Contemporary
PROJECT LOTUS
Kimberlee Ann
Category
Trigger Warnings
Violence
A local celebrity in the arts community of Quesinberry, Lolly Scarberry shines as one of the main acts at the Lotus Theatre. Lolly earns the affections of others quickly, loving openly and treating everyone with considerable care—even the town’s resident outsider MackLynn Brooks. One impulsive kiss. One show-stopping response. The stage is set, and the next act is anyone’s guess.
Kintsugi
Kezia Kos
Category
Trigger Warnings
rape (offscreen), narcissim, family trauma, family neurosis
Corporate worker-bee Kez has achieved her lifelong dream of living in Europe, having put behind her at last a myriad of family problems: a narcissistic mother; a chronically ill father; a schizophrenic brother and the dark, intrusive memories of a kitten-murdering grandmother. But life has no intention of letting her sit back because her family needs her. She flies back to Brazil with her manager, Max, who witnessed Kez having a panic attack upon hearing the news that her father was dying.
Wild Orchid
Celia Michaels
Category
Trigger Warnings
Sexual situations, emotional trauma, adult language
Hailey Cunningham is fiercely independent, but reviving Paradise Café forces her into an uneasy partnership with Bryan Maddox—charismatic, infuriating, and impossible to resist. As their fiery dynamic turns to something deeper, Hailey’s ruthless father seeks to control the situation, while an unexpected enemy appears on the scene and tries to threaten everything. Caught between passion and ambition, Hailey and Bryan must decide—will they risk it all for love?
Pine Hollow : Coming Home
Matthew Castle
Category
Trigger Warnings
War Violence/Violence
Almost twenty years in the army had carved me into a different man. Physically, I was fit and strong, marked with the scars of war, but inside, I felt lost. My grandfather’s death had brought me back, but the truth that lingered like an unspoken specter clouded that wounded heart
Even When I’m Leaving
S.C. Meyer
Category
Trigger Warnings
Parental Death, Grief, Spice
Even When I’m Leaving by SC Meyer is a contemporary romance inspired by Taylor Swift’s “‘Tis the Damn Season.” Childhood friends Victoria and Anthony reconnect in their small town after years apart, navigating love, grief, and personal growth during a snowstorm over the holidays. This short, steamy read explores second chances and the power of enduring love through a dual timeline of the summer they fell in love and ten years later when Victoria comes back to town.
Unconquerable: The Hearts Redress Series Book Two
Belle Jay James
Category
Trigger Warnings
Abuse, sexual violence, sexual content, BDSM, violence, guns, anxiety, PTSD, flashbacks.
Devastation and pain seem to just be a staple in Luna’s life. Will she ever find happiness? There is a way but… Will it be enough? Will she ever truly reclaim her life and be able to trust or love again? Luna doesn’t know. All she does know is the path to escaping her monsters is painted crimson. Will the girls of Iron Redemption still love and support her when they find out her plan? Will Gabriel? If you crave the darkness, Luna is waiting for you… To claim redemption!
Undesirable: The Hearts Redress Series Book One
Belle Jay James
Category
Trigger Warnings
Abuse, sexual violence, sexual content, BDSM, violence, guns, anxiety, PTSD, flashbacks.
If you are looking for morally crimson characters, look no further. Follow Luna, in a world where abuse has her memories and present collide. She realizes that changes need to be made. Starting with creating Iron Redemption MC. Where she finds a second chance with a found family. This gripping tale is filled with gut-wrenching pain, unquenchable desire, unconquerable strength, and undeniable love.
Heids Up
Neil Renton and Mark Fleming
Category
Trigger Warnings
Violence, language, references to sex, drugs, child abuse, sectarianism. Descriptions of psychiatric institutions.
Neil Renton and Mark Fleming met at a mental health support group. Neil was candid about the depression which prompted suicidal thoughts, while Mark opened up about spells in psych wards. Finding out they both used creative writing to document harrowing experiences and maintain wellbeing, they collaborated on an anthology. Flash fiction, longer short stories, memoirs and essays intertwine to conjure snapshots of life; dark and disturbing, sometimes hilarious, always life-affirming.
Penny Dreadful
Mary Hallberg
Category
Trigger Warnings
no trigger warnings
When a teen learns she and her crush both have powers, she recruits him to help resurrect her dead mother and sister.
The Tree House
Timothy Kyle
Category
Trigger Warnings
Extreme acts of racism, Racial Slurs, Child abandoment/Neglect, Graphic violence, Graphic sex
There’s many forbidden things in 1960s Birmingham, Alabama. Nothing more so than loving outside your race. Benny McClain only loved one thing more than his family: football. But growing up in the south gets more complicated when a neighbor becomes more than family.
Penny Jones only found solace in two things: Benny McClain and his treehouse. But when loving someone is forbidden by skin color, how can two people reconcile? And how can the unthinkable mistakes of one fateful night ever be undone?
