Small-town Stories

~ But as he stepped toward the stairs, another flash of lightning lit up the room, followed immediately by a crack of thunder so loud it seemed to shake the foundation. Jake stumbled in the dark, and his foot caught on the edge of the kitchen table. I heard him curse softly as he lost his balance, and before my right brain could stop me, I lunged forward to catch him. My hands found his shoulders just as he reached out to steady himself, and his palms found my waist. The motion sent us both off balance, and we tumbled backward together. Jake's chest rose and fell against mine, each breath sending heat spiraling through my body. One of his hands was still on my waist, his fingers digging into the fabric of my shirt while the other braced against the counter beside me. "...Claire." His breath fanned my lips, hot as iron. ~ Claire Whitmore fled her toxic marriage for a quiet cottage by the sea, vowing never to let anyone control her life again. Practical, wary, and fiercely independent, she's content with her freelance work, her massive orange tabby, and a dying lemon tree that mirrors her own slow recovery. Until the day she rescues her neighbor's toddler heading straight for the deadly ocean waves-ALONE. Jake Morrison is a sleep-deprived single dad doing his best-and failing. When Claire marches over to scold him, she ends up feeling sorry for the struggling guy and takes a gig caring for little Emma. What begins as a reluctant favor turns into small moments of joy. Jake's daughter loves coloring on the floor, park picnics, and sandcastles, moments that slowly chip away at Claire's walls. And Jake? He's a joy all on his own. But as feelings grow, so do the complications in Claire's life. A high-profile job offer in New York. A manipulative ex who wants her back. Financial threats to her beloved cottage... and the constant fear that opening her heart means losing herself once more. [Cover by Jessica Henney]

Her blood makes her prey. Her scent makes her the most dangerous thing in town. *** Six months before everything went wrong, seventeen-year-old Kelsey thought the worst part of moving to her father's hometown would be awkward family dinners and small-town boredom. She was wrong. Cold Creek is nothing like she expected, a quiet forest town where people stare too long, whisper bloodkin like a curse, and act as if they're waiting for her to slip. Her father won't tell her why. Her grandparents avoid the truth. And the woods surrounding the town feel alive in a way that feels wrong. When Kelsey crosses paths with Ethan Greystone, the one boy she was warned to avoid, everything fractures - the town's rules, her family's secrets. Even her own sense of safety. Because the danger in Cold Creek doesn't just hunt in the shadows. It watches her. It reacts to her. And it's getting harder to tell whether she's the target... or the spark that could set the whole town on fire. Some secrets rewrite everything you thought you knew. Some instincts can't be ignored. And wanting the wrong person might be the most dangerous choice of all.

WATTPAD BOOKS EDITION Griffin Tomlin is dead. And Clara's sister killed him . . . Four months after the murder, the entire town of Shiloh is still in shock. For Clara Porterfield, the normal world has crumbled around her in a million chaotic pieces. Now Clara lives in a new reality, where her sister awaits trial for murder, her mother obsessively digs in a dead, frozen garden, and her father lives and breathes denial. At school, Clara is haunted by her classmates' morbid curiosity-and all of the unspoken questions they won't ask. But none of them knows what she knows . . . Now Clara's sister wants something from her-the one thing in all of this that Clara isn't ready to face: the truth about what really happened that night. Because this story didn't die with Griffin Tomlin. There's another story that needs to be told. And sometimes, the lies we're told are nowhere near as deadly as the lies we tell ourselves . . .

Aubrey Collins thought she had the perfect life-until she caught her fiancé with her best friend. Now she's back in her hometown, hiding a secret... and trying to stay away from the one man she's never been allowed to want.

WATTPAD ORIGINAL EDITION When a summer of fun turns upside down, Olivia must figure out whether her paranoid imagination is playing tricks on her or if she's being followed - and by who. ***** It's been years since Olivia nearly drowned in Caldwell Beach, and after moving away, she's back for the summer to reconnect with old friends. However, not everything-or everyone-is the same. Her childhood best friend, Miles, is still sweet and carefree, but his older brother West is not. Disowned and working at the local garage, he's distanced himself from everyone, until Olivia accidentally uncovers the reason why. But as the two grow closer, strange things begin happening to Olivia. She can't stop seeing shadows and hearing voices, but as she slips into a downward spiral of obsessiveness and paranoia, she must fight to uncover the truth behind who is after her, and why. [[word count: 60,000-70,000 words]]

