Stories by @emmatorretti

Hideaway

Hideaway by Penelope Douglas is the second book in the dark romance Devil's Night series, following Corrupt, and focuses on the relationship between Kai Mori and Banks. The plot centers on a mysterious abandoned hotel called "The Pope," where Kai seeks answers about a hidden twelfth floor, while Banks, who has a secret connection to the hotel, engages in a dangerous game with him, leading to a tense, enemies-to-lovers romance. The book explores themes of revenge, trauma, and power dynamics, and is recommended for mature readers due to its dark and controversial conten

Corrupt

Corrupt is a dark romance and suspense novel that follows Erika “Rika” Fane, a wealthy college student who has been obsessed for years with Michael Crist, her ex-boyfriend’s older brother. Michael and his three friends—known as the Four Horsemen—once ruled their town through dangerous Devil’s Night pranks, but after a mysterious incident sent three of them to prison, they blame Rika for ruining their lives. When the men return years later, they begin a twisted revenge game filled with manipulation, fear, secrets, and intense attraction. As Rika is pulled deeper into their dangerous world, hidden truths about what really happened on Devil’s Night begin to surface, blurring the lines between hatred, obsession, and love.

Evermore

Evermore follows Jules Ember, newly aware she is the fabled Alchemist, as she evades a kingdom that blames her for murder and hunts her for a bounty. To stop Caro—the Sorceress tied to her across lifetimes—Jules must navigate peril, unearth buried memories, and grasp the truth of her many pasts.

Everless

Everless is a novel by Sara Holland set in the kingdom of Sempera, where time is a currency extracted from blood and consumed to extend one's lifespan. The story follows Jules Ember, who returns to Everless to save her dying father, only to find herself entangled in a web of dangerous secrets and forbidden magic. As she navigates her past and the complexities of her relationships with the Gerling family, Jules must confront her own identity and the consequences of her choices, which could alter the fate of time itself.

Chaotic

Chaotic follows a woman known as “His Angel,” who was born into the secretive and ruthless world of the Lords, where women exist only at the whim of powerful men. After years of trauma and feeling worthless, she briefly experiences freedom, only to be confronted again by Kashton Spade, the Spade brother who once claimed her as his own. Kashton re-enters her life, intent on controlling her world as he did before. Despite her resistance, she begins to feel cared for, cherished, and loved for the first time, creating a complex dynamic of desire, power, and vulnerability. The story explores themes of trauma, self-worth, control, and the tension between love and domination in the dark, dangerous world of the Lords.

Madness

Madness by Shantel Tessier is a dark romance novel, the sixth book in "The Lords" series, featuring a protagonist sent to a prison run by a Spade brother, Haidyn Reeves, where she must navigate a dangerous assignment as a therapist with a new identity, Charlotte Hewett, and choose between failing her mission or becoming his "toy". The story explores themes of revenge, power, and survival within the dark world of the Lords, focusing on the complex relationship between Charlotte and Haidyn

Carnage

Carnage by Shantel Tessier is a dark, standalone romance set within the "Lords" universe, focusing on a brutal, shadowy society. It follows Saint Spade, who enforces rules at "Carnage"—a prison for disgraced Lords—and his intense, toxic relationship with Ashtyn, who returns to his world, leading to a story filled with obsession, violence, and forced servitude.

Sabotage

Sabotage is a dark, intense enemies-to-lovers stepbrother romance set around a college environment and secretive, power-driven characters. The story follows Raylee Lexington Adams and her stepbrother Colton Remington Knox, who have been locked in a toxic, adversarial dynamic for years — full of hatred, tension, and psychological games. Colton has ruined Raylee’s past relationships and publicly humiliated her, and Raylee responds with defiance and retaliation, including setting his expensive car on fire. As their feud escalates, their fierce attraction and power struggle pull them deeper into a dangerous relationship where domination, obsession, and control collide. The narrative involves jealousy, possessiveness, manipulation, and elements of a secret society tied to Colton, forcing both characters to confront their past and their intense connection as they navigate a chaotic blend of hate, desire, and redemption.

The Sacrifice

The Sacrifice by Shantel Tessier, part of her dark romance L.O.R.D.S. series, follows Tyson Crawford, a member of a secret, elite society at Barrington University, as he seeks revenge against the Minson family by forcing their daughter, Laikyn Minson, to marry him instead of her intended groom, Luke Minson. Handed over on her wedding day, Laikyn becomes Tyson's pawn to humiliate her family, forcing her to work in his club, but their forced proximity ignites a passionate, complex relationship filled with power dynamics, betrayal, and unexpected love, testing limits and demanding sacrifices as they navigate this dark, intense world

The Sinner

The Sinner: A Dark College Romance by Shantel Tessier is a dark, intense standalone romance set within a college/secret-society world where desire and danger blur together. The story follows Ellington “Elli” Asher, a young woman whose life is upended by tragedy and who becomes entangled with Easton Bradley “Sin” Sinnett, a powerful, enigmatic senior with a notorious reputation. As Elli is drawn deeper into Sin’s shadowed world, their relationship becomes a tumultuous mix of obsession, power, and raw passion that tests the limits of love, consent, and self-identity against the backdrop of hidden agendas and emotional scars.

The Ritual

The Ritual by Shantel Tessier is a dark college-romance novel set at Barrington University where a clandestine and brutal secret society called the Lords wields power through violence, rituals, and strict loyalty. The story follows Blakely Anderson, a seemingly ordinary student who becomes entangled with Ryat Alexander Archer, a dominant and mysterious Lord, when he chooses her as his “chosen one,” thrusting her into a world of control, obsession, and danger. As their intense and often toxic relationship develops against a backdrop of manipulation, power plays, and moral ambiguity, Blakely must navigate the seductive yet perilous dynamics of desire, autonomy, and survival within the society’s shadowy rituals and hierarchies.

