Don't Be Afraid


C.A. Harms - 2018
     That one day when a few little words changed our entire lives forever… Don’t be Afraid, he said. Life can change so quickly. One moment you can be smiling and feeling as if you're walking on clouds and the next, everything you love, everything you treasure crumbles at your feet. I told him to fight, I told him I needed him. We needed him. But there are just some fights that can't be won… He was my angel then, and he’s still my angel now. In a way, I believe he’s still looking out for us, giving us a future. Sometimes it’s as if I can still feel his presence, guiding us and keeping us safe. So, I won’t be Afraid. I'll live. I’ll fight. It’s what he would have wanted. I’ll do it for him…

Wrecked


J.B. Salsbury - 2017
    Salsbury, the New York Times bestselling author of Split and The Fighting Series.When you can’t trust yourself, how can you ask anyone else to?It’s been months since Aden Colt left the Army, and still the memories haunt him. When he moved into a boat off the California coast, he thought he’d found the perfect place to escape life. Then Sawyer shows up, and turns his simple life upside down. Beautiful and sophisticated, she seems out of place in this laidback beach town. Something is pushing her to experience everything she can—including Aden. But as much as he wants her, starting a relationship with Sawyer puts them both at risk. For Aden, the past doesn’t stay there; it shows up unexpectedly, uncontrollably, and doesn’t care whose life it wrecks.

God-Shaped Hole


Tiffanie DeBartolo - 2002
    Everyone said she was a fraud, that she was just making it up. I'd really like to know why the hell a person would make up a thing like that.Written with the snap, glitter and wit of The Girl's Guide to Hunting and Fishing, God-Shaped Hole is a memorable, poignant love story that will leave you weeping with laughter. It is told in the wry, vulnerable voice of Beatrice "Trixie" Jordan who replies to a personal ad, "If your intentions are pure I am seeking a friend for the end of the world."In doing so, she meets Jacob Grace, a charming, effervescent thirty-something writer, a free spirit who is a passionate seeker of life. He possesses his own turn of phrase and ways of thinking and feeling that dissonantly harmonize with Trixie's off-center vision as they roller coaster through the joys and furies of their wrenching romance. Along the way they try to come to terms with the hurt brought about by their distant fathers who, in different ways, forsook them.This story will prove so touching you will rush to share it with a friend or loved one or even a stranger.

Drowning in Stars


Debra Anastasia - 2020
    She blew bubbles through my window. I shot my Nerf gun through hers. We both had secrets, but one of us was fated to get hurt. I wanted it to be me.Pixie: When I was afraid of the dark, he would shine a light in my window. We shared our popsicles and I taught him how to get a good swing on the playground. I never imagined I’d have to decide who got to live and who didn’t. I chose him --and he could never know.She walked a tightrope five stories up just to save my life…★☆★ Drowning in Stars is a full 100k standalone. ★☆★

Here's to Falling


Christine Zolendz - 2015
    Intended for mature readers only.***TRIGGER WARNING!

Shallow River


H.D. Carlton - 2020
    Now she's rebuilding her life with her dream man and life couldn't be better.Ryan Fitzgerald is everything you'd want in a man. Attractive, rich, an aspiring lawyer, and would do anything to keep River. But that's not the only thing that attracts her. It's his attentiveness, his possessiveness... maybe not so much his temper.When her relationship takes a dark turn, Ryan's estranged brother, Mako, is the only one who sees it. He knows exactly what Ryan is capable of, and it's not the first time he had to be a knight in shining armor.River came from Shallow Hill, though. She's never needed saving before. What Mako doesn't see, is that River is perfectly capable of taking care of herself.The only one who should be scared is Ryan.Trigger Warning: Shallow River is a dark romance that contains domestic violence, rape, violence, and sexual situations.

Living Dead Girl


Elizabeth Scott - 2008
     Once upon a time, my name was not Alice. Once upon a time, I didn't know how lucky I was. When Alice was ten, Ray took her away from her family, her friends -- her life. She learned to give up all power, to endure all pain. She waited for the nightmare to be over. Now Alice is fifteen and Ray still has her, but he speaks more and more of her death. He does not know it is what she longs for. She does not know he has something more terrifying than death in mind for her. This is Alice's story. It is one you have never heard, and one you will never, ever forget.

That Which Destroys Me


Kimber S. Dawn - 2014
    Love, happiness, and fairy tales… Yeah, they don't live here anymore. The only things residing amongst these thin and baren walls are Dominance, submission, and twisted obsession. Stella gets knocked down over and over throughout her life… Though she is bloodied and battered she stands back up every single time, smirks and nods before asking, "That all you got?". Wesley has shoved his way through the rich life with both middle fingers up. He's also shoved his way through half of the socialite population, but all that vanilla lifestyle has left him a starved man. He knows he can't keep his Dom fed with kinky little masochistic vanilla's anymore. On his mission to find the perfect sub, Wesley stumbles across a broken, shattered angel, only to find when she comes up swinging, that this little angel knows how to fight. He wants to be the one who breaks her… But it's not a question of who breaks her, the question is who destroys her. “We will fight, angel. We’ll fight hard. But it’ll be worth every strike below the belt. Every hateful or spiteful word said, because when we love, when we fuck, when our passion reaches an intensity so goddamn powerful like it has every single time, it’ll extinguish all the bad. I want all your hate, Stell… Just as much as I want all your love. We are doing this. And there isn’t a damn thing you can do to stop it, angel. Is that understood?” ***Be Prepared to Expect the UNEXPECTED*** ***This is a story of perseverance, trying to overcome the transgressions that others inflict upon you, it’s a story of love gone wrong and obsession gone mad. This book contains explicit descriptions of violence, disturbing situations, and very strong language. This book is intended for MATURE AUDIENCE MEMBERS ONLY, and NOT intended for the weak at heart.***

