Small Mercies Dennis Lehane

Someone is killing unmarked souls, and Ru Roberts is the only one that can stop them. That's a bit of a problem, though, since she has no idea she's a Keeper. Adopted as a small child, Ru knows next to nothing about her birth parents. Her new mom insists she was given up because she "ruins everything." Hence, her name-Ruin. Yet, Ru has managed to make a life for herself in the small town of Reaper's Hollow, working as a fourth grade teacher, which she loves. If it wasn't for her inability to touch anything electrical without starting a fire, she'd be the happiest girl in Upstate New York. That is, until the charming and devastatingly handsome Cutter Michaels moves into the classroom across the hallway and starts filling her head with all sorts of unbelievable fantasies. He claims she is the lost Keeper, the daughter of a half-angel and a half-demon, and she is the only one who can help him locate three portals the Reapers, as in Grim Reaper, are using to ferry souls away to the Underworld. Ru knows he's lost his mind, and yet she finds herself being sucked into his delusions more and more each day. The fact that he can shoot blue fire out of his hands might have something to do with that. Once she begins having strange dreams where she comes face to face with Thanatos, the most powerful Reaper of all, Ru begins to think there might be more to Cutter's story than she's been giving him credit for. Will joining Cutter lead her to find her biological parents and discover the powers coursing through her veins, or will Thanatos claim her for his own?

Growing up the only wolf in a trailer park, Emily has no idea of the mysteries of her past, wondering why she's always had a repeated dream of a redheaded woman telling her that she is the last hope of her pack. Only the death of her parents by the hands of her 'mate' unlock the chain of events that lead to her finding out who she is really meant to be, and it is not just a small town girl with a crazy mate. She discovers packs, wolves and Alphas are real, and that they live amongst humans. The revelations are shocking, but not as much as the fact that she is made to choose between the Alpha and the Chief Warrior of her new pack, both of whom are intent on winning her heart for very different reasons.

So . . . what am I told? A familiar small town. A wrathful, metamorphic killer with supernatural abilities. A young girl whose time has come—angel of life, and death—is the only one who can stop his unspeakable deeds. Katie Franklin has turned twenty-one at last, and been released from the Ransom Sanitarium. And hell has been released with her. Now it’s back to the Val, where monsters are real . . . Something evil is stalking the shadows of Blackwater Val, and it wants lifeblood and flesh. What she finds waiting in the unhallowed darkness there will forever haunt her—and you. Return with her if you dare. To see the dead children. Feel their torment. To face the old terror. ©️ Crystal Lake Publishing

In the 1980's in a small, not too well known town, a young Black girl named Ariel Smith in a mostly white school juggles her studies to get into college, and deal with a murderer committing multiple hate crimes, so you'd think she wouldn't have time for romance until she saved a young white boy named Ernest Rivers from drowning, literally. "Dangerous? He looks so peaceful here. Angelic almost. How could someone so beautiful be dangerous?" Satan was once an angel. Warning: depictions of sexual assault, racism and murder throughout the story. If any of these topics are triggering for you, I do not recommend reading. Thank you.

"Miss Hudson, we have prepared a corpse identical to you, just as you requested. It will be delivered to your wedding with Mr. Warhol in ten days." Hearing the voice on the other end of the line, Violet Hudson felt a small knot of tension unwind inside her. "Alright. Thank you." "You're welcome. This is our job. Please rest assured—no one will ever suspect a thing." With that guarantee, she exhaled, the weight on her chest easing just a little. After confirming the final details once more, she ended the call and pushed open the door to the private room. The noise inside had been a constant hum, a mix of voices overlapping, but the moment she stepped in, silence fell like a curtain.

Twin sisters, Jodi and Jackie, are two inches away from filing for bankruptcy and losing their heritage. The twins' grandparents had started Garvey's Hotel and Bar many years ago. The business had been solvent until the 2008 crash. With eminent ruin on the horizon, Jodi comes up with a radical idea to revitalize Garvey's. What Jodi hadn't planned was falling in love with the town hunk. While falling in love, she and those close to her have scandalous rendezvous, deal with local law enforcement, and try to survive a reign of terror that will leave a scar on her, the man she loves, and the small Arizona town for years to come.

Mortani Bartolome is a lovely, small, but cool woman. She doesn't care if it's a guy or a woman; if they collide on her road without a settlement, her fist will be the judge. Even her boyfriend's lover, Clyde Louis Contreras, CEO of a well-known corporation and grandson of a billionaire, is vulnerable to her toxic hands. Will her fist help her if she realizes she is destined to marry the person she despises the most? And this guy is none other than the man who became her ex-boyfriend's lover. Is there anything she can do to avert this disaster? Or will she fall in love with a Clyde Contreras instead of avoiding him?

“Who said Lucas could have all the pretty ones?” he said and I immediately flinched from his touch. “I belong to Lucas” I hissed but he gave a small laugh “All that is Lucas’ will be mine” he whispered close to my ear and I immediately stepped out of his ring and walked away without looking back. A night of fiery passion, an accidental marking and a secret pregnancy puts Jessica at risk but what happens when the trouble comes from the man who placed her in family's way? Now she's on the run with the secret baby of her ex best friend and newest enemy

I was running away. Away from an abusive husband…a family that didn’t care what he did to me. Friends who told me that I should be grateful. He has money, so I should just listen and live my life not working about being paycheck to paycheck like I had been. What I didn’t know was that with finding my way into a small town, I would catch the attention of a family. This family is different though…and I don’t know if I like their attention or not. But ever time I am with them I tend to do impulsive things.

Teivel is a small town where nothing ever happens. But all of that changes when the Panic Room sets up shop. A place where all your nightmares come to life and your sins are awakened. Lilith is no exception to the temptations that lurk in the dark. But when she encounters the seven deadly sins and finds herself drawn to them, she finds herself willing to do anything to please them. But how far is she willing to go? Who will she destroy to get another taste of the Demons who have branded themselves on her heart? In a world not for the faint of heart, only the strong survive. But is Lilith strong enough to resist the evil within, or will her soul become as black as theirs?