1936 Book(s) Related to a tree grows in brooklyn themes

Kenzie didn't know that she was a descendant of Dracula. Her parents were killed, and she was hidden with a human family that was supposed to be loyal to her family. She will find love along the way of discovering who she is and why she was hidden away. She will learn new secrets about her friends. Face an enemy that she didn't know she had. Do all this while running her business that she loves.
Why is it that I long to be something that I am not? I know I’m young with just some average looks, but I’m not ugly either. I feel a connection with the night more than I do the day. I don’t feel like I fit in with the people around me, I don’t understand why. My childhood wasn’t too great. I didn’t get along with my sister or my brothers growing up, but I guess that is not so unusual. My parents never really had time for me, and they let things happen that they should have stop, but didn’t.

I felt that being a nun was my true calling until I sensed power and masculinity radiating from a ruthless mafia boss.


At that moment, my heart raced, and the ground seemed to disappear from under my feet. His dark eyes were mesmerizing, and I felt enchanted by them. He was dressed in black attire that accentuated his beauty even more, and his face was perfect as if sculpted by a skilled artist.

That feeling made me question everything about life outside the convent. I knew I couldn't stay there for much longer, but at the same time, I didn't want to stop looking at him, feeling hypnotized by his penetrating and mysterious gaze.

*** Eric ***

Many might think I am a dangerous and remorseless killer and have no heart, but that's not true.

I will never forget the pain I felt when I received the news of my brother's death. I remember looking up at the sky and asking God why he had to leave us.

I followed the gaze and saw a small woman dressed in loose clothing and hair covered with a brown fabric.

I approached the little nun with determined and steady steps, knowing that my presence might startle her. And that's exactly what happened. She jumped back, and her hands trembled as I got close enough to grasp her wrists.

She seemed so fragile in my hands, so innocent and defenseless. But I couldn't let that feeling sway me from my objective. I held onto her wrists more firmly, feeling the soft and delicate skin beneath my fingers. She tried to pull away, but I kept her firmly in my grip. I could feel her fear and uncertainty, but I didn't care. I wasn't a man who cared about others' emotions.


Ariele had been living in the orphanage since she was a baby, with no traces of her parents, never having experienced the outside world. She was about to fulfill her vows to become a nun when her path crossed with the feared mafia leader, Eric. In a search at the convent for his treacherous fiancée, the cruel and cold man will have an encounter with true purity. As an alpha who takes what he wants, from that moment on, Enric turns Ariele's life into chaos.

" Chill man," my best friend Liam said.

"How do you expect me to chill man, I just found out I am very crazy about her, I was so ignorant that I let her go and the worst part is I am getting married to that bitch next month," I said in frustration.

"Oh come on man, you agreed to marry that bitch yourself Alex, no one forced you," Liam said.............................

"Yea I know but I thought if I proposed to Skyler, she's gonna get furious and try to apologize to me," I replied not sure if that made any sense.

"Well that was stupid because you are the one meant to apologize man, but you let your arrogance and wealth get to your head and that made you lose your love. you need to fix this," he said and walked out of my house, I saw his car drive off.......

I know you guys are wondering what happened, well I will tell you the story... Well, I am Alexandra Montero, CEO of the Montero group of companies and the richest billionaire in town.

" Don't stop!I want to hear you moan for me,scream whatever dirty words come to your mind, that's what I married you for, you are now my slut, your work is to pleasure me and watch me ruin your innocence."

Clara Davis was tricked into marrying the son of their business rival, just to honor their patriarch's promise, but on the wedding day a stranger appeared with the picture of a dead person. He forced her into marrying him, with the aim of making her his tool to get revenge on her family. But why will such a wealthy stranger choose to spend the rest of his life with a mentally ill woman? ,How did her family offend such a monster?. Unfortunately for her,she got answers to this question in the most cruel ways she could ever think of. She helplessly watched as he heartlessly stole her innocence and stripped her of every right to dream of a better future.

When she thought she has finally melt his frozen heart and couldn't wait to break the news of her pregnancy to him. He returned home one day with his first love. The lady everyone thought was dead suddenly showed up in the arms of her husband , to make matters worse, she was also carrying his child.

"Aren't you afraid to die?" It's a bit odd, but it is what it is.

Paula Mayer, the woman was asked to marry a man with a million secrets. Many people say that Mark Aliston has never been lucky in life.

His mother died saving him in an accident. Then his sister also died because of him. Then his two fiancees who died before their wedding day.

Will Paula also experience the same thing as Mark's two ex-fiancees? And can his second marriage survive to the end?

Eva Miller had a very rough past. She was used and abused by her family resulting in a beautiful baby. Some time later, she became unemployed and her son is in a hard condition. She needs a very expensive operation and the only one who can save her from that tragedy is businessman Nicholas Hills, who offers her a night of pleasure in exchange for helping her.

A seventeen years old Sera Calix was never meant to set a foot in Virelade Academy, the country's most prestigious elite all boys school. But a paperwork error gave her a chance to escape a life of serving the masters and she'll do anything to hold onto it. Even if it means disguising herself as a boy!.

