The Flame Game
  • Reads 511
  • Votes 159
  • Parts 52
  • Time 5h 44m
  • Reads 511
  • Votes 159
  • Parts 52
  • Time 5h 44m
Ongoing, First published Dec 22, 2022
Mature
An arsonist is having a heyday setting local businesses aflame, and the Vandersons, newcomers to the small resort town of Mountain Springs, Colorado, wonder if Clay Vanderson's structural engineering firm will become a target. 
 
At twenty-five, Ellie Vanderson, an insecure millennial and the youngest mom in the PTO, is desperate to win the approval of the other mothers while inconspicuously combatting her debilitating puke phobia, all for the benefit of her kindergarten son. Unable to muster anything resembling affection for her much-older husband Clay, she orchestrates an affair between him and the face-saving PTO president. To complicate matters, Ellie's grown stepson, an ex-heroin-addict and the childhood best friend she doesn't realize still has feelings for her, comes to live with her and his father, where his presence feels like a mud print on her pristine white carpet. 
 
As the arsonist's flames grow larger and the Vanderson family unravels, their origins become a topic of interest among the backstabbing PTO moms. Lana Clark, Ellie's frenemy-turned- nemesis, hires a local PI to dig up the Vandersons' buried secrets and discover who's behind the crimes that are ripping apart the fabric of the community, implicating Ellie's stepson in the process. The Vandersons scramble to figure out how to control their narrative, fearful of another ruined reputation in the town they hope to make their forever home, and even more fearful of the criminal who haunts their steps. 

This a domestic suspense novel / mommy drama of trainwreck proportions, a BIG LITTLE LIES meets LITTLE CHILDREN starring new neighbors with secrets to hide in a town with a reason to investigate.
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Deception

36 parts Ongoing Mature

Deception Ellie Brown has it all-beauty, power, and a legacy built on diamonds. As the CEO of Diamond Glow, she is the epitome of strength and success, but beneath her flawless exterior lies a heart weighed down by secrets, betrayals, and a family that sees her as both an asset and a rival. Her own brother harbors a grudge so deep that he vows to take everything from her. Her mother, ever calculating, demands a marriage that Ellie refuses to entertain. And then there's the past-buried truths that threaten to unravel everything she's built. Ryan Adams is a man living in the shadows of grief. Six years ago, he lost his sister and the woman he loved in a single, tragic moment. His father never forgave him. He never forgave himself. Now, drawn into a business deal with Ellie, he finds himself face-to-face with a woman who challenges him, intrigues him-and reminds him of everything he swore he'd never want again. Neither of them believes in love. Neither of them trusts easily. But when fate forces them into each other's orbit, tangled in a web of corporate battles, hidden enemies, and forbidden emotions, the line between business and desire begins to blur. But deception lurks in the shadows. The past is never truly buried, and the deeper they fall, the more dangerous the truth becomes. In a world where betrayal is currency and love is a liability, can two scarred souls defy the odds-or will the ghosts of their pasts tear them apart?