For the readers who asked, and then asked again, and again! You guys are gluttons for punishment, and this is the book you wanted, so you got it! Welcome to Merc and Tiger Lily’s story. It starts where all stories should, in the beginning. This is the very broken beginning that won’t feel much at all like a romance, because it isn’t. Their road is bumpy, the ride is rough, and your heart might get a little bruised along the way. I hope you’re ready. You asked for this! xo, Christine Michelle BOOK DESCRIPTION: Tiger Lily When I was a little girl, I always dreamed of my wedding. I dreamed of my husband, my children, my future. When I developed a crush on the gorgeous boy who was my neighbor, he became the man in those dreams. When he took my virginity, those dreams were at the forefront of my mind, turning just another hook up - for him - into something more in my heart. Unrequited love feels like hell when you realize it’s unrequited. It feels worse when you see those two pink lines on the stick telling you that your one fantasy night turned into so much more. It’s unbearable when your love is forced to marry you, but never honors the vows he took. My heartbreak lasted for years. Eventually, things changed but our path to get there was never easy. Merc She was the girl I always overlooked until one stupid night, and the worst decision of my life, cost me my freedom. She was the girl who trapped me with a kid I never wanted. Slowly, as time moved on and another kid was brought about by another dumb decision on my part, I began to realize what I had been overlooking all along. She was fiercely loyal in the face of my betrayals. She loved harder than any person I knew. She was always there for me, even when I never gave her the same courtesy in return. Then, she decided enough was enough and I learned to fight for what’s important instead of taking what was easy. WARNINGS: This is book 8 in the Aces High MC - Charleston Series, but it can be read as a standalone. THERE IS CHEATING BY MAIN CHARACTERS IN THIS BOOK! If that is not your thing, DO NOT READ THIS BOOK! While this story has been broken into two parts, if you want a happy for now ending, stop at part one! ACES HIGH MC - CHARLESTON 1 - The Other Princess 2 - A Love So Hard 3 - The Princess and the Prospect 4 - The Killing Ride 5 - A Twist of Fate 6 - Everlasting 7 - A Year and a Day 8 - The Broken Beginning - Part One

YOU MUST READ: THE BROKEN BEGINNING - PART ONE PRIOR TO THIS BOOK! The Broken Beginning - Part Two (Aces High MC - Charleston - Book 9) This was a reader requested story for the characters Merc and Tiger Lily. It is written in two parts (books 8 & 9 of the series). They can be read as a stand-alone duology, apart from the rest of the series. Tiger Lily and Merc's Story continues... Tiger Lily: I was never meant to have an easy life. That much had become clear to me over after dealing with the unrequited love I felt for my sons’ father over the years. Just when everything seemed to finally fall into place, and happiness was within reach, tragedy struck and brought misery, confusion, and pain with it. There was a moment, when even I questioned whether Merc and I were ever truly supposed to be together. Merc: We were making it work and I had fallen in love with my wife and the mother of my two sons. That was something I never thought would happen, until I stopped fighting the inevitable and started fighting for what was right. We were right. Then we suffered losses. I stumbled. When I was ready to fight again, she lost all faith. Ours was never an easy love and time never changed that. It also never changed what I felt for y Tiger Lily, even when she wasn’t so sure. I let her keep her secrets so that we might know a few years of peace. That was how I loved my wife right up until the end. WARNINGS: THERE IS CHEATING BY MAIN CHARACTERS IN THIS BOOK! If that is not your thing, DO NOT READ IT! ACES HIGH MC - CHARLESTON (complete series) 1 - The Other Princess (Ever and Deck) 2 - A Love So Hard (Lucy and Double-D) 3 - The Princess and the Prospect (Anna and Joker) 4 - The Killing Ride (Christina and J-Bird) 5 - A Twist of Fate (Gretchen and Kane) 6 - Everlasting (Ever, Deck, Lucy, and Double-D) 7 - A Year and a Day (Toby's novella) 8 - The Broken Beginning - Part One (Tiger Lily and Merc) 9 - The Broken Beginning - Part Two (Tiger Lily and Merc)

Aces High – Charleston Book 1 I was eight years old when I found out I had a father. It was the same day I held my dead mother in my arms while praying her life wasn't really over. I was dropped into the middle of a new family not long after that. My dad, his wife, and their two kids to be exact. My new brother was ten years old and my sister was five. It doesn't take a genius to figure out I wasn’t supposed to be there. My family ended up bigger than that though. My dad was a member of the Aces High Motorcycle Club. From the very beginning I was ostracized because of who my mother had been. The daughters of club members were generally known as MC Princesses. My little sister was one. My title was a bit different, and proved that my mom's sins would always be held against me. I was The Other Princess. My family, both by blood and MC ties, did wrong by me so I walked away from them. That was until he came home from the Army. He tried to fix everything. He tried to win an unattainable heart that had shut down years earlier. I would know since it was my heart he was after. He didn't realize it would take a miracle. Secretly, I hoped I could still believe in miracles. *Note: The Aces High Charleston Series should be read in order.

GRANTFor years I've lived in the shadow of my Father. Raised to obey and take over from him as the biggest crime boss in London. I was told what to do, who to be, and even who to marry, but that's where I drew the line. That's why I need Ava. She will be the perfect wife and my perfect revenge. All I need to do is break her and make her mine. AVAFor years I have taken care of my Papa. I have given up everything to help him while he drinks and gambles away all we have. Now his life is on the line and I only have one thing left to give, me. Grant doesn't just want to marry me, he wants to change me and make me his perfect obedient wife, but that's where I draw the line. It's then that I meet Ryder, he seems like my light in the darkness, but I'm not sure if he will be the savior I need or just another monster. RYDERFor years I have followed the instructions of my Dad. He wanted me to join the Blakeman crime family and so I did. I'm on track to go right to the top and get everything I've ever wanted. That's when I meet Ava. The perfect girl, trapped in a dangerous world. She begs me to save her but it would mean destroying everything I've worked towards. Is she worth risking everything for? If I do save her, will she already be too broken? Author's Note.This book is a dark romance featuring scenes not suitable for under 18's. It is part of a duet and does end on a cliffhanger. There are trigger scenes which may not be suitable for some people.

