I watched Ryan die. So how is Ben wearing his face? Six years ago, I watched my best friend--and secret crush--splatter all over the pavement. He died. I saw him. Yet, in the back of my mind, I've never stopped looking for him. Seeing him in crowds, in the classroom, in my dreams--and my nightmares. It's cost me everything--my identity, my sanity, and maybe my life. So when I walk into class to see a man who looks exactly like Ryan standing before me, I freak out again. My therapist tells me to stay away from Ben. He's no good for me. I'll end up back in a padded room. But I have to know the truth. Is Ben really Ryan? That's not possible. But Ben has scars--real ones and metaphorical ones. If Ben is Ryan, why doesn't he just tell me? Is he trying to drive me crazy? Or worse--is he trying to kill me? The Boy Who Died is the first romantic suspense novel from bestselling romantacy author Bella Moondragon writing as B. Moon. If you love romantic suspense, are a fan of Colleen Hoover, Gillian Flynn, Christopher Greyson, or Paula Hawkins, you won't want to miss this page-turner!
Marcie
I sling my backpack over my shoulder and step out of my apartment onto the sunny breezeway outside. Early September in Virginia retains most of the heat of summer, so I wipe instant sweat off my forehead before my brown curls can catch in it. This semester is going to be different. That means not showing up looking like a drowned rat, even if I doubt anyone in my photography elective is going to care.
Birds sing as I lock the door then test the knob to make sure it actually locked. A voice in my head that sounds suspiciously like Dana, my therapist, reminds me I'm not supposed to be indulging those instincts. I'm safe here. The only person I've been in danger from since setting foot on the campus of Ardent University is myself, and she's getting out of my way this year. I unlock the door, lock it again, and walk away without testing the knob.
My heavy backpack bounces against my shoulder. I don't want to have to return to my apartment between classes, even if it's technically on campus, and the weight of my books reminds me exactly what kind of day I'm in for. A long one. My very first semester with a full course load. I massage my shoulder and shrug on the second strap to even out the weight. Nursing textbooks aren't light.
But I'm not worried. All summer, I talked with Dana and the guidance office. Both of them asked me a dozen or more times if I was sure a full slate of classes wouldn't lead to what they called "a repeat of last time" and what I call "honestly, a pretty minor mental breakdown, considering." But I am not thinking about that. I'm thinking about the fact that I told them I was sure so many times that they both believed me, and now I have my very first college elective to look forward to. My outlook feel light and bright, and I take a second to categorize the feeling like Dana taught me.
Hope. I smile and stride down the wide, cobblestone path cutting through the main quad toward the art building. This is going to be a good year if it kills me.
Emerson Hall, a glass-covered building that hosts most of the art classes, welcomes me through its wide-open double doors. If I'd lived a different life, most of my classes would've been here. But after months in the institution, I wasn't able to face the idea of grim professors judging my performances like the musclebound nurses judged my fingerpainting and macaroni necklaces for any sign I was a danger to myself or others. I haven't even entered the building since then. It's light and airy, like I remember from the tour Ryan and I took so many years ago. As always, his name hits me like a spear to the chest. I suck in a deep breath and plunge forward.
The photography class is on the far side of the building from the door in a room covered in windows. A handful of desks sit haphazardly around the room, and a middle-aged woman wearing a blazer with elbow patches looks up from one of them as I walk in.
"I'm Professor Washington," she says. "I love an early student. Really shows the dedication you need to get the shot in the real world. Take a seat, and we'll wait for the rest of the stragglers to wander in."
I nod and surreptitiously check my watch as I claim a desk near the back. Twenty minutes early. Dammit! I tried so hard to arrive a chill, normal five minutes ahead. I'll just do better tomorrow.
Minutes tick away. Professor Washington scribbles in a tiny notebook balanced on her desk. I pull out my laptop, then the simple camera suggested for the course. A few more students filter in. As always, they're all a few years younger than me. Between my reduced course load and the six months I lost to the institution, I'm entering my sixth year attending Ardent. At least I've got kind of a young face. I never lost the baby fat in my cheeks, and I like to keep my hair braided back away from my face in a way my roommate, Heather, says makes me look like an orphan on Ellis Island.