The plan was to keep her head down, graduate and disappear but the problem was Kael Ashbourne, her new roommate, her worst nightmare and on top of that he's the son of the president, the same man where her mom works for.

As secrets build, Sera struggles to survive a world that was built to shut her out. But the biggest danger wasn't being caught but it's the way Kael looks at her like he already knows she's lying.

She's living a lie...
And only one person can expose her... Kael Ashbourne!

Lin Feng got a bottle of wine poured over his head, got thrown into a blizzard in someone else's hand-me-downs, and then got selected by a supernatural System to become the most dangerous man alive.

He's got an Obsidian Card, a 300-year-old silver-haired mentor who genuinely might kill him, and a level-up screen that turns corporate sabotage into a stat boost — and every dollar he earns is pulling a target onto his back from powers that make billionaires look like broke college kids.

The Zhangs started it. The Board of Crowns is about to finish it. Leo's just here to make everybody regret the day they ever let him hit rock bottom.

In the glittering world of Vespera, power is bought with blood, and beauty is the ultimate weapon.

Three years have passed since the name Margo Valderama died in a tragic fire. Now, she returns as Eris—a "Jade" buried in the mud of the Iron Roots, ready to enter The Sanctum: the secret training ground for the country’s most lethal mistresses.

Her mission is simple: Infiltrate the Thorne Empire. Destroy the people who framed her father. And kill the man she once loved—Julian Thorne.

Julian is the Conservator. He is cold, lethal, and obsessed. He thinks he’s rescuing a broken girl from the slums to turn her into a perfect pet. Little does he know, he’s invited his own executioner into his bed..

In a house where love is a defect and secrets are currency, who will break first?

"Rule Number Thirteen: Kill them all."

Sometimes love finds us in the most unexpected places—through the most unexpected person.

At 40, Daniel’s life is a careful balance between raising his three children and running the family business. After losing his wife, he built a cold, impenetrable shell around himself—one he has no intention of breaking.

Deanna, on the other hand, is full of dreams. With just one year left before earning her degree in Arts, she’s focused on one thing: making it to the opera stage. But when her best friend Harry begs for her help, her life takes an unforeseen turn.

An outdated family rule threatens to keep Harry from marrying his pregnant girlfriend. The only solution? His older brother, Daniel, must marry first. To help him, Deanna and Daniel agree to a fake relationship—a temporary arrangement that should have been simple.

But the pull between them is undeniable. She brings warmth into his cold world, while he offers her a love she never expected after a painful breakup. Together, they begin to build something real—something worth fighting for.

Yet, not everyone wants to see them happy. Between outside forces determined to tear them apart and their own fears whispering doubts, their love faces an uphill battle. And with a 15-year age gap standing between them, one question remains:

Can they defy the odds, or will reason win over the heart?

Being called the ugly duckling since childhood, Jennifer tried to improve her appearance with make-up in order to prove that she could date a handsome and rich man like other girls. 

However, her ambition actually got her into trouble, when three men who claimed to be her boyfriend met each other and it ended in a fight. Jennifer, who was trying to escape, had an accident.

She wakes up in a noble's bed as a beautiful woman in the Kingdom of Obelia, where King Jacob and his half-brother Duke Ellios are crazy about her. Jennifer, who should be happy because her dream of becoming a beautiful woman has come true, instead feels tormented because her beauty means she has to deal with the crazy ambitions and obsessions of noble men.

Layla Byrne arrives at Blackwater Hall with one letter in her bag and one ugly truth in her chest. Someone is dead, someone is definitely lying.

The school welcomes gifted students, bloodline heirs, and the children of old magical families. It also hides a forest full of sealed power, missing students, and a history everyone has been trained to forget.

Layla is the outsider from the coast, the scholarship girl with the wrong surname, the wrong accent, and a magic she cannot control. The moment she steps onto Blackwater Hall grounds, she feels eyes on her. Notes appear where they should not. Doors open behind her when nobody is there. Someone knows where she sleeps before she does.

The worst part is that the boy who keeps appearing whenever danger comes near her looks like the one who is doing it. Callum Reid is the academy’s golden enforcer, the respected heir with sharp hands, colder manners, and a habit of being too close for comfort. Layla decides he is the stalker. Callum decides she is a threat to the school and to herself. Neither of them is completely wrong.

As Layla digs deeper, she learns that Blackwater Hall does not merely educate students. It ranks them, watches them, marks them, and uses them. Students with the right bloodlines are pushed toward the hidden forest seal beneath the school. Records vanish. Names are being erased. People disappear.

The woman running the academy smiles through all of it. The archivist who keeps the records knows exactly how the old power works.

And the first boy Layla ever trusted in the academy turns out to be the real predator, the one who has been stalking her from the shadows long before she understood she was being hunted.

Despised, bullied, and betrayed…things just don’t work out for Nadine Smith. Her best friend coveted her status as the Luna of White Pride. The Alpha was bewitched and he accused her of cheating. He held her captive and tortured her. She was disowned by her family. Lastly, she was murdered. However, she was reborn with the memory of her previous life. How would she face the person who killed her? Would she seek revenge on those who harmed her? Or would she fall again for the man who broke her heart a million times?

