How Does Cold Sassy Tree End?

Alexander Harris has always been cold and indifferent—a ruthless CEO who values power over love. Haunted by a dark past and unable to bear a woman’s touch, he vowed never to fall for anyone. Until he met Everette Carson. From the moment their paths crossed, Everette challenged everything he believed in. When his grandmother threatened to give 15% of the company’s shares to his estranged father unless he marries, Alexander saw an opportunity. Everette’s fire, defiance, and beauty made her the perfect pawn for a marriage of convenience. Silencing his grandmother and putting Everette in her place? It was supposed to be the perfect plan. But nothing about her was ever simple. The more time he spent with her, the harder it became to keep his walls up. Everette’s warmth began to melt the ice around his heart—awakening memories of a mysterious girl from his past—the only soul who had ever touched his own. When the truth of their first meeting comes to light, Alexander realizes their bond was never coincidence. It was fate. Just as love begins to take root, long-buried secrets resurface. Dangerous enemies rise. And betrayal strikes from within. When Everette finally walked away to protect them both, Alexander broke—his desperation unraveling as he threatened to end his life. “Evie… if you walk away today, you will never have the chance to see me again in this life.” But she didn’t stop walking. The gunshot echoed across the runway. And nothing was ever the same again. Now, with everything on the line, fate brings them back together one last time. Will love be enough to heal what was broken, or are they destined to fall apart… all over again?

A bloody resistance against colonial invasion that tears Seme's indigenous leadership apart marks the entry of a strange culture into the clan. Osayo, the priest, seeks to protect the clan's religious system from erosion by the Blue-eyed (colonists). He, however, has to face off with a few loose canons, including his own son who escapes to a mission center far from home and ends up falling in love with a convert. In the meantime, a terrible plague breaks out in the clan, killing animals and people and leaving the land barren. Coupled by a misunderstanding of concepts in the new faith propagated by the Blue-eyed, a longstanding rift and blame game emerge between the converts and the conservatives, and spuns into a cutural marriage. Soon afterward, Osayo dies and his son, Okayo, realizes he has a greater role to play. The supernormal powers of the clan's aboriginal religious tree are stolen by a witch in line with a prophetic myth. And in a painful and tumultous mission to reunite the two conflicting religions of Seme Clan and limit the Blue-eyed's influence, Okayo puts his front foot forward in combating witchcraft so as to have the tree's powers in safe custody, and protect good from being superseded by evil.

A divine tree that is worshiped by many generations of people in my village grows on the tall mountain located on the village's west. Apparently, the divine tree loves being watered by women's lustful juices. In order to garner the blessings and protection from the divine tree, the village will pick out a woman to serve it every month. Since young maidens are shy and reserved by nature, the juices they secrete aren't enough to satisfy the divine tree. In that case, the village will be plagued by misfortune and disasters. Because of that, there are rumors saying that the divine tree prefers married women instead. All the married women in the village refuse to serve the divine tree. I, on the other hand, yearn to get picked out by the village every day. After all, I'm born to feel pleasure at its height. Unfortunately, my weak husband can never satisfy my urges.

On the road, I met a woman unlike anyone I had ever seen before. Her name was Janet Smith. She seemed slow and almost childlike, yet she had been wandering alone for two years without ever going home. Even with one leg crippled, she had forced herself to climb the Highveil Mountains. This time, however, she was caught in a blizzard. Injured and stranded, she could no longer make her way down. As her vision blurred and her strength slipped away, tears covered her face. She placed a pair of small handmade clay dolls in my hands. "I'm probably going to die here," she murmured. "Please give these to my adoptive brother, Chester Graham." She was clearly at death's door, yet her smile was soft and unexpectedly serene. "Tell him I've seen enough of the world. I don't love him anymore. And tell him he doesn't need to worry. I'm not so foolish now. I won't cause trouble for anyone again." Chester? At the sound of his name, I stood rooted to the spot. In Riverton City, everyone who worked at the harbor knew him, the so-called Ship King. Right before I left for the mountains, news of his engagement had been everywhere.

BLURB Maya Chen thought the worst day of her life was when her husband Ethan Hart divorced her after three years of marriage, replacing her with her best friend Vanessa. But when the world ends in an extreme cold apocalypse weeks later, Maya realizes her personal hell was only the beginning. Given a second chance when she mysteriously wakes up one month before her wedding, Maya has thirty days to rewrite her fate. She must decide whether to save the people who will betray her, whether to trust the dangerous investigator who offers her revenge, and whether to warn a world that won't believe her about the frozen doom coming for them all. As temperatures plummet and civilization crumbles, Maya discovers that survival isn't just about stockpiling supplies. It's about choosing who deserves to live and who deserves to freeze. And when Ethan realizes what he's lost and comes crawling back, Maya will have to decide if some betrayals are worth forgiving—or if revenge is a dish best served frozen.

Before the world turned to ice, her family came knocking, ready to negotiate the terms of our marriage. They wanted more than commitment. They wanted three million dollars and three luxury homes. My parents shut them down immediately. It was ridiculous. Then, the storm hit. The blizzard sealed us inside the house. With numbers on their side and no mercy to spare, her family took control of everything. The food. The heat. Our chances. When we fought back, we lost. They dragged us outside and left us in the snow. We froze. Then, I opened my eyes. I was back to before it all began.