A guy sits in front of me, and my breath catches. His hair is the exact same golden blond as Ryan's in the summer. My rib cage squeezes, crushing all the air out of my lungs. My hands shake. I clutch the edges of my desk to try to still the tremors.
Dana's voice, easy and certain, pours over my thoughts. Breathe. Three reasons he's not Ryan.
I inhale. The guy in front of me is shorter than Ryan's 6'3" by a few inches.
I exhale. Ryan lived in goofy graphic T-shirts his mom picked up for him at the local thrift store, and this guy is wearing a kind of ridiculous blazer.
I inhale. The guy in front of me has thick, muscular arms. Despite his height and his few seasons on the basketball team, Ryan hated sports and barely had enough muscle to lift some of his older cameras.
And the most important one? The Dana in my mind taps her pencil against her clipboard.
Ryan is dead. The guy in front of me isn't Ryan because I watched Ryan die, and I remember every second like it was yesterday. I exhale shakily and relax my grip on the desk.
The guy in front of me twists in his seat to reveal a thick, blond mustache. "Can I borrow a pencil?"
I almost laugh as I hand over my spare. What a stupid close call. He looks nothing like Ryan. I fiddle with the settings on my new camera as the last of the desks fill up. The moment class actually starts, Professor Washington stands and begins handing out syllabi. There's no reason to stress today. I doubt I'll be doing anything trickier than reading paragraph five on page two aloud this week. I relax into the flow of class.
"In addition to the two photography expeditions I'm leading on the eighth and the twenty-seventh," the prof says as we approach the end of class, "we have three others, to be led by an actual, working photographer. You're very lucky." She smiles conspiratorially. "Please help me welcome Ben Andrews, the newest photojournalist at the Ardent Weekly!"
I clap politely with everybody else, but I'm too busy circling the expeditions Professor Washington will be leading. Her attendance policy is lax as long as people turn in the work, but I'm not going to lose my chance to actually go out in the field with her.
A light, teasing laugh bounces off the windows, and my stomach drops to my toes. He sounds exactly like Ryan. I inhale and look up, ready to start listing differences.
There are none. The man standing at the front of the class, waving his hands to try to get people to stop clapping, looks exactly like my high school best friend, plus the six years I've been without him. His hair is a little longer, curling around his ears instead of shaved tight to his skull. He's grown into his hands and his ears. He wears the sort of preppy, short-sleeved button-down with a tiny pattern we used to make fun of people for. But there's nothing else to separate him from the boy I knew.
"All right, I'm not exactly Ansel Adams." He smiles self-consciously. "I just moved here from a little town in Illinois, and-"
That's Ryan's smile, the one he used when people told him he was so tall he had to play basketball. My stomach lurches. My heartbeat drowns out the rest of his words.
Inhale for three. Hold for three. Exhale for three. Still Ryan. I pinch myself until my jagged nails break the skin. Still Ryan. I shut my eyes, rub them, and open them again. Still Ryan. My rib cage caves in on my lungs as I fight through every goddamn exercise Dana ever taught me, looking for anything that will make this hallucination go away.
It has to be a hallucination. Ryan is dead. He's dead! I saw his blood, still taste it sometimes. But if it's a hallucination... then I'm losing my mind again.
Professor Washington claps her hands, and I jump.
"All right, that's Ben. Why don't the rest of us go around and introduce ourselves? Name, and why you decided to take this class." She smiles. "I decided to teach photography because I think there's nothing more beautiful than giving others the gift of art."
Oh, god, they want me to talk. To talk without throwing up. My skin vibrates as if attempting to escape from my body.
"And you?" Professor Williams looks at me.
So does Ryan. Ben. Ryan. I swallow.
"Marcie Holt," I manage. "Needed an art elective."
Professor Williams purses her lips and turns to the next student. Ben doesn't. He lingers on me. There's something in his eyes I don't recognize. I tear at the skin around my thumbnail.
"That's it for today," Professor Williams finally says. "I look forward to-"
I lurch out of my seat, bolting for the door. It doesn't matter what she thinks of me. I'm changing electives.
