Center For Fiction First Novel Prize

“I wasn’t expecting you. I didn’t think that we would end up together. The single most extraordinary thing I’ve ever done with my life is fall in love with you. I’ve never been seen so completely, loved so passionately, and protected so fiercely.” The day she got wrongfully accused of her father’s murder and sent to jail, Ava Marie Antonini lost everything that mattered most: her freedom, her innocence, her future, and Federico, the only man she ever loved. No one, not even Federico, believed in her innocence… After a few years in prison, Ava Marie turns free as part of a parole program. During a visit to the Royal palace, she meets the new ruler of Bartovia: His Royal Highness, Prince Federico Alberto Enrico di Altavilla e Portanova… Her ‘Fede’. Prince Federico once loved Ava Marie so passionately he would have chosen her over his kingdom. But she pushed him away. Now that she's been released from prison, he discovers that she may be innocent and that, while in prison, she gave birth to… their baby boy. He must choose between honor and duty. Prince Federico will claim his heir… but what about Ava Marie? With everything that happened, can Ava Marie still be his Princess? His most beloved half?

WARNING ⚠️: This book contains some violence, explicit and mature content, BDSM, and is highly rated 18+. Just once, he thrust deeper and my lips gaped, trembling…my fingers squeezed his cloth tighter. “Why do you smell this way? Just why?” his voice was barely a whisper. I wanted to answer him…to tell him he was the whore here, but fućk…..he pushed into me deeper, once, twice and again. …… It was supposed to be a seven day contract and then we parted ways, but I didn't just end up being his rival…one whose mother he's been searching for all these years, but also I became the slave who the Alpha king relieves his stress in her damped fold. Was it the matebond? I doubted it. He wasn't just all over me, but I also prayed each day that he sends for me, have me tied up and f*cked until my body convulsed under him. He was dominant and possessive, and I submitted to every bit of him…

Ruby Barlow reconnects with her high school crush on a dating site. After their first date went downhill, she decided never to contact him again. Things go crazy for her when she finds out he is the CEO of the company she always dreamed to work in.

The love story of Leonardo Davidson, a handsome but arrogant CEO who loves to hurt women with Zivanna Mariah Electra, a beautiful and kind woman. When Zivanna had to choose between Leonardo, the man she loved, or Alfredo, her brother. Leonardo, who always cared for her, and Alfredo, who always wiped his tears and gave her a room named family as a place to live all the time and a place to return to when she got lost. Between love and family, Zivanna is confused about making choices. The strength of Leonardo's love, a man who never gave up and really believed in the magic of love, finally won Alfredo's blessing, who was very much against the relationship between Leonardo and his sister. Marriage is not a game. Marriage is about a feeling and about a commitment that must always be maintained to the end. Leonardo Davidson failed to maintain his commitment. He destroyed his own marriage with betrayal. What is the fate of Zivanna who is pregnant? Will Leonardo get a second chance? Can Leonardo win back Alfredo's blessing? A novel that evokes feelings, about family, love and trust.

Red Wine for Breakfast stars Jenny Reed, a 34 year old Californian from New York, who plays macho Monopoly by her own rules. Winner take all. And she had it all: the number one morning radio show on KKTM FM in Los Angeles, a wonderful best friend, and a nice noncommittal affair with the station owner, Brian Allen. Her career was all she needed. Success was all she ever wanted. Until Johnny King became her on air partner and challenged her to play his own game. The day she beat him was the day she gained his respect. It was also the day she lost her best friend in an apparent suicide ... or was it murder? Real life radio personalities and a front page drug scandal bring realism to a fictional novel set in Los Angeles where radio stations change formats like socks, and jobs are as secure as houses built on the San Andreas Fault. In a business drowning in testosterone, Red Wine for Breakfast is the story of strong, determined New Yorker who has to shake off the laid back attitude of LA to overcome the challenges of an industry that threatens to turn her off and a man who only wants to turn her on.

