2084 Book(s) Related to hooked: a never after novel book review

Three years of marriage. Harper gave up her career, cut off her friends, and made herself invisible for Evan.
Then on her birthday, the blow came. Claire showed up pregnant: "Mrs. Morgan's spot will be mine eventually. What's the point of you holding onto it?"
Harper finally woke up. She filed for divorce without looking back.
The day she signed the papers, she smiled calmly at the reporters waiting outside: "The reason for the divorce? Mr. Morgan was simply never able to satisfy me. In that department."
The untouchable CEO became a punchline overnight.
Evan assumed she was getting back at him. He had no idea Harper was no longer the caged bird he remembered.
Her design talent shook the industry. His own business rivals fell for her.
By the time he realized the partner he had been desperately chasing was his ex-wife, it was already too late.
"Harper, can we start over?"
"Mr. Morgan, if something's wrong with you, go see a doctor. Do you need me to pay for the appointment?"

Accidental Pups×Contract Marriage × Multiple Identity × Drama × Vengeance & Betrayal × One-Night Stand × Billionaire/CEO × Brave Heroine × True & Fake Heiress

Warning: This is a slow-burn romance. The love story develops gradually through trust, healing, family, and shared secrets.

“He doesn’t trust anyone.”

“I know.”

“Then why does he trust you?”

I don’t have an answer.

I only know that when I found little Cassian bound and abandoned, I couldn’t walk away. I didn’t know then that he was the son of Alistair Voss—the cold, powerful billionaire who trusted no one.

But Cassian trusted me.

And that changed everything.

When Alistair asks me to stay for his son, I refuse. Until he makes an even more shocking offer: marriage.

What begins as an arranged marriage slowly becomes something neither of us expected. Beneath the same roof, Cassian becomes the family I never knew I needed, while Alistair begins to see the woman behind my guarded heart.

But I didn’t return to Verona simply for a new life.

Five years ago, I lost my memory. My identity was stolen. Someone betrayed me, and someone wanted me gone.

Now the past is catching up with us.

And when it finally does, I may discover that Cassian chose me for a reason no one ever expected.

Some loves take time. Some truths take even longer to uncover.

He was born into extraordinary wealth, admired by all.
Until the woman he loved betrayed him. After years together, they parted ways.
Five years later, their paths crossed again. He sat at a bar with another woman in his arms, but the moment he saw her, rage flashed in his eyes.
"You betrayed me. What gives you the right to show your face here?"
She nodded and walked away.
He lost his mind searching for her.
Only then did he learn why she had really left.
He pulled her close, arms tight around her. "Marry me. Whatever burdens you carry, I'll carry them with you. Whatever tears fall, I'll wipe them away."

As a housewife, I never forgot a single milestone: every wedding anniversary, my husband’s 7th career anniversary, and the birthdays of my husband and daughter. Yet, my own birthday was always ignored. Both my husband and daughter only cared about that outsider woman. Finally, one day, I chose to walk away and revive my vintage shop business. Now... they are the ones filled with regret.

For my fiancée’s career, I was willing to be the ghost designer behind her for five years.

Until the day of the key bid, she stole the blueprint I had spent two sleepless years perfecting and signed it with the name of her useless first love.

The drawings are gone You can draw them again He needs this project to survive Be sensible she said, impatient when I confronted her

I did not argue My heart went cold I calmly left my engagement ring and my resignation letter and went to Europe

In just three months, without me, she became disgraced and buried in debt While I won Europe’s highest architectural gold award

I watched the once proud her soak in icy water for five hours just to earn a trace of my sympathy

I handed her a basic junior interview form with indifference Want to start over Report to the front desk Start with errands and work your way up

Three months after being reunited with the Harrington family, I won £5 million in the lottery.

Then, they kicked me out of the house.

My father, my mother, and that imposter brother—three swindlers—fabricated an apocalyptic lie and used a so-called "heirloom" to steal my lottery ticket.

They didn't know that the end times really were coming.

Unbeknownst to them, the true power of that wristband was—item duplication.

Little did they know, I was the one who had truly been reborn from the apocalypse.

In my past life, they used me as bait, letting me be torn to pieces by the infected.

In this life, 5 million pounds? Go ahead and squander it.

I want to watch them struggle in despair and die in fear.

And I will have unlimited resources at my disposal, on this wasteland—

The day the IVF succeeded was when I realized Michael had deceived me all along.
He had only used me as a surrogate for my sister.
When I confronted him, he tested me, forcing me to kill someone. "Afraid to pull the trigger? Doesn't seem like my kind of woman," he sneered.
I tried to run, but he caught me.
He kept me locked away, forced me to eat foods I was allergic to until I needed my stomach pumped, and chained me to the bed while he went off with her.
I cried until I had no tears left—and finally learned how to hold a gun.