An enchanted castle full of secrets, a rite of passage she cannot avoid, an arranged marriage she'll do anything to get out of. Bexley isn't like ordinary girls. She'd rather be studying animals than flirting with men. It's too bad her stepfather insists she pay attention to Garth, a meathead who only wants her to make babies and clean his house. On her twenty-first birthday, like all women in her village, she's ordered to the castle to meet with the Alpha King. For someone who didn't even know wolf shifters existed, it's all a shock, especially when she sees the twisted body of King Canaan. Canaan is used to keeping secrets, so it's not difficult for him to keep them from Bexley-like the fact that she's his mate, so she can never leave. But the king has enemies. Not only is the witch that cursed him still out there, when Garth shows up leading a band of villagers who want to kill him, he'll have to fight against his own people. Unless Bexley can find a way to stop them. It might help if she knew the truth about herself. When she discovers her true identity, nothing in the kingdom will ever be the same. If you enjoy fairy tale retelling with a wolf shifter twist, you'll love this new series by the author of The Alpha King's Breeder and The Vampire King's Feeder.
My chances of survival are slim. Going west in the 1880s? Dangerous. Fighting rogues and traveling through pack lands where we are unwelcome? A death sentence. But Akecheta awakens a part of me I've never known before. I'm brave. I'm strong. I'm an Alpha's daughter. I will fight for my people--even if it costs me everything. And chances are, it will. If you love steamy wolf shifter romance that will leave your heart racing, read this new adventure from the author of The Alpha King's Breeder.
I feel his eyes on me, staring through the darkness-darkness as black as his soul. As the fiancée of a rich state senator, I should be living the easy life, but that's not how it is for me. My mother's sick with cancer, my fiancé smells like women's perfume, and I'm not sure he even loves me. When I start to sense someone watching me, I should be terrified. Instead, I'm electrified. Kidnapped, held in a small room, but not tortured, I'm given a chance to study this man behind the mask. He's intriguing in ways he shouldn't be. He excites me in places I've never felt before. Should I give into the enticement and taste his sin? Or try to return to my regular life with a man I cannot trust who probably doesn't care about me at all? It's tempting-that's for damn sure. Tempted by Sin is a steamy dark stalker romance that might be triggering to some. You won't want to miss the shocking twist at the end!
Christmas magic is in the air at the Santa Clause Ball! Will it lead to love? Growing up in a town called Mistletoe Mountain, it's no wonder I love Christmas. My parents named me appropriately, too. You can't get much more Christmas-y than Holly Lane Garland! This Christmas is going to be even more magical than usual--I can just feel it! At the annual Santa Claus Ball, I meet an amazing man who makes my heart play "Jingle Bells." There's just one problem--well, maybe two. I have no idea what his name is--or what he looks like. (Did I mention the Santa Claus Ball is a masquerade?) Searching for my perfect man leads me to make a new friend. Patrick is amazing, and we have so much in common. He loves Christmas, too. But I think he has a girlfriend. And, well, he's just not the guy who kissed me under the mistletoe. Or is he? Will I find love before Santa arrives, or will I lose my chance at mistletoe magic? If you like sweet, clean Christmas romance novels that get you in the mood for the holidays, you won't want to miss this new romance from the author of Melody's Christmas, Christmas Cocoa, and All I Want for Christmas is Pooch!
Sometimes being outnumbered is a good thing--a very good thing! Harper When I signed up for an app that let me make some extra cash attending events with single men, I had no idea it would lead me to fall in love--four times! Scott is a caring organic farmer with muscles like no other. Damien is one of the richest men in the world who knows how to spoil me. Rafe is a famous quarterback who always hits me in the right spot. And then there's Tomas, my former professor turned Latin lover. It's scary dating four men, but they don't mind. In fact, they like how happy I am this way. Jack, however, my ex, is not exactly happy to find out my new situation. He'll stop at nothing to have me as his own--and share me with no one. When he goes too far, will my men be able to save me? If you love steamy reverse harem books, this new series from the author of Realm of the Chosen and Ember's Flames is perfect for you. Why choose if you don't have to?
