Contemporary Stories

Julie Leong always does as she's told. Studies hard, works late shifts at the family restaurant, and carefully lays out a plan for a well paying career. But with an impossible-to-please dad and annoyingly perfect sister, Julie can't seem to ever catch a break. Everything changes one stormy night, when an awkward food delivery for Callen Sterling, mysterious and handsome CEO of Sterling Studios, leads to the offer of a lifetime, and her perfect plan goes out the window. What starts out as a harmless side gig quickly grows into so much more as they find themselves impossibly drawn to each other. She learns of anonymous threats Callen has been receiving - and they're only getting worse. But it takes a lot more than a few death threats to scare the determined (and stubborn) Julie away. Her life becomes more and more entangled with Callen's, until she ultimately finds herself torn between two paths. Misery in exchange for money and success, or risking it all for a chance at love and happiness.

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 . . .

FREE STORY WITH EXCLUSIVE CONTENT. This is *not* a Paid Story. Eighteen-year-old hockey prodigy Elliot Wexler has three goals for senior year. One: somehow graduate with a 3.5 GPA. Two: hide his bipolar disorder from his peers. And three: make it into the NHL with no scandals. Piece of cake. What he doesn't expect is to find Lucy, a homeless girl, hiding from the winter frost in his dad's shed. Elliot's busy, complicated life doesn't permit room for error, and falling in love with a girl from a totally different world sounds like the opposite of a good idea. But Elliot can't help but be drawn to Lucy and her elusive ways--even when she seems to vanish from his life non-stop, each time leaving him with a bigger hole in his heart. But Elliot is determined to break down Lucy's barriers. And when he does, he discovers that her life is more complicated--and dangerous--than he could have imagined. With drafting season approaching, and Elliot's fragile mental health deteriorating, he's forced to face a difficult question: Is first love supposed to hurt so much? *** PLEASE DO NOT ADD THIS STORY TO GOODREADS.

All Sophia ever wanted was for Ashton Maverick to notice her. But he was best friends with her older brother, Patrick, and a hockey star. There was no chance in Hell he'd be interested in her. But when Sophie moves back home for the summer and runs into Ashton for the first time in two years, things start to change. Between stolen glances and secret hookups, they begin to fall deeper in love with each other. But Sophie has something bigger to worry about than her big brother finding out about their secret relationship. Find out more in Hockey Baby by Ariel Hughes 🏒

Selena is the 𝒎𝒆𝒂𝒏 𝒈𝒊𝒓𝒍. The villain destined to lose her athlete-star boyfriend to the shy, overlooked nerd. Everyone watches in silent awe as he replaces her in the name of love. It was the perfect fairytale ending, just like the movies... But not for long. After her humiliating breakup, Selena finds herself reluctantly paired with another nerd - a quiet, reserved genius named Noel. In her loneliness, she calls him her best friend. What Selena doesn't know, is that Noel has been watching her far longer than she thinks. And the more she attends to him, the more he becomes 𝒐𝒃𝒔𝒆𝒔𝒔𝒆𝒅. As her care of him gets him noticed, and his research catapults him to international success, the world reaches out for a piece of the soon-to-be billionaire. But Noel only wants one person. Selena. And he will do whatever it takes to ensure she never leaves his side. ─ ⊹ ⊱ ⊰ ⊹ ─ 𝑺𝒐𝒇𝒕 𝒀𝒂𝒏𝒅𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝑵𝒆𝒓𝒅 𝒙 𝑷𝒐𝒑𝒖𝒍𝒂𝒓 𝑮𝒊𝒓𝒍 𝑾𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝑯𝒊𝒎 𝑩𝒆𝒇𝒐𝒓𝒆 𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝑭𝒂𝒎𝒆 & 𝑭𝒐𝒓𝒕𝒖𝒏𝒆 𝚃𝚘𝚙 𝚁𝚊𝚗𝚔𝚒𝚗𝚐𝚜: #1 𝚘𝚋𝚜𝚎𝚜𝚜𝚎𝚍 #1 𝚟𝚒𝚕𝚕𝚊𝚒𝚗ess