I live in a world where freedom doesn’t exist, and most people aren’t allowed to have names. I had a name once—Allura—but then I was captured by Wardens, creatures that hunt humans, and I became a Nameless. I spent years imprisoned underground beneath the city, dreaming of being outside again until Blaise rescues me. Finally, I’m free again. But the outside world isn’t how I remember it. The city has become extremely dangerous. To survive, I’ll have to learn how to fight and trust Blaise. But as I discover a new world, I also learn a secret about myself that could put me in grave danger.

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • ONE OF TIME MAGAZINE’S 100 BEST YA BOOKS OF ALL TIME The extraordinary, beloved novel about the ability of books to feed the soul even in the darkest of times. When Death has a story to tell, you listen. It is 1939. Nazi Germany. The country is holding its breath. Death has never been busier, and will become busier still. Liesel Meminger is a foster girl living outside of Munich, who scratches out a meager existence for herself by stealing when she encounters something she can’t resist–books. With the help of her accordion-playing foster father, she learns to read and shares her stolen books with her neighbors during bombing raids as well as with the Jewish man hidden in her basement. In superbly crafted writing that burns with intensity, award-winning author Markus Zusak, author of I Am the Messenger, has given us one of the most enduring stories of our time. “The kind of book that can be life-changing.” —The New York Times “Deserves a place on the same shelf with The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank.” —USA Today DON’T MISS BRIDGE OF CLAY, MARKUS ZUSAK’S FIRST NOVEL SINCE THE BOOK THIEF.

At the end of the world, a woman must hide her secret power and find her kidnapped daughter in this "intricate and extraordinary" Hugo Award winning novel of power, oppression, and revolution. (The New York Times) This is the way the world ends. . .for the last time. It starts with the great red rift across the heart of the world's sole continent, spewing ash that blots out the sun. It starts with death, with a murdered son and a missing daughter. It starts with betrayal, and long dormant wounds rising up to fester. This is the Stillness, a land long familiar with catastrophe, where the power of the earth is wielded as a weapon. And where there is no mercy. Read the first book in the critically acclaimed, three-time Hugo award-winning trilogy by NYT bestselling author N. K. Jemisin.

The Trateri are about to learn a vital lesson of the Broken Lands. Deep in the remote expanse where anything can happen, it pays to be on a pathfinder’s good side. Nobody ventures beyond their village walls. Nobody sane that is. Monstrous creatures and deadly mysteries wait out there. Lucky for the people she serves, Shea’s not exactly sane. As a pathfinder, it’s her job to face what others fear and protect her charges from the dangers that await in the Broken Lands. It’s not an easy job, but she’s the best at what she does. When the people she serves betray her, Shea must rely on her wits and skill to survive the Trateri, a barbarian horde sweeping in to conquer the Lowlands, and their warlord, a man as dangerous as he is compelling. Her actions and the decisions she makes might mean the difference between life or death. Danger looms on the horizon and a partnership with the Warlord may be the only thing preventing the destruction of everything she holds dear.

Mama didn't come home. Daddy liked to hit. Brothers followed suit. So I ran. I ran from that life. I ran from myself. I ran into him. I have no experience with the game board we're playing on, and that makes this a lethal game. One wrong move and my heart could land in the fire he's created inside me. Worse, it could lead my past to his doorstep and it won't just be my blood that taints this floor. I should run. I need to run. My father is the devil in a flesh suit, he won't be happy until he paints this town red for my betrayal. I should run. I need to run. Because despite my feelings for Parker Hayes, the devil is coming and he wants what's his.

~Anna~ I was three weeks past my seventeenth birthday when I first saw him running like a dog, as prospects do, during a family club function. I knew he was far older than me since he’d served in the Army with my brother-in-law, Deck. He was definitely too old for me in the eyes of everyone else. I knew the rules, and I’d be breaking too many of them for this not to be trouble. He was a prospect, making him off-limits. I wasn’t even 18, making me off-limits. I was also a club princess, daughter of the Vice President of the Aces High MC - Charleston Chapter. That, more than anything else, made me off-limits. Still, I watched and waited for the moment when I could make myself unforgettable to him, because my heart had no limits, and it wanted Joker. ~Joker~ Prospecting for the MC was turning out to be a tougher gig than I had originally imagined. I wasn’t exactly known for taking blind orders well, or taking shit from anyone in my life, so undergoing prospect hazing was trying my last damn nerve. The never-ending line of patch-chasing females was sure to make the discomfort worth my wait. Then again, I wasn’t one to do easy conquests either. The shy cutie who had been staring at me all night from the corner seemed like just the challenge my worn down soul needed. She was a challenge, all right. Nearly cost me everything in the end. Now, I’m stuck with a liar, an old lady, and one crazy-ass impending shotgun wedding. NOTE: This is book 3 in a series of 7 that must be read in order. Book 1: The Other Princess Book 2: A Love So Hard Book 3: The Other Princess Book 4: The Killing Ride Book 5: A Twist of Fate Book 6: Everlasting Book 7: A Year and a Day (Novella) **TRIGGER WARNING** For sensitive readers - there is cheating in this book. No, it's not exactly what you might be thinking. Yes, you should give it a try anyway, because things aren't always what they seem! ;) Yes, you will miss a lot of important information if you try to skip it and move on to book 4.