My adopted sister, Cordelia, conspired with her biological mother to harvest my organs alive, yet she had the audacity to claim I paid thugs to rape her.
My biological parents didn't bother to ask for the truth. They cursed me, calling me a vicious bastard, and threatened to break my legs.
My fiancé, Caspian, coldly announced the cancellation of our engagement, declaring he would marry the very murderer who killed me.
I had been dead for exactly three days. No one cared. My body was rotting back in a moldy storage room.
Through it all, my soul was trapped in the manor, forced to witness this absurd farce.
But what they didn't expect was that when they finally learned of my death—
Everyone went completely insane.

For the third time, Kael fled before the wedding—this time to deliver medicine to the neighbor girl he grew up with.
As compensation, the pack elders offered me two chests of rare ore and the deed to an island.
Someone, still hopeful, called Kael on speakerphone.
His careless voice echoed through the hall:
“Why bother with compensation? Ella loves me so much; she’ll come around as soon as I go back and sweet-talk her a little.”
“Sophia’s health is what matters now. Once she recovers, I’ll just hold another ceremony for Ella.”
The elders tried to explain, but the surrounding werewolves were all waiting to see the show—waiting to see how much humiliation I would swallow.
Just like the first two times.
But I’d had enough. And I’d lost all interest in Kael.
I kicked over the chest of ore and let my gaze fall on Kael’s uncle.
Then, I smiled.
“I heard the old Alpha left a will: whoever can claim me… becomes the next Alpha.”

They thought that by forcing me to my death, they could devour everything.

My father jumped off a building, and I became a destitute young master whom everyone could bully. To pay off debts, I married into the Hawthorne family and became their sharpest knife.

After my father-in-law died suddenly, my wife immediately brought her childhood sweetheart into the house and forced me to divorce him.

My resistance resulted in a murder plotted by 928 × 213.

When I opened my eyes again, Chloe, who had been watching over me for three days and three nights, was beside me.

She said, "I'll take you away."

Three years later, I returned as a mysterious investor. The first thing I did was to buy the family's bankrupt old factory for 1.5 billion.

My ex-wife and I bumped into each other on the street; it was like seeing a ghost.

I smiled and stuck a 30 million yuan check on her forehead: "This is to repay the divorce fee you gave me back then. Keep the change."

The real revenge has only just begun.

My brother Miles blames me for our parents' deaths.
So he chose to adopt the deaf Vivian instead of keeping me.
Later, I met Sullivan.
He gave me a grand confession. He chose me, resolutely.
He also said I hired someone to assault Vivian—that I didn't deserve sympathy.
Five years after being cast out of my family, a dismembered female body was found inside a carnival mascot costume.
Miles, now a police officer, led the investigation. Sullivan, now a forensic pathologist, performed the autopsy.
They saw the bloodstained hearing aid and immediately called Vivian.
"I'm fine. I just saw the news—some big case. Should we tell Sis to be careful too? What if something happens to her?"
They refused, almost in unison.
"The moment she killed our parents, she stopped being my sister."
"She was jealous of you. She did too many terrible things. If she's dead, she had it coming."
My soul hovered in the air, watching them. I laughed until I cried.
But when they found out the victim was me—
Why did they both go mad?

My husband's foster sister, Delilah, gets poisoned and ends up paralyzed. My husband, Grayson, the Don of this whole crime family, doesn't even bother checking the security cameras. He just throws me, two months pregnant, into the cistern where they punish traitors.

"Tessa, hand over the antidote, or die."

I kneel in the freezing swamp water and beg him. I didn't poison her.

He answers with a kick to the stomach.

For three straight days, I suffer down there. Leeches tear into my skin. My baby turns into a pool of black blood and dissolves into the filthy water. By the end, my vocal cords tear to shreds, my body goes cold, and I stop breathing.

His men get on their knees and beg him to spare me. He just sneers.

"That woman's always been good at playing the victim. No food, no medicine. Let her keep soaking."

Three days later, he finally walks into the cistern, and it's only to give me an ultimatum.

"Crawl out and apologize to Delilah on your knees. Otherwise I'll strip you of your title and sell you off to a trafficking ring. You'll wish you were dead."

No one answers him.

He has no idea. I already am.

The man I marry will become the future leader of the company.
In my previous life, without a second thought, I chose to marry the eldest son
whom I had always liked.
But shortly after our wedding, he came stepsister,
and even took out his frustration of not getting her on me,
going so far as to poison and kill me.
This time around,
I chose his younger brother.
I'll see for myself
if he can spend his life with my sister without me standing in their way. me.
This time around,
I chose his younger brother.
I'll see for myself
if he can spend his life with my sister without me standing in their way.

Lola learned eight years ago that sometimes survival means leaving everything behind.

She fled El Paso after her drunken stepfather, Octavio Lopez, crossed a line he could never take back—and after her mother chose to stay with him anyway. Since then, Lola has built a new life in Nowhere, New Mexico, surrounded by the Son’s of Doom MC, the women of the Devil’s Den, and the family she found for herself.

Including Emilio.

As Vice President of the Son’s of Doom, Emilio is dangerous, infuriating, and impossible to ignore. For years, he and Lola have fought, flirted, and fallen into bed together whenever the tension became too much.

