Is The Lock Artist Worth Reading?

“Name your price,” he said, that arrogant smirk still intact. “Do you want your job back?” I didn’t hesitate. “Make me a director. Only then will I pretend to be your loving girlfriend.” I thought he’d laugh. I didn’t expect him to say yes. “Deal,” he replied, his gaze locking on mine. “Just remember, Amaris Kennerly once you sign that contract, you belong to me.” ***** I’ve always wondered if I was cursed from birth because the kind of bad luck that haunts me feels almost supernatural. People call me a computer genius, but my real talent is something no one sees. They say I’m beautiful, yet I bury that behind oversized clothes and a mountain of insecurities. After dumping my cheating boyfriend, the only steady thing left in my life was my soul-sucking job until I lost that too. And the man responsible? Theron Lockhart.——My high school bully didn’t just return, he returned as the new CEO of my company. And his first executive move? Firing me and my entire department, like history repeating itself in the cruelest way. He didn’t recognize me, which should’ve felt like relief. But fate clearly wasn’t done toying with me. One moment, he was rescuing me from a run-in with my ex. The next, a rumor had spread: I was his girlfriend. And then the tables turned because Theron needed to avoid a scandal, and I was his best option.

“Say it…Tell me to go and I promise you’ll never see me again”. She said to me but I didn’t want that to happen, not now not ever. “Is that what you want?” I spoke softly hoping she would take back her words and she only said it as a moment of weakness. “No…I want you” I found myself utterly speechless when she made this revelation. God, I wanted her too but I could only confess my feelings in my heart. Everywhere went silent. Marcella Solis and Lucille Parker, two young women with a hidden sexuality trapped by the stifling expectations of their elite, high pressure families. Marcella, the "miracle child" and brilliant heir to a mafia empire, maintains a mask of cold perfection to hide her true sexuality, in fear that coming out would tarnish the prestigious Solis name. However, her status quo is shattered by the arrival of Lucille Parker, a striking star athlete and transfer student. While Lucille is presented as a "trophy" for her parents to showcase to college scouts, she carries the scars of a "darker" past. Lucille is viewed by her family as a profound shame that must be hidden behind her athletic prowess. An instantaneous spark ignites between the two, but they initially resist their feelings to protect their families' reputations. This tension finally breaks when they meet in college. In the newfound freedom of campus life, they embark on a passionate, secret romance that serves as a sanctuary from their rigid upbringing. As the moment of revelation nears, they face a devastating choice to succumb to their families and secure their glittering inheritances, or risk everything for their love.

My sister, Judy Easton, skipped school and started dating way too early, but our parents sent me, the straight-A kid, to a juvenile behavioral correction center, saying it was to teach her a lesson. "Judy, take a good look at William. Act up again, and you're going there, too." My family showed up to visit every so often. The first year, an instructor blew out my eardrum. I was covered in blood, gripping the bars, begging for help. Dad pointed at me while talking to Judy. "Look at him. Still can't follow simple instructions. If you don't listen to us, you'll end up just like him." The second year, the instructor broke both my legs. My parents stood over my bed and said, "Look at you, lying there like a useless wimp. We came all this way to see you, and this is the welcome we get? How ungrateful." The third year, the instructor pumped me full of hormones. I swelled up like a whale. The instructor smirked. "That's probably shot now. Let's see how you go after girls now." Judy stood outside the cage holding her acceptance letter to a top college. The whole family looked pleased. "William, Judy got into a top college. You did your part. I'm taking you home." I blinked, my vision hazy, trying to make sense of it. "Who's William? They all call me Runt."

Meet Calliope Montague, a strikingly beautiful bohemian artist with a nasty but well-hidden past. When Calliope's father who has strictly forbidden her from pursuing her passion for art, signs a contract with a long lost friend that binds her in marriage to a mysterious billionaire, Calliope must decide what path to take—surrender or rebellion. As Calliope struggles to find healing from the hurts and bitterness of her past, she realises that she is fast falling in love with a man she is supposed to hate. Will Calliope conquer her fears and embrace love in its sacrificial fullness, or is the price too steep?

I was a brilliant artist. But I crushed my right hand saving my mafia husband, Vincent, and my ability to create died with it for three years. Vincent promised he'd make me whole again. Our private doctor swore he was doing everything he could. But my hand remained numb, useless. Then, one day, I overheard a conversation that shattered my world. "Make sure she can never create again," Vincent told the doctor. "I can't have Isabella threatening Sophia's place in the art world!" "But, Mr. Torrino, another procedure might... she could lose the hand for good." "I don't care what happens to her! Sophia saved my life. I will not let her down!" It turned out my husband was the one who had destroyed me. And the assassin, Sophia, was the woman he truly loved. He let her claim my designs, turning her into the art world’s new darling while I was trapped in a broken body. When I confronted him, pregnant with our child, he slapped me in public and told the world I was losing my mind. That night, I burned everything that bound me to him. Then I dialed an encrypted number I hadn't used in what felt like a lifetime. "Grandpa. In three days, I need to disappear."

The last thing Miranda thought when she responded to a prison pen pal request was to find true love. Joel, well, he was only hoping to pass time and maybe if he was lucky, he'd find someone to have a little fun with after doing ten years of hard time in the state penitentiary for a crime he committed when he had just barely turned eighteen years old. He had been hardened by the things he'd seen and the experiences of imprisonment and no longer believed in lovey dovey fairy tales or happily ever after. So hardened in fact, that he knew women only led to one thing-trouble. Not even a good girl like Miranda would break him ever again. Not with her long dark hair, those hypnotizing amber-eyes, and definitely not those full lips that would look so good…nope, nope, nope. What neither one expected was to find the perfect balance of emotional and physical attraction. Can Miranda's persistence and commitment soften and heal Joel's untrusting heart or will Joel break Miranda in ways she has never experienced before? This is the first book of three in the Locked-Up Lovers series. Enjoy!