Not broken or ruined or running from a past I can’t face. Just complicated. I thought my life couldn’t get any more tangled in deceit and confusion. But I hadn’t met him. I hadn't realized how far I could fall or what I'd do to get free. He has a secret.I’ve never pretended to be good or deserving. I chase who I want, do what I want, act how I want.I didn’t have time to lust after a woman I had no right to lust after. I told myself to shut up and stay hidden. But then she tried to run. I’d tasted what she could offer me and damned if I would let her go.One secret destroys them.

    Not only is she the varsity team captain, she’s the pride of Coach Thompson, who holds the keys to a college scholarship. Melanie has also found 'courtly' love with Will, Coach T's handsome, ball-playing son. When Melanie is on the court, everything is perfect....until she is forced to face an opponent who doesn't play by the rules.Jordan Solano's power lies in her beauty and sex appeal. Never afraid of breaking the rules, she engages in a scandalous flirtation with the school's married basketball coach. But the flirtation quickly turns into accusation, and Coach T's job and reputation are placed in jeopardy after Jordan charges him with rape. Jordan's own reputation has the school administration unwilling to believe her. That is, until she makes a startling claim - she's not the only victim.Suddenly, all eyes are on Melanie, and it isn't for her amazing free-throws. A man's job, a girl's reputation, and her boyfriend's entire world now rest in Melanie's hands. She has to decide: keep her secrets and protect her future, or put an end to the lies...and lose everything.*This book is New Adult and contains mature subject matter. TRIGGERS for rape survivors and sexual abuse victims***

    but we made life ugly... Our story isn't for everyone. Most people will probably hate it. Most people will probably hate us. I stopped giving a damn about what others thought a long time ago. Like I said, our story isn't for everyone. It isn't pretty. It's not sweet. It's not packaged neatly with a bow on top. No. Our story is painful, maybe even a little dark, but it's real. Somewhere under all the pain lies something beautiful. It's buried deep, so good luck digging it up. Our story might be ugly, but sometimes you don't appreciate beauty until you've seen the worst. It's real. It's pure. It's raw. Most importantly, it's ours. *Adult content and language *Stand-alone *Dual POV *Not intended for readers under 18

    One of the NBA's brightest stars.Fine. Forbidden. He wants me. I want him.But my past, my fraudulent prince, just won't let me go.*Some aspects of this story may be sensitive for some readers.

    Laine.Past and present intertwine with light and dark to tell a story ...Because of Him Something inside me fiercely craves normal.Sheltered all my life and taught to be afraid, I want to be bold, fearless. Up until now I've kept myself and my heart safe.Tade Astor, a guy so hot he steals my breath away, jeopardizes it all.He isn't the kind of guy to give up on what he wants—me.He’s determined to prove my safe world is missing something—him.Even though he may not be the cocky guy I assumed him to be...He’s definitely not the guy I should give my heart to.But each time I see him, he becomes harder to resist.I want to be brave and give him a chance... though it might come back to haunt me.At the heart of Because of Him is a love story. But due to certain sensitive topics, it might not be suitable for all readers.

    I didn't belong in the small town, but my dad wouldn't listen. He dragged me back home in his beat-up truck and dropped a bomb along the way: Chase Matthews was moving in with us. He was the golden boy of my high school, my former best friend, and the last person I wanted sleeping across the hall. His presence was too great a reminder of the ghosts I was trying to forget.I didn't ask for a hero. I don't want to be saved.To me, Lilah Calloway meant late nights sneakin'; out, moonlit hair, and sparklers in July. She was my best friend until the day she left and I'd assumed Blackwater had seen the last of her. Then, like a tempest, she rolled back into town for the final half of senior year. The chopped hair and dark devil-may-care attitude warned most people away, but I knew if I fought hard enough, I could find the lost girl.I didn't want to be her hero. Some girls don't need to be saved.

    The cash injection to his artisan fudge pantry is more than welcome, the extra work, less so. Then one summer, a shadowy Good Samaritan catches his eye. Irish Traveller Dex is bewitching, a beautiful sullen enigma who turns Seb's world upside down until he disappears in the night, vanishing like a mystical summer rain. Twelve months later Dex is in the midst of a dark storm. A slave to his master, 'Uncle' Braden, he spends his days cleaning caravans and his nights working in Braden's other businesses. His short summer with Seb seems a lifetime ago. Lost in the savage violence of the murky underworld, he doesn't dare dream he'll ever find his way back, until one night, a brutal crime opens the door for a chance escape. A new life beckons, old faces emerge, and immersed in the heady vibe of London’s East End, new love begins to heal his fractured heart.

    Her greed made me a slave and circumstance left me with no way to escape.Trapped, the only way I could silence the nightmares driving me to insanity was to wrap them in color, hold them with shadow, and stitch them to negative space with line.But no matter how bright the pigments, no one could see my confession.Except for Roy Callahan.I thought he was just another nameless one-night stand in a long line of many. But I was wrong. Roy could see past the façade of my life and through the veil color over the canvas. He could see what the world couldn’t.And with him I’d find the courage to tell the truth about the boy.The boy who kissed me.The boy who loved me.The boy whose name I couldn’t remember.

