EMMcNulty
Where or When

Where or When

97 29 8

Cover art by the fabulous LNRoberts1.It's 2019 and university student, Olivia O'Shea, doesn't possess the luck of the Irish as her name might suggest. Instead, she's feeling like she might just be the unluckiest girl on the planet. Her high school sweetheart, Daniel Burns, whom she continued to date in college, was found with his fingers, and a few other more salacious body parts, in someone else's cookie jar. Now it's summer vacation and Olivia is back in her hometown licking her wounds and trying to forget it all. At their old high school's international food festival, Olivia runs into Daniel with his new girlfriend, and a storm is definitely brewing. But this storm is a real one with thunder, lightning and rain, and Olivia, caught out in the open, is suddenly struck by lightning.She wakes up in the high school infirmary only to find that she's been transported back to high school with the chance to do it all over again. Olivia is determined to ditch Daniel, in spite of his stubborn advances, and instead tries to rekindle an old flame with the shy introverted Jack Garcia, with whom she'd shared one very spectacular kiss back in high school.As Olivia attempts to pursue Jack, Daniel keeps getting in the way and frustrating her plans. Can she really change her future for the better, or is history only meant to repeat itself?If you liked the iconic, 1980s, rom-com Peggy Sue Got Married, then you'll love this modern retelling of the classic, time-travel, do-over, second chance at love.…

Burying Kevin O'Leary

Burying Kevin O'Leary

1,947 445 31

Featured on @StoriesUndiscovered and @newlywrittenbooks reading lists.Thanks to @WakeWriteWrath for the cover art.Nobody ever said that being a teenager was easy, but Kevin O'Leary and his friends, Mike Griffin, Joe Reilly and Matt Kennedy know that they can count on each other, even when they can't count on anyone else. On the surface, their lives seem to be about football games, dances, and high school crushes, but Kevin and his friends must come to grips with some of the harsh truths of growing up. Set in the 1980s on Chicago's Irish, Catholic South Side, Burying Kevin O'Leary is a compelling portrait of four, sixteen-year-old boys as they journey into adulthood. Sometimes painful, but always with stark honesty, these four boys tell a story of loneliness, need, guilt, grief and joy, and the strength it sometimes takes just to survive. Four separate narratives merge into one story about the troubled life and violent death of Kevin O'Leary, whose friends must now cope with the trauma of losing an important anchor in their uncertain lives. Each of the boys has a personal journey which Kevin's death cuts short and redirects, and each boy must find a new path and a new way to honor Kevin's memory and find peace. Matt has to decide who he really is, Mike must overcome a childhood of abuse and self-loathing, and Joe has to face the isolation of a debilitating mental illness. Burying Kevin O'Leary offers sensitive insights into the human condition, its struggles, heartbreaks and pleasures, and the resilience needed to keep going, even when all the odds are stacked against you. As honest as Stephen King's The Body, or S. E. Hinton's The Outsiders, Burying Kevin O'Leary is a story that defines the meaning of friendship, the need for love, the importance of loyalty, and the capacity to carry on with life, even when it doesn't seem worth living.…

Almost Me, Almost You - Amby Awards 2023 Top Pick

Almost Me, Almost You - Amby Awards 2023 Top Pick

1,365 291 21

Winner of the 2023 Amby Awards in the Teen Fiction category. Featured on @Sleuth_Society, @Mystery, @CelestiaCove, and @Project_Athena reading lists. Cover art by the amazing @-DeeIsDead-In Chicago, for Catholics, your parish is your world. So, what do you do when that world violently collapses?Sixteen-year-old Maureen Hayes is a typical Catholic high school girl. When she and Jimmy Ryan, star of the St. Patrick's football team, sneak out of a dance to fool around a little, she is certain that her popularity rating is about to go from lame to fame. That is, until she and Jimmy, hidden in the shadows of the school locker room, witness something they weren't meant to see: the celebrated new parish priest committing an unspeakable act. This horrifying incident unleashes a series of events that will thrust Maureen, Jimmy, and three of their friends into a world where many people and things are not as they had seemed. In the end, Maureen must walk a thin line between keeping a tragic secret, remaining loyal to her love for Jimmy, and helping to expose a dangerous criminal and a high-ranking Church official, who will stop at nothing to avoid being caught. Almost Me, Almost You, is a powerful coming of age story set in the 1980s against the backdrop of Chicago's tight-knit, Catholic South Side. Propelled in equal parts by suspense and the haunting innocence of first love, it is a courageous story of friendship, loyalty and belonging.…

