Mchenry Library Hours

Nubia has her life planned out. She is working on her master's degree in post colonial studies. She has a quiet apartment and a schedule she sticks to. Every Wednesday night she finishes class at nine thirty, walks to the bus stop, and waits. The bus is always late. There is always a stranger sitting on the bench. He wears headphones and draws in a sketchbook. He never speaks. She calls him Pencil Boy in her phone and does not think much about it. Then one October night the bus is delayed by forty three minutes. Eli studies architecture but he draws people instead of buildings. He has been sketching Nubia for six weeks without ever saying a word. He is quiet and pays close attention to things. He has learned to keep people at a distance because it feels safer that way. But when the cold night gets to Nubia and he gives her his hoodie, the silence between them finally breaks. What begins as pie at a late night diner turns into a Wednesday night tradition. Then a friendship. Then something much deeper. As Nubia and Eli grow closer, they must face the things that make them different. Race. Class. The dreams they are chasing. The families they come from. And the strong pull of a connection neither of them can ignore. Set over one school year, 43 Minutes is a warm and sensual love story about two people learning to truly see each other. It is about letting yourself be seen. And it is about the moments that change your life in less than an hour but stay with you forever.

He’s back from the dead. But he didn't come back alone. Alex was the love of Danny’s life until the day he disappeared. Two years later, he walks back into town with the same eyes but a different soul. To survive the shadowy organization still tracking them, Danny and Alex are forced into an irreversible pact—a bond that ties their very lives together. From cryptic clues to a web of ancient crimes, they are running out of time. Danny is about to learn that the truth doesn't just set you free—it bites. If they can’t expose the conspiracy before the clock runs out, Danny won’t just lose Alex again. This time, he’ll lose his life.

Struggling college student Lena Carter works late-night deliveries to keep herself afloat, surviving on tips, exhaustion, and determination. Every night she delivered to his door. Every night he gave her another reason to stay. Lena thought Adrian Cole was just a customer. She was wrong. He was temptation in a tailored suit. And once he decided he wanted her— walking away was never part of the story. What begins with after-hours orders soon spirals into a passionate connection neither of them can control. The deeper she falls, the harder it becomes to tell where attraction ends… and obsession begins. Because Adrian doesn’t pursue halfway. And Lena may be the one thing he refuses to let go. Late Night Deliveries: The After Hours is a story filled with longing, tension and the kind of chemistry that burns hottest after dark. Some deliveries arrive late. Some change everything.

I was waiting outside the county clerk's office again, all the way until noon. A clerk walked past on her lunch break and gave me a look that bordered on pity. "Girlfriend caught up again?" My face went hot, but I forced out a smile anyway. "Traffic," I said. She shook her head and muttered to her coworker, not quite quietly enough. "That's him again. Seven times this month, and his girlfriend has never once shown up. "Poor guy. Why can't he see it? She just doesn't want to marry him." I pulled out my phone. The screen threw my reflection back at me, flushed red. I couldn't tell if it was the sun or the humiliation. I opened my girlfriend's childhood friend's social media page and saw exactly what I expected. [My stomach's acting up again. Thank god Theresa came by to make me soup and rub my belly. Spoiled rotten all morning!] The photo showed a familiar hand resting on Hector Parsons's stomach, the picture of domestic bliss. Something bitter lodged in my chest until I could hardly breathe. At 12:05, Theresa Reitz finally strolled over, unhurried as ever. "Zachary, I'm so sorry. Work ran long. Come on, let's go in?" I closed my eyes and let out a slow breath. When I opened them again, all I felt was calm. "Forget it," I said. "I'm done." I'd played this one-man show long enough.

Lena thought graduate school would be about focus, discipline, and finally proving to herself that she belonged in the world of academics. Books, research, and long nights in the library—that was the plan. Romance had no place in it. Especially not with the one man who should have been completely off-limits. Professor Jace Carrington is everything Lena was warned about. Brilliant. Confident. Dangerous in his quiet control. His lectures command attention, his presence silences a room, and when his eyes find hers across the crowded lecture hall, she feels both seen and undone. He is a man who draws lines with precision—and a man who knows exactly how to make someone want to cross them. What begins as a spark of curiosity turns into stolen glances, late-night office hours, and conversations that blur the line between mentorship and something far more intimate. Jace’s rules are simple: no one can know, and she always has a choice. But rules are easy to write and far harder to follow. The deeper Lena falls, the more she realizes this isn’t just attraction—it’s obsession, it’s surrender, and it’s freedom all at once. Secrets, however, have a way of surfacing, and on a campus where whispers spread like wildfire, forbidden love can burn everything in its path. Lessons After Dark is a steamy, character-driven romance filled with power, temptation, and the dangerous pull of a secret relationship. For readers who crave tension, intimacy, and the thrill of crossing every line you were told not to, this story will keep you turning pages long after the lights go out.

It’s end of October 1985 and the crumbling river town of Dubois, Iowa is shocked by the gruesome murder of one of the pillars of the community. Detective David Carlson has no motive, no evidence, and only one lead: the macabre local legend of “Boris Orlof,” a late night horror movie host who burned to death during a stage performance at the drive-in on Halloween night twenty years ago and the teenage loner obsessed with keeping his memory alive. The body count is rising and the darkness that hangs over the town grows by the hour. Time is running out as Carlson desperately chases shadows into a nightmare world of living horrors. On Halloween the drive-in re-opens at midnight for a show no one will ever forget. ©️ Crystal Lake Publishing