Growing up, if Cecily so much as frowned, whatever I was holding would be ripped from my hands. If she coughed twice, I’d be sent to kneel out in the snow to reflect on how I had "failed to take proper care of my sister."

In adulthood, their favoritism remained unchanged—only it grew deadlier.

My father would slam his fist against the table, threatening to freeze my trust fund and kick me out of the Vance family.

My mother would stare at me with red, tearful eyes, accusing me of "stealing your sister's nutrients in the womb."

Even Declan, my husband on paper, would constantly lecture me about being "reasonable" and "compliant," trying to pressure me into signing a "Volunteer Experimental Trial Consent Form" for Cecily's sake.

An unapproved, illegal human trial.

In the past, I would have cried. I would have looked at them and asked, "When did any of you ever look at me and see a daughter?"

That was until the day I got my own medical report back.

[Terminal Congenital Heart Failure.]

Seven days left to live.

When my father threw that consent form on the table again, using my banishment as collateral; when my mother sobbed, begging me to "take the hit" for my sister; when Declan tried to coax me, promising "just cooperate, it’ll be over soon"—I finally picked up the pen.

I signed my name on an experimental trial waiver with a 90% mortality rate.

They all smiled with relief. They told me I was finally being mature.

What they didn't know was that my time was already up.

WARNING MATURE CONTENT!!! A devastated lady went to a bar to drink away her pains after she caught her fiance and her bestie on the bed. At that moment of her being drunk, she mistakenly took a tycoon CEO as a host to attend to her needs. Under the desperation to get away from her pains on what her fiance did to her. She had a hot night with the strange man under the influence of the she took. Just one night that change her life forever. What happens, when the stranger she thought to be a host want more than just a night with her. "I want him!"She squealed, pointing a well manicured finger to the god of a man. There were gasps in the room as everyone gawked at the woman who dared to point a finger at the stranger. She obviously didn't know who he was, other wise, she wouldn't have dared to alter the words that came out of her mouth. "I said, I want him!" She repeated even louder than before. "Madam, I think you should sit down and continue your drink. You're digging your own grave!" The waiter whispered. "Oh shut the up! I want him and I will get him!" She screamed again, ignoring the waiter's warning. Her loud voice finally got the attention of the mysterious man. He looked around him and noticed that the beautiful drunk woman was indeed pointing at him. "I said I want him! He is the host!" She was saying. A wicked smirk curled up the mysterious man's lips as he observed Aria. She would make a good meal for the night. "Go bring get me that woman." He whispered to one of his men.

In our strict, unforgiving religious community, lust is the ultimate sin, one that can destroy your soul and your reputation forever.

I just turned 18. He is 38. The pastor’s only son.

Eli Whitaker has been my darkest secret for months.

Long before anyone suspected, he cornered me in the empty chapel and made me sin in ways I never imagined. Rough. Forbidden. Addictive. Every stolen night I tell myself it’s the last time, but when he pins me down and fucks me like I belong to him, heaven and hell stop mattering.

Now our worlds are colliding in dangerous ways. Every Sunday I sit in the front pew while Eli stands beside Pastor Matt preaching purity and righteousness… while his cum is still dripping down my thighs from what he did to me before service.

The entire church is watching. Gossips like Chloe and Leah are always hunting for scandal. Josh wants me. Caleb keeps asking questions after Eli nearly beat him for commenting on how sexy I look.

One wrong move and everything will explode- Pastor Matt’s wealth, our family’s reputation, and this twisted, addictive thing between us.

He calls me “little sister” in public. In private, he ruins me.

This is our sin.
And we don’t want salvation.

We want each other… no matter how many commandments we break.

⚠️EROTICA⚠️

In my past life, I was betrayed by my fiancée and my tycoon boss, and thrown alive into a mutated swarm to be torn apart.

When I opened my eyes again, I was reborn fifteen days before the multidimensional catastrophe! Facing my vain ex-boyfriend who was still threatening to break off our engagement and buy me luxury bags, I sneered and decisively blocked him, instantly awakening a "Beast-Level Infrastructure System."

Hoarding supplies in the apocalypse? Too narrow-minded! I directly infiltrated the polar regions with my geeky best friends, tampered with central permissions, and seized my tycoon boss's invincible fortress—a multi-billion dollar investment with a nuclear reactor!

When the catastrophe erupted and gravity collapsed, my boss and ex-girlfriend, dragging their mangled bodies, knelt outside the ten-meter-thick tungsten steel door, frantically kowtowing, begging to be brought in as dogs. I, however, holding a Romanée-Conti, coldly pressed the gravity strangulation button.

The Abyss Era, the Old Gods are all dead. On this wasteland, only I sit high on my icy throne, establishing absolute laws.

My perfect husband built a thick soundproof wall in our new house, strictly forbidding me from touching it. When he left, I took a hammer to the drywall. Hidden inside the dark void was a bloodstained engagement ring belonging to a missing woman. Am I sleeping next to a killer?

I waited seven years for Lucas.
The moment our Mate Bond was finally sealed, our wedding night left me so exhausted I couldn’t even move and then my phone lit up with photos of him having sex in a car with Isabella, the widow of his dead brother.

