why are you so obsessed with rejecting affection

The things we want are so very rarely the things we need. Clifton Heights, a modest Adirondack town, offers many unique attractions. Arcane Delights sells both paperbacks and hard-to-find limited editions. The Skylark Diner serves the best home-cooked meals around, with friendly service and a smile. Every August, Mr. Jingo’s County Fair visits, to the delight of children and adults. In essence, Clifton Heights is the quintessential small American town. Everyone knows everyone else, and everyone is treated like family. It is quiet, simple, and peaceful. But shadows linger here. Flitting in dark corners, from the corner of the eye. If you walk down Main Street after dark, the slight scrape of shoes on asphalt whispers you're not alone, but when you look over your shoulder, no one is there. The moon shines high and bright in the night sky, but instead of throwing light, it only seems to make the shadows lengthen. Children disappear. Teens run away. Hunters get lost in the woods with frightening regularity. Husbands go mad, and wives vanish in the dead of night. And still, when the sun rises in the morning, you are greeted by townspeople with warm waves and friendly smiles, and the shivers pass as everything seems fresh and new... Until night falls once more. Handy's Pawn and Thrift sits several blocks down from Arcane Delights. Like any thrift store, its wares range from the mundane to the bizarre. By daylight, it seems just another slice of small town Americana. But in its window hangs a sign which reads: We Have Things You Need. And when a lonely traveling salesman comes looking for something he desperately wants, after normal visiting hours, after night has fallen, he will face a harsh truth among the shelves of Handy’s Pawn and Thrift: the things we want are rarely the things we need. ©️ Crystal Lake Publishing

Ciara Lewis suffered an indescribable pain in her heart when her parents broke her soul into a million pieces. They promised to go with her every step of the way but ended up imposing the worst pain she could ever imagine. Her father abandoned them to be with his mistress, the reason her mother suffered depression and took her own life. At the thought that she couldn’t move forward, she found a light with the help of Zachary Denver Ford. An intelligent guy and blessed with so many opportunities. Ciara and Denver fell in love and were undoubtedly happy in their relationship. Ciara thought the heavens had sent Denver to cover up the pain she endured in her heart, but she was wrong.  Denver got bumped between her and a massive opportunity that could offer them the best future. When he chased his dreams, Ciara felt rejected and her life went upside down. Denver promised to win her back, but EVERYTHING HAS CHANGED to the extent that he wished he had never left.

An unsual story of a doctor and a mafia boss who meet each other by accident one night. Was it an accident or was it their fate that brought them together? What are the odds of them falling in love? But love happens when you least expect it. A story of love,loss and hope. Hope that maybe one day two people with completely different worlds would fall in love and fill the void in each others life.

Alva has been arranged to get married to Lucas, the young heir to the Rossi Empire. On the day that has been arranged for her engagement, Lucas changes his mind, choosing to marry her timid, less attractive servant and throwing the family into chaos. Lucas Rossi is the, strikingly handsome, yet intimidating heir to the Rossi Empire. A man barely seen, completely avoidant of the paparazzi and with rumours spreading here and there about how he is only half human, yet no one can tell what the other half of him is. When he agrees to marry the politician's daughter in paper alone for the sake of business bonds, he is astounded by his sudden pull to the Hazel, whose life is turned upside down when she catches his attention instead. Why has he left the ethereal looking heiress to settle for a mere maid?

Ericka, an orphan, maltreated from a young age, finally gets adopted by a prestige family but soon after, her perfect life turns disasterous after the sudden death of her foster dad. Her foster mother blames everything on her and soon after gets her married into one of the most successful family in the country. But what happens when Ericka finds out that the man she's about to marry is none other than her childhood best friend, who she had abandoned years ago?. Xander, her childhood bestfriend maltreats her because of this during their marriage.

I love you so much till my eyes and heart don't want to open up to my circumstances. The state where you are the only one and I am one of you. I don’t care even if your common sense tells me to leave you. I still endure, with my character that has less trust in you. Whether my suspicion in excessive or you who really don’t put me first, you choose to leave, keep your heart away from me, throw away your feelings that you used to convey to me, then you act like we were never there before.

A liar gas has invaded the world permanently. Nobody can lie, else an instant . Ariyah has commited herself to remaining silent for the rest of her life. Her family thinks it is just because she is afraid of , but how can she hide the fact that she is bisexual now that she can't lie? Will she come out to everyone and move on with life or will she let the liar gas rule her world and make her a mute, till she actually dies?You can't lie!

UNDER HEAVY EDITING. ***** He chuckled at her desperate attempt to make the lie believable. "Pretty little liar, your face betrays a lot, sadly" he placed his hand on her cheeks, his face dark "you can't run from me, Maya; no matter how hard you try to, I'll always find you. Even in the deepest part of hell, And when I find you, you get punished according to how long you were away from me, understand?" His tone was so soft and gentle it could have fooled anybody but not her. She could see through him, and She trembled under his touch. "Y-yes, maestro" **** Though her sister commits the crime, Maya Alfredo is turned in by her parents to be punished by the Ruthless Don Damon Xavier for selling information about the Costa Nostra to the police. Her world is overturned and shattered; she is taken to the Don's Manor, where she is owned by him and treated like his plaything, meanwhile knowing his intentions to destroy her. But then things get dark in the Don's Manor, with the presence of Derinem Xavier. Maya doesn't stand a chance in Damon's furnace. Will he destroy her and everything she loves for the sins he thinks she committed? Or does luck have other plans for her? Note— This is a dark romance. Not all lovey-dovey. ML is a psychopath. Trigger warnings!!! **** TO READ THE EDITED VERSION, PLEASE LOG OUT AND LOG IN AGAIN.

"Before you go, was there something I could have said to make it all feel better?"- Lewis Calpadi Economic hierarchy strips a twenty three year old accountant, Maria Crawford, of a five year relationship with trillionaire Mama's boy, Dominic Payne. Things get a tad bit dramatic when a body is found in Dominic's trunk and love scores again as Maria does everything she can to prove that her ex is innocent. The Good news; she has a best friend who's a good lawyer and actually the best in the state named Zack Osborn, who lucky for them is in town. The Bad; our lawyer friend once had a bruised cheek courtesy of Mama's boy. With pleas from Maria, Zack agrees to be Dominic's lawyer even as he still hates his guts. What could a simple accountant know about murder cases? Would she be throwing herself out too for the murderer to find, or will she leave all these unscathed? ©️ Hillary 2022 ®️All rights reserved

Emily’s life was on track: a dream wedding just months away, a fiancé she thought she knew inside out. Until the day she walked into Ryan’s office and found him with his jeans around his ankles and his assistant bent over the desk. The betrayal shattered her. She threw the ring. Her heart broke. Her future was derailed. Enter Sophia, Emily’s fiercely loyal best friend, armed with tequila and a no-nonsense plan to drown out Ryan’s audacity in a gritty biker bar. That’s where Emily meets Lucas, older, confident, and exactly the distraction she needs. What starts as a one-night stand turns into something deeper than Emily ever anticipated. Lucas is everything Ryan wasn’t... thoughtful, passionate, and oh, the amazing, kinky sex doesn’t hurt either. But Lucas comes with a past of his own. A lost son he hasn’t seen in years. A son whose identity shatters Emily’s new world all over again, because Lucas’ son turns out to be Ryan. The man who broke her heart. Now Emily faces the ultimate test: Can she love the man who healed her, knowing his blood ties her back to the one who hurt her? Or will this twisted fate tear her second chance at happiness apart? For Emily, the million-pound question is whether love can truly overcome the past.