100 More Books To Expand Your Mind

Lina Watson works hard to support herself and pay for her college degree in Literature. When she thinks her life is finally getting back on track, she discovers that her boyfriend, Noah Perry, is just playing her. Resentful, Lina decides to use a mysterious and unknown man to get revenge and gets mixed up with the biggest mafia gangster in New York, the Don of Cosa Nostra, Vincenzo Bonaccorso. "A kiss and nothing more?" Really? Or is this unusual request just the beginning of a beautiful love story?

After awakening years before the demise that once destroyed me, I, Lucy Hale, swear I will never again fall for Adrian Hawthorne. In my last life, loving him earned me nothing but humiliation, betrayal, and a future broken beyond repair. Now, armed with memories I shouldn't possess, I tuck myself away inside my boutique, determined to avoid him, avoid fate, avoid everything. But the universe has never been kind to my plans. No matter how I twist the timeline, Adrian keeps slipping back into my life, closer, impossibly entangled. His eyes linger longer than they should. His questions cut deeper than I’m ready to admit. And worst of all, he seems drawn to me in ways he never was before. And then there is Elias Ward, quiet, observant with eyes sharp enough to see through any disguise. Elias is nothing like Adrian. Where Adrian gleams with cold polish and empty promises, Elias is warmth wrapped in quiet mystery. A man who shouldn’t matter to me. Yet, somehow, he does. As I try to distance myself from the Hawthornes, Elias drifts steadily closer, noticing the cracks in my composure, the ache beneath my smile, the truth I’ve fought so hard to hide. He becomes the one thread I can’t cut, no matter how much I fear being stitched into someone else’s future again. With Adrian circling me like a ghost from the life I escaped, Elias begins to draw me toward a fate I never expected, a fate where for once, I might finally choose myself. And maybe him, too. But the past doesn't release its hold so easily. And neither do the Hawthornes.

I am the only son of the richest man in Fairmont. Before my coming-of-age, my mother selects nine girls for me, one of whom I am to marry when I turn 18. I choose Ruth Lonsdale, the girl who had grown up by my side since we were kids. But on our wedding day, Ruth secretly leaks my whereabouts to kidnappers and takes every single bodyguard my mother had assigned to protect me. After I am abducted, I call her and beg for help, but she answers with a cold laugh, "You're still acting? You had a bunch of thugs go after Jack, and I haven't gotten even with you for that yet! Anyway, I only took your bodyguards to protect him and make him feel safe. Don't make such a big deal out of it." She then hangs up. Enraged, the kidnappers stab me repeatedly before throwing my body from the rooftop. When I open my eyes again, I'm back to the day I'm supposed to choose my bride. This time, I didn't even glance at Ruth's photo. I point to the most ordinary-looking girl of them all and say, "I choose her."

For five years, my fated mate, Alpha Killian, has used my body to survive his ruts. He’s never marked me. For five years, I’ve choked down suppressants to hide our bond from the world. Until tonight. Tonight, when he was finished, he told me to be at the full moon ceremony. I thought he was finally ready to claim me. To make me his Luna. But he just smirked and told me he was mating Vivian. The daughter of an Alpha. A pureblood. And me? I was nothing more than his dirty little secret. The cure for his rut. He walked away. I wiped my tears, went back to my apartment, and threw out all my suppressants. My best friend thought I’d lost my mind. She asked if I was declaring war on the Alpha. I shook my head. No. I'm erasing him. Then, I accepted Alpha Adrian’s invitation. Alpha Adrian. A rival from Europe. In seven days, I would leave forever.

I am the hated true daughter of my family. One day, I was kidnapped along with my sister. The kidnappers cut off a section of my finger and sent it to my parents. But they just thanked God that the kidnappers had not cut off my sister’s finger. They deciphered the hint from my sister and alerted the police, but the kidnappers learned about it. To protect my sister, they told the kidnappers that I was the one who revealed the address to them. Because of it, I was tortured to death while my sister was saved. Oddly, when my parents found my mangled body, they broke down and said that they were going to make my sister and the kidnappers pay.

“Ella is only a housekeeper, that is not my mother!” I heard the contemptuous words coming from the mouth of the child I had loved and cared for like my own for ten whole years. My husband did not love me, and his two children only regarded me as someone who served them. Until the moment I opened my eyes once again and was reborn at the age of twenty-two. And once again, the Oliver family forced me into a political marriage with Leo Dominic. “I agree, but only if I receive five million dollars.” I realized one thing: in this world, the most reliable thing is only money. When I met Leo Dominic, I received the marriage contract exactly as I wished. As long as I remained his wife for three years, I would receive freedom and one billion dollars! But suddenly, when I divorced and lived a carefree life, enjoying luxury, those people began trailing behind me and asking for love. “I’m sorry, Mom, I want you to come back home!” The children cried until they developed fevers and fainted, and the ruthless billionaire who had never once looked at his contract wife stood outside the million-dollar villa I had just moved into with my best friend all night. What should I do now, when I am clearly living a new life after divorce and happily spending money?

Heartaches, what if’s, maybe’s, and many chances. Feel the roller coaster of emotions as we share our lovestory. Sincerely, A.

All along, I've been following a social media account that's dedicated to a couple sharing about their romance. It doesn't have a lot of followers, but the posts are all very heartwarming. The owner of the account records all the little details about his relationship with his girlfriend. They get into arguments over a plate of pasta before breaking into laughter and calling each other an overgrown child. They climb up the hill to hold each other under the sky full of stars, wishing they could make time pause at that very moment. Even though the owner of the account never reveals his face, I am always moved by the words he writes. The day before my wedding, the owner uploads a new post. "This marks the end of our ten-year relationship. From now on, she'll be his wife, and I'll only be his friend. There won't be any more updates to this account. I wish nothing but the best for my best friend and the woman he loves the most." The picture uploaded with this caption is one of my fiancee and me, taken from behind.

"You said you leave when there's nothing left for you to do so what if I gave you a reason to stay?"

In the modern day, where fixed marriages seem trivial, Gianna Emilia never thought she'd be in that situation. She never planned on getting married at the age of twenty-five, but fate had its own way of playing her life that one morning, and she woke up married. It was fine with her since it was her dad's wish, and she never said no to his wishes. She was that kind of daughter; she would always obey and follow. But for the first time in her whole existence, she regrets agreeing to that marriage. "This will only be on papers." She remembered what he said on the day of their marriage. His voice was so cold and full of irritation, making her feel the same. She regrets marrying him, the arrogant and cold-hearted Maverick Jaxon De Chavez. The guy who made her feel more unwanted and irrelevant and shattered her heart into a million pieces But how can she hate him if she has fallen for him? Will Emilia finally choose herself for the first time?