Val Westover Burns

Richard Franklin has left his Midwestern roots behind to live on the coast of Maine with his family. But in the autumn of the year 2000, he must return to his Illinois birthplace on a sorrowful journey. His wife Michelle has been killed in New England by a hit-and-run driver who is never found, so back home he comes with her cremated remains, to fulfill a final wish and on her birthday scatter her ashes in the park along the river in Blackwater Valley—simply Blackwater Val to locals—the small town where they both grew up and fell in love. With him he brings his six-year-old daughter Katie who still grieves for her lost mother: Katie, who can sometimes guess who’s going to be on the phone before it rings. Who can stop all the clocks in the house, and break up clouds in the sky with her mind, and heal sicknesses, and who sometimes sees things that aren’t there...people who are no longer alive. All gifts she inherited from her mother. Only something isn’t quite right in the Val. Sinkholes are opening up, revealing the plague pits the sleepy hamlet was built over in the 1830s, when malaria and cholera outbreaks ran riot. Mysterious bird and fish die-offs begin to occur, and Katie can see ghosts of the dead gathering all around. But what she can’t see is the charred, centuries-old malevolence which has been waiting for her, and wants her for its very own. Or the pale Sallow Man who haunts the town’s nighttime streets...or the river witch—another Blackwater Val, of sorts—each of whom will be drawn one by one into the nightmarish bloodletting about to take place. ©️ Crystal Lake Publishing

We're releasing balloons on Christmas Eve when Milton Jenning's lover deliberately sets off fireworks. They explode on me, burning me severely. My back, already torn and raw from skin grafts for her, becomes even more of a bloodied mess. However, I don't ask Milton for help. Instead, I shield a recently reunited heir of a wealthy family beneath me, risking everything to save him. In my past life, Milton kicked me in the back and told me not to stand in the way of him taking his lover to the hospital. "Is it funny to you to use a child as a cover, Larissa? Even if you're pregnant, you and your baby are just walking skin providers for Rita! I must've spoiled you—how dare you do something as heinous as this!" I was blacklisted by all hospitals and ended up dying while pregnant. My heart was filled with hatred as I breathed my last breath. When I open my eyes again, I see Rita Atkinson secretly aim fireworks at the night sky and set them off. I hear her laugh manically as she says, "You and your child can die together!"

Cecilia Henderson has lived her life in a bubble of privilege and purity, sheltered from the darkness that funds her father’s empire. Her world is charity galas, college degrees, and dreams untouched by violence. But when a single waltz with Zacian,the ruthless Boss of All Bosses, shatters that illusion, everything changes. Dominic Henderson, her father, is drowning under Zacian’s tightening grip. Desperate to protect his family and reclaim his power, Dominic strikes a dangerous bargain with rival bosses, setting the stage for betrayal and bloodshed. As tensions ignite and loyalties fracture, Cecilia becomes the ultimate leverage; a pawn in a game she never knew existed. But Zacian doesn’t see her as a pawn. He sees her as his weakness. And in a world where kings burn kingdoms for love, innocence may be the deadliest weapon of all.

Tanya Reed Tanya Reed’s life went up in smoke the night her parents were murdered. Now she’s a survivor, broke, haunted, and desperate for a fresh start. The last thing she expects is to find herself cleaning offices at Lockewood Heights… or standing face-to-face with the man who will upend her fragile world. Hers isn’t a Cinderella story; it’s survival meets power. Damien Lockewood. Billionaire. CEO. Sin wrapped in a tailored suit. He’s cold, ruthless, and untouchable, everything she should hate. And yet, he’s also the man who makes her pulse race, her walls crumble and her panties wet. She’s supposed to be invisible. But one accidental discovery, a discrepancy buried deep in the company’s financial records, puts her squarely on Damien’s radar. He doesn’t do love. She doesn’t do trust. But when desire turns to danger and the lies start to unravel, Tanya learns that the Lockewoods’ secrets are darker than Damien’s reputation, and the same shadow that took her parents might destroy them both. Because somewhere between passion and power lies the truth. And the truth might cost them everything.

Aria had it all—prestige, ambition, and a picture-perfect future. But nothing scorched her more than the heartbreak she never saw coming. Years later, with her life carefully rebuilt and her heart locked tight, he walks back in: Damien Von Adler. The man who shattered her. The man who now wants a second chance. Set against a backdrop of high society, ambition, and old flames that never quite went out, For What Still Burns is a slow-burn romantic drama full of longing, tension, and the kind of chemistry that doesn’t fade with time. He broke her heart once—will she let him near enough to do it again? Or is some fire best left in ashes?

"Please… stop pushing. I can't move." The concert crowd was packed and restless, bodies pressed tightly together. I found myself too close to the girl in front of me. She wore a short skirt that brushed against me every time the crowd surged. What caught my attention was how close we were: the faint warmth of her body through the thin fabric made my pulse quicken. For a brief moment, I thought I felt her react too, as if she sensed the same strange tension hanging between us.

It turns out a man who once took a bullet for Isobel Sutton will ultimately fall for someone else.

Marissa thought the marriage was forever. Until one day, her husband Alaric's first love Stella came back, she was faced with the accusations of cheating while being pregnant with their second child. Alaric handed her divorce paper, he took their first child, daughter Nova and Marissa grandmother's house. Years later, fate brings them back together, Alaric's empire collapses, Nova is gravelly ill and the woman he once discarded is now untouchable. Broken by regret, Alaric begs for a second chance but Marissa holds the choice: forgive the man or finally make him taste the pain he gave her.

Two opposite personalities, Two different colleges, One goal... That made them 'The Rivals'_________ Ace and Edwin, the basketball captains of two opposite colleges, who always hated eachother. They both never leave a single chance to hurt one another. But one truth, a single situation changes every

Mary comes back to her hometown after a year of living with her family in London and this time, she's not going to let herself be pushed around by Tyler, her bully and ex-best friend. She also doesn't want anything to do with him anymore because he's bad news but his failing grades bring them together, making her his tutor. Their after school sessions soon grow heated - in a really good way - and the both of them grow closer till they fall for each other all over again.