Products tagged with 'found family'

The stars are not what they seem. So look away; they'll whisper you your fate. Iyana's only ambition in life is to become a healer like her grandmother, but that all changes when her village is attacked by a neighboring kingdom. She desperately calls upon the heavens for salvation and the stars respond, yet not as she had ever imagined. She is sent Altair, a hypnotically handsome star in human form. Iyana is more shocked to discover that she is an Aztia, a magic bearer born once in every generation, and that a captured enemy soldier named Emmeric is unwittingly caught up in her destiny. Although he is fated to work with Iyana, Emmeric is reluctant to assist a woman from the village he was recently trying to destroy, no matter how spellbinding her beauty is. He trusts his rival Altair even less, as the star and Iyana are caught in each other's orbit. When the emperor's own son, Zane, joins their quest to stop his father's tyrannical invasion, the companions begin unveiling long-buried secrets that echo through time. Secrets that could change the course of human history and reveal the hidden origin of the Aztia themselves. A captured foe. A fallen star. A forsaken prince. Betrayal is inevitable. But who will perpetrate it?

To save himself from a horrible fate, Irigiim chooses a path he never thought he would, but will his bond to the wild-natured Rayle be worth the choice? Sun Glimmer is not so much a haven as perdition for Castell, and the itch to fight keeps him restless, but he has choices to make. Now he needs to decide which one is the right one. Irigiim is part of a dwindling species, noble Beasts that roam the raw lands of the Shade Realm. His majestic form, however, is no salvation against the aberrant magicians in the Sun Realm who are using his kind to control others. To keep his kind alive, Irigiim bonds with a young Isokanii royal to prevent suffering the same fate as his sire. Rayle keeps him safe from the Sun Dwellers, but their tumultuous relationship does little to provide the peace and stability he craves. Rayle’s rambunctious and adventurous spirit is so much like that of a pup, he is hesitant to fully trust his new human partner. All he desires is to avoid a caustic death, but the anxiety created by monitoring his bond partner might be more than he bargained for. Castell has pacifist parents to thank for his peaceful and worry-free life. It is also thanks to them that he is eager to leave. Every day spent mining Sun Crystals is another day he wishes he were elsewhere. Gifted with weather magic, he knows he could be more helpful on the front lines of the war, rather than living a banal life chiseling rock and stone. The problem? Leaving would break his parent’s hearts, but he knows he can no longer remain a neutral party to the war. Armed with his conviction, Castell leaves the only home he’s ever known to face a turmoil he’s never known. Will Irigiim find the peace he craves or be forced to live in disquiet? Will Castell finally do something worthwhile with his magic? Break into the Broken Realms with this prequel novella! Discover magic, adventure, found family, and the power of choice.

When the world collapses under the weight of a fast-spreading sickness, survival becomes a brutal daily calculation and trust is the most dangerous gamble of all. Society fractures almost overnight. Cities fall silent. Families disappear. Those left behind learn quickly that the infection isn’t the only thing to fear. In a world ruled by scarcity, desperation turns ordinary people into monsters, and love becomes both a weakness and a lifeline. Addy has survived alone for days inside the walls of her apartment, watching civilization unravel through cracked windows. Food is dwindling. Silence is suffocating. And with every passing day, the infected move closer. Then she hears him. Sawyer isn’t the savior Addy imagined. He’s wary, hardened, and determined to trust no one. But survival is colder alone. Together, they navigate a ravaged Midwest where danger comes from the living just as often as the dead. As scarcity sharpens every choice and strangers become threats in the dark, Addy and Sawyer discover something unexpected in the ruins—a connection strong enough to challenge the despair closing in around them. But in a world built on fear, nothing stays safe for long. And love might be the one thing they can’t outrun.

“People will do the most dangerous things and make the darkest deals for the ones they love.” Devon Rionnaghan thought he had everything under control. After years of war against a demonic horde that nearly cost his brother’s life and stole his chance at happiness in the Outworld, all he wanted was some peace and quiet. Not the prestige, not the accolades, and definitely not his father’s throne. But then she stumbled back into his life and turned everything around. Made the sun shine brighter again. Made his dreams vivid again. Until she found out his dark little secret…and he found out hers. Roxi doesn’t know if she can ever look at him the same way again, and Devon doesn’t know if he stands a chance against the scarred memories of abuse and torment she suffered at the hands of a shapeshifter. If they’re going to make it through, the secrecy and lies must end—even if the truth is more painful than either of them are ready for. The only problem is, they’re not the only ones with secrets. And the mysterious man who controls darkness itself and announces he’s the ruler of an empire that doesn’t exist… …isn’t the only one who struck a bargain with the devil.