Sex was easy.

Feelings were never supposed to be part of the deal.

But when Lola’s mother dies and Octavio appears at the funeral after eight years, half drunk and just as cruel as she remembers, Emilio stops pretending Lola is only someone he sleeps with.

One insult makes him throw the first punch.

One confession changes everything.

Maybe you not being mine is the fucking problem.

Lola knows sleeping with Emilio is one thing. Loving him could cost her far more. He isn’t some man she can walk away from if things fall apart. He is family, Max’s vice president, and woven into every part of the life she fought to build.

But Octavio didn’t come back into her life alone.

He has gang ties, knows far too much about the Son’s of Doom, and may be more dangerous than Lola ever realized.

She escaped him once.

This time, Emilio has no intention of letting her face him alone.

I never asked to be special. I just wanted to survive.

When I got the scholarship to Caldera Academy, I thought it was my ticket out of a life of scraping by on the mainland. My magic was weak, messy, and hard to control, but they told me the Covenant Ritual would fix that. They told me I’d bond with a creature, balance my power, and finally belong.

They lied.

I didn't get a beautiful, glowing stallion or a friendly wind-hound. I bonded with Vesper—a shadow-manticore, a creature the world swore was extinct because they were too dangerous to live. Suddenly, I wasn't just a charity case anymore. I was a target.

Now, my roommate has gone missing, the teachers are covering it up, and the golden-boy warden, Julian Sterling, is watching my every move. But I’m not running. I’ve spent my whole life being afraid, and I’m done with it. If this school wants to treat me like a monster, I’ll show them exactly what a monster can do.

“Sophie Love's ability to impart magic to her readers is exquisitely wrought in powerfully evocative phrases and descriptions….FOR NOW AND FOREVER is 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 (Diane Donovan) “FOR NOW AND FOREVER is a very well written novel, describing the struggle of a woman (Emily) to find her true identity. The author did an amazing job with the creation of the characters and her description of the environment. 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, Roberto MattosEmily Mitchell, 35, living and working in New York City, has struggled through a string of failed relationships. When her boyfriend of 7 years takes her out for their long-awaited anniversary dinner, Emily is sure that this time will be different, that this time she will finally get the ring.When he gives her a small bottle of perfume instead, Emily knows the time has come to break up with him—and for her entire life to have a fresh start.Reeling from her unsatisfying, high-pressure life, Emily decides she needs a change. She decides on a whim to drive to her father’s abandoned home on the coast of Maine, a sprawling, historic house where she’d spent magical summers as a child. But the house, long-neglected, is in dire need of repair, and the winter is no time to be in Maine. Emily hasn’t been there in 20 years, when a tragic accident changed her sister’s life and shattered her family. Her parents divorced, her father disappeared, and Emily was never able to bring herself to step foot in that house again.Now, for some reason, with her life reeling, Emily feels drawn to the only childhood place she ever knew. She plans on going just for a weekend, to clear her head. But something about the house, its numerous secrets, its memories of her father, its oceanfront allure, its small-town setting—and most of all, its gorgeous, mysterious caretaker—doesn’t want to let her leave. Can she find the answers she’s been looking for here, in the most unexpected place of all?Can a weekend become a lifetime?FOR NOW AND FOREVER is book #1 in the debut of a dazzling new romance series that will make you laugh, make you cry, will keep you turning pages late into the night—and will make you fall in love with romance all over again.Book #2 will be available soon.

"Pretend to be my girlfriend."
Gabriella Walker came to Saint Joseph High to study, not to fall for the school's arrogant hockey captain.
With a university scholarship on the line and her family's ruined reputation to restore, the last thing Gabriella needs is Ethan Carter. But when she's assigned to tutor the failing hockey captain, a fake dating deal throws them into the spotlight.
The more they pretend, the harder it becomes to remember what's fake.
Then anonymous threats begin appearing.
Old secrets refuse to stay buried.
And Gabriella discovers that the boy stealing her heart may be connected to the very family that destroyed hers.
She came looking for the truth...
But what if the truth costs her the only person she's ever learned to love?

Moving into my dad’s new house was supposed to be a fresh start.
Instead, it became my worst temptation.

Because my stepsister’s boyfriend is impossible to ignore.
The university’s hockey golden boy. Broad shoulders. Cold eyes. A smile that promises trouble.

He hates me at first.
Or maybe he wants me.
Sometimes it feels like both.

We argue. We clash. We pretend the tension is nothing.
But late nights make secrets dangerous.
Stolen glances turn into moments that burn too hot to deny.

He belongs to her.
My stepsister trusts me.
And crossing that line would destroy everything.

Yet every time he looks at me like I am the one he wants, I forget what is right.
I forget who I am supposed to be loyal to.
I forget that some desires come with consequences that can never be undone.

Because falling for my stepsister’s boyfriend is not just forbidden.
It is a betrayal that could cost us all everything.

