Contemporaryfiction Stories

She's beautiful, strong, and alone in ways no one can imagine. Every place she calls home forgets her the moment she leaves, and even her closest friends vanish from memory. But when whispers of the Astorian kingdom reach her, she realizes her life-and the world around her-may not be what it seems.

*The Road She Built Nigerian family drama Amina's marriage breaks down after Niyi takes a second wife, Toke. She loses access to her kids, gets framed in a fraud case, and chooses silence over fighting in public. Instead of shouting to prove herself, she builds a life and raises kids with a "pure heart" - and slowly becomes the person the family can't do without.

Willa Cress has spent her whole life growing something clean in the shadow of her family's name. She built Cress & Co. with her own hands - a florist shop on the Magnolia Reach waterfront, the one thing in this Gulf Coast Texas town that belongs entirely to her. She knows every wedding, every funeral, every occasion that passes through it. She knows this town the way you only know a place that has cost you something. When Sunny Broussard dies and Magnolia Reach accepts the ruling without question, Willa can't. Sunny was her closest friend once. They drifted. Willa never stopped carrying the weight of that distance. And now Sunny is gone and the official answer is natural causes and something in Willa knows - the way she has always known things, quietly and completely - that the official answer is wrong. She has four things nobody else has. She has a key that shouldn't exist. And she has a stranger in town who stopped outside her window because of a wildflower he recognized from a property he's only just inherited. What Magnolia Reach keeps, it keeps for a reason. Sweet Magnolias meets Big Little Lies meet pretty little liars on the Gulf Coast of Texas.

When 16-year-old Teslin Bello known to everyone as Tessy moves from Abuja to the flashy streets of Lekki after her politician father is transferred to Lagos, she expects boring traffic, spoiled rich kids, and a school full of strangers. What she doesn't expect is Ethan Brooks the charming white boy everyone seems obsessed with. Desperate to fit into her elite new school, Tessy slowly begins changing herself. From the way she talks to the way she dresses, she starts becoming the kind of girl she thinks Ethan would want. But while she's busy chasing foreign validation, she begins drifting away from the people who truly care about her including Zara and Chi, the two friends trying to keep her grounded, and Teni, the boy she keeps pushing away. As secrets, subtle racism, and social media pressure begin to crack the perfect image she built, Tessy is forced to ask herself one question: How much of yourself can you lose before you stop recognizing who you are? Set in the chaotic, glamorous heart of Lagos, Live Laugh Lekki is a coming-of-age story about identity, friendship, culture, and learning that being chosen means nothing if you abandon yourself in the process.

"She was innocence, he was chaos. Their love burned slowly but for so long, fragile yet fierce. Fate broke them apart, only to bind them tighter-until shattered hearts must decide if love can survive the storm." Broken hearts, shattered promises, and a search that never ends... until their hearts finally give in. A slow-burn romance where survival itself is the proof of love." A love lost and Found "Two hearts, torn by fate, stitched together by love-until destiny tests them again." - Joy

Jane's life was never quiet. Not with two kids, a town full of opinions, an ex that still lingers like a storm cloud, and a heart she swore she'd never hand to anyone again. Then Caleb happened. Quiet in all the ways that mattered. Patient. Observant. Dangerous in the way he looked at her like she was still worth loving after everything. What starts as accidental slowly becomes unavoidable. Late nights. Inside jokes. Hands brushing. Children getting attached. A connection built in silence that somehow says more than words ever could. But love doesn't erase the past. And healing doesn't happen in a straight line. Especially when the whole town is watching for them to fail. Where the Quiet Lives is a slow-burn contemporary romance filled with tension, heartbreak, humor, family chaos, small-town drama, and the kind of love that arrives softly... then changes everything.

People saw Naomi as the strong one. Beautiful. Independent. Hardworking. Always smiling. Always helping. But nobody saw the sacrifices behind her strength. Born into a loving but struggling home, Naomi learned early that survival and sacrifice often walked hand in hand. While trying to build a future for herself, she also became one of the people quietly holding her family together. Between friendship, love, responsibilities, heartbreak, laughter, personal growth, and the search for purpose, Naomi slowly discovers that sometimes the strongest people are the ones silently asking God for just one small miracle. Because everyone saw her smile. But nobody saw her.

Same face. Different life. She couldn't tell them apart. That was the problem. Mark is the twin everyone chose. Zack is the twin everyone forgot. One secret changes everything. Triny was the first person who saw Zack. But she saw the wrong face. Celina was the second. She climbed into his lap by accident - and stayed by choice. _________________________________________ "You're the other one." Zack Thompson has heard that his whole life. Same face as his twin brother. Same voice. Same gray eyes. Same stupid earring on the same stupid ear. But the world doesn't treat them the same. Mark gets the girl. Mark gets the job. Mark gets seen first, chosen first, loved first. And Zack? Zack gets to watch. Then Triny comes to town. She's the niece of a state senator. She's temporarily blind. And she meets Zack first - hears his laugh, touches his face, falls in love with his voice. For the first time in his life, Zack is the one being seen. But Mark has other plans. What happens when the wrong twin wears the right face? What happens when the girl who couldn't see finally opens her eyes? And what happens when the brother who's taken everything - one more time - has to finally say I'm sorry? Same face. Different life. Some differences can't be seen with the eyes.

