Honeysuckles

"In a garden full of flowers, the beast chose her. Among the roses she was, and although her petals were tainted with blood, to him, she was the prettiest of them all" Fate and it's funny ways. It's so fascinating when things could be so twisted, yet perfect at the same time. There has to be darkness for the light to shine and before every beautiful rainbow, there's an ugly storm. Isn’t this what our parents tell us in order to keep us calm? Rosalya was in an urgent need of this saying. She is found in a very hard and tricky situation when her world is suddenly flipped upside down. Her life going from quiet to loud, from sad and boring to interesting and wild. An Alpha King is the least she imagined would appear in her life, but that’s what life gave her. The change wasn’t exactly received happily... but it was definitely something that she would not regret in the future. She’s just a small delicate flower... one that manages things that she never knew were in her reach. Happiness and sadness, love and despair. Before every happy ending, there’s a roller coaster of a journey. Let’s see what this one holds for us to read.

My fiance told me, "When you grow flowers more colorful than Dimonous roses, we'll get married in a rose garden." With that as my goal, I worked day and night to care for the roses. Until one day when his first love said she wanted to see a rain of roses, my fiance shoveled 50 acres of my roses to make her smile. "Jeffrey, will Audrey be mad at us?" Jeffrey took out a ten-karat diamond ring from his pocket and knelt on one knee. "It doesn't matter. The only person I love is you." Pain pierced my heart. I called home, "Dad, if I break up with him, is the offer still open? Can I still inherit the family fortune?"

"“Funny, charming, and utterly captivating! I devoured this sparkling read.” - New York Times bestselling author Annika Martin The man I hate might be the first one to pluck my petals… Confession: I, Dandelion “Dani” Wright, am twenty-six years old and have yet to be deflowered. No man has hosed my hyacinth. Fondled my freesia. Diddled my daffodil. You get the point. My excuse? I was too busy running my family’s flower shop and winning floral design competitions. Suddenly that whole pesky virginity thing becomes a big deal when Jacob West walks back into my life. The boy I once loved. The same boy who humiliated me when he stood me up for prom. This Jacob is no boy, though: he’s all man now—confident, charming, and so sexy my metaphorical blossoms are getting scorched. I can almost forget I’m supposed to hate him forever. Almost. To make things worse, he’s my main competition now, since he took over his parents’ flower shop. If I give into this sizzling attraction between us, it could jeopardize everything I’ve worked so hard to achieve. But if I’m not careful, he might not just be the first man to pluck my petals—he might also be the only man to capture my heart."

"“Do you know how to get to the rose garden?” “No, you can’t go there. A monster lives there.” Shaw Hollander is desperate. Broke, unemployed, and determined to help his ailing mother, he falls on the good graces of a wealthy benefactor who is willing to give Shaw a job at his mansion in order to pay off his mother’s debts. Suddenly finding himself surrounded by lavish riches, he has no idea what his duties truly entail until he’s sent to the rose garden and meets the tragically mutilated Isobel. This Beauty and the Beast story holds true to the core of the fable while shaking off the element of fantasy and dragging it into present-day reality. Shaw and Isobel are ready to let you climb into their four-wheel-drive pickup and take a ride with them into their version of happily ever after, but only if you first dare to gaze upon the monster among the roses."

The day high school seniors across Cedarhaven received their college decisions, my own graduation ceremony had just ended. Adrian Hawthorne came to meet me outside the campus with Celeste Monroe, his newly divorced former sister-in-law. He had barely offered me the sunflowers in his hand when Celeste brushed them aside with a laugh. "Sunflowers? You could try harder if you're courting a young woman." Adrian smiled and handed the bouquet to her. "Then you choose. Clara will like whatever you pick." I stood beside them without finding a place in the conversation. Celeste patted his shoulder. "Your tie is crooked. There are too many people here for you to embarrass me." Adrian lowered his head and let her straighten it. After the graduation photographs, he drew Celeste close and told me, "You're good with a camera. Take a few more pictures of us." For three years, every movie meant for two came with a third ticket, and every anniversary dinner had been chosen around another woman's restrictions. I had protested before, but whenever the argument ended, I was always the one Adrian set aside. Then Celeste accidentally left her phone in my purse, and I saw the photograph on her lock screen. Across the image were the words: July 2 - finally free. The same date was engraved beneath Adrian's watch. He called impatiently, "Clara, hurry. Celeste can't wait all day." I stared at the screen for several seconds and deleted the photograph. Everyone online was discussing how to choose the right college, and I finally understood something too. When the first choice is wrong, you withdraw before it is too late. There was no reason to keep a photograph of Adrian and me either.

After eight years of marriage, I finally get pregnant with Claude Frey's child. It's my sixth round of IVF, and my last chance. The doctor says I can't put my body through it again. I'm overjoyed, ready to share the good news with him. But a week before our anniversary, I received an anonymous photo in the mail. In it, he was bending down to kiss another woman's pregnant belly. That woman is his childhood sweetheart, the one his family watched grow up. She's gentle and well-mannered, and the kind of daughter-in-law every parent dreams of. The funniest part is that his entire family knows about her pregnancy, except me. I'm just the punchline in their joke. It turns out that the marriage I've been holding together despite all my wounds is nothing but a carefully crafted lie. Fine. I don't want Claude anymore, and I'll never let my child be born into a world built on lies. I book my ticket to leave on our eighth anniversary. It's also the very day he's supposed to take me to see the sea of roses. Before we got married, he promised me a sea of flowers all my own. But instead, I find him in front of the rose garden, kissing his pregnant childhood sweetheart. After I leave, he starts searching for me everywhere. "Don't go, please?" he begs. "I was wrong. Don't leave." He finally remembers the promise he'd made to me and plants the most beautiful roses in the world in that garden. But I don't need it anymore.