trauma

7 books found

Power of Shadow
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Power of Shadow

by Violet Hale

Power. Control. Blood. Obsession. Ryker is the heir to the Pact — a ruthless mafia organization built on power, loyalty, and violence. A man raised to rule, trained to destroy, and sworn to a code that demands sacrifice above all else. Ashley was never meant to cross his path. She is Shadow — a legendary assassin feared in the criminal underworld. Silent. Deadly. Untraceable. She doesn’t miss. She doesn’t hesitate. And she never lets emotions interfere with the job. Until him. Their meeting was supposed to end in blood. Instead, it ignites a dangerous obsession and dark desires neither of them can escape. He should kill her. She should betray him. And yet every choice they make pulls them deeper into a world of lies, power struggles, and forbidden desire. As secrets unravel and loyalties are tested, one truth becomes clear: love is the most dangerous weakness of all. Because in the world of the Pact, it's not the one who loves the most who wins — it's the one who pulls the trigger first. Power of Shadow is a dark mafia romance featuring morally gray characters, enemies-to-lovers tension, obsession, violence, and a ruthless antihero. This book is the first in a series and ends on emotional resolution, while the danger is far from over. [Read More]

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Freedom to Me - An M/M Romance
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Freedom to Me - An M/M Romance

by Sidney Quinn

London native Felix Brixton, rich and sheltered, leaves his old life behind on a whim to pursue his dream of running a tall ship tour boat. A mid-life crisis brings him to the small Southern California town of Carino Bay, where he buys a ship, the Freedom. What Felix doesn’t know is he’s also buying a dark secret and complicated history. Jay Valdez, tattooed and leather-clad, lays eyes on the sweet, buttoned-up new guy in town and is intrigued. He can’t resist the temptation. But Jay has personal demons which may cost him everything he holds dear. Carino Bay, a queer haven full of misfits like him, offers Felix a new start in more ways than one. But he uncovers deep-seated crime and corruption closely tied to the man of his dreams. No matter how intensely their attraction pulls Jay and Felix to each other, the town’s history and their complicated lives threaten to keep them apart. COMING TO NINESTAR PRESS, JUNE 16, 2026 [Read More]

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Blue Sky Black
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Blue Sky Black

by Lea Vale

Zelda never stopped loving Ari. She just got better at pretending she was over him. Then she ran into him again on the last normal morning in America. By the end of the day, he was missing. Now Zelda is searching the wreckage of September 11th for two people: her best friend, Charlie, and the man she thought she'd lost long before the towers fell. *** As teenagers, Zelda and her best friend Charlie had been trying to escape Philadelphia for as long as they could remember. Ari was never part of that plan—until he walked into the pawn shop where Zelda worked and refused to leave her alone. They fell in love too young. They fell apart too fast. Six years later, September 11th puts them face to face on a Manhattan street, hours before the world changes forever. When the towers fall, Zelda survives and realizes Charlie and Ari were both inside and are missing. She has to find them both. Blue Sky Black moves between Zelda's desperate search through the aftermath of September 11th and the years that made her: a lonely, furious girl learning the value of things in a back-room pawn shop, falling in love for the first time, and losing everything she wasn't ready to hold. Perfect for readers who love: - Emotionally devastating love stories - Second chance romance - Slow burn with heat - Dual timeline - Found family - Female ambition Steam: Open door emotionally driven intimacy with explicit detail. Content Warning: Depictions of September 11, 2001, Grief, Loss [Read More]

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Seasons of War
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Seasons of War

by Lindsay French

Dark Dystopian Romance Sergeant Zayne Riven was born to take his father's place as the emperor's right hand man, but he has plans of his own. Trapped inside the corrupt regime he wishes to dismantle, Zayne plays loyal war hero while secretly fighting both sides of the war. He is determined to rise to the top and destroy the emperor, even if it means destroying his soul along the way. That is until one political prisoner shatters all of his plans. The emperor has captured the rebel woman Zayne once secretly saved. The woman he could never stop thinking about. And now Zayne has been ordered to break her spirit and use her to crush the uprising. Kira Stiles is a true revolutionary. She papers alleyways with forbidden news and hijacks the emperor's magi-tech to write messages of rebellion across the sky. And she would die a thousand deaths before helping the emperor destroy the rebels. Captivity will not break her, not even at the hands of the grumpy and brooding Sergeant Riven. But as her imprisonment stretches on, Kira begins to suspect that the infamous war hero Zayne Riven may not the heartless loyalist he seems. He may secretly be as dangerous to the emperor as she is. Zayne faces an impossible choice. Her life or the fate of the entire rebellion. [Read More]