Eli Mercer is a 22-year-old queer man trying to survive a life that refuses to fully accept him. Raised by a devout, controlling mother who believes his identity is something that can-and must-be "corrected," Eli learns early that love in his home comes with conditions. In search of connection, he falls into a complicated relationship with Daniel, an older married man who promises devotion while keeping Eli hidden in the shadows of secrecy and manipulation. When Eli begins to find comfort in a queer-friendly Chicago bar called The Lantern, he meets Carmen Alvarez, a sharp-witted bartender who slowly becomes the first stable, maternal presence in his life. Through her and the chosen family of the bar's LGBTQ+ community-karaoke nights, memorial walls, and fierce protectors-Eli begins to glimpse what real acceptance looks like. But his fragile sense of safety shatters when he is abducted after a concert and forced into a religious conversion program, an ordeal orchestrated in part by his own mother. As Carmen and the queer community mobilize with activists, legal allies, and survivor networks, Eli fights to hold onto himself. What follows is a story of survival, chosen family, and the painful but powerful journey toward reclaiming identity, freedom, and home.

Four hours into the foggy, winding mountains of Leyte sits Edenbridge Academy-a prestigious sanctuary for the brilliant, the elite, and the broken. For sophomore Tristan Liongson, it is his fourth school in two years. He is a boy who carries himself like an interruption, surviving a quiet family collapse and an unspoken crisis that left him feeling like a ghost in his own life. Stripped of his past and sent away by his grieving mother, Tristan arrives at Daniel Hall with a trunk full of secrets, a famous family name he doesn't understand, and a burning question he only whispers to the dark: Dear God, why am I like this? Raphael, the pristine student council leader and prefect, lives a life perfectly mapped by schedules, duty, and flawless expectations. He is a boy who moves with absolute precision. But the moment a quiet, sharp-featured boy in baggy clothes steps onto the grand staircase of Moses Hall, a single look catches the afternoon light-and snags something deep inside Raphael's tightly controlled world. Behind the stone walls, stained glass, and unyielding mist of Edenbridge, Tristan is just trying to survive the fire. But in a place that already seems to know his name, keeping his walls up might be the hardest thing he's ever had to do.

At Northwood High, silence is a survival tactic. Becky is a ghost haunted by a past she can't escape. Freen is a new girl who refuses to be invisible. When Heng, the school's charming tyrant, sets his sights on them, their worlds collide. Bound by a shared secret and a growing danger, they must choose to remain silent victims or become the voice that exposes the truth and shatters the silence for good.

Some people plan their lives down to the finest detail. Deborah was one of them. But life - with all its twists and hidden corners - had never agreed to follow anyone's script. What she thought would be her greatest achievement became her greatest test. What she thought was her lowest point became her greatest discovery. And what she never saw coming changed everything she thought she knew about faith, love, and herself. Between the woman she planned to be and the woman she became - there is a story. Was she able to survive? Read and find out.

Hanya butuh enam jam untuk membuat hidup seseorang berubah menjadi kenangan. Sore itu, di bangku Taman Ayodia, Meta mengakhiri hubungan empat tahun mereka dengan kalimat-kalimat yang terlalu tenang untuk disebut perpisahan. Aludra tidak marah. Ia hanya duduk diam, membiarkan perempuan yang paling ia cintai berjalan pergi di tengah langit Jakarta yang mulai gelap menjelang malam tahun baru. Al pikir semuanya selesai di sana. Namun kurang dari tiga jam kemudian, sebuah sedan hitam terbalik di jalur cepat Arteri Pondok Indah. Di tengah hujan, lampu sirene, dan pecahan kaca yang berserakan di aspal, Al menemukan Meta tergeletak bersimbah darah di antara hidup dan mati. Malam itu, lelaki yang baru saja ditinggalkan itu justru menjadi orang pertama yang menahan nyawa Meta agar tidak pergi. Di bawah gemuruh Jakarta yang sedang bersiap menyambut tahun baru, Aludra harus memilih: tetap menjadi paramedis yang menyelamatkan semua orang, atau menjadi lelaki biasa yang akhirnya hancur bersama seseorang yang tidak lagi memilihnya. Enam Jam Terakhir adalah kisah tentang cinta yang terlambat dipahami, luka yang tidak sempat diselesaikan, dan bagaimana kadang-kadang... seseorang tetap menyelamatkan kita bahkan setelah kita menghancurkan hatinya.

In a house full of voices, Theodore feels invisible. As the noise of family life grows louder, he begins slipping further into The Shadows of his own home. The Shadow in the Family is a powerful coming-Of-age story about loneliness, identity, and finally being hear.

Sisterhood: What We Don't Say is the prequel to Sisterhood: What Love Leaves Behind, told through the inner worlds of the fabulous five-Summer, Roslyn, Desiree, Olivia, and Layla. It's the quiet truths behind the strong fronts. The fears they buried. The weight they carried in silence. The pages they never meant to share. For every woman who's ever smiled through the ache- This one sees you.

In a ruthless corporate empire, overlooked assistant Lisa is trapped under the control of her cold, perfectionist boss, Jennie Kim. In a world where weakness is never tolerated, can they ever truly escape the roles they've been forced into?

There is a version of this story in which nothing happens. In which two teachers share a room on a school ski trip for five nights, maintain a professional distance, and say goodbye without either of them doing anything they can't take back. This is not quite that story. The Mountain is a novella about the gap between wanting something and being allowed to want it - and about what it costs to be decent when decency is the last thing you feel.

Lisa kept her feelings buried, until Jennie's new boyfriend hit the headlines. Finding out the same time as everyone else. Now she's left wondering... was it all lies, secrets, or something worse?

My experience of writing my debut novel: A Life Half Lived

​A red hood, a plaid skirt, a basket... or rather, a backpack filled with warm pies, and a long journey through the woods to the lake. Sounds familiar? Except this time, the backdrop has shifted to a misty, atmospheric England, and the fickle weather of the Lotdown estate hints that this walk will be anything but ordinary. ​Meet Erwin. And her story is just beginning. What do you think awaits her at the end of the path?