Tash
One Step Back
Natasha Anne Winters—Tash to the few people she trusts—has never had an easy life. Passed from care home to hostel and back again, she eventually claws her way to independence: a steady job, a small flat of her own, and the fragile beginnings of stability. For the first time, life seems to be heading in the right direction.
But Tash has a habit of attracting the wrong people. Her hard‑won comfort begins to unravel, and everything takes a darker turn when she witnesses a murder—an event that could very easily cost her life.
Pushed to the edge, both literally and emotionally, she finds herself high in the Welsh slate quarries, cold, exhausted, and out of hope. One step would end everything. Instead, Roy Stephenson, out walking by chance, finds her—and pulls her back.
From that moment, both their lives shift. Tash must fight to stay safe, and Roy does everything he can to help her. But in doing so, he uncovers unsettling feelings within himself—feelings he doesn’t fully understand, yet must learn to navigate if he’s going to protect her.
Beta Reader feedback
The first chapter immediately caught my attention. I even sat with it for a day to see if it would keep popping into my mind—and it did. I genuinely loved the story (as far as I read). I gasped, laughed, and felt the rush of the adventure right alongside the characters.
Algeis
Humanity created artificial intelligence to ease the burden of living. It was only a small, inevitable step before someone shaped it into a weapon—one so devastating it brought Earth to ruin.
A thousand years later, the same intelligence that ended the human race became the architect of its renewal. Algeis cleansed the planet, restored its balance, and fragments of surviving DNA cultivated a new generation. It built the city of Kelivion—ordered, harmonious, a sanctuary for those who lived and worked under its guidance.
But not all were content. Some longed for less structure, more freedom, and left the city to form their own community beyond Algeis’s reach. Suspicion grew in Kelivion. Old fears resurfaced. And in time, these new humans sought to twist Algeis into a weapon once more.
Now it falls to Helmi, Iben, and Felis—along with a handful of unlikely allies—to prevent history from repeating itself and to bridge the divide between the two communities before conflict ignites again.
The Scullery Maid of Crowthorne
Angharad Williams, born in 1904, grows up bright, capable, and fiercely resourceful. Cherished by her father yet held at a distance by her mother, she learns early how to endure what life denies her. Tragedy, disappointment, and sorrow shadow her path, but she refuses to be broken. Instead, she turns to the hills, the woods, and the quiet rhythms of nature to steady her mind and keep her spirit whole.
Her position as Scullery Maid at Crowthorne Hall offers her something she has never known: security, independence, and a sense of purpose. She thrives in the order and discipline of the great house, finding space within its routines to practise the many skills she loves.
But when she is dragged before the courts, nothing can halt the machinery of justice as it grinds toward its terrible conclusion. In 1923, the worst injustice imaginable is carried out.
A century later, another bright and capable young woman arrives at Crowthorne. Gwenllian Thomas, appointed as Contents Manager for National Heritage, finds comfort in the structure of her work—until she stumbles upon a thread that leads back to Angharad. What begins as curiosity soon darkens into something far more sinister, something that refuses to rest.
Determined and unafraid, Gwenllian sets out to uncover the truth and release Angharad from the shadows of her troubled past.