A Court Of Thorns And Roses

When 19-year-old huntress Feyre kills a wolf in the woods, a beast-like creature arrives to demand retribution. dragged to a treacherous medical land she knows about only from legends, Feyre discovers that her captor is not an animal, but Tamlin — one of the lethal, immortal faeries who once ruled their world. As Feyre dwells on his his estate, her feelings for Tamlin transform from icy hostility into a fiery passion that burns through every lie and warning she’s been told about the beautiful, dangerous work of the Fae. But an ancient, wicked shadow over the faerie lands is growing, and Feyre must find a way to stop it . . . It doom Tamlin — and his world— forever.

Dreamland

Colby Mills once felt destined for a musical career, until tragedy grounded his aspirations. Now the head of a small family farm in North Carolina, he spontaneously takes a gig playing at a bar in Saint Pete's Beach, Florida, seeking a rare break from his duties at home. But when he meets Morgan Lee, his world is turned upside down, making him wonder if the responsibilities he has shouldered need dictate his life forever. The daughter of affluent Chicago doctors, Morgan has graduated from a prestigious college music program with the ambition to move to Nashville and become a star. Romantically and musically, she and Colby complete each other in a way that neither has ever known. While they are falling headlong in love, Beverly is on a heart pounding journey of another kind. Fleeing an abusive husband with her six year old son, she is trying to piece together a life for them in a small town far off the beaten track. With money running out and danger seemingly around every corner, she makes a desperate decision that will rewrite everything she knows to be true. In the course of a single unforgettable week two young people will navigate the accelerating heights and heartbreak of first love. Hundreds of miles away, Beverly will put her love for her young son to the test. In fate will draw all three people together in a web of life altering connections, forcing each to wonder whether the dream of a better life can ever survive the weight of the past.

Witch of Blackbird Pond

A 16-year-old girl named Kit Tyler is moving to New England from Barbados, where she has lived all her life, in the book The Witch of Blackbird Pond, which is set in 1687. Her recently deceased grandfather was the only member of her family that she was aware of. She will therefore be moving in with her Aunt Rachel and Rachel's family. When Kit first arrives in Wethersfield, New England, Hannah Tupper, an old woman, becomes her new friend. However, others suspect Kit is involved with witchcraft because Kit is friends with Hannah, who is accused of doing witchcraft.

The Wish

in 1996, everything changed for maggie Dawes. sent away at 16 to live with an aunt she barely knew in Octacoke, A remote village on North Carolina’s Outer Banks, she could think only of the friends and family she left behind. Until she met Bryce Trickett, One of the few teenagers on the island. Handsome, genuine, and newly admitted to West Point, Bryce showed her how much there was to love about the wind swept beach town, and introduced her to photography, a passion that would define the rest of her life. Much like Bryce. Buy 2019, maggie is a renowned travel photographer. She splits her time between running a successful gallery in New York in photographing Remote and iconic locations around the world. But this year she is unexpectedly grounded over Christmas, struggling to come to terms with a newly sobering medical diagnosis. Increasingly dependent on an assistant to help manage the business, she finds herself becoming close with the young man as account down the last days of the season together, she begins to tell him the story of another Christmas, decades earlier and the love that set her on a course she never could have imagined.

Breathless

Breathless is a story about friendship through adversity, boarding school, and the dangers of trying to cover up your past.

Along For the Ride

The novel focuses on Auden West, who never sleeps at night due to her parents' continuous fighting when she was in high school. Before heading off to college, Auden decides to spend her summer before college with her father and his new wife and baby.

All The Bright Places

Theodore Finch is fascinated by death. Every day he thinks of ways he might die, but every day he also searches for and manages to find something to keep him here, and alive, and awake.

Lucky

In a memoir hailed for its searing candor and wit, Alice Sebold reveals how her life was utterly transformed when, as an eighteen-year-old college freshman, she was brutally raped and beaten in a park near campus. What propels this chronicle of her recovery is Sebold’s indomitable spirit as she struggles for understanding (“After telling the hard facts to anyone, from lover to friend, I have changed in their eyes”); as her dazed family and friends sometimes bungle their efforts to provide comfort and support; and as, ultimately, she triumphs, managing through grit and coincidence to help secure her attackers arrest and conviction. In a narrative by turns disturbing, thrilling, and inspiring, Alice Sebold illuminates the experience of trauma victims even as she imparts wisdom profoundly hard-won: “You save yourself or you remain unsaved.”

Sadie

“When popular radio personality West McCray receives a desperate phone call from a stranger imploring him to find nineteen-year-old runaway Sadie Hunter, he’s not convinced there’s a story there; girls go missing all the time. But as soon as West’s boss discovers Sadie fled home after the brutal murder of her little sister, Mattie, he sees the makings of something big and orders West to the small town of Cold Creek, Colorado, to uncover what happened. Sadie had no idea that her story will soon become the subject of a blockbuster podcast. She just wants revenge. Armed with a switchblade, Sadie follows a meager set of clues hoping they’ll lead to the man who took Mattie’s life, because she’s determined to make him pay for it with his own. But as West traces her journey to the darkest, most dangerous corners of big cities and small towns, a deeply unsettling mystery begins to unfold-one that’s bigger than them both. Can he find Sadie before it’s too late?”