Invisible

Invisible

411 112 19

Featured on @Project_Athena's Mystery/Thriller reading list. Cover art by the amazing @LNRoberts1It's the 1980s on the South Side of Chicago, and Suzanne Walker, an outcast and isolated teen from Mother Mary High School, has gone missing in a string of kidnappings that appears to be targeting high school girls. Fiona Farrell, Marie Drakos, and Ginny Suárez lead a school campaign to find her. While the girls try to galvanize the South Side community around finding Suzanne, their troubled LaGrande Street neighbor, Gary Greene, engages in a series of Peeping Tom break-ins that appear to be related to the missing girls. Fiona and Marie compete for the attention of St. Patrick's High School quarterback, John Doyle, and Marie turns up pregnant, but who's really the father? At the same time, Ginny realizes that she has romantic feelings for Fiona, but she struggles with her sexuality in a strict Catholic community at a time when being gay is difficult. When Fiona is also kidnapped, John, Ginny, and Gary become an unlikely trio of sleuths who devise a plan to track down the kidnapper, break into his hideout, and rescue Fiona and Suzanne.Invisible is like Thirteen Reasons Why meets Stephen King's The Body and Malena Lott's Hope Floats. If you're feeling nostalgic about the 80s, and want to read a fast-paced, cult-primed, teen drama that embodies this decade and has a diverse cast of characters, this is the novel for you! In spite of the 1980s setting, Invisible is a timeless exploration of the loneliness and isolation of young adulthood, and the meaning of love and friendship from a teen perspective. Finally, it's also a hopeful, iconic, and unforgettable coming of age story.…

Who Do You Think You Are?

Who Do You Think You Are?

1,704 342 32

Featured on @NewAdultReads, @Project_Athena, @newlywrittenbooks, and @CelestiaCove reading lists. Cover art by the amazing @xxsoteria.High school outcast, Rory Riordan, is a recovering alcoholic living with his single mom. His troubles with his estranged father have made him shy and introverted. When he decides to volunteer at a soup kitchen for the homeless, he befriends Grace Quinn, a girl who shares his interest in music. He soon develops a crush on Grace. However, he doesn't pursue the relationship because of Grace's jealous boyfriend, Cameron. But Grace pursues a friendship him anyway, seeing him for the kind person that he really is. Soon they are secretly texting, and the friendship they develop blossoms into love. But Rory isn't emotionally ready for love. The pressures of being present in a relationship and the physical pain of a serious football injury cause him to become addicted to the opioids the doctor gives him, and he turns again to alcohol to cope. His catastrophic downfall culminates on prom night when he overdoses and falls into a coma. While in the coma, Rory has an out of body experience, and connects with a spirit guide who helps him to understand himself better. He chooses to live. However, he is warned that the road before him will be difficult. When faced with more tragedy and loss, Rory must learn to love himself first, and he must find a way to face his demons and accept his soul path, even when all hope seems lost.…

My Life in Letters

My Life in Letters

2,007 426 105

Featured on @newlywrittenbooks Teen Fiction reading list.Cover art by the fabulous @LNRoberts1.It's 1983 and high school sophomore, Anne Kelly's home life is coming apart at the seams, and she doesn't know whether to blame her mom or her dad. What's more, her friends are latching onto the popular crowd at school, and Anne doesn't feel she fits in. She gradually becomes fixated with a shy junior on the swim team named Gavin Maloney, but her friends think he's a total loser. However, Anne only becomes more interested in Gavin, and she decides to take a prank her friends played on him a step further. She begins writing him anonymous letters, not the stupid notes her friends put in his locker to taunt him, but real letters. Anne isn't exactly sure what she wants from this exercise, but in the letters, she confides her hopes, fears, and deepest feelings to Gavin, things she feels she can't say to anyone else, and she slips them through the slats in his locker every morning.Unbeknownst to Anne, Gavin has lost his mom to cancer and his father has gone missing without a trace. But that's not his only secret. In order to keep himself safe, Gavin's must isolate himself and stay invisible at school. He just has to hold out one more year. But it isn't easy. Everyone needs friends, and now Anne has singled him out. He doesn't know what to do. Part of him aches for human contact, and he is not immune to Anne's quirky sense of humor, but she might be totally insane. She's practically stalking him, and if he befriends her, she might find out about his secret and ruin everything. Playing games with Anne could be a total catastrophe, but still, maybe she's just crazy enough. Is there some middle ground where they can be friends without blowing his cover? She was the one who started writing. What if he just wrote her back?…

When Life Gives You Lemons, Make Lemonade!

When Life Gives You Lemons, Make Lemonade!