Sometimes you just might have to die to live again. ***** When art historian Reine Baldwin meets Gabe Moran, a charming journalist, she has no idea their blossoming love will shatter her comfortable life. But a series of clues lead Reine to discover that she's not alone in knowing that she was born centuries ago and-worse yet-there are many things she apparently doesn't even remember. Reine has to face a forgotten past and a forgotten ex-husband (the handsome billionaire Max Baldovini), who-like her-is immortal and cannot truly die. Should she trade her ordinary life with Gabe for the love of Max, a man who's worshipped her for half a millennium? The choice should be easy, until Reine starts to remember things that Max is desperate to make her forget. [[word count: 100,000-150,000 words]]

After falling in love with a younger and much less successful man, can Yiwen convince herself and her parents to accept him into their wealthy family? ***** When Yiwen Wang suddenly finds herself 30 and single, she lets her well-meaning best friend talk her into a blind date with the handsome Zi'an Li. And not only is he plucked straight out of a movie screen, his witty banter over dinner also convinces Yiwen he's exactly the type to make her toes curl. Yet, by some wicked twist of fate, he's five years younger than her and has no house, car, or stable, high-paying job. So how is she ever going to convince herself and her parents that he's the right choice? Especially when her new, attractive boss makes it very clear that he's interested in her? [[1st Place, Flower Awards, Chicklit Category]] [[1st Place, The Golden Awards, Chicklit Category]] [[word count: 100,000-150,000 words]]

Naomi Housner is America's newest First Lady-polished, composed, untouchable. Behind the cameras, she's trapped in a marriage that's been breaking her for years. When the cracks start showing through her perfect poker face, Naomi does the one thing she's never been allowed to do: ask for help. One "private session" turns into a secret she can't afford to keep... because her therapist is Grant Lennox-Washington's most discreet, most in-demand inner-circle doctor. He's trained to listen. She's trained to lie. And in a world where reputations are currency, the truth could ruin a presidency and the kind of love that was never supposed to exist.

|| Featured FREE story with exclusive paid chapters - previously a paid story || When Haley discovers the truth behind Xavier, whose silence holds a deeper meaning, she sets her mind on making his life better one small step at a time. ***** Haley Rosamond is happy with her simple life, content under the wing of her father. Well-protected, she has no idea of the darkness surrounding Xavier Hunt, with his all-black attire and infrequent presence in school-accompanied by his bruises and scars. That is, until Haley catches a glimpse of Xavier's reality and is made to question everything she knows about family and life in general. The truth, she realizes, couldn't be more different from everything she has heard. Supported by her father, Haley sets her mind on helping Xavier any way she can, and what begins with tutoring sessions, free food, and random acts of kindness blooms into friendship and something a little more. But when Haley's admission into her dream college and another tragedy in Xavier's life threaten to undo everything she has worked for, Haley needs to decide if she'll stick by Xavier or simply be another person in his life that disappears. [[word count: 80,000-90,000 words]] Cover designed by Holly Thurston

WATTPAD BOOKS EDITION. You have to step off the trail to find your path . . . When her mother unceremoniously dumps her at Camp Mapplewood for the summer, Emma Lane's hopes of repairing their fractured relationship are gone with the wind. Now she's stuck in the wilderness facing her worst fears. Trees? Terrifying. Spiders? Even worse. And don't even get Emma started on how she feels about camp activities. But Emma's got a plan, and she will do anything in her power to get kicked out of camp, from sleeping in to playing practical jokes on her fellow campers. Yet when Emma draws the attention of her illusive and attractive camp counselor Vivian Black, she has to come to terms with the fact that how her summer starts isn't necessarily how it might end. Will Vivian be the key to unlocking Emma's fears once and for all?