When you, a nerd, get stood up by your ex and wait all night in a bar on New Year's Eve
That's when you meet the hottest hockey team captain who asked you to pretend to be his date so he could dump his latest girlfriend.
When you're being pestered by your ex to get back together, he shows up and tells your ex to fuck off.
Your ex says, I know this is just a deal and you can't possibly like her.
He (kisses you in front of everyone): Deal, Like this?

My new neighbor is a jerk. A grumpy, arrogant bastard with the kind of looks that melt panties from ten feet away. At first, I was dazzled by him—tall, broad-shouldered, stupidly hot. Then he opened his mouth, and I realized I hated him. He's smug, rude, and way too good at getting under my skin.
I wanted him gone—until the night he saved me from getting abducted.
Now the photos are everywhere, and the internet thinks we're dating.
"To spice up Rhett's image and shift the negativity," his agent says, "you both need to run with the story. The world needs to keep believing you're dating—for a while."
I lean back on the couch. "What's in it for me?"
Rhett scowls. "I'm not going to let you paint me naked."
I roll my eyes. "Who says I'm even interested in doing that?"
I smile. "Rhett's going to accompany me to my cousin's wedding."
Fake dating with my infuriating, too-hot neighbor? Great.
Except Rhett Lawson isn't just an NHL hockey star—he's a powerful Alpha hiding his real identity. His parents were murdered when he was a boy, leaving him and his pack cursed. The Moon Goddess once whispered: "You'll find your greatest enemy and your fated mate in the human world. She holds the key to your redemption."
He came here to find his enemy. Not to fall for me.
But fate doesn't care about his plans—or mine.

I was ruined overnight… so I made a deal with the one man no one expected.

I trusted my best friend and that was my first mistake.

I had it all, until Sarah Dean drugged me, framed me, and destroyed my reputation overnight. Then the whole school thought I was a liar and a cheat. Even my boyfriend walked away.

Then Justin Chamberlain walked in. The gorgeous young hockey coach made me an offer: pretend to be his girlfriend, and everyone would start believing me again.

It was just a performance. A way to get revenge.

Until the lines blurred, until the fake feelings became real and until I realized that the person I was pretending to love might be the only one who ever saw me clearly.

Fake relationship. Real revenge. And a love story I never saw coming.

Dylan Hunter never hooks up with the same girl twice. He’s cold, ruthless, and the star hockey quarterback everyone fears.

Zara Summers has secretly crushed on Dylan since her freshman year. But when their paths cross, Dylan targets her and there’s no escaping him.

He bullies her at school, turning her old feelings into anger. Or so she thinks.

To save her sick sister, Zara ends up babysitting Dylan. Spending time alone with him changes everything. The tension builds. Sparks fly.

The guy who bullies her in public is the same one who awakens her deepest desires behind closed doors.

He’s her bully by day…

her addiction by night.

And neither of them can fight the pull anymore..

Mila Kamal has spent her entire life fighting to survive. As an orphan and scholarship student at Silvercrest Royal University, she works multiple jobs just to afford food, books, and a place to sleep. But one humiliating mistake changes everything.

After standing up to the university's most feared bully, Mila loses her job and, in desperation, agrees to spend one night with a wealthy stranger for five thousand dollars. She wakes up alone, with missing money, no memory of the night... and her reputation in ruins.

Within hours, photos of her entering a luxury hotel spread across campus. Branded a slut, abandoned by her only friend, and expelled from the university, Mila believes her life is over.

Then the kingdom's most admired student—and future Alpha—Seun Revencrest steps forward and claims she is his girlfriend.

His shocking announcement saves her from disgrace, but it also thrusts her into a deadly game of lies, politics, and ancient prophecies. As their fake relationship slowly turns into something real, Mila discovers she is no ordinary orphan. She is the last surviving descendant of an ancient bloodline, destined to become the future Luna.

Now powerful enemies want her dead before her destiny can be fulfilled.

But the deeper Mila digs into her past, the more terrifying the truth becomes.

The man she blamed for ruining her life may be innocent.

The friend she trusted betrayed her from the beginning.

And the woman pulling the strings has been waiting over twenty years for Mila to return...

Because some secrets were never meant to survive.

And neither was she.

“I was never supposed to fall for him.”

I was only the invisible boy at the ice arena—the one nobody noticed, the one who hid behind a camera and wrote anonymous stories about the hockey captain I could never reach.

Curtis Glass was everything I wasn’t. Powerful. Admired. Untouchable.

When he discovered my secret, I thought he would destroy me. Instead, he stepped closer, protected me, and made me believe I finally mattered.

But I didn’t know the truth.

Before I became the person he cared about, I was only a bet he made with his teammates.

A challenge.

A game.

And I was foolish enough to fall in love with the man who planned to break my heart.

Now Curtis says he never meant to hurt me.

But how can I trust the person who made me feel special… when I was only his secret from the beginning?

To everyone else, Kael Ashford is the legendary captain of St. Jude Academy's hockey team.

To Lillian Hart, he is the most terrifying secret she was never meant to uncover.

Desperate to earn enough money for her younger brother's medical treatment, Lillian sneaks after Kael following one of his games, hoping to capture an exclusive photograph she can sell.