WATTPAD ORIGINAL EDITION In 1955, mixed-race Ethan Harper leaves his progressive hometown for a summer in Alabama where he's not welcome, except by resident free spirit, Juniper Jones. ***** After getting himself into a bout of trouble, 16-year-old Ethan Harper's parents send him to Ellison, Alabama, to live with his aunt and uncle for the summer. But the year is 1955, and Alabama is a far cry from his beloved home of Arcadia, Washington. As much as it's hotter in temperature, it's colder in every other way, and Ethan learns the hard way that people see his mere existence as a threat. Amidst all the mayhem, a fiery, free-spirited, oddball walks into Ethan's life. Her name is Juniper Jones. She is the first person in Ellison who seems unfazed by their racial differences, and she promises to give Ethan a summer he will always remember, filled with endless adventure and discovery. With Juniper, Ethan can breathe, he can be, despite the incessant attention and bullying their newly formed friendship attracts. Can the two survive the summer, run in the light and block out the noise of the outside world? [Published version comes out June 16, 2020 with Wattpad Books!] [[word count: 70,000-80,000 words]]

WATTPAD BOOKS EDITION. There are some friends you never forget. It's the summer of 1955. For Ethan Harper, a biracial kid raised mostly by his white father, race has always been a distant conversation. When he's sent to spend the summer with his aunt and uncle in small-town Alabama, his blackness is suddenly front and center, and no one is shy about making it known he's not welcome there. Enter Juniper Jones. The town's resident oddball and free spirit, she's everything the townspeople aren't-open, kind, and accepting. Armed with two bikes and an unlimited supply of root beer floats, Ethan and Juniper set out to find their place in a town that's bent on rejecting them. As Ethan is confronted for the first time by what it means to be black in America, Juniper tries to help him see the beauty in even the ugliest reality, and that even the darkest days can give rise to an invincible summer . . .

When Hayley falls for a bodyguard whose secret is more dangerous than her own, she must decide how much she is willing to risk for love. ***** Tank has spent his life protecting people. He works for one of the most successful security companies in the world, makes more money than most people see in a lifetime, and has a past that no one can ever know about. Hayley Elliott will do anything to keep her mom safe. Her sister has found a cure for Alzheimer's and their mom is living proof that the supplement works - but hiding from the people looking for the supplement's formula is impossible. When the threat to their lives becomes deadly, she has no option but to trust a man who's living with a secret more dangerous than her own. With more at stake than their own lives, Tank and Hayley have to decide what is more important: protecting the past or risking everything for love. Leeanna Morgan is a USA Today Bestselling Author.

WATTPAD BOOKS EDITION. The past always resurfaces . . . Five years after almost drowning, Olivia Cathart returns home to Caldwell Beach determined to face her fears and take some risks-not just by swimming but by opening her heart. Hoping to rekindle her friendships, she's excited about a carefree summer with her best friends Keely and Miles. But life in the sleepy town has changed, and no one and nothing is as it seems. When a series of startling crimes threaten Olivia's fragile state, she is plunged into a terrifying game of cat and mouse. Her only solace from the chaos is West, Miles's disowned and ruggedly handsome brother, but even he can't answer the question on everyone's minds-is Olivia really in danger or is it simply all in her head?

Kelly just wants her business to succeed, and getting involved with a bodyguard is not part of her plan - but he is the only one who can keep her safe... ***** Kelly Harris is determined to make her antiques business a success. She won't let Tanner, a bodyguard who likes first edition poetry books, interfere with her life. But winning a mystery box at an auction changes everything. With Tanner working alongside her, they decipher the code in a forgotten journal, uncovering a young girl's journey to freedom and a powerful family's secret. Working for a high-profile security company, Tanner has seen the worst that humanity can do. He doesn't believe in love. But when disaster strikes, he finds himself doing everything he can to keep Kelly safe - even if that means letting her into the most vulnerable part of who he is. Leeanna Morgan is a USA Today Bestselling Author.

Laney came back to Riverbend to grieve her husband. She didn't expect to face Tate Harrington- her husband's brother who always hated her. And in a town this small, avoiding each other isn't an option.