300 69 4

Featured on @StoriesUndiscovered, @newlywrittenbooks, and @CelestiaCove reading lists.Are you interested in mental health issues and questions of consciousness and the mind? This brief, four-essay book presents some reflections about psychosis from the perspective of a mental health survivor who has experienced this altered state of consciousness firsthand. If you're looking for a fresh angle on a very old, but not well-understood phenomenon, and you would like to read an authentic, first-person point of view on the topic, then When Life Gives You Lemons, Make Lemonade! should definitely capture your interest. This collection of essays discusses the life-altering feeling of experiencing visual, auditory and tactile hallucinations, the impotence and loneliness of individuals who experience psychosis within society, the need for better mental health care, and better, objective research into altered states of consciousness like psychosis.…

My Life in Letters: Patty

My Life in Letters: Patty

171 33 16

Cover art by the fabulous @LNRoberts1.This is a spin-off, but stand-alone story from the novel My Life in Letters. Patty is bored to tears at Morraine Mount Community College when her old flame, Jay Carney, who dissed her big time in high school, comes back to town shamed and humbled having flunked out of Indiana State and lost his football scholarship. Patty thinks about having a fling with this new, chastised Jay, because she's still attracted to him like crazy, but her friend Missy warns her against it. Boys like Jay don't change their colors; they just change their hues. Inside they're still the same bullies and jerks they always were. But Patty isn't so sure, and she makes it her business to find out who Jay is now. Is he still the arrogant ass he was in high school or has something changed? She takes it upon herself to spy on Jay to make out his character. What she learns about the former high school bully is so surprising, it inspires her to take a chance she never thought she would, teaching her a lesson about mental health, friendship, true love, forgiveness and second chances in the process. Written for the #JustWriteIt/Ambassadors: Love is in the Air 2023 Contest…

Twin Flame

Twin Flame

45 13 1

Winner of the Wattpad @Paranormal contest: Achoo!Prompt: You sneeze so hard that your soul exits your body and travels a far distance away. Find your way back before your body is no longer salvageable.University student, Ruby Gale, has a bad case of the flu, but she also has a mid-term exam that she can't get out of. Tromping through the pouring rain, she makes her way to College Hall with a few minutes to spare. She decides to dry off in the ladies' room using the automatic, hot air, hand dryers.As she's warming her hands and drying her shirt sleeves, she has a sneezing attack and finds that she's completely sneezed her soul from her body. With the help of a little elf from the other side named Stan, Ruby is reunited with her twin flame and gets a tour of her original home on the other side.Ruby not only learns a lot about the afterlife, but she also realizes that she has an eternal endgame, someone she belongs with who will love and cherish her always. Will Ruby end up staying with her lover on the fantastical other side, or will she have to complete her soul contract on earth and be reunited with her body?…

Falling for the Right Guy

Falling for the Right Guy

31 9 1

Cover art by the incredible LNRoberts1The Fall Homecoming dance is approaching, and Cassie doesn't have a date. What's more, her friend, Eliza, has become seriously annoying. She's making enemies everywhere with Gossip Central, a blog she created to post stories about the rumors and gossip going around school.In Doña Catalina's Spanish class, Cassie meets an interesting, new student named Andrew, who suffers from schizophrenia and psychosis, and who is haunted by various types of hallucinations and voices. Cassie and Andrew become friends, and Andrew eventually invites Cassie to go to the Homecoming dance with him.Cassie definitely wants to go. Andrew's emerald-green eyes and his gentle soul have captured her heart. But his hallucinations and voices often make him seem odd and withdrawn, isolating him from other students. Cassie worries that Eliza's heartless pen will mock him in her Homecoming blog post, hurting his feelings and only isolating him further.How can Cassie make sure that she and Andrew have a fabulous Homecoming experience, while teaching Eliza a much-needed lesson in compassion? The wild card is Jake-fucking-Norton, the most popular guy in the junior class. Much to everyone's surprise, he's invited Eliza to the dance, and she's accepted his invitation. And everyone is wondering, what's up with that?There's a lot of gossip going around at Woodrow Wilson High School, but amidst all the chatter, who's the real voice of reason?This was written for the @YA Fall for You contest.Prompt: This fall wasn't like any other, because I met him, and he...Author's Note: I wrote this story for our friends @YA, but also to commemorate World Mental Health Day, which was on October 10, 2023 and was not recognized on Wattpad. I'm a mental health survivor, and this story deals with a topic that is near and dear to my heart.…

Give a Little Bit

Give a Little Bit

131 40 5

This sci-fi, romance, short story was written for the 2023 @ambassadors A2E Prompt #25: In a futuristic society, an AI-driven matchmaking service goes haywire, leading to a series of hilarious and heartwarming connections.In the year 2123, college student Clara Sinclair meets Oliver Beta through the Friends and Lovers dating app. And they seem like a good match. According to the app's AI feature that matches people up, she and Oliver have a 98% rate of compatibility. As their relationship grows and develops online, they decide to finally take it to the next level and meet for an in-person dinner date. Clara is a little nervous. But when Oliver confesses at dinner that he knows why the dating app's AI gave them a 2% difference in their compatibility ratio, and that it might be a deal-breaker for Clara, she begins to totally freak out.Oliver had seemed like the perfect man for her. He was kind, funny, and intelligent, and he seemed to really like her too. What could possibly be wrong? Was he dating someone else at the same time? Was he dying of cancer? Was he into kinky sexual things that the innocent Clara knew nothing about? What was up with this wacky dating app's AI, and why hadn't it weeded out whatever the problem was? Could 2% really be that big of a deal?But once Clara knows the truth, she has to make a decision and a true leap of faith if she wants to be with Oliver. She has to give a little bit. And both of them will need to learn what unconditional love and the most intimate connection possible really means.…

