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The Cost of Beauty.

The Cost of Beauty.

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WpMetadataReadMatureOngoing35m
WpMetadataNoticeLast published Fri, Feb 13, 2026
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Fiction
Mystery
In the 2000s, where size zero ruled every runway and curves were treated as a flaw, Lumiere Lane is a rising local model in Chicago known only in small circles and underground fashion shows. She's plus-size, unapologetically confident, and everything the industry claims it doesn't want. Yet people can't look away. She's becoming a quiet revolution, the kind that threatens the status quo without even trying. Then everything changes. A London designer discovers her, stunned by her presence, and offers her the unthinkable: a spot on the runway at London Fashion Week. It's the kind of opportunity that could make history- a plus-size Black woman stepping into the world at a time when no one like her is allowed to exist in high fashion. But Lumiere almost never made it to the airport. Because in a world that punishes women for existing outside the mold, Lumiere Lane's greatest crime was daring to be seen.
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Clackers

There is nothing as powerful in life as your first love. When this happens after clacking to a strange new world where people reverse age-let's say it's complicated. Demalynn is a seventeen-year-old girl from a small town who one day hears a loud 'clack' and is transported to the planet Saffire. Naked. Then things really get weird. No child has ever been born on Saffire; clackers make up the entire population. All people who clack under thirty reverse age: each year they grow younger. As an awkward teenager plagued by panic attacks who dabbles in comedy, Demalynn just wants to go home to be re-united with her family. Citizens over thirty grow old and are forced to mine the mineral that powers giant cooling stations to keep the planet habitable. Citizens solve disputes with gladiatorial combat. The prophesy of The Coming In Saffire's time of greatest need, a child will be born to a special woman, the Gravidarum. The child, who has no father of this planet, will be known as the Unum, a child to lead Saffire. The Helper will battle to keep the Gravidarum safe until the Unum is born. The people of Saffire have been waiting to see The Coming fulfilled. Demalynn assembles a group of clackers to get her home, the most important of which is a fellow clacker: eighteen-year-old Aiden. It is not long before Jago, the ruler of Saffire, learns that a woman on Saffire is pregnant and he unleashes all his power to prevent the birth. Jago will not give up power. Demalynn is surprised to find out she is the Helper, but is astounded to learn the identity of the Gravidarum. Demalynn must battle to stay alive and fumbles towards the realization that Aiden is much more than a close friend. She is certain, with the certainty that only a seventeen-year-old can possess, that Aiden is her only true love. Demalynn is desperate to find a way back home until she must make a choice: stay with Aiden on Saffire or go back home and re-unite her family. There's no place like home.

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