Everyone told me not to overthink it. Our relatives brushed it off. Even the Elders stepped in to smooth things over for him.
But behind closed doors, Lucas showed his real face—Restore the Mate Bond or he would destroy my family’s company.

When I fought back, he slapped me so hard it shattered the twenty years of relationship between us. He froze my accounts, and my mother was rushed to the hospital because of sheer stress.
That still wasn’t enough. He demanded that I apologize publicly at a business gala, to the woman wearing his brother’s wedding gift. He even ripped away the moonstone necklace my mother left me.

I was shoved into a champagne tower, blood all over me. And he never looked at me once. All his tenderness was reserved for his sister-in-law.
Just when I’d finally gone numb, top-tier Alpha Finn walked in with a one-billion-dollar contract. “Your designs are worth this much. And I don’t like people touching what I’ve set my eyes on.”

Seven years of devotion wasted on a lie. This time, I’m tearing the fake Mate Bond to shreds and I’ll make every traitor pay!

In the delivery room, several nurses pinned me down on the operating table.

They were going to forcibly take my eight-month-old baby out of me.

The pain was tearing me apart. I locked my eyes on my husband Xavier Davis, who was standing to the side, and screamed at him in a hoarse voice.

"You animal! That's your child too. How can you do this to him..."

Xavier stared at me, his face completely blank. He didn't say a single word.

"Hurry up! Mia needs the cord blood!"

Julia, standing next to Xavier, snapped impatiently at the doctor.

She was Xavier's stepmother, only two years older than him. Her husband had died not long after she got pregnant, and Xavier had been taking care of her ever since.

Recently, Julia's one-year-old daughter was diagnosed with leukemia. She needed a newborn's cord blood for a transplant, so she set her sights on my baby.

And Xavier agreed to it. That was when I found out the two of them had been sleeping together for a long time.

Julia had nearly bled to death giving birth to their daughter, and lost any chance of having another child.

"What's going on? Her water already broke. Why isn't the baby coming?" The doctor was sweating with anxiety.

Julia picked up a pair of scissors and handed them to the doctor, her voice completely casual.

"Just cut open her uterus. Then the baby comes out."

My eyes went wide with shock. I shook my head desperately. "No. Please, no..."

My name is Nora Monroe. Thirty-two weeks pregnant, ready to pop anytime.
This morning, my husband Everett left town, leaving me and my cat, Piper, alone at home.
Deep into the night, a strange woman called. Her voice was gentle, apologetic—she said my cat Piper had somehow wandered downstairs. She was severely allergic to cat dander and couldn't bring her up to me. I grabbed my coat, ready to head down, when the baby suddenly gave me a vicious kick. The pain sent me collapsing back onto the sofa, unable to move.
The woman on the phone urged me over and over. I looked up, my eyes falling on the corner of the living room.
Piper was sitting right there, staring unblinkingly at me...

"Very entertaining. I highly recommend this book to the permanent library of any reader that appreciates a very well written mystery, with some twists and an intelligent plot. You will not be disappointed. Excellent way to spend a cold weekend!" --Books and Movie Reviews, Roberto Mattos (regarding Murder in the Manor) BEACHFRONT BAKERY: A KILLER CUPCAKE is the debut novel in a charming and hilarious new cozy mystery series by #1 bestselling author Fiona Grace, whose bestselling Murder in the Manor (A Lacey Doyle Cozy Mystery) has nearly 200 five star reviews. Allison Sweet, 34, a sous chef in Los Angeles, has had it up to here with demeaning customers, her demanding boss, and her failed love life. After a shocking incident, she realizes the time has come to start life fresh and follow her lifelong dream of moving to a small town and opening a bakery of her own. When Allison spots a charming, vacant storefront on the boardwalk near Venice, she wonders if she could really start life anew. Feeling like it’s a sign, and a time to take a chance in life, she goes for it. Yet Allison did not anticipate the wild ride ahead of her: the boardwalk, filled with fun and outrageous characters, is pulsing with life, from the Italian pizzeria owners on either side of her who vie for her affection, to the fortune tellers and scheming rival bakery owner nearby. Allison yearns to just focus on her delicious new pastry recipes and keep her struggling bakery afloat—but when a murder occurs right near her shop, everything changes. Implicated, her entire future at stake, Allison has no choice but to investigate to clear her name. As an orphaned dog wanders into her life, a devoted new sidekick with a knack for solving mysteries, she starts her search. Will they find the killer? And can her struggling bakery survive? A hilarious cozy mystery series, packed with twists, turns, romance, travel, food and unexpected adventure, the BEACHFRONT BAKERY series will keep you laughing and turning pages late into the night as you fall in love with an endearing new character who will capture your heart. Book #2 in the series—A MURDEROUS MACARON—is also available!

He grabbed my hair and dragged me downstairs. His grip on my hands and feet ached terribly. I sobbed and wept, silent tears streaming down my face. I was powerless to break free, my left hand clutching my broken right wrist.

He was a beast inhabiting this mansion, inflicting inhuman torture on my poor soul. He had created a living hell for me, this pitiful girl, within his castle.

On this cold winter night, he threw my wounded body into the icy pool, arrogantly enjoying it all, drinking and smoking expensive cigars. A satisfied, cold smile played on his lips as he reveled in my pain. His face was filled with the darkness of sin.

