Flannery O'connor Short Fiction Award

Archer has always known what is expected of him. He accepts to be betrothed to a woman, he doesn't know, for the sake of the kingdom. An alliance between the two kingdoms is needed to fight off the rebels. He goes to great lengths to win the affection of his betrothed. Adalia doesn't want to be an ornament. She wants to be a strong queen, who joins her army in battles. But she is a princess. The only thing expected of her is to be beautiful and reproduce one heir after another. Adalia goes to Archer's kingdom ready to accept her fate. But when she runs into Xander her childhood crush, she commits to marrying him instead of the future King.

A business trip took an unexpected turn when our plane ran into disaster. While everyone else was penning their last words, I, an orphan with nothing to lose, decided to have a little fun with my miserly boss. “Boss, let’s keep this short—I like you.” “I really, really like you.” “Boss, this is a final goodbye.” Just when all hope seemed lost, the captain pulled off a miracle with his years of experience, saving us from the brink of catastrophe. By the time we landed safely, I was still in a daze until I saw my boss, eyes bloodshot, storming toward me, flanked by a wall of black-suited bodyguards.

I wheel myself into the birthday celebration that Wales Price has thrown for me. The atmosphere is originally lively, but a brief silence descends when everyone sees me. The guests are there for different purposes, but celebrating my birthday is not one of them. "Is that Mr. Price's crippled fiancée, Joey Hertza?" "Yeah, but the one he really loves is Anna Giovanni. I saw them kissing in a corner earlier." They use their wine glasses to block their mouths as they speak loudly. They think I'm still the crippled deaf I used to be. They don't know that I regained my hearing last week. I can hear every mocking comment they make. Meanwhile, Wales stands there and allows it to happen. He doesn't stop the guests from talking about me. He seems to have forgotten that I only ended up like this while protecting him. I shoved him away when the accident happened and got trapped underneath the car myself. When I was rescued, Wales swore to stay with me and care for me for life. It's only been three short years since then, but he's already changed. I receive a message on my phone. "Ms. Hertza, the lifelike corpse that you've ordered is now complete. Reply to this message with your confirmation, and your death-faking service will be immediately effective. We will send the corpse to your and Mr. Price's wedding in five days." I don't even hesitate as I reply with my confirmation. Enjoy your wedding, Wales.

Suzanne O'Izzy is a klutzy kind of girl who always wanted to be a hero. Due to the fact that the city she lived in, Herotapolis, had an organization named Hero league that trained heroes, her dream could easily be fulfilled. But when the time for her to take the entrance exam came, Hero league were in battle with villains known as the rogue heroes hence her and the other students in her school who applied were given scholarships to train at Superhero high.Suzanne gets recruited in Squad 10 and finds out that before she can save the world doing heroic deeds she must first be skillful at things and get along with her teammates. It really didn't help matters when the three boys also assigned as her teammates never saw eye to eye on things.Plus E-rank exam was nearing. They had to learn how to get along to move a step up in the hero world. Amidst all quarrels and difficulties, Squad 10 managed to scrape through and enter E-ranks, finally they could start going on missions.Another teammate, a medical corp, was assigned to them. Every Squad in E-rank had one.It was then Suzanne knew her hero life had just begun.

The brooding CEO captivated his lover in his mafia world' The Sicilian mafia. While trying to find her real family, on a trip to Sicily, Italy. Lucya got kidnapped by a mafia who is young and dashing head of the Mafia gang. Maximo Sergio Guillermo is a loner who lost his family in a dreadful moment. The brooding billionaire has secrets that he refuses to unveil to anyone. After Maximo tells Lucya that he feels powerless around her, she used his weakness to escape from his grip. But fails every time. Their love seemed to be impossible, but when the Godfather of Mafia finds himself submerged in love everything begins to seem possible. Maximo believes that anything he sets his eyes on is his. Maximo conquered her then broke her. She was bound to follow his leads. Later Maximo unveils his secrets which scattered both of them. But after finding out the truth, will Lucya accept him? A slow burn mafia romance short story.