My Life in Letters: Mrs. Bates

My Life in Letters: Mrs. Bates

30 4 1

Winner of the Wattpad @Music Winx Saga Lyrical writing contest. Prompt: From the lyrics to Alaina Castillo's song Parallel Universe, "I'm looking through a book shelf to an alternate reality."Cover art by the fabulous @LNRoberts1This is a spin-off, but stand-alone story from my novel My Life in Letters.Mrs. Bates, the St. Anselm School's librarian, doesn't know what to do when odd items keep turning up on a particular book shelf in the back of the library. She makes it her business to solve the mystery.…

Mona the Medium: Tell Me My Fortune

Mona the Medium: Tell Me My Fortune

519 97 18

Cover art by the amazing @LNRoberts1Mona Swayne is set to start college, when she discovers she can talk to dead people. While she waits for her roommate, Flo, to arrive at the dorms, she makes a new friend, Ahanu, who suffers a fatal accident shortly after they meet. His spirit appears in Mona's dorm room and he won't leave Mona alone until she contacts his father and delivers him a message. From that moment on, the floodgates open, and Mona finds that she can not only talk to spirits who have passed on, but that she is also psychic. When Flo gets romantically involved with a dangerous man, Mona's psychic skills get her out of trouble. Mona also finds that she can use her psychic skills to flirt with boys, and soon attracts Javier, who introduces her to Miss Matilda, an accomplished psychic-medium. Miss Matilda agrees to take Mona under her wing and help her to hone her skills. When two Chinese immigrants go missing from the women's shelter that Miss Matilda runs, Mona and her friends become involved in the search for the missing women. Mona uses her special abilities to help the FBI track the kidnappers and break-up a human trafficking ring involving Flo's ex-boyfriend. In the process, Mona learns that she is being guided by two important spirit guides, her friend Ahanu, and another guide who calls himself Tao. Finally, Tao makes it clear that Mona is meant to be a psychic-medium who will solve crimes. When a double murder case falls into Mona's lap, she and her friends agree to help the FBI solve it. Following the clues leads them to a haunted Victorian era cellar, two dead children, the Poppy Flakes cereal company, a Quaker-run mental hospital, and its mysterious patient, George Brown, who seems to know more about the murders then he is letting on. Mona must use her skills, collaborate with her spirit guides, and count on her friends to get to the bottom of this 130-year-old murder case.…

Snakes in the Garden

Snakes in the Garden

35 8 1

Winning lyrics for the Wattpad @Music A2E Original Lyrics contest. Prompt: Everything I want to say good-bye to in 2022. Enjoy!…

The First Snow at Woodlawn: A Short Story for the Holidays

The First Snow at Woodlawn: A Short Story for the Holidays

88 24 8

Featured on @NARomance Love and Faerytales reading list.Sandra is home from college for the holidays and planning to attend the New Year's Eve ball at the historic, 19th century Woodlawn mansion. Her best friends Linda and David have even found her a handsome and amiable date, David's friend James. But a chance encounter with Sandra's ex-boyfriend, T. J., has her in an emotional tail-spin. Seeing him again brings up deeply-rooted feelings, old and new, that Sandra must try to ignore if she wants to enjoy the holidays, the ball, and pursue a potential relationship with James. But as luck would have it, just when Sandra is beginning to enjoy the ball and her date, T. J. turns up again, and he wants more than simply a superficial chat. He wants a second chance, a new beginning, a do-over. Just as the lawns and gardens of Woodlawn are being redrawn and blanketed with the first, fresh snow of the New Year, Sandra must decide how she will redraw her own future. Will she take a chance on a new and unknown route with the kind and agreeable James, or give another chance to T. J., and blanket herself in the path that has always felt like home? This comforting, new adult, short story will appeal to anyone who likes a traditional, Hallmark-style, holiday romance.…

Jane, I Love You!

Jane, I Love You!

46 8 1

Winner of the Wattpad @Romance contest, "It Begins at the End." Prompt: Write a love story ending with your favorite opening line in literature.Jane is preparing for her PhD comprehensive exams and can't stay awake. She decides to head to The Black Cat Café around the corner for a strong cup of Joe and a chat with the owner, Christian Moore. When Christian makes a confession to Jane, what she learns not only astonishes her, but also delights her heart.…