A fake engagement has gotten disturbingly real…

Short Excerpt from Hatefully Yours by Alisha Kay

She was going to kill Karthik. He could at least have warned her that he had invited Manan to join them.

It was high time Karthik pulled his head out of his ass and accepted that he couldn’t make his best friends like each other by forcing them to spend time together.

Aditi sighed at the thought of yet another uncomfortable encounter where she tiptoed around Manan, while he scowled at her as if she was a mass murderer. She was so done with this crap. She’d catch up with Karthik some other time when this big galoot wasn’t around.

She stood up and tried to walk past Manan with her head held high. Only to be brought up short by the strange sound coming from his mouth.

She froze in fury and turned towards him slowly.

“Excuse me? Did you… did you just cluck at me?”

The corner of Manan’s mouth turned up lazily as he nodded.

“Like a chicken?” she clarified.

“Uh-huh. If the shoe fits,” he said with a shrug.

“What shoe?”

“You’re running away. Like a scared chicken,” he explained helpfully.

Aditi wanted to slam her purse into his smug face, but she remembered, just in time, that she did not believe in violence as a solution to any problem.”

Alisha Kay writes funny, exciting and steamy stories, with spunky heroines who can rescue themselves, and hot, woke heroes who find such independence irresistible.

The first book in The Devgarh Royals series, The Maharaja’s Fake Fiancée, won the grand prize at the Amazon KDP Pen to Publish Contest 2020.

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Short Excerpt from Sinfully Yours by Shilpa Suraj

She laughed, a bright sound in the dark night and Sid couldn’t stop himself anymore. He wanted to soak in the joy, the sheer light that beamed out of her. He leaned in close, closer than he should have but other than a slight widening of her eyes, Dani didn’t move. She just kept watching him, a small smile on those soft, lush lips. 

“May I?” he whispered. 

She nodded, her eyes gently closing in anticipation. 

And Sid kissed her. Her lips met his in acceptance, in warmth, in sensation that drowned them both. He sank into the kiss, his arms going around her as she burrowed into him, one hand clutching his hair and pulling him closer. 

He responded in kind until it felt like they were impossibly close, no space between them. Nothing in all his years of gadding about like a wandering tomcat had prepared him for this. For her. 

And then a wave crashed over them, wetting them and bringing them out of their dreamlike haze. 

Sid started to laugh even as he pulled a spluttering Dani to her feet. She leaned in close to him, shaking her wet hair like a little puppy. Droplets hit his face and his smile faded. One finger trailing her cheek, he captured her lips again. 

Bliss. This was bliss. 

Shilpa Suraj wears many hats - corporate drone, homemaker, mother to a fabulous toddler and author.

An avid reader with an overactive imagination, Shilpa has weaved stories in her head since she was a child. Her previous stints at Google, in an ad agency and as an entrepreneur provide colour to her present day stories, both fiction and non-fiction.

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Short Excerpt from Deceitfully Yours by Andaleeb Wajid

‘You’re scared of butterflies?’ he asked in a low voice that sent her pulse racing.

She nodded. The moment was intact. He continued to explore her skin lightly, making her hunger for more. 

‘I’m terrified of them,’ she whispered. 

‘How odd,’ he whispered back. 

She wanted to tell him it wasn’t odd at all and that butterflies were just prettily coloured furry large insects that flew about and more people should be terrified of them. But she lost her train of thought as he gripped the back of her head gently and pulled her down.

Their lips were just a few breaths away from each other when he whispered. 

‘Butterflies are beautiful. Like you.’

She wondered if he could feel her stomach flip at his words.

‘They’re scary,’ she said. ‘But I can be scary if I want to.’

He smiled at her words and then his hand pressed her head closer and their lips touched. 

Andaleeb Wajid is the author of 27 published novels and she writes across different genres such as romance, YA and horror. Her horror novel It Waits was shortlisted at Mami Word to Screen 2017 and her Young Adult series, The Tamanna Trilogy has been optioned for screen by a reputed production house. Andaleeb's novel When She Went Away was shortlisted for The Hindu Young World Prize in 2017. Andaleeb is a hybrid author who has self-published more than 10 novels in the past two years.

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I had more questions than answers when I went on a journey of discovering the author within me, a workshop conducted by bestselling author, filmscript writer, and seeker Megha Bajaj, in collaboration with Queens Brigade. Honestly, I didn't know what was in store for me.

Little did I expect that I would, along with others, explore unique forms of writing - stories, blogs, poetry and whatnot!

Reading through others stories, and forming some of my own was an incredible process of self-discovery.

I went through a myriad of emotions through the workshop - something I definitely wasnt expecting - but the power of words, and a great mentor is such, that it takes you to the core of your being and helps you understand what is going on within.

So many of the people doing the workshop published their work - and I felt incredibly proud of a nine year old whose fiction got published in Outlook, India's best. I was amazed to realize that we limit words to essays at school, or as a tool to make our to-do lists - when words actually can introduce us to ourselves, and to the world.

It's early days for me - and yet, as someone who has always dabbled in words - as a reader, as a blogger and now getting to know myself as a storyteller, I would want to urge each of you in the direction of doing a personalised, customised workshop - like the one I attended, as it reveals a better, more clear, more expressive - and even confident version of yourself.

Queens Brigade is conducting its second batch with Megha Bajaj and seeing how I, and eleven others felt through the journey, I recommend it to you too.

Words are powerful. Ask me, I dwell in them all day long.

Allow them to change your life - and they will.

Allow them to go to your within - and lead to a catharsis, and they will.

Allow them to be your best tool to take you to the world - and they will.

Let's experience the magic called Words, yet again.

Register HERE today.

WoW is indeed grateful to Queens Brigade, for inviting bestselling author Megha Bajaj to conduct online writing workshops for aspiring authors.

These workshops, which require just two hours a week (two hours of your choice) have been gifting people with personal and professional Breakthroughs.

It's been helping people write better messages, mails, start blogs, get published, Express their innermost thoughts and insights and empowering them to inspire the world around them.

Youngsters above age 9, homemakers, professionals, entrepreneurs, CEOs have all come together to experience WoW together and its been a joyride... of expressions, imagination, creativity.

Queensbrigade and WoW invites you to join a never before learning experience. 

Here's a testimonial from batch 1 participant:

We have very limited seats, so register HERE today.