Ten Below Zero


Whitney Barbetti - 2014
    And you’re closer to death than I am.”My name is Parker. My body is marked with scars from an attack I don’t remember. I don’t want to remember. I choose to live my life by observation, not through experience. While people are laughing and kissing and connecting, I’m in the corner. Watching them live. I’m indifferent to everything, everyone. The only emotion I feel with any kind of depth is annoyance, and I feel it often.A text message sent to the wrong number proves to be my undoing.His name is Everett, but I call him rude. He’s pushy, he’s arrogant, he crowds my personal space, and worst of all: he makes me feel.He chooses to wear all black, all the time, as if he’s waiting to attend a funeral. Probably because he is.Everett is dying. And he’s spending his final days living, truly living. In doing so, he’s forcing me to feel, to heal. To come face to face with the demons I suppressed in my memory.He hurts me, he fulfills me, he completes me. And still, he's dying.

Underneath the Sycamore Tree


B. Celeste - 2019
    Cared for. Loathed. And … loved.⁣ Somewhere along the way, I’d found solace in the boy with brooding eyes.⁣ But everything happens in stages.⁣ And nothing good ever lasts.⁣

The Empty Jar


Michelle Leighton - 2016
    Romantic. Dazzling. Unforgettable. The trip of a lifetime.But some lifetimes are shorter...We couldn’t have known it would work out this way.No one could. No one could’ve guessed that something so beautiful could be so tragic.But it is tragic.Yet so, so beautiful.That’s what sacrifice is—beauty and tragedy.It’s pain and suffering for something or someone you love.And this is the ultimate sacrifice. One stunning act of true love.This is our story.Our true love story.

Still Beating


Jennifer Hartmann - 2020
    This book contains subject matter that may be sensitive for some readers, including rape, as well as strong language and explicit sex. 18+ only. Please read responsibly. When Cora attends her sister’s birthday party, she expects at most a hangover or a walk of shame. She doesn’t anticipate a stolen wallet, leaving her stranded and dependent on Dean—her arch nemesis and ultimate thorn in her side. And she really doesn’t anticipate waking up in shackles in a madman’s basement.To make matters worse, Dean shares the space in his own set of chains.After fifteen years of teasing, insults, and practical jokes, the ultimate joke seems to be on them. The two people who always thought they’d end up killing each other must now work together if they want to survive.But Cora and Dean have no idea their abductor has a plan for them. A plan that will alter the course of their relationship, blur the line between hate and love, and shackle them together with far more than just chains.

Tight


Alessandra Torre - 2015
    In my life as a single, thirty-two year old woman. I had a good job, wonderful friends, my independence.I also hadn't got laid in three years. Hadn't been on a date in two. Had stopped counting calories and wearing makeup... a while ago.Then Brett Jacobs waltzed in. Caressed my thigh, dug rough fingers into my hair, lowered his soft mouth to my skin, took sexual control of my mind and stirred it all around with what he packed in his pants. He flipped my quiet life upside down and crawled into a place in my heart I thought was dead.The issue is his secret.The issue is her.The issue is that I don't even know she exists, and he thinks she's dead.The issue is that shit is about to hit the fan and I can't hold on to him tight enough.

Interim


S. Walden - 2015
    That space is called the INTERIM.~High school seniors Jeremy Stahl and Regan Walters aren’t friends. Not even close. He’s a picked-on, picked-apart loser outcast. She’s a cool kid running with the popular crowd. It’s unlikely they’d ever speak to one another. Too bad he’s madly in love with her. But what does it matter anyway? He’s got no time for love. Only revenge.Meticulously detailed in the pages of his battered red notebook is his master plan: April 14, 9:30 A.M., two guns, eighty rounds of ammo, backup knives, eleven victims. He’s finally ready to answer every single taunt, jeer, and flying fist—unwarranted abuse that’s spanned six years of his lonely life. He’s justified. He’s ready. But he never readied himself for her.Regan finds his journal. She reads it, and when he discovers her intrusion, he has to switch tactics. She’s a liability now.Better fix that.Interim is a New Adult Standalone. It contains explicit language and disturbing images of violence, including gun violence. If school shootings are an especially sensitive subject for you, I encourage you to refrain from reading this book. - S. Walden

Unravel


Calia Read - 2014
    I was simply Naomi Carradine. One month ago, I was admitted into a psych ward. Yesterday, Lachlan visited me. Kissed me. And told me that I’m starting to lose my mind. Hours later, Max haunted my thoughts, reminding me I’m not crazy and that he needs my help. A few minutes ago, I drifted further from reality, trying to unravel the past. And now...everyone thinks I’m insane. But, I know he's real, and I know he needs me. Do you believe me?