    I don’t deserve pity or sympathy. I’ve made my bed. I left Mason and ripped his heart to pieces as I ran away. The guilt and sorrow consume me, threatening to choke me everyday.But today is a new beginning. Today is the day I will wake up with a renewed resolve and determination to do better … to be better … to be worthy. My name is Sara Preston, and this is my story about what happens after.

    If you liked the movie "Sleeping With the Enemy", then you might like this story too. No one knew a woman lived there or that she even existed. A monster, living in darkness...At twenty-two, Nicole doesn't even look human anymore. The beast made sure of that. So she hides. A monster, consigned to a life of fear and solitude. This is all she deserves, she is quite sure of that.  And then one day out of the blue, the autographed baseball caught by Brian Jensen at the latest Marlins game enters her prison and manages to turn her world completely upside down.Temptation comes in the form of pity at first, and then perhaps something more. Does she dare to believe the things she's told, that this is not the life she was meant to live? That being a monster is not her forever-fate? And will she be willing to risk everything, to reach out and accept the helping hands around her and share her deepest, darkest secrets? She knows only too well that hands can hurt. Finding out whether they can also heal is a risky proposition, especially when the beast is still out there. Looking for her.Content warning: Violence, foul language, and adult situations. Not meant for younger readers. A note from Elle about this book: A really long time ago, I read an article in a newspaper or a magazine (I haven’t been able to locate the original) about a woman who was so badly beaten over a long period of time, she couldn’t leave her house. I thought about that woman a lot over the years and about what her thoughts might have been, her fears, her reality … and this book was my attempt to both exorcise those thoughts from my brain and also shed some light on a subject —domestic violence— that I feel should never be left in darkness.

    I had it all until one fateful evening transformed my life in ways I never imagined.Nine months later, I move to a sleepy little town, hoping to escape the demons of my past. As I attempt to claim back my life, Jude Montgomery enters my world, and things begin to change.I thought running would appease the nightmares, but I soon discover my past won’t let go. Things are not what they seem, and I begin to question the world as I know it. Jude may hold the answers, but will my love for him blind me to the truth?Does the flap of a butterfly’s wings in Brazil set off a tornado in Texas? In my case, yes, it does.Will the truth set me free? Or will it imprison us both?My name is Victoria Armstrong, and this is my story…I think.

    Beautiful and popular, if not a little jaded. A chance encounter with a green-eyed stuntman sets off a chain of events that turns her perfect, little world upside down. Short on options and desperate for adventure, she joins the traveling carnival for the summer. Thrust into a world full of drama, deception, and secrecy, Evangeline tries to find herself and protect her heart in the process. Sebastian McAllister is cursed. He knows better than to think otherwise. He’s content to live out the rest of his life traveling the country as one of the four Sons of Eastlake, seeking thrills the only way he knows how. The one thing he doesn’t see coming is the spoiled blond with stars in her eyes. The only problem is, the more time he spends with her, the more hope starts to stir in his dormant heart. Too bad hope is a dangerous thing when you’re a McAllister

    I followed it, begrudgingly, because it’s what was expected. And then one day, everything changed. I woke up. Different. Independent. Free from all the rules that had surrounded me. Only I have no idea how I got to where I am. I have no memory of graduating college. No memory of Adam, the boyfriend I live with. He loves me. And I love him. At least that’s what everyone says. Except when my memories return to me as dreams, I see a different man than the one everyone claims is perfect for me. He terrifies me. He makes my heart race and he makes me feel things I’ve never felt before. I have no idea if I want to welcome the emotional roller-coaster that his piercing brown eyes and messy black hair puts me on every time I get a glimpse of him, or if I want to run back to the safe shelter of the scripted life-plan that used to be mine.

    Merry’s lost a lot recently - first her mother, then close to a hundred pounds. Feeling adrift, she strikes out in search of perspective. A three-week hike through the Scottish Highlands was supposed to challenge her new body and refocus her priorities, but when disaster strikes, she’s forced to seek refuge in the remote home of a brooding, handsome stranger… Rob exiled himself to the Highlands years ago, desperate to escape his own self-destruction. Haunted by regrets, he avoids human contact at all costs…but when Merry turns up injured, he can’t very well run her off. And as he nurses her back to health, Rob can’t resist his guest’s sweet demeanor—or her flirtatious advances. The igniting passion between them rouses a secret appetite Rob has long struggled to keep hidden. But Merry craves nothing more than to help Rob surrender to his desires, and the journey draws the lovers into an entirely different kind of wilderness.

    A new identity. Pregnant and alone. And far away from a past that can never find me. River Wild.Moody. Sullen. Jerk.And my new neighbor.I have no interest in befriending River. And he definitely doesn’t want to be befriended by me.Then, he helps me rescue an abandoned dog. And, that day, I see something in his eyes that reflects back in my own. Sadness. Pain. Loneliness.I know all of those things well.An unwanted and unexpected friendship that somehow works. Then, without warning, it turns into something more.River and I both have our secrets, and that’s okay. Because I understand him. And he understands me.For the first time in my life, I have something I never thought I would have—happiness.But happiness isn’t forever. Not for people like me.Especially not when my past is waiting just around the corner, ready to come and take it all away.