2025 Reading List Novels & Stories

When silence becomes her only shield, love becomes her greatest risk. Aria Vale has lived in a world without sound for years, hiding from a past that shattered her voice and her trust. She has learned to survive in silence, reading lips, observing people, and staying invisible. But invisibility does not exist in the world of Lucien Blackwood. A ruthless billionaire with a reputation as cold as steel, Lucien needs a wife. Not for love, but for power, control, and a deal that could define his empire. Aria is chosen for one reason. She cannot speak. To Lucien, she is perfect. Quiet. Compliant. Harmless. But he underestimates her. Because silence does not mean weakness. And Aria has secrets that could destroy everything he has built. What begins as a calculated marriage soon turns into something dangerous. Something neither of them planned.

The wedding's in half an hour, and my fiancé's assistant, this woman, just hands me this paper. Rule number one: No physical contact with him outside, not unless he explicitly permits it. Rule number two: Intimacy is to occur only when he initiates it. She is obligated to satisfy his desires at least once a month. Rule number three: He can demand his due at any time, any place, and she cannot refuse. ... After I finished reading this entire two-page contract, I had to fight to keep a smile on my face. Swallowing the fire in my gut, I called my fiancé. "Marcus, what the hell is this?" "What do you mean, 'If he fathers a child, she must raise it, no matter who the mother is'?"

When my husband, Jared Hunt, receives a promotion that requires him to travel to Belmont, a big city, he submits a list of family members who will be traveling with him to the organization. He has submitted two names; the first one being our son, Jackson Hunt, and the second being a knowledgeable young woman, Sabrina Hayes. She's a friend who has traveled to the village with him in the first place. Life in the village is difficult. There's no way Jared will let Jackson suffer in the village. As for Sabrina, he has already given her his word to take her back to Belmont a long time ago. But when it comes to me, his actual wife, he thinks I should be gracious and offer the opportunity of traveling to Belmont to others. "It's completely useless for a country bumpkin like you to go to Belmont. Sabrina is very knowledgeable, so she's a more suitable candidate. Jackson and I will come back for you when an opportunity comes up in the future." As I listen to Jared's perfunctory explanation, I can feel my heart breaking. But what Jared doesn't know is that I'm not a country bumpkin despite having lived in the village longer than him. The truth is, I'm the talent that Belmont wants the most. The promotion that Jared cherishes the most is actually something that I don't want.

Sophia Moreau is a challenge no man has ever won. A self-made CEO, ruthless and untouchable, she built her empire from the ground up, leaving no room for weakness. No distractions. No mistakes. And definitely no men who think they can outplay her. But Travis Cole? He doesn’t walk away from a challenge. For years, Travis has kept a list—a private game between him and his closest friends. The women no one else could have, the ones deemed impossible. He’s never lost a bet. Never failed to break down the walls of even the most untouchable. And when Sophia’s name is thrown into the mix? He’s supposed to say no. She’s supposed to be off-limits. But one encounter with her, one sharp-tongued argument, one look in those firestorm eyes, and suddenly—he wants her. More than the game. More than the win. More than he should. What he doesn’t realize? She’s the one game he was never meant to play. And when she finds out the truth, when she learns that he made her a bet— She won’t just walk away. She’ll make sure he is the one left broken. Because Travis might have fallen first… But Sophia? Sophia was never meant to fall at all.

Brittany Anderson is a young lady who has done nothing but made her father's company remain in the top three list of companies in the whole of America. The time to make a bigger sacrifice came, and that was to marry Ace Miller, a young CEO in America. What happens when Brittany is arranged to marry him, to make her claim what was rightfully hers? He was once the reason behind her smiles each day, but all of a sudden, became her nightmare. What possibly went wrong? She has agreed to marry him even when they both had a sour past together, but that wasn't enough to get what she wanted. She still needed to make more sacrifices and, this time, something greater than getting married to him. Would she come out successful? Or would she allow her anger ruin all that she has worked for? Would she still let her hatred from the past lead her? Or would she let go of the past and let the present lead? What happens when secrets, lies, betrayals began to reveal itself, leaving everyone guilty, including Brittany? Let's find out......