Tyler is being hunted by the Grinning Man and flees to Marble Springs, where he teams up with Serling and Price, real estate agents who sell haunted houses. ***** After his brother disappears and a burial mound explodes, high school student Tyler Graves starts having strange visions. His brother warns him that something is coming for him. Soon, Tyler's entire family is slaughtered, and he's being hunted by an otherworldly entity known as The Grinning Man. Fleeing to Marble Springs, he meets Serling and Price, real estate agents who specialize in selling haunted houses. It's up to this unlikely trio to stop a madman from destroying the world - by literally unleashing Hell on Earth! (Sequel to Apartment 239.) [[word count: 100,000-150,000 words]]

ORGINALLY A 'PAID' STORY. NOW PUBLISHED ON AMAZON/KU *** 4 CHAPTER SAMPLE HERE *** Jake Bryant, a disgraced Chicago detective, inserts himself into the police investigation of his murdered best friend to protect the woman he loves - his friend's widow. ***** Jake Bryant, a former Chicago PD detective, rushes home after his best friend is killed. Determined to find the murderer, he starts his own investigation into Tom's death. However, the case is complicated by the involvement of a motorcycle gang, drugs, and Jake's feelings for Tom's widow. But Jake has bigger problems when the police set the killer free- who then decides to silence Tom's family as well. Now Jake is faced with the ultimate dilema. Does he trust a broken system to protect Tom's family? Or does he seek his own brand of justice? [[word count: 70,000-80,000 words]]

WATTPAD ORIGINAL EDITION Finished high school, Emma's forced to spend her summer at a camp. But a striking counsellor, Vivian, changes her plans from escape to together forever. ***** Seventeen-year-old Emma Lane usually lives with her dad, but she's once again being forced to spend the summer with her homophobic mom. This time, however, instead of spending a summer on the beach, her mom drops her off at Camp Mapplewood while she heads off on a cruise with her new husband. Emma hates the camp and tries to escape, but she is caught by a camp counsellor Vivian. She's drawn to Vivian's voice and her charm, while Vivian is fascinated by Emma's instinct to protect others and to feel with her whole heart. The two grow close, but the end of the summer looms. Can they find a way to stay together when they have to return to their normal lives? (Has a sequel: My Pretend Summer.) [[word count: 50,000-100,000 words]]

ORGINALLY A 'PAID' STORY. NOW PUBLISHED ON AMAZON/KU *** 4 CHAPTER SAMPLE HERE *** When the biker gang calls in a Jake Bryant's debt, he has no choice but to hunt down an old friend by any means necessary and retrieve their stolen drugs, even if it cost him the woman he loves. ***** Time has run out for Jake Bryant. The Devil's Hand motorcycle gang has cashed in the debt he owes them. Jake must hunt down his old friend, Rick, to retrieve the million dollars worth of heroin he stole from the gang. Soon, Jake finds himself double-crossing both Rick and the Devil's Hand, but his true loyalties will be tested when his girlfriend becomes a bargaining chip. After failing the other women in his life, will Jake finally be able to save someone he loves? [[word count: 70,000-80,000 words]]

WATTPAD BOOKS EDITION. It only takes one moment to change your life forever . . . After her mother's deportation last year, all Soledad "Sol" Gutierrez wants is for her life to go back to normal. Everything's changed-new apartment, new school, new family dynamic-and Sol desperately wants to fit in. When she joins her community college's history club, it comes with an odd initiation process: break into Westray's oldest house and steal . . . a fork? There's just one problem: while the owners of the house aren't home, their grandson Ethan is, and when he catches Sol with her hand in the kitchen drawer, she barely escapes with the fork intact. This one chance encounter irrevocably alters her life, and Sol soon learns that sometimes fitting in isn't as important as being yourself-even if that's the hardest thing she's ever had to do.