“How...more...am I…still…standing?” I stammered, my lips trembling.

Zain paused, thinking. Then, turning away from her, he replied:

“Until you die!”

With that, he left. As he wished. At that moment, my wish came true; I died.

But not in a frozen pool; I was struck in the head by a bullet from afar, blood splattering everywhere—that was far more gruesome.

My consciousness began to fade, but suddenly, I opened my eyes again and found myself mopping the floor in an ordinary restaurant.

I was startled: What happened? I was reborn? This is unbelievable!

I thought drowning while trying to save a little girl was the end of my story. Turns out, it was just the beginning of my empire in the Land of the Dead.
Now, I'm the infamous owner of the afterlife's most intimate boutique. My clients? A community of skeletons so conservative, they excuse themselves before holding hands and have been sleeping in separate beds for thirty years of marriage.
To make sure my boyfriend Carlos doesn't forget me, I convinced him to become my interdimensional supplier. But my thriving business comes at a deadly cost: every product he sends drains his life force. And just as I make this horrifying discovery, I learn the little girl I died saving is in deadly danger once again, as her stepmother plots against her again.
With the love of my life fading away and an innocent child's life on the line, what price am I willing to pay for a second chance at life?

The day our company successfully went public.

Gu Yun and I slipped away from the staff to celebrate privately in the office.

Just as he unfastened my camisole, a voice sounded from the phone.

“Do you think Sister Su will still be the Sales Director?”

I froze for a second, then smiled and wrapped my arms around his shoulders.

“The company’s announcement was already released—how could there be such a ridiculous guess?”

Gu Yun’s breathing grew heavier as he kissed my lips.

“I forgot to tell you—the announcement’s been retracted.”

“Xu Na said the Sales Director position is quite challenging, and she wants to give it a try.”

Five years ago, my sister vanished the night before her wedding. She left behind a crying newborn in a crib and a mafia heir on the verge of losing control.

And I was forced into her place—the temporary bride, the contract wife, the whispered “replacement” in every gilded hallway.

I thought I only had to survive five years. Five years to earn what I was promised, and then walk away from this city of shadows and blood.

I clawed my way through bullets, politics, and betrayal. I earned respect. I gained power.
And somehow... I tasted a tenderness I was never meant to have.

Now, with only ten days left on our marriage contract, I thought everything was finally under control. I thought freedom and power were within reach.

Until she came back—wrapped in grace, dripping secrets, smiling as if she owned the world she abandoned.

She looked at me and said, “Little sister, give me back my life.”

I was carrying Don Elijah’s child. But on the exact day I went into labor, the man I loved dragged me to an underground freezer—standing at a deadly minus ten degrees Celsius—and locked the heavy metal door.

The reason? The Varro Mafia family’s ironclad rule: the firstborn son inherits the entire empire. His brother’s wife, Elena, was also pregnant, our due dates separated by a single day.

To guarantee his brother’s child secured the throne, Elijah callously snuffed out my hope.

"Elena’s child must be born first," he demanded coldly. "This is what you owe them!"

He ignored the warm rush of my broken water. He ignored my agonizing, tearing contractions. He shoved me into the icy darkness, violently injecting me with a drug specifically designed to halt my labor.

Curled up on the frost-covered concrete, freezing and completely alone, I clutched my stomach in sheer agony. In the suffocating cold, I felt the terrifying stillness. I felt the tiny, fighting heartbeat inside me slowly, torturously fading away.

Hot tears streamed down my face, freezing before they hit the ground.

"My baby..." I whispered into the pitch-black void, my heart shattering into a million pieces. "Mommy is so sorry..."

Elijah sacrificed our child out of blind loyalty to his brother. But when he finally opens that frostbitten door, he won’t merely find a broken woman—he will face the terrifying, irreversible ruin of his own legacy.

36 weeks pregnant, I was thrown into the dungeon by my own husband.

When my water broke, I desperately reached out through the mate bond, calling for him—only to discover that he had severed it with his own hands.

They lashed my swollen belly with leather whips. They injected wolfsbane into my veins. And when my baby's head began to crown, they shoved her back inside me.

All because his sister-in-law Genevieve was also in labor today—and her child had to be born as the pack's heir.

I crawled out of that dungeon, drenched in my own blood, only to find him blocking the doorway.

I knelt at his feet, clutching at his trousers, begging. "The baby is innocent. Please... just let me deliver her..."

He kicked me away in disgust. "Wait until Genevieve is done."

Later, fireworks lit up the sky. The entire pack celebrated the birth of Genevieve's heir.

I was dumped in a water cell, watching my blood slowly turn the ice-cold water crimson, feeling my daughter grow still inside me.

Only after he'd gazed adoringly at the newborn in Genevieve's arms did he finally remember me. He sent someone to fetch me from the dungeon.

But his servant returned white-faced, voice trembling:

"Alpha! The Luna... she and the baby... they're both dead!"

