Read Aloud Esperanza Rising

They had a deal. Give him a child and he would let her people go. Giving him a child was easy. Twin boys with eyes as bright and beautiful as the blue skies and curly brown hair just like his, but Alpha Ezra was quick to remind her of the long-lasting feud between the witches and wolves. Heartlessly, he ordered her execution along with the entire coven. As she burned in the fires with her people, she swore to make his entire pack go up in flames on her return. Ten years later, reborn of fire and blood, Melucia is back to not only reclaim her children but set his entire pack ablaze just as she promised. There is only one slight problem: Ezra is no longer the man he once was, and her children can’t seem to live without him. Now she must choose between revenge and happiness.

Sold by her stepmother, Married to a stranger, Falling for the man who hates her. Emelda thought she was marrying a poor old man. Instead, she's thrown into a ruthless world of Bryan Rodriguez _ the arrogant heir who never wanted her. Between betrayal, jealousy and a shocking pregnancy twist, Emelda's life becomes a storm of passion and pain. But in a marriage built on lies,can true love be found?

Elena Marchetti dies at twenty-six. A hand closes around her throat. Freezing harbor water fills her lungs. The man who should've saved her stands on the dock, just a few seconds too late. Then she wakes up. Sixteen again. Same house, same family, same future waiting to kill her all over. The Marchettis run one of the city's most dangerous crime families, and their power comes from an old leather ledger , a book that records every debt, marriage, and death like it's already decided. Elena's name is inside it. So is the day she dies. She's got ten years now to change that. The ledger belongs to Vittoria Marchetti, the matriarch who ordered Elena's death the first time and believes she's protecting the family by controlling its future. Her nephew Renzo, the one who actually did the killing, is already circling, waiting for another chance. Then there's Matteo — the son who should've inherited everything, until one mistake cost him his father's trust and his belief he's worth saving. He doesn't know Elena remembers his hands on her while she died, her name breaking in his voice as the water took her. She's carried that memory in a sixteen-year-old's body for months. He doesn't trust her. But something about her makes him want to try anyway. Elena has one real choice: trust the man who let her die once, or walk the same road and see if it kills her twice. Every move she makes to save herself puts someone else in danger instead. She's done letting others write her ending. She's going to rewrite it herself -- even if it means burning down everything her family has ever believed in.

Nineteen-year-old community college student Maya and her twenty-year-old boyfriend Ethan have their lives mapped out in the vague, dreamy way young couples do. But their "someday" plans are shattered by two unmistakable pink lines on a pregnancy test. Terrified and unprepared, they must navigate the fallout of an unplanned pregnancy, from breaking the news to their disappointed families to facing overwhelming financial stress. "Against All Odds: A Love That Endures" is the story of two kids forced to grow up overnight. It follows their journey as they fight to build a life together, trading romantic dates for sleepless nights and discovering that true love is forged not in idealized plans, but in the shared struggle to survive the unexpected.

Synopsis: Fifty years old, No heir. For twenty-five years, Lorenzo De Luca has ruled New York's underworld with absolute power. Feared as the ruthless head of the De Luca Crime Family, he has everything a man could desire—wealth, influence, and an empire built on fear. Yet behind his cold exterior lies one silent regret. After suffering a near-fatal injury in his youth, Lorenzo was told he could never father children, convincing him that his bloodline would end with him. Everything changes after an assassination attempt leaves him wounded and suffering from a powerful neurotoxin. Escaping into the service corridors of an exclusive private club, he is rescued by Isabella Carvalho, a twenty-four-year-old Brazilian graduate architecture student working as an event coordinator to pay her tuition and support her widowed mother back home. Unaware of his true identity, Isabella risks everything to save a stranger's life. During one unforgettable night, two lonely hearts find comfort in each other before parting ways without exchanging their real names. Three months later, Isabella discovers she is pregnant. As she struggles to protect her unborn child while pursuing her dreams, Lorenzo uncovers shocking evidence proving he is finally going to become a father. But the miracle comes at a devastating price. Hidden enemies, rival mafia families, and traitors within his own organization will stop at nothing to eliminate the child destined to inherit the De Luca empire. Forced together by danger, Lorenzo vows to protect Isabella and their unborn baby at all costs. But winning her trust proves far more difficult than defeating his enemies. As long-buried secrets, betrayals, and a decades-old conspiracy surrounding his false infertility diagnosis begin to unravel, Lorenzo must choose between the empire he spent a lifetime building and the family he never believed he could have.

At my husband's book launch, the young woman beside me leaned in close. "Are you a fan of Professor Gyver too? I don't think I've seen you here before." Julian and I had kept our marriage private, so I shook my head. "I was just passing by. It sounded lively in here, so I came in to look." She noticed the white cane by my feet, and understood at once. Onstage, the host asked Julian where the book had come from. He looked toward my side of the room, and his voice went soft. "I promised the person I love that we'd watch a sunrise together. It never happened, for various reasons. So I wrote the regret into the book." When it ended, applause filled the hall. The girl beside me went bounding up and threw herself into his arms. "Professor! The book's out. When are you taking me to see that sunrise you promised?" My smile froze on my face. The sunrise was mine. It had always been Julian's promise to me. Julian ruffled her hair, helpless, let his eyes sweep past me from across the room, then took her hand and left. He didn't know I could see again. That was the only reason I'd come. To tell him that the sunrise we'd waited so long for was finally ours to watch. He'd always said the auditorium was too crowded, that he couldn't find me. So I'd wait alone until every light went out, then leave with my cane. He could find me. That was never the problem. He just wanted a different girl beside him when the lights were on him. I dropped the plane tickets I'd bought for him into the trash. The sunrise doesn't wait. Neither do I.