Simoune Andrew Buenaflor is one of the hottest bachelor in town. He is the owner of Buenaflor Group of Companies na tanyag sa buong Pilipinas. Sa edad na trenta ay napalago niya na ang kanilang negosyo na ipinamana sa kanya ng yumao niyang mga magulang. Maituturing na isa siya sa pinakasuwerteng tao sa larangan ng pagnenegosyo subalit pagdating sa larangan ng pag-ibig, tila ba ito'y isang dagok sa kanya ng kapalaran. Tatlo na rin ang naging kasintahan niya ngunit wala ni-isa sa mga ito ang nagtagal. Hanggang sa isang araw ay hindi inaasahang magkatagpo ang landas nila ng isang babaeng may mapait na karanasan sa buhay at kagaya niya ay nakasarado rin ang pintuan ng puso nito. Paano kong ang babaeng ito pala ang itinakda sa kanya ng kapalaran? Magagawa niya pa kaya'ng buksan'g muli ang kanyang puso o hahayaan niya na lang itong manatiling nakapinid at habang buhay na maging sawi?

Warning: This novel contains mature contents .. Do you like the idea of making you mine , Kieran growled his lips falling on Rinna's neck. Yeah am ready, Rinna whimpering she turned her head to give him more access to her body . Truthfully you really beautiful , Kieran growled leaving soft kisses on her body.....her nude n*****s ..and her belly button. Yes.. Rinna moaned trying to cope up with his touches but unfortunately she couldn't. ....she was burning. .she wanted more ...she wanted him inside her... Sweet Seduction ( The handsome CEO).

Juliet is a confident curvy girl with a sharp tongue and a sassy fun loving attitude who runs a pizza shop with her sister. Jude is a frontman in a rock band with a hard edge but boyish good looks and a retro style. The two couldn't be more different, and from opposite worlds. A chance encounter brings them together for one explosive night neither will soon forget. Jude is forced to take a hard look at his life and question where he wants it to go while trying to decide on the future of his band. Follow along in this cute short story of how love comes in all forms. This is a simple and straight-forward easy to read feel good series about everyday people finding love in the most unsuspecting of places! We all have our issues, insecurities but can we open up and allow ourselves to be vulnerable to the right person? **This is a five part series that follows a hard rock band called Feisty and the five men who are its trail blazers, taking the world by storm while looking for love. Love finds them in some of the most unlikely places, but for one it’s been under his nose all along. A new book will come out about every six weeks until they are complete, enjoy!** This is a five part mini-series and the stories continue in order but can be read as individual stand-alone books. This part one, Judes story.

A chance encounter between two fated strangers, and what was meant to be a night of unforgettable passion, grants more than they bargained for, changing their lives forever. ♡●♡●♡ Three years may seem like such a short period of time for many, but for Cassilas Yildiz, it was a lifetime. Because three years ago, he was still human. Yvonne Ntaba is a 22-year-old born to a religious family and coerced into an arranged marriage by her mother. With only a few weeks left to her pending nuptials, she finds her desire to get away from the clutches of her family growing stronger by the second, and a chance encounter with the shy and alluring vampire may just be the escape she needs. Except... it does not come cheap. In a world where vampires are known to be a myth, and the idea of their existence an abomination, will Silas and Yvonne find love and healing while trying to adjust to their new reality? Or will the undisclosed history between their families, along with their beliefs and differences, lead to their ultimate demise?

We all have secrets revealed to us throughout our lives. Secrets that many have kept hidden from us. How bad can the secrets be when you have grown up knowing you were adopted? For one girl, it is nothing short of a movie when her past that she never knew existed comes back to haunt her. She never felt like she fitted in, and when her partner goes missing she goes on a mission to find him but stumbles across a world she has only seen in movies. With the fact she is faced to accept werewolves, witches and everything else that goes bump in the night exists, she is left even more shaken to find out she is a witch, the last of the strongest bloodline that were all murdered. Will her love for the werewolf be fate, or is it all produced by magic to stop the war that has raged between the three worlds for centuries.