Nine months pregnant and about to give birth, my husband Zane locked me in the wine cellar.
All because his widowed business partner, Elena, was also giving birth today.
"You almost made Elena go into labor early. You need to think about what you've done."
Agonizing contractions wracked my body. I dropped to my knees, begging him, "Zane, please─the baby is coming now! He will die!"
He just shoved me down the cold stone steps, his eyes icy cold.
"Stop lying! Your due date isn't today. You'll do anything for attention, won't you?"
"Tonight, only Elena's safety matters. You'll stay here until you admit you were wrong!"
The heavy wooden door slammed shut, snuffing out the last bit of hope I had left.
Hours later, Zane was cradling Elena's newborn son, calling the maid.
"Elena had a boy. I couldn't be happier. Let my wife out—I'm willing to forgive her little tantrum today."
But on the other end of the phone, the maid was sobbing.
"Sir... your wife and the baby... they're already gone."

Twenty years ago, he took the blame for my murder, was branded with the Silver Flame mark, and banished to the wilderness. Twenty years later, I escaped from a prison-like marriage and searched the world for him. He wasn't there in the Alaskan blizzards. He wasn't there in the deep mountains of Romania. Under the polar night in the Arctic Circle, I called his name into the darkness. No one answered. Until a hunter told me: deep in the Yukon, someone had seen a lone wolf with the Silver Flame mark.

Reborn one year before the zombie outbreak, I awakened a supernatural storage space. I stocked massive daily supplies and transformed a secret mountain cave into an impenetrable fortress. I protect my grandma, take revenge on greedy relatives, fight mutated beasts and intelligent zombie monsters, and wait for the rebirth of human civilization in the end times.

“The perfect romance or beach read, with a difference: its enthusiasm and beautiful descriptions offer an unexpected attention to the complexity of not just evolving love, but evolving psyches. It's a delightful recommendation for romance readers looking for a touch more complexity from their romance reads.”--Midwest Book Review (For Now and Forever)THE WITCHING PLACE: A FATAL FOLIO is the debut novel in a charming new cozy mystery series by bestselling author Sophie Love, author of The Inn at Sunset Harbor series, a #1 Bestseller with over 200 five-star reviews.When Alexis Blair, 29, is fired from her book publishing job and breaks up with her boyfriend on the same day, she wonders if life is urging her to make a fresh start. She decides it’s time to pursue her lifelong dream of opening a bookstore of her own—even if that means leaving Boston and accepting a job in a curious bookstore in a small seaside town an hour away.But the odd shop, Alexis soon learns, is from more than just a rare, occult bookstore. Something strange is going on in the shop’s secret back room, with its eccentric owner, and in the small town itself.And when a dead body appears, Alexis, with her beloved newfound cat, may find herself right in the middle of it all.A page-turning cozy, rife with the supernatural, mystery, secrets and love—and centered around a small town as odd and endearing as its shop—A CURIOUS BOOKSTORE will make you fall in love and keep you laughing out loud as you turn pages late into the night.“The romance is there, but not overdosed. Kudos to the author for this amazing start of a series that promises to be very entertaining.”--Books and Movies Reviews (For Now and Forever)Books #2 and #3 in the series—MURDER BY MANUSCRIPT and A PERILOUS PAGE—are now also available!

“The perfect romance or beach read, with a difference: its enthusiasm and beautiful descriptions offer an unexpected attention to the complexity of not just evolving love, but evolving psyches. It's a delightful recommendation for romance readers looking for a touch more complexity from their romance reads.”--Midwest Book Review (For Now and Forever)THE WITCHING PLACE: A PERILOUS PAGE is book #3 in a charming new cozy mystery series by bestselling author Sophie Love, author of The Inn at Sunset Harbor series, a #1 Bestseller with over 200 five-star reviews.When Alexis Blair, 29, is fired from her book publishing job and breaks up with her boyfriend on the same day, she wonders if life is urging her to make a fresh start. She decides it’s time to pursue her lifelong dream of opening a bookstore of her own—even if that means leaving Boston and accepting a job in a curious bookstore in a small seaside town an hour away.A cryptic visitor comes into town, looking for a rare book, and willing to pay anything.But when he ends up dead, Alexis wonders: was the price too high?And did Alexis’s mysterious store owner have anything to do with it?A page-turning cozy, rife with the supernatural, mystery, secrets and love—and centered around a small town as odd and endearing as its shop—A PERILOUS PAGE will make you fall in love and keep you laughing out loud as you turn pages late into the night.“The romance is there, but not overdosed. Kudos to the author for this amazing start of a series that promises to be very entertaining.”--Books and Movies Reviews (For Now and Forever)

To everyone in town, I was just a sixty-five-year-old retired man.
I lived in an old house, drove an old car, and showed up at the same diner every night to eat the cheapest meal on the menu in my usual corner.

Then one night, the waitress who always refilled my coffee sat across from me after closing, eyes red, and told me her boyfriend had disappeared.
People were watching her, pressuring her to hand over a “ledger” she had never even seen.

I wanted no part of it.
I had left that kind of life behind a long time ago, and I had sworn never to use my hands for anyone again.

But the next day, she didn’t show up for work.
Her phone was dead. She was gone.

I went into their territory alone.
They thought they were dealing with nothing more than a nosy old man.
By the time I started moving, they realized they had picked the wrong target.