She never expects her camera to capture the one moment capable of destroying his entire world.

Instead of taking the evidence...

Kael comes to her.

He doesn't steal her camera.

He doesn't threaten her.

He doesn't offer an explanation.

He simply places a contract in front of her.

"Be my girlfriend."

Lillian refuses.

Until fate corners her with no way out, forcing her to accept the proposal of the most dangerous man on campus.

What begins as a fake relationship soon drags her into a world of hidden truths, carefully crafted lies, and a war she never knew existed.

The closer she gets to Kael, the more she realizes...

The monster everyone fears may be far less terrifying than the people lurking in the shadows.

And when every mask finally falls away...

Who is truly bound by that contract—

Her...

Or the heart of a monster?

Maya Adams has a type…

Anyone who isn’t Hunter Callum.

To the rest of the world, he’s the God of Hockey..a cold, arrogant, shirtless-on-every-billboard legend.

To Maya, he’s the prude, stuck-up asshole who just got her suspended from her dream job at a top New York publishing firm.

When a drunken night of trash-talking Hunter at a club ends in a bloody brawl and a viral scandal, Maya wakes up in the one place she never thought she’d be…Hunter’s penthouse.

Now, his agent is offering her a deal she can’t afford to refuse

Play the part of the doting, supportive girlfriend for five months.

Curb the temper of the league's most volatile player.

Walk away with $3.5 million and her career back.

The rules are simple: keep it professional in private and convincing in public. But as the "God of Hockey" starts showing Maya a side of himself the cameras never see, the lines between their contract and their chemistry begin to blur.

Maya is supposed to be faking it. But Hunter? He stopped playing a game the moment he laid eyes on her.

Falling for the enemy wasn't in the contract. But obsessed gods don't play by the rules.

When Carol Bennett caught her long-time boyfriend cheating, she didn't cry or beg. Instead, she exposed the scandal online, turning him into a viral disgrace overnight. Then, without looking back, she agreed to a marriage of convenience with Ethan Mitchell, a powerful billionaire suffering from a terminal illness—her estranged father's carefully arranged match.
On their wedding night, Ethan handed her a cold-hearted prenup and warned her not to expect love, money, or a future. Fine by Carol. She played her role perfectly, calling him "husband" with a sweet smile while keeping her heart locked away.
But the aloof CEO who once wanted nothing to do with her is now the one chasing her. One kiss, one glance, and suddenly he's breaking his own rules.
"Carol, kiss me."
She smirks, her fingers trailing along his collarbone. "Falling for me already, Mr. CEO? Looks like you're the one breaking the contract."
Who would've thought the dying billionaire would end up begging for a second chance?

"You want a divorce?" His voice was ice, sending a chill down her spine. "You'll never get it."
For three years, Bellatrix devoted herself to Cillian Laurent—Miami’s ruthless tycoon and her indifferent husband—hoping to earn his love. But when she’s diagnosed with a life-threatening illness, she realizes the bitter truth: she was never his choice. Just a placeholder for the woman who abandoned him… and has now returned.
Determined to reclaim her life, Bellatrix demands a divorce. But the man who once ignored her now refuses to let her go. As buried secrets unravel, she discovers their twisted marriage was never what it seemed.
Can she break free from a love that was never hers?
Or will his obsession destroy them both?

Lorraine never expected to lose her virginity to her cold, unreadable CEO Tristan—let alone five times in one night. Even more shocking? He keeps showing up to save her, stepping in not once, but twice, to protect her from a toxic ex. After several heartfelt proposals, she finally agrees to a contract marriage—thinking it's a practical solution to a messy life.

Tristan has had his eyes on Lorraine for years—the brilliant top designer working quietly under his nose. The contract is just the beginning of his plan to claim her completely. He's ready to offer her everything: protection, devotion, and a love she's never dared to hope for.

But when jealous exes and relentless suitors re-enter the picture, threatening to tear them apart, their fragile arrangement is put to the test. Can a marriage built on strategy survive long enough to become something real?

Everything she believed in was a lie.
Keira and Alden were Chosen Mates who built the powerful Stormfang Pack together—until she discovered their Mate Bond was a witch's illusion, and the child she raised was actually his with his true Fated Mate, the Omega Rena.
Broken and ready to leave, a secret letter reveals she is the long-lost daughter of Mooncrest Pack's Alpha, the sole heir to a legacy she never knew.
As her dormant Alpha blood awakens in rage, she vows to reclaim her birthright.
But when Kaelan, the cold and calculating Alpha King, approaches her and claims, "You are my Fated Mate," Keira is thrown into deeper confusion.
Why would he say that? And in a world built on deception, can a bond that begins as strategy ever become real… or is it just another layer of the game?

When Iris went to prison for her boyfriend, she discovered that he was about to marry Alpha's daughter.
It turned out that he had been using her all along and then abandoned her...
Iris fell into despair, but unexpectedly, she crossed paths with Marcus, Alpha's son and her former patient.
She became her ex's brother-in-law's wedding companion?! The most notorious playboy in the Pack?

