Iowa Off The Beaten Path: A Guide To Unique Places

Will is a boy trapped in a goblin world. Blood, all he saw was blood. Will was paralyzed in fear, he couldn't even scream. This was the first time he had seen so much blood in his life. He heard a splat next to him and saw a small wrinkly thing land next to him. This time will screamed, the thing got up on its knees and immediately started gnawing on whatever soft surface they had landed on. Will was horrified and tried getting away while screaming, but his body was still weak, so all he could do was crawl. He started screaming even louder when he saw his own arms clawing at the surface, they were also green. He had a pair of short stubby arms with three claw like fingers coming out at the end. He stopped all his activity and just sat down in a daze. More and more green things were thrown in the area around him, and like the first one they all started eating whatever it was they were on. Will focused on his surroundings this time, taking in all the information he could. He had realized that no matter what was happening, he needed to understand the situation he was in, and since it seemed he wasn't in any immediate danger, he had decided to calm down and focus.

By the time I return home from a business trip, it is past midnight. However, my wife, Celeste Beaumont, isn't home. A man's shirt that isn't mine is lying on the couch. When I call her, she tells me that she's working late at the office. "Whose shirt is it on the couch?" I ask, cutting straight to the point. She playfully scolds, "Who else would it be? It's a gift for you, so hurry up and try it on." I skeptically put it on and immediately feel how tight and uncomfortable it is across my shoulders. "This is an L, babe. I've always worn XL." Celeste runs a clothing company. She's the one who handles all my clothes and even uses my body measurements for her menswear line. There's no way she doesn't know my size. The line goes quiet for half a second before she thoughtfully says, "It's from my new menswear collection. "I had pieces custom-made for you and Felix, so I must've grabbed the wrong piece. I'll swap it tomorrow." A beat later, her voice carries a little sob as she continues, "Babe, I've been so exhausted without you these past few days. I've missed you so much…" It's past midnight. As I listen to the undeniable weariness beneath her affectionate, playful words, my heart aches in distress. I can't help chiding myself for overthinking. However, after hanging up, realization hits me. Her brother, Felix Beaumont, and I are about the same build. He's always worn XL.

From Jerilee Kaye, author of best-selling novel “Knight in Shining Suit”, comes the spin-off of the top-grossing interactive story, “All the Wrong Reasons”. One last adventure. That was all Julianne wanted. One last trip to escape the pressures of an arranged marriage to a man she doesn’t love and doesn’t even like. One last time to experience freedom… to go wherever she wanted to go, to be anyone she wanted to be. On her last two weeks in Paris, she met someone unexpected—aspiring painter, Jas Mathieu. He was as handsome as hell, and as sweet as heaven. Terrified of what her father and fiancé could do to Jas if she stayed with him, she fled Paris and left him behind—with no real information about herself, not even her real name. Seven years later, after her father stripped her of her heiress title and privileges, she crossed paths with Jas Mathieu once again. She found out that he wasn’t exactly the struggling artist she thought he was. And he was no stranger to the family and social circle she belonged to. It turned out that years ago, when they met... she wasn't the only one keeping secrets.

When Callie returns home for the summer, staying at her best friend Mia's house feels like slipping back into childhood, until she sees Grayson Carter again. Once her best friend's quiet, overworked dad, Grayson is now older, rougher, and dangerously irresistible. He remembers her as a girl with ink-stained fingers and a reckless laugh. Now, she is a woman who is confident, sharp-tongued, and completely off-limits. Neither of them meant to start crossing lines. But whispered glances turn into midnight encounters. Denial becomes an obsession. And one forbidden moment changes everything. As passion collides with guilt, Callie and Grayson are forced to choose between the love they shouldn't want and the consequences they can't escape. Off Limits is a slow-burn forbidden romance filled with raw chemistry, emotional damage, and a love story that is anything but clean.

After my father passed away three years ago, my mother drifted through relationships, never staying with one man for long. When we moved in with Professor Williams, I was surprised to discover his two adult sons still lived at home. Phoenix seems decent, but Jack? He despises me. He’s convinced my mother is after his father’s money, and that I’m just her useless shadow, dragged along for the ride. Their judgment hangs thick in the air—every glance feels like a scalding brand. And trapped under the same roof, there’s nowhere to hide.

Zara Cole comes home for her birthday weekend and finds her brother Marcus’s best friend, Damon, staying at the house. Nothing new. She’s always managed to keep her feelings buried. Then a blizzard hits. Marcus gets stranded away. Camille and Ryan can’t make it through. Three days. Just the two of them. Completely alone. What starts as tension slowly becomes something neither of them can control — honest conversations, stolen touches, and a connection that burns through every reason they have to stay away from each other. But the snow melts. Marcus comes back. Their partners return. And suddenly Zara and Daman are standing in the middle of something real, something undeniable, completely surrounded by everyone they’d hurt if the truth came out. The story follows what happens after, the guilt, the secrets, the obsession, the consequences. Marcus will eventually find out. Ryan will eventually see it. Camille already suspects more than she lets on. It’s a story about two people who know better, choose each other anyway, and have to live with every single thing that costs them.