greasing of the gears, that's done by a different kind of broad altogether. They've got a name for her: "The Dirty Lawyer". And let's be clear, they're not wrong. But to the six sons-of-bitches currently fertilizing a pine box forest, she's just Frank. See, Frankie operates on a different docket; a personal one: a list of names belonging to the pricks who turned her family into a memory. And she's been working her way down that list, real methodical-like. That was the plan, anyway. Then - he - had to show up and complicate the goddamn scenery. Hector Pierce. The society pages call him a businessman, a philanthropist. What they don't print is his real trade. The man is an artist whose medium is fear, and whose brush is a straight razor. The man has one rule: family. It's not a suggestion, it's a religion. So when a slick attorney with a death wish and a killer pair of legs starts sniffing around his family, she stops being a nuisance and becomes a problem. And Hector Pierce... he's a goddamn problem-solver. He looked her right in those two barrels of doom she calls eyes and promised to burn her world down to the foundation. And she should want to put a bullet right between his principled, stupidly gorgeous eyes. But his loyalty... that deep, caveman, "I'd-kill-for-my-blood" loyalty... it's a fucking distraction. To Hector, Frankie isn't just a threat. She's a lawyer who can argue a case on Monday and dispose of a body on Tuesday. Beautiful in a way that should be illegal. He's decided he's making her his. It's not a question of if, but a question of when the hell she would stop fighting him on it. ---------------------------- ⚠️ +18

When little Isla Mae returns home from college, no one believes how much she's grown-- including her brother's best friend. | NEW CHAPTERS EVERY WEDNESDAY AT 5PM EST |

[WATTY'S 2024 SHORTLIST] When the Ravos Kingdom abducts the Nyrial Emperor's dragon, princess Aeryn Glastos must marry the demon prince planning her assassination to save her empire and end the war while guarding her heart and a dangerous secret. ------------ The twenty-two-year-old Draconian princess is starting her final year at Insignia Academy during the height of the war between the Draconians and demons. Aeryn's dream is to graduate as a bonded Champion in the Fire Force and fight in the war. The only problem is, she is the only Draconian to never receive a power by age twenty. Ashamed of his powerless daughter, the emperor of the Nyrial Empire proposes a marriage between Aeryn and the Ravos Kingdom's demon prince to end the war and get his dragon back. Shade Cross is ruthless, cunning, and dangerously powerful. Everything he touches dies, except Aeryn. He awakens something in her she has never felt before and she acquires not one, but two powers. She must navigate both nations built upon lies, betrayals, a forbidden alliance, and a deadly curse. When she discovers the truth about her empire, she must make a choice: protect the secrets and save her father, or side with the enemy. Aeryn needs to be careful because when it reigns, it pours, and she is caught right in the middle of a feuding storm between both nations.

Finding out that your parents, the people that raised you your whole life, weren't your actual parents was hard. Being told at the ripe ol' age of eighteen that you're the last living member from an Ancient Shifter line, the one responsible for creating the First Shifters, was inconceivable. Especially when a group of assassins were on their way to exterminate me simply for just existing. Kidnapped from my bed by three extremely stunning and grumpy Alphas, and forced to attend a special Shifter University located in the middle of nowhere, I have to navigate an unfamiliar and unknown secreted world while simultaneously trying avoiding those who want to use my lineage to enact an age-old curse. Join Nova Nyx as she's dragged into a world full of Shifters, Secrets, and Startling Surprises. ~~~ "Mates?" I repeated owlishly, blinking rapidly at the one worded bomb they just dropped on me "What are Mates?" Instead of answering my question, they just stared back at me in silence, arms crossed over their broad chests. I ignored their silence, choosing to focus on second part of their sentence. "And you're telling me I have three of them?" I gawked "How many are you supposed to get? I can barely handle myself and my life at this point and you want me to worry about three other people?" Of course the most annoying man I've ever met smirked at my bafflement. "I don't think it'll be such a hardship for you" he said, arrogance lacing his tone "After all, I hear these three Mates of yours are very self-sufficient." "Don't forget extremely gorgeous" his Buffon of a friend chimed in, winking at me "That's a plus for you Princess." "One," the third one growled out at me, finally speaking up and adding subsistence to the conversation, startling the banter from the other two "You're only supposed to be blessed with one Mate in your entire lifetime."

She hated him as much as he wanted her, a thorn in her side ever since they met, and it had only gotten worse with each lingering gaze between them. As an aspiring journalist, Presley didn't believe in love-or lasting romantic relationships of any kind. The last thing she needed in her whirlwind of life was to get involved with her best's friends bodyguard-or rather the head of the Cosa Nostra. A man with little use of manners and secrets in his past. Tall, handsome and covered with tattoos, a living and breathing hazard with a cold nature and quiet demeanor. A beautiful monster dressed in leather jackets, and tight fitting shirts. A made man. Silvio had ever met a woman like her, who spent every minute glaring at him. One who he was consumed to touch despite his dislike for touch. A stubborn femme fatale with soft brown eyes and obsidian curls. A woman he'd been trying to resist for a long time. When a threat from her past lands her into the very arms of her nemesis and into a fake relationship, she's forced to get to know him and suddenly, their fake relationship feels more real than anything she had ever own. - preview - God, it felt right like this was where it belonged-this was where I belonged. And she felt it too, given by the slight rush of her breathing, and dazed eyes. There was always this magnetic pull and tug between us, so irresistible and consuming. "Silvio." She let out a small gasp, obviously not expecting me to touch her, and it burned. Everything right now burned but it felt good. Almost in an addicting way like the pain crossed the threshold and soared to become another feeling. "I don't think this is a good idea." "You want me to stop right now, say it but this is a damn good idea." I said in a gruff voice. "Tell me you don't want this, tell me it's a bad idea and I'll stop."

[completed] *Book 1 of the Colorado Ink series* Freya: I thought being dumped by my boyfriend right before I left for college was the worst thing that could happen before I arrived in Colorado. Then, I met him and he turned my world upside down. He held all the power and I knew he would break me, but something told me it would be worth it. Jensen: My life was as good as it was going to get considering all that I'd been through. I didn't expect this college girl from Kentucky to tear down every wall I built to save myself. I swore to myself that I wouldn't feel this way ever again, but this girl had me breaking all kinds of promises to myself.

Cat Logan is a single teen mother with a deadbeat ex-boyfriend and parents that haven't spoken to her since she got herself knocked up at the age of sixteen. She's been making it in the world all on her own and has been raising a child that she loves more than anything. She's used to men running for the hills the moment they find out about her two and a half year-old son, so when her best friend Hannah sets her up on a blind date with aspiring musician and college student Nick Bradley, she reluctantly agrees but isn't exactly expecting to find her happily ever after. Maybe it'll just have to find her instead? #Wattys2019