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..."

1

Eight years ago, I was the heir to a powerful dynasty—the man set to inherit an empire.

On the way home from a business deal, our convoy was ambushed and I was taken. My fiancée arrived with the ransom, and the kidnappers gave her a choice: save one man. She saved my closest friend—and left me bleeding in the ruins.

They thought I was dead. They went on camera, announced my “tragic death,” took my company, split my legacy, and lived on my name for eight long years.

But I didn’t die. A gray-zone mercenary unit pulled me out of a pile of bodies. I changed my name and climbed from the bottom of their world—training, bleeding, killing, leading—until I became one of their commanders.

Today, my fiancée is marrying my best friend. The invitation arrived with my name on it. I board a first-class flight under a new identity and head straight for their wedding.

Halfway through the ceremony, the priest asks if anyone objects.

I stand up. “I object.”

I didn’t come back to give my blessing. I came back to collect.

After being stood up for the ninety-ninth time while attempting to register for marriage, I sent my fiancé a breakup message. He had allowed me to be let down ninety-nine times, dismissing my asthma as mere pretentiousness and perceiving my sacrifices as acts of greed, all the while lavishing his patience upon another woman. It was only when he had his mistress select a cheap necklace for me and sketched explicit nudes of her that I realized these seven years were not a narrative of profound love, but rather an absurd farce playing out solely in my life. The moment I dispatched the breakup message, I never envisioned that this man, who viewed me as dispensable, would later pursue me with a frenzied obsession.

To fulfill a dying comrade's final request, I spent twelve years living in the shadows to protect his daughter. I took bullets for her, laundered her black-market assets, and eventually handed over my entire stake in the security empire. In her eyes, I am her father’s murderer; in mine, she is a mission—the only flicker of light left in my life. Until that fateful banquet, when she personally shoved me into the sights of mercenaries. Watching my blood bloom across her dress, she hooked her arm around my nemesis and ordered coldly, "Clean it up." In that moment, twelve years of devotion collapsed, and a heart that beat only for her finally learned to freeze. This time, I’ve decided to personally destroy the monster I raised.

I once loved Ryan deeply and helped him become the Alpha, only to be rewarded with chains in a dungeon and the mocking laughter of him and his mistress.

Fate gave me a second chance—I woke up reborn on the morning of the mate selection ceremony. There he was, still ordering me around in front of everyone, expecting me to play the obedient servant.

Everyone tried to convince me that Ryan, the man who killed me, is the "right choice."

Yet I chose Connor—the man feared by the entire clan, the one who will bring ruin to the clan for the sake of his one true love.

This time, I refuse to be the stepping stone on Ryan's climb to power.

I'm going to make everyone see who truly holds the reins.

Serena and I got tricked into vampire territory, forced into blood slavery.
By the time the pack showed up to save us, I was already the top blood slave in that pit, kneeling beside the vampire count, counting his earnings.
Serena was left rotting in a cell, poisoned, pregnant, and barely alive.
The pack offered a huge bounty to find whoever set us up.
I was the only one who knew. And I said nothing.
Morwenna, the Alpha's mother, begged me on her knees to talk. I closed my eyes, pretending not to hear.
The elders pushed. I stayed silent.
My mate, Alpha Kai, dragged me onto the Blood Moon memory altar, furious.
"Serena's dying in that tent, and you're here protecting those animals!"
"Disgusting. How did I ever fall for you!"
"This stone's going to rip your soul apart and drag you to hell with your precious vampires!"
But when the truth finally surfaced, Kai just stood there. Speechless.

Selene only wanted one thing—revenge.
After being humiliated by her ex-fiancé and betrayed by her best friend, she shows up at their wedding with a lie big enough to save her pride: a handsome billionaire fiancé.
The rented Novio she hires as her fake fiancé turns out to be Alejandro Velasco devastatingly handsome, dangerous, and the new CEO of Velasco Real Estate Group.
What was supposed to be a one-night act of revenge quickly spirals out of control when Alejandro plays along too well… and the entire wedding believes they are truly engaged.
But Selene’s nightmare doesn’t end there.
Because the next day, she walks into her job… and finds out the same man she paid to pretend to love her is now her boss.
Now trapped between humiliation, desire, and a dangerously convincing lie, Selene must survive a man who knows all her secrets and seems determined to blur the line between fake and real.
And the worst part?
She’s no longer sure who is acting anymore… him or her.

At her engagement party, her fiancé had betrayed her.She announced she wanted to take revenge on her fiancé.


A man's icy lips covered hers as he devoured her, giving her temporary respite from the heat. She reached out and flung her arms around his neck, sucking his lips greedily.

Loud moans and pants soon resounded around the room. Their shadows on the wall opposite overlapped with a burning passion.

As the light was dim, Charlotte couldn't see the man's face clearly. The only thing that occurred to her was how beastly he was in bed. He savagely took her until dawn.