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Duskshade
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Duskshade

by Madison Patershuk and Ebony Dobson

Ophelia’s life is anchored by the measurable laws of the universe. As a dedicated heliophysicist, she trusts what she can prove and she trusts Nick, the man she believes is her soulmate. But when an impossible fracture in reality violently tears Ophelia, Nick, and her loved ones out of the human world and plunges them into the untamed Fae realm of Fenraeis, all earthly logic shatters. Stranded in a world that shouldn't exist, Ophelia quickly realizes they aren't just lost. They are being hunted. The Crownless, a terrifying and relentless entity, doesn't want her dead; he wants her caged. He intends to enslave Phee to siphon the elusive, ancient power awakening in her blood. It is a dormant, near-endless well of magic that hasn't been seen in an age, and this scientist has no idea how to control it. Desperate to keep the people she loves alive, Ophelia must become the warrior she was never meant to be. To survive, she is forced into an uneasy alliance with Kane—the ruthless, infuriating High King who might be just as dangerous as the monsters hunting them. As her impossible abilities rise to the surface, Ophelia realizes her arrival in Fenraeis wasn't an accident. She doesn't believe in destiny, but to keep her power out of the hands of a monster and to save those she loves, she must forge her own. [Read More]

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Keeping a Nymph's Heart
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Keeping a Nymph's Heart

by R.S. Rochelle

Nymph. Hero. Murderer. Orla didn’t want to be anyone’s hero; she wanted to be left alone. For seven years, Orla created a life away from the elven army, where she could avoid her past sins. Prestige, fighting, friendships. She left it all behind when disaster struck because she couldn’t control her magic. But when her king sends for her, she’s forced to go back to the palace; terrified that returning to her old life will bring her face-to-face with the ghosts of her failures. King Mikki doesn’t care about Orla’s fears; he only cares about calling in the bargain they struck. Now a lord from a rival kingdom has arrived, shaking the foundation of what she thought she knew about herself. Orla has to choose if loving him is worth facing the horrors of her past or if she should run from them. Again. Bastard. Lord. Traitor. Owain has only ever wanted one thing: the respect of his people. But elves don’t respect bastards, even if they’re the son of a king. Now Owain has the chance to prove that he’s more than just an illegitimate son. If he fails, he will face the wrath of his formidable father. His plan was working; until Orla, the nymph who single handedly brought ruin to his battalion and killed the heir to his kingdom. She was everything he had ever wanted and the one person he could never have, lest he betray his kingdom in the process. When his plans to seize power are finally realized, Owain has to decide what’s more important to him; taking his rightful place within his kingdom or the forbidden love of his kingdom’s biggest foe? [Read More]

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The Witch's Broken Crown
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The Witch's Broken Crown

by Calla Robin

An enemies-to-lovers romantasy with a slow-burn romance and court intrigue. Perfect for fans of star-crossed lovers and aching yearning. She should fear him. He should hate her. But a masquerade ball was all it took to bind them together forever. Her whole life, Elise Thornwall has wished for nothing more than to rid herself of the curse that has controlled her family for over five centuries and to claim her throne on her own terms. But hidden behind a white mask, she found the one man her heart could not refuse. Andrew Aistle is her enemy. And, apparently, her fate. With war threatening their kingdoms and treachery lurking in every shadow, Elise and Andrew must do the impossible. Trust each other. Trusting your enemy is a dangerous game. And falling in love, even worse. Five hundred years of bitterness cannot be undone by love… can it? [Read More]

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