How Does 'In The Realm Of Hungry Ghosts' Explain Addiction?

My father died of esophageal cancer. For the final two years of his life, he could barely swallow anything. By the time he passed, he was nothing but skin and bones. The first New Year after his death, he came to my mother in a dream. "I'm starving," he said. "I just want to taste the thick-cut steak you used to make." My mother believed it without question. That very day, she pan-seared a large platter of steak and carried it to his grave. The next morning, she suffered a sudden heart attack and died on the spot. Devastated, I handled my mother's funeral together with my husband. That same night, my husband dreamed of my father as well. "Chester," he said, "I haven't eaten in so long. I want your pâté, served with some strong liquor." When my husband woke up, he bought the finest liver pâté, opened a bottle of single-malt whiskey, and went straight to the grave. However, not long after returning home, he collapsed from acute liver failure. He was rushed to the ICU and died three days later. I was on the brink of collapse myself. I left my daughter in the care of a close friend while I tried to handle the endless wave of tragedy. That evening, my daughter never came home from school. I searched everywhere, and finally, on the road to the cemetery, I found her. She was clutching a bowl of spicy stew, several grilled sausages floating in the broth. "Mom," she said, "Grandpa and I used to eat this all the time. I dreamed he said he was hungry." I finally lost it. I knocked the bowl from her hands and carried her home. That night, my father appeared in my dream once more. "I suffered so much while alive," he said. "Have some pity on me. "New Year's is coming. I want to come home for a meal. Make sure you cook fish." I woke in terror. Holding my daughter, I sat before the three framed portraits for two full days without eating or drinking. On New Year's morning, I realized she was no longer breathing. Clutched tightly in her hand was a packet of spicy dried salmon. I could not believe it. When I opened my eyes again, I was back on the day my mother, her eyes red with worry, said she was going out to buy steak.

Meg and Charlie meet on Titanic, but their lives were intertwined long before they ever stepped foot on the doomed ship. Follow their story from the very beginning. Prelude After Meg's father dies, her life spirals out of control. Her mother is mean, her uncle abusive. When she discovers she’s been promised to a wealthy American, she’ll do whatever she must to flee Southampton, hoping for a new life in America and a chance to start over. Charles Ashton knows that his father arranged for him to marry Meg. Even though the temptations of being young and rich beckon him, he believes in keeping promises. However, his attempts at meeting Meg are thwarted and eventually, Charlie wonders if Meg exists at all. Ultimately, destiny’s plan will be revealed and their worlds will collide aboard a ship named Titanic. Titanic Meg never dreamt she would find herself aboard Titanic. Now that she finally has the opportunity to escape it all, she realizes the man she's engaged to is also aboard the ship. If Charlie discovers her identity, she will end up breaking his heart all over again. Will Meg find a way to reveal her identity without destroying their relationship, or will her last chance at true love end up in the abyss? Residuum The survivors of Titanic arrive in New York, but being back on dry land doesn't end the terror, and for some of the passengers, the nightmares are just beginning. Having escaped her haunting past, Meg knows she should be excited to start her new life as millionaire Charlie Ashton's fiancée. However, Titanic has scarred both of them, and part of her wants to escape into the night. Will she stay by Charlie's side? The voices in Charlie's head are ever-present. Will he lose Meg all over again?

When tragedy strikes and she loses her brother because of her carelessness it's up to her to take back what she's lost, only this time she's back with an army and a whole bunch of people backing her up. She's going back to the place it all started, Greenville city, but the secret of the town is more than what meets the eye. Will Autumn be able to discover all the secrets of Greenville. And what secrets does her family hold too.

Sera Ashford is a Null—a walking void where magic and memory go to die. Dogs hate her. Spells slide off her skin. And the supernatural world would kill to own her blood. But Sera doesn't know any of this. She just knows she got fired from her diner job for "creeping out the customers." Then she meets Kael Valerius in a rain-soaked alley. Kael is a Voidborn—the first vampire, cursed for nine hundred years to hear the screams of every life he's ever taken. Witches he burned. Kings he betrayed. A little boy with dark curls who just wants his mother. The voices never stop. They never forgive. And they've been driving him slowly, exquisitely mad. But when Kael touches Sera, the screaming stops. Desperate for silence, he offers her a contract: stand at his side during the Conclave of Thorns—a gathering of every bloodline, coven, and pack with a grudge—and he'll pay her enough to erase her debts. One month. Then freedom. The deal shatters the moment their hands meet. Sera doesn't just silence Kael's curse. She absorbs it. Now the voices scream inside her skull. Ghosts wearing familiar faces crawl out of the walls. And a dead woman named Margot—Kael's former Tether, who clawed out her own eyes—whispers warnings in the dark. Trapped on Kael's estate, bound by a curse that will tear her mind apart if she strays too far, Sera has thirty days to master the deadly politics of immortals, survive the hungry ghosts inside her, and uncover the truth Kael buried with Margot. Because the curse doesn't just collect the dead. It remembers how they loved him. And in a world where regret is a hungry god, Sera might be the only one who can end the feast—or become its next meal.

Elle's normal and boring life comes crashing down after one school camp; where her classmates suddenly goes missing and she finds herself in a strange place, discovering things that should have been left in the dark and falling in love with someone she least expected. Will she be able to accept and handle all that comes with her discovery, or will she take the easy way out?

A sixteen-year-old girl named Riley goes on an unexpected journey to discover herself and the secrets that lie within her family. Join and discover her journey with her.