Even if he hated me, I couldn’t look away from him. Even if he called me an imposter, a trickster, all I could think of was how alluring his scent was. Even when he was ready to take my sister’s words over mine, I couldn’t help falling for him.
I wanted him to take me in his arms and tell me that the last few weeks had been a dream after all. That he loved me, as a true mate would. I wanted him to be my Prince Charming. To be my salvation.
But that was not my fate. Goddess forbid if I had anything easy in life!
Sometimes, I truly believed that this mate bond was a curse. Not my being the Stealer.


Callista Leander turned eighteen with hopes of finding her happily ever after. But instead, she was left locked in a tower of a castle, doomed to be married off to her true mate’s feral brother to save him from certain death.

All because of one curse and a conniving sister. Her life was suddenly filled with betrayals and secrets, and in every corner she looked, danger lurked. Now, with the whole world against her. At the mercy of an angry king, her oblivious one true mate, will she make it out alive on the other side?

Loving him will cost them everything…

Not loving him will cost more.

Derek has one goal: survive high school without drawing too much attention or pissing off his pack’s alpha.

As the youngest son of the alpha, his life is governed by lycan hierarchy, tradition, and politics. With no signs of awakening a lycan spirit, his only value is what he can do for the pack’s image. He knows he’s only ever one misstep away from exile… or worse.

Then, he finds a boy trapped in a locker on orientation day, and everything changes.

Derek shouldn’t want Nikolias. He’s off-limits. A risk Derek can’t afford.

So why does it feel like he’s the only thing worth fighting for?

Nikolias has just lost everything: his parents, his home, and any sense of peace. Sent back to the town his family left years ago to live with his prejudiced and controlling uncle, who wants nothing to do with anything—or anyone—not human, he’s trying to do everything in his power to get out quickly.

But then he meets Derek again, and all of his plans vanish in the soft, yearning flecks of gold in Derek’s green-hazel eyes. He’s drawn to Derek in a way that’s impossible to deny, and he thinks Derek feels the same way, despite the danger their relationship holds for him.

As Moonshadow's politics turn deadly, Derek and Nikolai are caught in the crossfire of a war that had started long before they were born, and their bond becomes a threat and a lifeline that neither can afford to sever.

Because the heart wants what it wants….

And it never asks permission.

TW: Graphic Violence, Suicide Ideation, Suicide Attempt, Child Abuse, Cult-Like Behavior

My Big Bad Wolf Series: Elysia & Alex-Book 1 (Nocturnal Collections)

She broke into his mansion. Now she’s trapped in his world.

A cunning thief with nothing to lose.
A powerful Alpha with everything to protect.
When Elysia Crinshaw is caught stealing from Alex Landry, she doesn’t go to jail, she’s claimed. Drawn into his world, she learns that freedom can be more dangerous than chains…and love more brutal than any cage.

After I retired, I was willing to do the dirtiest work at a small auto repair shop—just to give my sick daughter an ordinary childhood.
I endured my mother’s insults, my eldest brother’s wage cuts, my younger brother’s extortion.
But they actually joined forces to steal my daughter’s life-saving money for gambling, then sold me into an illegal mine to pay off their debts.
When the iron chain locked around my wrist, when my daughter cried in despair, the killing intent that had slept in my blood for three years finally woke up completely.
They had no idea I was once the iron-blooded God of War—commander of a million troops, the name that made enemy nations tremble.

Lumi once lived a life full of hope and happiness, but after her parents' mysterious death, she’s left broken and enslaved in the Frostborne Pack. Interest: Discovering that her parents were murdered by the rogue Alpha, Kilan, and learning of her boyfriend Kael’s betraya

Lydia has always tried to play by the rules: work hard, be honest, get good grades, and good things will come. For the most part, it’s gotten her far. She’s entering her senior year at Aegis and is on track to get her brother a decent lawyer and out of prison, while their grandfather is still well enough.

Soon after catching her boyfriend fucking her mentor, the Fortuna Nike informs her of the rules and conditions of her scholarship that weren’t even hidden in the fine print: an arranged marriage with whatever member they choose.

If she complies, her brother’s freedom is guaranteed. It should be an easy decision, but the thought leaves her shaking with dread.

Just as she resigns herself to the demands of the Fortuna Nike, Dorian Knox, a well-known playboy of the Fortuna Centurions, approaches her with a mutually beneficial—if insulting—offer: pretend to date him and bypass the Society’s matchmaking.

Unfortunately, Dorian is also the asshole who got her fired.


Dorian knows what he looks like, what he drinks like, what he fucks like, and most importantly, what he plays like. He revels in every wild party and vicious check into the boards as it’s the closest he’ll ever get to telling the Society to fuck off.

After his center’s high school sweetheart romance falls apart, the Society decides that Dorian needs a rebrand to help manage the fallout of the Centurions’ image. Threatened with losing everything he’s worked for and the freedom of his younger sister, he decides to play along… to the very letter of the Society’s laws.

He just needs a woman to play at being his girlfriend who won’t catch feelings and will do as she’s told.

