Ann Patchett's "52 All-time Favorite Books From The Year I Turned 52"

My parents made Dana and me settle it with rock-paper-scissors. Loser had to marry the Baillieu heir—the so-called "freak." I won. Then flipped the script. "Cool. I'll take Blake. Dana can have the empire." Last time? I was dumb in love with Michael—Dad's adopted golden boy. Chose the company, stayed behind, and handed Dana off to Blake Baillieu. Big mistake. Six months in, Dana was gone—wrecked by that marriage. Right before she croaked, she texted Michael blaming me. Said I lost the game and ditched the deal, dumping Blake on her. Michael? Snapped. Dude went full psycho. Turns out, he and Dana had been sneaking around for years. He dragged me behind the Baillieu estate and forced a dozen intellectually disabled men to assault me. "If it weren't for your cruelty, Dana would still be alive! You'll pay for everything she suffered!" I was over eight months pregnant—almost due. Begged him to stop. Begged for my baby's life. He didn't care. Kept ordering them to take turns. Even when my water broke, he just watched. Both my baby and I died that night. Now? I'm back. And this time, I rewrote the story. Step one: marry Blake.

My mother-in-law, Eleanor, was having a heart attack, and my husband, Ben Dover—a heart surgeon—was the only one who could save her. Did I call him? Nope. I just stood there, watching her gasp like a fish out of water. In my last life, I'd begged Ben to come save her. He brushed me off, accusing me of interrupting his time with his mistress, Ima Schit. No matter how much I pleaded, he wouldn't come. Eleanor had died in the hospital. And when Johnny, my father-in-law, demanded answers, Ben flipped the script, saying I'd never even called. He made Eleanor's death my fault. Johnny, blinded by grief and fury, killed me. But plot twist—I woke up. Right back to the day this circus started.

The story of a cold-hearted and cruel bodyguard -Jack Macario- with a scar on his cheek that still dissolves in his misery. His elegy accompanies the death of his wife since five years ago. Lilyana -his wife- died of a serious illnes after giving birth to a little baby. A deep sense of longing for the figure of his wife made Jack slumped. For the sake of killing time, Jack's daily life is only spent getting drunk. That afternoon, fate once again tried to play with Jack's life which was meaningless. An incident occurred, Jack accidentally bumped into a girl at the crossroads. The girl was named Sharren Watson, the daughter of a noble in England. Sharren was badly injured, and almost died. However, a bit of luck came to Sharren woke up in a hospital with both legs paralyzed. Because of the reason paralyzed the fiance named Robert Chayton decided to leave her. The predicate 'spinster' is now attached to Sharren. Immediately hatred took over Sharren's mind, she intended to take revenge on Jack. However, her heart betrayed, unconciously, Sharren has fallen in love with Jack. Will Jack be able to receive from Sharren, the spinster? Then what about Jack's five-year-old daughter? Meanwhile, since childhood, Eleanor was close to Deasy, the younger sister of the late Lilyana, who also had feelings for Jack.

I gave birth prematurely, just twenty days before the due date. Two hours after I entered the surgery room, I had a stillborn baby. I did not cry at all. I did not even spare a glance at the dead baby. I endured the pain from childbirth and calmly walked into the hospital nursery. After the door was tightly shut, I turned down the temperature of the air-conditioning. The temperature inside the nursery would be too cold for newborns to bear after an hour. The doctors and parents were begging me on their knees to let their babies live. They screamed and cried. They said I was a mother and hoped that I would understand. Instead, I laughed and said, “Yes, I was a mother. But my baby died!” The gynecologist knelt on the floor and begged, “We may be at fault for not being able to save your baby, but these babies are innocent! “Please don’t be reckless just because you lost your baby! You’re so young. You’ll have more babies in the future.” I gritted my teeth and roared, “But my baby isn’t dead! “She’s still alive. I’ll give you one hour. Bring her back to me!” But I was unsure if she would still be alive after an hour.

From Bully to Lover He spent years tormenting her. She spent years trying to forget him. But fate has a twisted sense of humor... and a dangerously possessive heart. Violet "Vee" Rivers grew up in the shadows—quiet, smart, and the constant target of one boy’s cruelty. Xavier "Zay" Knight was her worst nightmare: cold smirks, cruel words, and the kind of intense gaze that left her burning with humiliation... and something else she could never admit. For years, she believed he hated her. For years, she hated him right back. Now in college and far from the small town that raised her, Vee is finally free. New city, new campus, new beginning. But her fresh start shatters on day one—when she sees him. Older, sharper, hotter. And still watching her like he owns her. Zay never forgot her. Never wanted anyone else. And he sure as hell didn’t let her go. When he sees another man getting too close, Zay snaps—and makes his first move. What starts as obsession turns into a dangerous game of seduction, secrets, and surrender. Vee is no longer the scared girl from the past—but Zay isn’t the same boy either. He’s darker now. And he doesn’t just want her. He wants every piece of her—mind, body, and soul. She may hate him… but she won’t be able to stop herself from loving him. Even if it destroys them both.

Veronica Hart has always been in love with Sasha Neville-Talbott. She went from infatuation to love almost without noticing. When she finally found the courage to confess her feelings to Sasha, his cruel words crushed her heart, killing every illusion, every emotion, every chance of being happy together. A few years later, Veronica must meet him again. And even if it’s work-related, she cannot help but feel the way she did that day. Still ashamed by her teenage infatuation with him, Veronica knew it was important that Sasha understand they were now meeting on equal terms. She would do her utmost to play it cool and distant and let him know that all they shared now was a purely business relationship! Even if everything was different and she was acting tough, one simple glimpse of him let her know nothing had changed… Veronica's body still ached for his. Maybe Sasha would never come to love her, but still, she knew she'd do almost anything for just one night in his arms...

When Conan, a broken teen, develops feelings for his bestfriend, the crush blossoms into love, and everything appears to be going perfectly. Though the doubts are there, it can't get any better. He's debating whether or not to confess day by day, but something, or rather someone, shatters his ideal, fairy-tale life at the worst possible time. All of his happy memories begin to go away, and his world begins to darken. Will he crumble under the pressures of his life? He only has one thought: he wishes he was Heather.

Jane had no idea that the new year would be the biggest and most significant change of her life for her, she will finally understand what true love is and she will discover that her happiness has been there all the time but she had never noticed it for being stuck in her past. Travis takes the reins of what he truly wants and goes for it no matter what or anyone ... if he doesn't make his first move, someone else will probably do it and he's not willing to be the spectator again. But not everything is rosy, there will be many tests that they must overcome and do their part to cope with every situation that fate places on them. Because that's what life is all about, overcoming, learning, and adapting with each other, forging a bond so strong that nothing and no one can break, make mistakes and fix them and discover that things that are taken for granted take an unpredictable turn changing it. everything. Do you dare to discover what happens in a whole year for these two?

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Elena has a nerdy side during the day and embraces a different role as a stripper at night. At Dreamville High School, the school she attends, Elena is known for being reserved and keeping to herself. Mac Lee bullies Elena because of her dual persona, targeting her for being different. Mac Lee was known as a popular playboy in school and had a reputation for not respecting boundaries when it came to women. What happens when the popular playboy meets up with Elena at a club, which he honestly believes is a stripper known as Diamond Foxx?  Would their tale be the same as that of the school? Would Mac find a way to charm the popular stripper's heart when she refuses to offer her service? And what would Elena do when she discovers that the wealthy Billionaire to whom she has been offering her services was Mac Lee, her bully. ? Will that be the end of the both of them or beginning of their story?.