Adalina lives with her very protective older brother Zarakai and his four best friends, they helped raise her after their parents died. Now she is eighteen and she doesn't know how to turn her feelings off. After being rejected by Austin, she turned to Jace who loves her more than he should considering the age gap. Now Austin is back in town and Jace doesn't like sharing. Adalina wants Jace and Austin. Maybe even Tyler and Spencer too. Will the four men learn to share her, or will she end up heartbroken?

Three years ago, on their way to attend my graduation art exhibition, the cruise ship carrying my fiancé and my family caught fire.

Over the past three years, I downed sleeping pills countless times, desperately wanting to follow them into the afterlife. Every single time, my adopted sister, Serena, saved me, crying hysterically as she shoved her fingers down my throat to make me throw up.

"They are already gone! Harper, you can't keep living in the past. You have to live on for their sake!"

After fainting from yet another high fever and being rushed to the hospital, I was diagnosed with terminal leukemia.

The doctor said I had a month left, at most.

I refused their advice to find a bone marrow match. Clutching my family's belongings, I decided to go back to our old estate in the suburbs for one last look.

While I was walking in a daze, a little boy running wildly crashed hard into my legs.

A male voice that had haunted my dreams for years rang out from behind me. "Alistair, if you keep running off, what will you do if Mommy and Daddy don't want you anymore?"

In an instant, it felt like I had been plunged into freezing water. I froze in place.

Since marrying into the Sterling family, I've been pregnant three times. Not one of them survived.

Every time the DNA test report arrived, my mother-in-law would drag me to the clinic for an abortion.

They said the fetus had genetic defects. But I secretly went to an outside hospital for tests, and the report clearly stated everything was normal.

After my third miscarriage, I followed my in-laws to the basement I was forbidden to enter.

I held my breath and pressed my eye to the crack in the door.

In that moment, I finally knew why they had to kill my babies.

"If you want to get your needs met tonight, it will be with me and no other man. Am I clear?"

¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢

Charlotte Hendry escaped Houston's gilded cage to chase freedom on her own terms, graduate school in New York, a secret life in New Orleans, and absolutely zero entanglements. Maverick Pierce built his empire from nothing, turning poverty and pain into a billion-dollar media dynasty. Neither of them planned for a collision that would shatter every rule they had carefully constructed.

When Maverick discovers Charlotte at his favorite private BDSM club, he faces an impossible choice: walk away or claim the one woman who challenges every part of him. Their connection burns fast and undeniable. But Charlotte's independence and Maverick's possessive nature could destroy what neither of them expected to find.

Can two people who were never looking for love actually build something real?

My life had been a nightmare until one accident changed everything.
One moment, I was the girl Ethan Blake rejected without a second glance.
The next, I woke up inside his body.
Ethan Blake.
Captain of the hockey team. King of the campus. The same guy who told me to stop wasting everyone's time and just die.
Now I wore his face, carried his name, and lived his life.
And I remembered every cruel thing he had done to me.
So I started returning the favor.
I smiled in front of his friends while tearing apart his perfect reputation piece by piece. I turned his world upside down while everyone still believed I was him.
But Ethan wasn't gone.
And he wasn't willing to stay silent.
The more I took from him, the more desperate he became to reclaim his body.
Even if it meant coming back to me—
On his knees.
Begging.

When the apocalypse came, my materialistic ex-girlfriend not only complained that I only knew how to play games, but also conspired with relatives to poison me, cruelly steal my superpower crystal core, and degrade me into a hopeless cripple!
She thought that by taking away my power she could curry favor with the powerful and live a carefree life, but little did she know that not only did I not die, but the "League of Legends max level system" in my mind had actually completed its ultimate upgrade!
Sylas uses his ultimate to regain his power, Pyke's X-shaped slash breaks his enemy's limbs; a horde of 100,000 zombies presses in, and the whole city is in despair, when I descend from the sky with my treasure girl who is my life partner!
Pantheon's slam, Miss Fortune's barrage, Ziggs's nuke... Five LOL ultimate moves in a row wiped out the entire field, evaporating 100,000 zombies in one minute and directly ascending to the throne of the wasteland god!
Looking at my stunningly beautiful and god-level support character whom I had spoiled rotten, my ex-girlfriend, who had fallen into the mire, was filled with remorse. She knelt in the sewage, kowtowing and crying, begging to be a foot-washing maid.
I looked down at them and sneered, "Sorry, my five-player squad is already full."

“Sheridan, Link gave me hope to live this past year. I’m pregnant with his child now. He’s been malnourished since he was a baby. Could you be a little more generous and give him half of your food?”

"To quell the rumors, give him the commander's authority as well! Consider it proof of your tolerance, and that way everyone will accept our family of three!"

Looking at my fiancée, who was heavily pregnant and had a saintly glow on her face, I felt a wave of nausea wash over me.

Five years of entrusting each other with life and death have resulted in this scene.

Alright, I'll grant your wish.

Without arguing or making a scene, I readily signed the power transfer agreement, removed my epaulets, and walked without looking back into the underground forbidden zone that everyone feared.

There, a crazy witch with a morbid possessiveness toward me is imprisoned.