The irritatingly no-nonsense maid who sets his blood on fire will have to do.

“Sophie Love's ability to impart magic to her readers is exquisitely wrought in powerfully evocative phrases and descriptions….FOR NOW AND FOREVER is 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 (Diane Donovan) “A very well written novel, describing the struggle of a woman (Emily) to find her true identity. The author did an amazing job with the creation of the characters and her description of the environment. 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, Roberto Mattos (re For Now and Forever)FOREVER AND FOR ALWAYS is book #2 in the romance series THE INN AT SUNSET HARBOR, which begins with book #1, FOR NOW AND FOREVER—a free download!35 year old Emily Mitchell has fled her job, apartment and ex-boyfriend in New York City for her father's abandoned home on the coast of Maine, needing a change in her life. Tapping her life savings to restore the historic home, and with a budding relationship with the caretaker, Daniel, Emily prepares to open the Inn at Sunset Harbor as Memorial Day comes.But all does not go as planned. Emily learns quickly that she has no idea how to run a B&B. The house, despite her efforts, needs new, urgent repairs she cannot afford. Her covetous neighbor is still determined to make trouble for her. And worst of all: just as her relationship with Daniel is blossoming, she learns he has a secret. One which will change everything.With her friends urging her to return to New York City and her ex-boyfriend trying to win her back, Emily has a life-changing decision to make. Will she try to stick it out, to embrace small-town life, her father’s old house? Or will she turn her back on her new friends, neighbors and life—and on the man she has fallen in love with?FOREVER AND FOR ALWAYS is book #2 of a dazzling new romance series that will make you laugh, make you cry, will keep you turning pages late into the night—and will make you fall in love with romance all over again.Book #3 will be available soon.

“A powerful opener to a series [that] will produce a combination of feisty protagonists and challenging circumstances to thoroughly involve not just young adults, but adult fantasy fans who seek epic stories fueled by powerful friendships and adversaries.”--Midwest Book Review (Diane Donovan) (re A Throne for Sisters)“Morgan Rice's imagination is limitless!”--Books and Movie Reviews (re A Throne for Sisters)From #1 Bestselling fantasy author Morgan Rice comes a new series for middle grade readers (and beyond)! Fans of Harry Potter and Percy Jackson—look no further!In THE OBSIDIANS: OLIVER BLUE AND THE SCHOOL FOR SEERS (BOOK THREE), 11 year old Oliver Blue once again finds himself in the race of his life. His beloved friend Esther is dying of time-travel sickness, and the only chance of saving her is to risk his life and travel back in time once more.This time, it is to the Italy of the 1400s, to visit two very important people: Leonardo Da Vinci, and his rival, Michelangelo. Only Leonardo’s inventions hold the answer; and only Michelangelo’s paintings hold the key.The Obsidians, though, are bent on revenge, and Chris is determined to not stop until his little brother is done.An uplifting fantasy, THE OBSIDIANS is book #3 in a riveting new series filled with magic, love, humor, heartbreak, tragedy, destiny, and a string of shocking surprises. It will make you fall in love with OLIVER BLUE, and keep you turning pages late into the night.Book #4 in the series will be available soon! “The beginnings of something remarkable are there.” --San Francisco Book Review (re A Quest of Heroes)

Not your regular billionaire romance

She had a son with the most dangerous man in the city.
And he can never find out.

Four years ago, Aurielle Duval spent one reckless night with a stranger—
a night that left her with a little boy who has his impossible blue eyes.

She never learned his name.
He disappeared before sunrise.
And she rebuilt her life alone… until the day she walks into an interview at the world’s most powerful company.

Its CEO is Kieran D’Angelo.
Cold. Untouchable. Ruthless.

The man she prayed she would never see again.

He doesn’t recognize her
but he watches her, tests her, and claims her as his personal assistant.

What Kieran doesn’t know is that Aurielle carries more than his past.

She is the erased daughter of the D’Angelo empire—
a child they tried to destroy before she ever opened her eyes.

And the son she hides?
He’s the living proof of a truth that could tear the family apart.

When Kieran’s dark, charming cousin Dante returns—
obsessed with Aurielle and hungry for power—
a dangerous game begins.

Love, obsession, and blood collide.
And in a family built on lies,
the woman they tried to erase may be the one who brings the empire to its knees.

A cocky Scot, an innocent pole dancer and a penthouse apartment with a view.

What could go wrong?

To escape her difficult past Sasha jumps into an opportunity of managing the sale of the stylish,up market apartment.

All of this sounds like a dream, but no one has ever mentioned the arrogant, mouthy Scottish god that lives next door.

The problem is that Dexter isn’t just good looking, he is also a fist-clenching, heart-pounding, fervent hot man, who makes her heart flutter uncontrollably.

She hates his cock-sure attitude.

With the talent, of melting women’s panties off at a glance, he thinks he can have Sasha too. Well, he couldn’t be more wrong. Sasha would rather eat dirt than sleep with him.

He vows not to fall for her, but their scorching attraction proves impossible to ignore…