It’s Ivy O’Connor’s last day alive, and for Hugo Wright it’s just another Thursday. But the Hicks-Cooper Comet is about to pass the earth for the first time in over a decade. And nothing will be the same ever again. Among the wreckage of the fallen Hicks-Cooper comet, Ivy wakes from a suicide attempt and discovers that her body will rapidly heal any wound inflicted upon it. Hugo is able to move things with his mind, fulfilling his childhood dream of wielding superpowers. Far from solving their problems, however, these abilities bring new challenges. Ivy is plagued by guilt over this miracle she does not feel she deserves, and haunted by ghosts from her past. Hugo is burdened with the need to save everyone he can, from the best friend he’s been fighting with for months to the niece haunted by nightmares. As the teens and their city of Cottonwood Rapids reckon with the fallout of the Hicks-Cooper, one question remains. Will they be able to bring light to the darkness within the city and themselves?

Rose Britton has spent years hiding in plain sight. By day, she is a technical researcher at GenExt, a powerful genetics corporation with too many locked files, black-budget projects, and questions no one wants answered. By night, she is trying to understand why her empathic abilities are changing, why the headaches are getting worse, and why she feels increasingly certain someone is watching her. Then she literally runs into Jake Martino. Jake is a mutant, a hacker, and a member of Helix, the underground network GenExt calls a terrorist threat. To the people Helix rescues from raids, hides in safe-houses, and helps disappear, it is something else: a lifeline. Jake can phase through walls, stop bullets, and spot patterns other people miss. Unfortunately for Rose, he quickly notices that there is far more to her than she admits. Rose knows she should stay away from him. Contact with Helix could cost her the access she needs at GenExt, and perhaps much more. But Jake is kind, stubborn, and far harder to dismiss than he should be. As cautious friendship grows between them, Rose is drawn deeper into GenExt's hidden world. Instead of punishing her for meeting Jake, GenExt recruits her into the Genetic Registration Service, a secret operation that tracks, controls, and "neutralizes" people with mutations. Trapped inside the organization hunting people like Jake, Rose begins anonymously warning Helix about incoming raids. Every warning protects lives. Every lie tightens the trap. When a raid forces Rose to reveal what she is, the fragile life she built fractures. Helix discovers she has been working for the GRS. GenExt discovers she is more valuable than it ever suspected. And a shadowy corporation connected to Rose's past begins closing in. Rose may hold the key to a breakthrough that could save Helix's unstable mutants, or make her the most valuable research subject in the world. In Plain Sight is a character-driven science fiction thriller of corporate conspiracy, superpowered resistance, slow-build romantic tension, and found family. It is the first novel in the Helix Codex Chameleon Protocol series, where being seen can be as dangerous as being found.

When a violent storm rips through Wisteria Creek, Madison Cole loses more than her home. She also loses the fragile stability she’s spent years building for her and her daughter. Forced to stay in the guest house of her best friend’s infuriating, undeniably attractive older brother, she finds herself confronting memories she thought she’d outgrown. Seth Cunningham has always been the man she could never quite figure out. The boy who teased her, the teenager who kept his distance, and the adult who now watches her with a quiet intensity she doesn’t understand. Living steps apart was supposed to be temporary. However, beneath long summer evenings and soft moments they never meant to share, their friction begins to shift into something neither of them is ready for. Under a sky broken open by storms, Madison and Seth learn that sometimes the pieces left behind create something stronger, deeper, and worth fighting for. Frenemies-to-lovers tension, found family warmth, and the tender pull of a love written in the quiet moments: Beneath the Broken Sky is a heart-stirring small-town romance about healing, hope, and home. “Emily’s writing evokes emotions I’m drawn to. It’s inherently familiar in a way that allows you to step into her world and truly live there. I’m obsessed and in love and can't wait for more!” - Willow Winters, Wall Street Journal & USA Today Bestselling Author