When I see someone asking for help in an assignment related to the entrepreneur course on the college forum, I join the group chat using a student account. I even help refine several financial models and market strategies because of my job's nature. Everyone in the group chat is excited, to say the least. Every day, they keep calling me a genius while urging me to improve the details of the whole assignment. Two months later, the assignment's quality is very close to perfection. But the group chat suddenly goes silent. I scroll through the chat history out of curiosity, only to find out that the students have already created another group chat. "That senior isn't an official teammate of ours. Let's not tell her about us using this assignment for an upcoming competition." "Precisely! Our names are the only ones on the list! She'd better not steal the credit during tomorrow's finals!" "With one less person involved, we each get an additional tens of thousands of dollars' worth of rewards!" As I look at the screen, I just let out a soft chuckle. It appears that this isn't an assignment at all. But unfortunately for these students, I happen to be one of the judges sitting at the judging station tomorrow.

Kennedy Gilby works hard for years for the promotion. Before she takes the risk, traveling to the country she never heard of for the assignment, she meets a green-eyed, smoldering hot, and devilishly handsome Thayer that any woman will wrap their hands around him. She just broke up with her ex, yet she’s already dreaming of His Royal hotness in disguise. When she learns the real identity of the arranged to be engaged prince, she runs away. Thayer Camren Aleksei Keoni Gattewarde Braynburd works hard for the monarch. When the King becomes ill, the prince apparent unwrapped the list of his son’s potential wives. Prince Thayer decides to bring a woman of his own choice even if the time is not on his side. The moment Thayer lays an eye on Kennedy, he knows she’s the one. He is used to getting what he wants. When he realizes he’s madly in love with her, he kidnaps her, not only once but twice. To Kennedy, she’s not ready to give up her career and her ordinary life, but the charming prince is willing to give up his title to make his future wife fall in love.

After getting engaged to the love of her life, James, Belle Layton thought that had finally found her happy ever after, until she finds him in bed with her best friend, Anna.  Broken, and pushed to her death, she finds herself awake in a new world; A medieval kingdom ruled by a powerful werewolf royal bloodline. Belle is reborn in the body of a lowly palace maid 'Isabella' and is soon forced to work personally for the troublesome cold, and possessive Prince after she helps him with his rut one night. But trying not to cross the line with Prince Darian again, who's supposed to be finding a mate from a list of family selected by his mother…seems to be the least of her worries, when she realizes he has a lot of enemies on his path to becoming the new king. As Belle tries to navigate with the Prince, she finds herself in the middle of court secrets, assassinations, and schemes. She quickly realizes she is  trapped in a world of danger, passion, and power, where the man she serves attempts to claim her totally.  But wouldn't she want to go back to her own world? Or would she stay with the man who finally chose her?

At a party, my fiancee lost a round of Truth or Dare. Someone egged her on to list ten good things about my best friend. Olivia didn't hesitate for a second. "Outgoing, good-looking, fit, knows how to make you feel special. Always smiling, emotionally smart, capable, has great taste. And—he really knows how to brighten up a room." Next round, Dylan grinned and tossed the question back at her. "Alright, so what about Ethan? What's good about him?" Olivia turned to me, paused for a few seconds. In the end, she only came up with two words. "He's steady." Someone laughed, trying to smooth things over. "That's it? Anything else?" Olivia furrowed her brow, like she was actually giving it some real thought. But she couldn't come up with a second one. In the awkward silence, I suddenly felt exhausted. Olivia and I had been together for seven years. Our wedding was scheduled for next week. And yet, after thinking so hard, the only good thing she could find in me was that I was steady. This time, I didn't want to be the steady guy anymore.

Three years after I landed on the wanted list, all 88 pieces of my dismembered corpse were thrown in front of the police station. After the forensics team put my body together, they identified my body as Julian Colt, the fiancé of the Organized Crime Department, Captain Kyra Schneider. Everyone, from elders in their eighties to young children, wanted me to see justice because not only had I betrayed Kyra and her team, but I had also publicly joined the criminal organization and become the lover of its leader. I was fired from the police force and hated by my loved ones. Kyra hated me the most, and she used the most cruel method of retrieving my memories to be broadcast to the world. On judgment day, the city square was filled with spectators, but when my memories were retrieved, along with the huge word 'innocent' splashed on it, everyone went crazy. "Traitor! A man like him should have been executed." "The evidence clearly points to his guilt. How is he innocent? Everyone knows how he helped the criminal organization to kill numerous police officers!" "Don't be tricked by him! He must have altered those memories!"