BLURB “No please. Stop. Its paining so much. Please take it out. Please I beg you. Take it out. I will die.” I cried and screamed at the top of my voice. My palms pushing against his chest trying to stop him at least for a second. Seizing my hands with one hand above my head and grabbing my jaw with another, his fingers dug into my skin making my lips to pout, he whispered “Do you think I care?” and started thrusting inside me with renewed force. His each and every thrust earned a high pitch scream and endless flow of tears from me. But I knew he was enjoying it. Isn’t that the reason he married me??? So that he can give me endless pain and make me suffer. Well, he succeeded, with that I let the darkness consume me to escape the unbearable pain. ……………………………………………………………………………………………………. A mafia leader hell bent on taking revenge and a fierce mafia heiress never bending to anyone’s will. She was never meant to be for his world. And he was never meant to be for anyone. Then their worlds collided. He hated her with passion and she despised him with every cell of her body. And they both vowed to destroy each other.

She watched her future crumble through a camera lens. Four years. One ring. The wrong woman wearing it. Sloane's carefully constructed life shatters in a single night when her boyfriend proposes to someone else at an event she's photographing. Broke, humiliated, and desperate for a fresh start, she's ready to give up on everything. Until an opportunity falls into her lap that changes everything. A contract with Lennon Cross. The biggest name in music. The man everyone wants but no one can have. Half a million dollars for six months of her life. It sounds perfect. Too perfect. Because Lennon doesn't do charity. He doesn't do kindness. And he definitely doesn't do love. What he does do is destroy anyone who gets too close. Sloane should walk away. Should protect what's left of her shattered heart. But desperation makes people reckless. And when her ex comes crawling back, suddenly success tastes like the sweetest revenge. The man who broke her. Or the one who might save her. If he doesn't ruin her first. Some contracts are signed in ink. Others are paid for in heartbreak.

Twenty-one-year-old Hazel has always lived in a safe, comfortable bubble, meticulously guarded by her fiercely protective older brother. Her life is predictable, quiet, and perfectly ordinary. Until he steps into it. Silas is twenty-four, dangerously captivating, and her brother’s best friend. He brings with him an aura of dark secrets, ink-stained skin, and a predatory gaze that strips away all her carefully built defenses. He is everything she has been taught to avoid, yet living under the same roof makes him impossible to escape. What starts as a temporary living arrangement quickly spirals into a suffocating web of stolen glances, unspoken desires, and a dangerous obsession. Silas isn't just looking for a place to crash; he's looking at her. And once he pins her in his sights, the thorns of their forbidden attraction will bind them together in ways that could destroy them both. In a house where walls have ears and her brother is always watching, giving in to the madness is a risk. But Silas is a temptation she might not survive.

After her heart was shattered due to her lover's decision to marry the director's daughter at their workplace, Hayle, an obstetrician, is determined to win back her former lover by implanting Lucas's embryo into her womb.But disaster strikes when the seed is accidentally swapped, and Hayle must come to terms with the fact that she is pregnant with an unknown man's child. Amidst her dilemma of whether to continue her pregnancy or terminate it, Hayle must confront the mysterious man who claims to be the father of the baby she is carrying. Another issue is that the man is unhappy that she is pregnant with his child."Who are you?" Hayle's eyes darted around as she saw the figure of the man in front of her."If you dare to do anything to my baby inside your womb, you will know who I am!" The voice, like the wind in winter, left Hayle frozen in place. Her lips trembled uncontrollably. "Al-alright."

I breathe heavily as he pins me to the wall, his hands wrapped tight around my throat I could barely breathe. ‘You hear me, Sera? I found you first. I noticed you first! I fell for you first. No one else, I mean, no one should put their hands on you, because if they do, I swear to God, Sera, I'll fucking break their arms and legs and serve it to you to eat!’ He growls. Seraphina Puckett is the perfect definition of trauma. A walking trauma. She tries to navigate her life, trying to bring in sunshine but as the world is determined to make it rain on her, what does she do? Does she get beaten in the rain or walk through it? When her abusive father gets out of prison and is out to get her, how does she face her fear?