All fae have a One--One person who strengthens their magic and enriches their life. A perfect mate. So why can't I find mine? What is a fae princess to do when she can't find the prince she's meant to spend the rest of her life with? I have to find him now, for the sake of my kingdom. Evil forces are moving in, and the only way I can come into my full power is to find my perfect mate. If I don't, the magical barrier that protects us will crumble because my magic won't be strong enough to hold it. But... I feel this strange pull to not one, but four different men! What in the world is going on? Can I be mated to all four of these men and still save my kingdom, or will what seems to be an asset turn out to be our undoing? The One is the first in a new reverse harem series by the author of Realm of the Chosen and Ember's Flames.
Lindsey's fiancé was the devil's first son. Not only did he lie to her but he also slept with her stepmother, conspired to take away her family fortune, and then set her up to have sex with a total stranger. To get her lick back, Lindsey decided to find a man to disrupt her engagement party and humiliate the cheating bastard. Never did she imagine that she would bump into a strikingly handsome stranger who was all that she was currently looking for. At the engagement party, he boldly declared that she was his woman. Lindsey thought he was just a broke man who wanted to leech off her. But once they began their fake relationship, she realized that good luck kept coming her way. She thought they would part ways after the engagement party, but this man kept to her side. "We gotta stick together, Lindsey. Remember, I'm now your fiancé. " "Domenic, you're with me because of my money, aren't you?" Lindsey asked, narrowing her eyes at him. Domenic was taken aback by that accusation. How could he, the heir of the Walsh family and CEO of Vitality Group, be with her for money? He controlled more than half of the city's economy. Money wasn't a problem for him! The two got closer and closer. One day, Lindsey finally realized that Domenic was actually the stranger she had slept with months ago. Would this realization change things between them? For the better or worse?
“You need a bride, I need a groom. Why don’t we get married?” Both abandoned at the altar, Elyse decided to tie the knot with the disabled stranger from the venue next door. Pitying his state, she vowed to spoil him once they were married. Little did she know that he was actually a powerful tycoon. Jayden thought Elyse only married him for his money, and planned to divorce her when she was no longer of use to him. But after becoming her husband, he was faced with a new dilemma. “She keeps asking for a divorce, but I don’t want that! What should I do?”
Linsey was stood up by her groom to run off with another woman. Furious, she grabbed a random stranger and declared, "Let's get married!" She had acted on impulse, realizing too late that her new husband was the notorious rascal, Collin. The public laughed at her, and even her runaway ex offered to reconcile. But Linsey scoffed at him. "My husband and I are very much in love!" Everyone thought she was delusional. Then Collin was revealed to be the richest man in the world. In front of everyone, he got down on one knee and held up a stunning diamond ring. "I look forward to our forever, honey."
Two years ago, Ricky found himself coerced into marrying Emma to protect the woman he cherished. From Ricky's perspective, Emma was despicable, resorting to underhanded schemes to ensure their marriage. He maintained a distant and cold attitude toward her, reserving his warmth for another. Yet, Emma remained wholeheartedly dedicated to Ricky for more than ten years. As she grew weary and considered relinquishing her efforts, Ricky was seized by a sudden fear. Only when Emma's life teetered on the edge, pregnant with Ricky's child, did he recognize-the love of his life had always been Emma.
She was a world-renowned divine doctor, the CEO of a publicly traded company, the most formidable female mercenary, and a top-tier tech genius. Marissa, a titan with a plethora of secret identities, had hidden her true stature to marry a seemingly impoverished young man. However, on the eve of their wedding, her fiance, who was actually the lost heir to a wealthy dynasty, called off the engagement and subjected her to degradation and mockery. Upon the revelation of her concealed identities, her ex-fiance was left stunned and desperately pleaded for her forgiveness. Standing protectively before Marissa, an incredibly influential and fearsome magnate declared, "This is my wife. Who would dare try to claim her?"
To the public, she was the CEO's executive secretary. Behind closed doors, she was the wife he never officially acknowledged. Jenessa was elated when she learned that she was pregnant. But that joy was replaced with dread as her husband, Ryan, showered his affections on his first love. With a heavy heart, she chose to set him free and leave. When they met again, Ryan's attention was caught by Jenessa's protruding belly. "Whose child are you carrying?!" he demanded. But she only scoffed. "It's none of your business, my dear ex-husband!"