Lena didn't notice the exact moment things changed. It wasn't sudden enough for that. It started with small adjustments-the kind that didn't ask permission. A shelf above the kitchen window. A presence that didn't announce itself but stopped leaving. A man who spoke in certainty instead of explanation. Tate didn't fit into her life so much as he worked his way through it, as if space was something you could measure, build into, and quietly occupy without disrupting what was already there. At first, Lena kept watching for the moment it would feel wrong. For the moment she would need to step back. But the moment never came. Instead, there were mornings where his tools stayed out longer than expected. Evenings where silence felt less like absence and more like company. Conversations that didn't circle toward meaning because meaning was already understood. Nothing about it demanded definition. And that was what unsettled her most. Because people weren't supposed to stay like that. Not without explanation. Not without effort. Not without being asked. Tate never asked. He just came in-and didn't leave. And somewhere between routine and recognition, Lena stopped trying to decide what this was becoming. Because it already had. Not loudly. Not all at once. Just the way things do when they're allowed to remain. *This is book 1 that will be part of a 3 book series.

Sofia Bianchi has spent her entire life in front of cameras-perfect, untouchable, and endlessly watched. Modeling since the age of ten, she's built a career people dream of, but behind the flashing lights and curated perfection, she's exhausted. Burnt out. Invisible in all the ways that matter. So she disappears. No headlines. No announcements. Just a quiet escape to a small coastal town where no one knows her name, no one asks questions, and for the first time in her life... she can breathe. Luca Romano didn't plan the life he has-but he built it anyway. After being left with a newborn daughter, he traded the chaos of Rome for a quiet town and a small restaurant by the sea. Now, his world begins and ends with his five-year-old daughter, Chiara, and the life he's fought to create. It's simple. Safe. Unshakable. Until her. Sofia is different from anyone Luca has ever known-out of place, guarded, and carrying something he can't quite understand. And Luca is everything Sofia didn't know she needed-steady, warm, and real in a way her world has never been. What starts as quiet conversations and shared glances slowly turns into something deeper. Something neither of them planned. Something neither of them is ready to lose. But Sofia's life isn't something she can just walk away from. And Luca isn't someone who can risk being left behind again. Because some people are only meant to pass through your life... ...and some feel like home. Salt Air is a slow-burn, emotional romance about finding yourself, and learning that sometimes, the life you need is the one you never planned for.

Old: TILL THE END ~Ifra~ "Kya mai tumse mohbaat kr baithi hu?" ~Omais~ "Tum meri rooh mai bass chuki ho" Ifra x Omais

━━ In which Y/N travels to a small town to catch her cheating boyfriend, and begins an unexpected friendship with a handsome cowboy. boothill x fem!reader, small-town summer romance

In a town where nothing ever truly happens, silence becomes the loudest secret of all. Aarohi has always noticed things others ignore- the way people hesitate before speaking, the way certain places feel... wrong. But when a girl from her town disappears, the silence around it feels different. Heavier. Like something is being hidden. And then there's Abhinav- quiet, distant, and always watching. He knows something. Maybe everything. The more Aarohi searches for answers, the more the past begins to slip through- in fragments, in flashes, in things she doesn't remember living. Because some secrets aren't forgotten. They're buried. And some silences... were never meant to be broken.

Being the center of attention is something Andy's had to deal with all his life. Friends, girls, popularity, and opportunities have always come easy to him-not because he was born into a wealthy family or because of his amazing vocals-but because he was born invisible. Though well-beloved by society, Andy has always struggled to make deeper connections with others and find true excitement in life. His surprisingly mundane days are interrupted when an unassuming girl claims she can see him. --- Upload Schedule: Sporadic

When burned-out writer Jackson Breaker inherits an old general store in the obscure town of Violet, Montana he moves there to finish his manuscript. But he gets more than he bargained for when his writing starts to bleed into reality, and a mysterious woman named Marilyn appears to him in feverish visions. And suddenly there's one question on Jackson's mind: Is she is muse, his dream girl, or just the nightmare he needs?

It's a story of a middle-class boy, Ishaan, who isn't the cool guy of the class and Mayra who comes from a rich family.

Sixteen-year-old Evellie knows two things about her past: her mother is dead, and her father is a ghost. Raised by her overprotective grandparents, her life is a cycle of school, sneakers, and silence. Until a cream-colored envelope appears in her locker. Inside is a silver key and a terrifying promise: It all begins now. With the help of her three best friends, Evellie must unlock the truth that her grandparents have spent eleven years trying to bury. But some doors are locked for a reason. And some "ghosts" aren't actually dead.