Is 'A Dreadful Splendor' Worth Reading?

What would you do if the man you love so deeply isn’t the man you think he is? What would you do if you found out that he is exactly what you fear the most? What would you do if you turned out to be what he despises the most? The moment Thea Walker saw Damiano Riccardo Chiaramonte, she fell deeply, madly, and truly in love with him. Damiano is everything she ever dreamed of in a man: drop-dead gorgeous, funny, intelligent, mysterious. But he is also the owner of the hotel where she works. So, there can never be anything romantic between them. Or at least she thought so. A dance under the moonlight, a devouring kiss, and their fairytale begins… Some time after, Thea discovers his awful secret life and her dreams of a happy-ever-after crumble into dust at the realization that he is what she hates the most, and her own family is Chiaramonte's greatest enemy… Brokenhearted, Thea decides to disappear, never to be found again. After all, she knows extremely well how to become a ghost. Still, love creates strong bonds, so after several months, Damiano finds her. And he is there not only for her, but also to claim Lorenzo, his son, the little boy Thea carried in secret and has sworn to protect! He leaves her no choice: to stay with her child, she must travel with him to the beautiful and mysterious Sicily and become Damiano’s bride. Still… What kind of marriage can they have when it’s based on secrets, hate, but also a heat too much to bear?

Guerero returned after a year of war. But he didn't come back alone. Standing beside him was a beautiful woman carrying his child. Three months pregnant. Azerbel's world shattered. Guerero was her fated mate. The man she had loved. The man she had waited for. But during the war between werewolves and lycans, Guerero made a choice. He chose another woman. And rejected Azerbel. Heartbroken and humiliated, Azerbel thought losing her mate was the worst thing that could happen. She was wrong. At the peace treaty party, she met Genaro, the Lycan Alpha. Rude. Arrogant. Feared by everyone. And completely impossible to ignore. To everyone's shock, Genaro publicly asked Azerbel to become his mate. Not for love. But as a symbol of peace between their two races. Guerero was stunned. His rejected mate was leaving. And the worst part? He couldn't stop her. Because Guerero wasn't Alpha yet. His father still held the title. As secrets from the war begin to surface, Azerbel must decide: Should she forgive the mate who broke her heart... Or accept the hand of the dangerous Lycan who might change her fate forever? Because sometimes... the greatest betrayal leads to the most unexpected love.

The world thinks Seraphina is the luckiest woman alive. A famous supermodel and married to Maximilian Thorne, the richest man on earth. She lives in a mansion and wears diamonds every day. But behind closed doors, her life is a nightmare. Her husband treats her like a toy he can break. His two brothers and sister treat her like a servant. Even his mother joins in on the abuse. She has no one. No way out. Until the new bodyguard walks in. His name is Killian Cross. Six years ago, Seraphina was his whole world. Then she ran away, leaving him alone to raise their baby daughter. He spent every day for six years hating her. He didn't take this job or hide his identity to protect her, he took it to get even. He wants to make her cry the way he did. He wants her to pay for abandoning their child. But Killian didn't expect to see her like this. He expected a cold, gold-digging queen. Instead, he finds a woman who is bruised, broken, and scared for her life. The hate is still there, but seeing another man lay a hand on her makes his blood boil. Now, a war is starting in the Thorne mansion. Maximilian is a monster who won't let his "property" go. He starts to notice the way Killian looks at his wife, and it makes him even more obsessed and dangerous. Killian came for revenge, but now he has a new rule: If anyone is going to punish Seraphina, it’s going to be him. And he will kill any man who tries to touch what belongs to him.

CONTENT WARNING ⚠️ These are not innocent stories. What's inside these pages is not for the faint hearted. You've been warned. Deliciously. **** Sins Worth Keeping is a collection of stories about men who want what they cannot have and reach for it anyway. In dark corners, empty locker rooms, late nights that last too long and hotel rooms that know too many secrets. These are not love stories that play it safe. These are the ones that burn. Find your quietest corner. Turn the pages and try to breathe normally. Fair warning — once you start, stopping will feel like the hardest thing you've ever done. Don't say you weren't warned. ⚠️🖤

Lady Nicole Bradshaw was born to one of the wealthiest families in England and had an arranged marriage since before she was born. She had never laid eyes on Lord Francis Ravenport but she was assured he was a handsome fellow. He had recently moved his company to the West Indies and she wouldn't see him until the wedding. When she gets to travel to London with family friends, she knows she will never lay eyes on the Marquess as her husband. Austin Duncan was not a special man. He was the third son to an Earl and gave everything up to be in His Majesty's Army. He never dreamed of marriage or finding a young lady due to him being a soldier. In 1789, it was a questionable time and he could never marry to just leave a woman widowed. While in London on assignment, he knows he will throw everything out the window. One glance at Lady Nicole and Austin knows he will never be the same. Nicole sees him and thinks for sure being an only child is surely unfair and she would risk her reputation for a few moments alone with him. Could a Scandalous Love bring them closer together or tear them worlds apart?

The dagger goes in before she understands her consort is the one holding it. ——— My consort is the one holding the blade. I fall into the Forbidden Zone with his voice in my ear — *You were never going to be the queen this kingdom needed, Rose is everything you are not* — and every stroke downward the Hollow drinks my color, my voice, my breath. As I sink through the dark I understand, in a rising tide of memory I can no longer outrun, what I refused to see: my cousin Rose has been his lover for three years. My uncle Rick has been my father's killer for seven months. I hit the Hollow's floor among the skeletons of seven women who came before me. I should die there. A black pearl pulses in the dark and asks me one question. I say yes. What rises from the Forbidden Zone is not the princess they pushed. My scales burn blood-red shot through with molten gold and piercing teal, edged in obsidian. My voice shatters coral when I choose. I can drain a merfolk's power until their scales grey to driftwood, and I can shift any being between human and merfolk form. But the pearl hungers. Black veins creep across my chest with every life I take. And the throne I want back? It was never the prize. It was the trap. ——— Will Irene become the villainess her kingdom fears? Or will she remember the girl they buried long enough to choose what kind of queen to be? And the older sister who has been waiting two hundred years to use her — what happens when Irene decides the family she was born into is not the one worth dying for?