WATTPAD BOOKS EDITION How do you trust the ground when all you've known is flight? In this breathtaking debut, Leigh Ansell has created a compelling, heartbreaking, and truly engaging story about a young girl used to flying high only to be faced with living life with her two feet firmly on the ground . . . Seventeen-year-old Corey Ryder can't remember a time when she wasn't gliding through the air of Cirque Mystique's big top. As a trapeze artist in a traveling circus, Corey wakes up every day in a different place, buzzing for the moment she can suspend gravity during the night's performance. When the circus pulls into small-town Sherwood, California, everything seems normal - aside from meeting the exceptionally cute Luke Everett at a local diner. But that night, in the midst of the performance, tragedy strikes and flames overtake the tent. While Corey narrowly escapes, in the ashes of the circus pitch lies the only home she's ever known. Repeatedly thrown out of her comfort zone, Corey must learn how to push toward her future without forgetting her past, what it means to be a daughter to a mother she's never known, and how to navigate the confusing magic of first love, even as she performs the high-wire act of being true to who you really are.

[This story is now FREE!] When Andie Bank agreed to take a job to help save her friend's reputation, it wasn't supposed to end up in a romance-fueled galactic rescue mission with her irresistibly hot boss. ***** With a merciless tabloid set on destroying the Hollywood career and reputation of Andie's best friend, Andie accepts a job offer with the same company on the condition that they leave her friend alone. She knew about her smoking hot boss when she accepted the accounting position, but the tabloid failed to mention small details like celebrity kidnappings, alien imposters, camera-shaped ray guns, and their absolutely abysmal knowledge of the American tax system. Unable to deny their atomic attraction, Andie and her boss's kisses quickly evolve into a forbidden affair that must remain secret at all costs. When a certain vengeful ex-fiancé discovers their secret, the laser guns come out and Andie is forced to flee for her life. As time runs out, Andie must choose between love or committing a crime that goes against everything she stands for. Plus hot alien sex! ... [[word count: 100,000-150,000 words]] Cover designed by Eva (Fathima) Ismail

After a tragic accident that completely changes her life, Annie and her twin brother, Austin, are taken in by the Emersons, a family of seven (drop-dead gorgeous) boys. But Annie never expects to fall for one of the boys...let alone two. "A delicious series of twists and turns." - Grace @ HQ ***** Annie Cassidy has always had a simple life. She lives with her mom, dad, and her twin brother, Austin, in Indiana. She's always been close to each of them; a bond nobody could break until one fatal night when Annie's parents are killed in a head-on collision. She and Austin have no other family nearby and are taken under the wing of their father's best friend, Derek Emerson. They move from their small, comfortable hometown in Indiana, to the giant city of Los Angeles, California. Not only are they shocked to find out that the Emersons are rich--but that they also have seven kids. And they're all boys! As Annie begins to settle in, the last thing she expects is to develop feelings for one of the brothers, let alone two. It's safe to say that her new life in LA is about to get a whole lot more complicated. Content warning: mature scenes, depictions of a car crash, and mentions of grief. [[Word count: 60,000 - 70,000 words]] Cover designed by Gillian Goulet

ORGINALLY A 'PAID' STORY. NOW PUBLISHED ON AMAZON/KU *** 4 CHAPTER SAMPLE HERE *** After a great loss, Jake Bryant finds himself in Las Vegas. To fill the void in his heart, he searches for a woman's missing daughter and finds more than he bargained for. ***** Two years after his daughter was kidnapped, Jake Bryant meets a woman in desperate need of help. Seeing the opportunity to redeem himself, Jake probes Las Vegas's seemly underbelly to find the pimp responsible for abducting her daughter. But navigating Sin City's sex trade business proves tougher than Jake thought, and he finds himself digging his own grave at gunpoint. Can Jake find a way to escape? Or will his mistakes lead to more death? [[word count: 70,000-80,000 words]]

A heartbroken fashion designer escapes to Tokyo to be an assistant on a movie set, only to get caught up in an illicit, whirlwind romance with the lead actor. ***** After discovering her fiance is cheating on her, heiress and fashion designer Lily Porter is whisked away to Tokyo to help a production company adapt one of her great-aunt's novels. She isn't thrilled about lying about being her aunt's assistant until it throws her into the path of the movie's lead actor, who is enough of a distraction to keep her mind off her ex for good. But can there really be a future for them when their relationship is built on lies, false identities, and a secret engagement? [[Wattys' Longlisted]] [[word count: 100,000-150,000 words]]