It starts with a crack. Or maybe it starts with a question. Or maybe, just maybe, it starts earlier than that, when a particular bubble of a universe arose from the heaving sea of the multiverse and began to grow. Eventually, stars formed, then exploded, giving birth to more stars. Planets grew alongside their stars, and a few special ones happened to contain the right conditions for life to form. Maybe that's too far back, though. Maybe, you argue, the crack and the question are really what's important. So let's get back to the question... "Mirror, mirror, on the wall, who's the fairest of them all?" Winner of the Otherworldly category of @BreakTheCliches revolutionary contest

Cass has no memories of her parents, only impossible dreams of waves and orcas and, sometimes, her mother's voice. When she and her adopted aunt return to the Pacific Northwest island--where her parents died twelve years before--Cass hopes the place will trigger long-buried memories. Instead, she discovers that the impossible is real, and that history is about to repeat itself. Unless she can stop it. ***Teaser*** The water hit with such a shock of cold that Cass thought she was going to pedal up and out of it again like some cartoon character. Instead, she flailed and splashed and smashed one arm against a piling as salt water poured into her raincoat & filled her shoes. "How do you like it?" Jason yelled. She spun until she could make out his form, black against gray sky. "What?" she sputtered. She dragged one arm from the water long enough to shove wet hair from her face. Jason became clearer: black hair dark above his yellow raincoat, arms crossed over his chest. "What the hell are you talking about?" "I asked how you like it, going for a swim in this water." She was open-mouthed with disbelief. It was a bad idea; a surge lifted her and slapped salt water into her mouth. Bile burned her throat as she coughed and all the while she was still flailing at the water, fighting the drag of shoes and clothes to keep afloat. She should kick them off-that's what you were supposed to do if you fell into the ocean with your clothes on-but she was only a dozen feet from the dock. Besides, it was her only coat. Jason watched her the way she'd watch a barracuda. "I know you're following me." "Following you?" What. The. Hell. She gave a mighty kick and tossed her coat onto the dock. Jason just stood there. "I nearly drowned last week, you know that? Now you show up as if nothing happened." "Last week," Cass said slowly, "I was in Argentina." Whatever he'd seen, it wasn't her.

After a storm years ago took the lives of two families near Anah's family beach house, her fear of the ocean has only grown stronger. When her new neighbor, Jack, introduces her to a world she never knew existed filled with the magic and adventure Anah craves, she's forced to confront her fears. There, they meet people who threaten to either help or hurt them, and they uncover a mystery that had tied their lives together years ago. As Anah and Jack search for answers, they're met with an enemy who has dark plans in store for them, and what started as the adventure of their dreams, rapidly turns into a nightmare.

In a world where the color of one's blood determines their strength, Nell Fiala was born exceptionally weak. As a colorless girl, she always thought she'd die young. But her sister has a plan; to save Nell and herself from an early grave and a life of fear, she is willing to consume the hearts of those stronger than them. As a part of her sister's plot, Nell sets off with three powerful warriors: a woman with an invisible protector, a tall man ridden with guilt, and an ex-priest in a dark robe with an even darker past. To unite with her sister in a promised utopia, Nell has to be brave, cunning, and cruel. Although Nell is determined to follow the plan, her newfound freedom and companions may change everything. In the country she finds filled with demons, death, and a secretive religion, Nell must make a choice between her sister, her freedom, and her life.

My second book, THE GLOW OF FALLEN STARS, is available to buy in bookshops and online from 24th August! https://www.amazon.co.uk/Glow-Fallen-Stars-Book-Ventura/dp/1510200185 This is a sneak peek of the first few chapters exclusively for Wattpad readers - I hope you enjoy... (*SPOILER ALERT* Please don't read this ahead of book one, THE LONELINESS OF DISTANT BEINGS. You can read TLODB in full now, find it on my profile.) There will be a comment-to-win competition to win copies of THE GLOW OF FALLEN STARS to celebrate publication - keep an eye out for it on 24th August! *** Seren and Dom have fled their old lives on board spaceship Ventura in order to be together. They crash-land on a beautiful, uninhabited planet, which at first seems like paradise. There is no one to answer to ... but no one to ask for help. And with each new day comes the realisation of how vulnerable they truly are. This planet has secrets - lots of them. Uncovering them could be the key to survival, but at what cost?

Unique and immersive reviews of full Wattpad books! Do you think you could have written a really excellent Wattpad book, with the potential to stand out from the crowd? Are you looking for someone to review your book? Not just your first chapters, but all of them? Are you looking for more than just a single critic's subjective view? You've arrived at the right place! At Wattpeer Reviews, we will provide an original, entertaining, rigorous and constructive review of your whole book. Add this book to your library to be notified when the next submissions round opens. Details can be found inside! 📝Cover by @permafrost 📝

The tale of Persephone is well known throughout Greek Mythology, however, the real tale hidden beneath the myth of a Goddess stolen away from her mother is that of Alena Cali - the Cursed Siren. Forever cursed to lure sailors to their deaths with their beautiful voices, Alena is banished to live out her days on Cape Pelorum in servitude to the gods for the unpayable debt she earned in losing Demeter's daughter. Now powerless to the curse that causes her to drag innocent men to their watery graves, Alena sees no escape from her doomed existence. However, when the opportunity to save Persephone arises, she only has one option left: gain the help of a lone sailor to right her wrongs, or lose her friend to the clutches of the Underworld once and for all. ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ **Cover made by @ShadowedRain** **Featured by the official Retold Wattpad page, on their "Rethology" reading list" **Winner of the "Ultimate Undiscovered" in the FCRA's 2016 ** **Highest Ranking #250 in Fantasy**

"The Risk Book" CLOSED All feedback contained here is pure opinion; some of these opinions have changed over time as the reviewer has since received professional training, but this book remains posted for the authors to look back on. Use discretion when receiving any kind of critical feedback, especially when the critic was not qualified (as they are now). *brilliant cover by @FayLane*

When Alec Nikolai arrived in her city, Queen Viktrina saw something volatile in him and snapped a collar around his neck. Five years later, he is the crime lord in a city full of sin. His freedom was taken from him all those years ago, and now he has the means to earn it back. When he is offered a job to recapture the only monster to ever break free from an impenetrable prison, the answer seems obvious, that is until he gathers the other four that will help him pull off this impossible heist. In a world where heroes are few and far between, a group of outcasts will sacrifice anything to win back their freedom.

There is nothing worse for a pirate than dying on dry land. Except, maybe, swinging two feet above it. When their captain is imprisoned, facing the gallows, the men and women of the Lady Lesya's crew will try everything to break him out--even if it means fighting guards in ridiculous uniforms, bargaining with overweight monsters, and risking the life of the more or less innocent. Add vengeful local thugs, a mysterious killer with a grudge, and some unexpected ghosts to this already perilous task, and the streets of Puerto Seguro turn into a bloodbath. To get out of the town alive, the brethren of the coast will have to act not just as a crew, but as a family. ___________________ As it's a pirate story not created by Disney, expect strong language, violence, gore, and allusion to sex. But also humor, strong characters, and a touch of love. The story, three years and a half in the making, is now complete (and under revision). ____________________ Magnificent cover by @Tweeter109 Awesome headers by @FayLane