Sylvia thought that after I relinquished power, I would only be able to kneel in the mud like a stray dog and watch them be affectionate.

But she had no idea that I was the one who had the safety net for her throughout the entire city!

After losing my protection, the system completely crashed within a few days.

That freeloader completely dropped his pretense, not only beating her half to death with domestic violence, but also attempting to invade her private space.

When she crawled to the gate of the restricted area covered in blood, crying and begging me for forgiveness and to save her life.

I was being held in the arms of that aloof witch, watching the pretty boy who had come looking for me:

"The experiment actually spoke, darling..."

“Prey, tell what happens when… if you lose? What benefits am I to reap from this bet of yours?” This bastard had a lot of nerve.
I could not back down from him. I knew I could see this contest through. I know I can make my dream a reality.
“If I lost than…I will serve under your modeling agency for free for half a year. Does that seem fair enough?” I said regaining my confidence. I could not help but glared back at Elijah.
“Sounds like a fair trade to me, little kitten.” He said. I do not like that nickname. No matter how sexy it sounded on his lips.
“If I lose than I will publicly apologize to you, I.” Elijah said with a smile repeating the terms. “But it you lose than you work as a model in my business for free for half of the year. Sound about right?” Elijah said.
I shook his hand. “Deal.”
Elijah smiled to the point where his teeth reminded me of the big bad wolf. “Deal,” he said softly.

After discovering her husband Alex's infidelity, Sharon, in a drunken stupor, nearly had a one-night stand with Alex's uncle, Seb.
She chooses to divorce, but Alex deeply regrets his actions and desperately tries to reconcile. At this point, Seb proposes to her, holding a priceless diamond ring, saying, "Marry me, please?"
With her ex-husband's uncle fervently pursuing her, Sharon faces a dilemma. How will she make her choice?

I am a tragic woman. For five years, my husband and I have hidden our marriage—no one knows we are husband and wife. He doesn't love me; I'm merely an outlet for his desires.

To him, I'm probably just a prostitute he doesn't have to pay.

My husband is deeply in love with another woman. He lavishes all his affection on her, while I, his lawful wife, am met with nothing but indifference and cruelty...

My life is a prison, holding me captive.

This ridiculous marriage was doomed from the start.

Today, I summoned the courage to shatter my chains:

'Let's divorce!'

【Unexpected online love with a celebrity.】

Lindy, a simple teenage girl who lives in Canada, never wanted to stand out because she is afraid of getting noticed.

Milo, a famous member of Spitfire Strip, filthy rich and a woman's magnet while adored by millions of his screaming fans. He has everything could ask for -- sold-out concerts, albums, world tour concerts year after year, money, and women.

But despite everything he has, he knows there's still something missing in his life because he wants a woman that can love him instead of his fame.

One wicked night in Canada, Lindy lost her phone and fortunately, she found it. It wasn't until she received an unknown phone number that she realized it wasn't hers, and found that an English cheeky boy had accidentally swapped phones with her. To change their phones, she kept communicating for a week with a man named Mill.

Lindy didn't expect that she has fallen in love with a man online.

What will happen if Lindy know Mill is Milo?

"Ms. Crawford, it’s time for you to divorce Mr. Larsen and come home. You're the only heiress the Master's waiting for.”
•
For the sake of love, Amara accepted the arranged marriage with Tobias William Larsen. She did everything to gain her husband’s heart but when his old love returned, she realized that all her effort was all for naught.
Tobias demanded a divorce on the night of their wedding anniversary, even at the price of threatening her. Heartbroken, she finally dropped all her illusions about him and returned home to be the heiress.
The next time she met Tobias, they were no longer couples but opponents.
"Mr. Larsen, should I remind you again? We've divorced."
"Amara, that's the stupidest mistake I've ever made. Please come back to me."

How ridiculous! My husband, my lover, my former brother-in-law...
He hates me for killing the woman he loved—my sister!
He hates me for forcing him to marry me at his beloved’s funeral!
He hates the fact that it wasn’t me who died!
Yet he fell in love with my body!
“Consider this payment for your hard work last night. Take the money and get out.”
As he raped me, as his penis thrust into me again and again, he kept shouting my sister’s name, repeating “I love you” over and over—yet when he woke up, he wanted nothing more than to kill me.
He doesn’t know that I’ve wanted to die ever since the moment my sister died for me!
He certainly doesn’t know that my death will be the key to unlocking his own living hell!

I walked into the wrong hotel room...
To a naked man fresh out of the shower.
Now, I’m pregnant with his baby.

I should’ve left as soon as I saw him.
He was too beautiful to be real.
I got halfway to the door…
And then he saw exactly what I was trying to hide.

“Who hurt you?” he said when he glimpsed the bruises. “Let me fix it.”
I should’ve said no.
But honestly? I deserve a little luck from the universe.
And if it wants to provide that luck in the form of a gorgeous, six-foot angel of darkness…
Well, I won’t turn my nose up at that.

But nothing in this life comes without strings attached.
My angel gives me a night from heaven…

When morning comes, though, he turns into a devil.
And not just any devil.
This devil knows where I’m from.
Who I am.
What I’ve done.

And he’s determined to make me pay for all of it.