Animal Farm Book Summary

On the day of her wedding, Ariana Montenero found her husband sleeping with another woman in their newlywed bedroom. When she ran out of the room in a daze, she was caught by a mysterious man and had a gun held to her head. Before she could grasp what was happening to her, a group of gunmen ambushed her wedding and started shooting everyone on the scene. The last thing she saw before she was taken by her kidnapper was her husband turning away to save himself. Follow Ariana's journey of survival as her story unravels from past to present in my first Thriller/Suspense/Romance - Animal Instinct.

The Consigliere—my husband, Sal Barzini—who'd always despised anything soft or weak—suddenly started sleeping with a teddy bear. One button eye missing, filthy as a stray dog, yet he cuddled that beast every night, curled up in silk sheets like a baby returning to the womb. And left me freezing on the edge of the master bedroom. I couldn't stand it anymore. At our son Luca's first-year baptism, I announced I wanted out. Everyone went numb with shock. Sal grabbed a glass of red wine and threw it in my face. "You're jealous of a stuffed animal? Have you lost your fucking mind?" I wiped the wine from my cheek, cold as ice. "You say you want to spend your life with that beast. I'm giving you my blessing."

When the star pirate, Black Mamba demanded one of us give birth to his child, my older sister didn't hesitate to sacrifice me. I never imagined that after my cruel death and eventual rebirth, she would throw herself into his clutches instead. When I saw that terrible serpentine swelling once more, horrifying memories sent shivers through my body. All I wanted to do was run. But my sister grabbed me by the jaw. "You've been reborn too! I'm going to make you suffer!" I could tell she meant it.

After the team-building trip is over, I get complimented by my boss and colleague for organizing it because it's been a fun experience for everyone, not to mention the money they've paid is worth the experience. But the next day, I get publicly shamed by Marilyn Ross, a finance executive, in the company's group chat. She has posted a few ambiguous transaction screenshots and accused me of receiving 50 thousand dollars' worth of under-the-table commissions from the farm. All of my colleagues instantly take Marilyn's side. They begin berating me for acting all pretentious when in reality, I'm despicable enough to do all those underhanded things behind their backs. But that's when my boss, Ethan Keller, leaves a question mark in the group chat. The smug Marilyn begins coercing me into writing a resignation report and returning the money. But what she doesn't know is that the farm is Ethan's private business. How on earth can I receive such commissions, in the first place?

During the audition of the animal show that will be held on the National Day Gala, Yvonne Quinlan, the self-proclaimed genius animal trainer, instructs the pigeons to go into formation and soar around the skies. But the next thing everyone knows, bird poop begins raining down on everyone's heads. Awkward can't even begin to describe the situation. Having lost her composure, Yvonne blames me for copying her as a fake animal trainer. She claims that I was the one who pulled a prank on her. In my previous life, the python, which I've painstakingly nurtured with my family heirloom and my blood essence, suddenly went berserk. Just when it was about to strangle me to death and devour me whole, Yvonne, who was a low-income student I'd been sponsoring, let out a shrill whistle. The ferocious python immediately coiled around her waist, looking very docile and sweet. My boyfriend, Brandon Jenner, accused me of stealing Yvonne's python just because I had money and power on my side. He also jeered at me for shooting myself in the foot after everything I had done. Almost immediately, I became the thief everyone hated. My python went berserk once again and attempted to devour me. This time, no one tried to save me. Just like that, Yvonne gained popularity after putting on a performance with my python. Brandon even proposed to her on the spot. They became a famous couple on the Internet after that. When I open my eyes again, I've returned to the timeframe of three days before my school announces the audition of the upcoming animal show.

Following the success of her two novels, Cela receives an offer for the TV adaptation of her stories but a third story has to be written soon to complete a three-story special. She is not in to the project until she rediscovers the paper bearing the address of the meeting place of her supposed first date with Nate. Now that her mother is no longer around to interfere, she becomes inspired to reunite with him after many years and hopefully write the third novel based on their new story. Unfortunately, he is now about to get married in two months. Disappointed with the turn of events, she decides not to meet him again. She visits their old meeting place and finds it a good place to write but unexpectedly meets him there. They agree not to talk to each other if they meet there again but fate leads them to meet again under different circumstances leaving them no choice but to speak to each other. Suddenly, Nate’s fiancée starts acting weird and suggests that he spend the weekend with Cela while she is away. Although it confuses him, he figures that it is her way of helping him get closure. The two spend one Sunday reminiscing the past expecting a closure in the end but the wonderful moment they share this time only makes it harder to achieve that closure so Cela has to put a stop to it saying, “Please don't think even for a second that there is still something left or something new to explore after everything that happened or did not happen. This is not a novel. This is reality. We don't get sequels or spin-offs in real life. We just continue. We move forward and that's how we get to the ending."