Anne Arundel County Library Hours Novels & Stories

On their tenth wedding anniversary, Aysha Dalsin spends the entire day preparing a surprise for the man she has loved for years. Candles, flowers, his favorite meal, and a promise to herself that this night will save their broken marriage. Instead, she watches her husband, Adrian Damascus, bring another woman into their home. Hidden in the shadows, Aysha hears the words that destroy everything she believed in. “I never loved her. You are the only one that’s real.” Humiliated and heartbroken, she walks away from her marriage, only to be forced off the road hours later in what everyone believes is a fatal accident. The world buries Aysha Dalsin. But five years later, a mysterious billionaire known as Seraphine Vale rises to the top of the business world. Beautiful, untouchable, and feared by everyone, she has built an empire from the ashes of the life they tried to destroy. When Seraphine finally steps into the same room as Adrian and his new wife, Mira, the couple freeze in shock. The woman they buried is standing right in front of them. This time, she isn’t back to beg for love. She’s back to take everything they have. Because revenge is sweeter when your enemies never see you coming.

Lena Martinez has forty-eight hours to save her sister’s life, or watch her die from a failing heart. When a stranger offers her five million dollars in exchange for one impossible task—impersonate another woman and marry billionaire Nathan Blackwood—Lena knows she should walk away. But desperation leaves her no choice. Thrown into a world of wealth, power, and carefully buried secrets, Lena becomes Mrs. Blackwood overnight, stepping into the life of Nathan’s missing fiancée, Kimberly—a woman who looks exactly like her. She discovers that Nathan is nothing like the cold, ruthless CEO she’d braced herself to meet. And she soon finds herself falling for the husband she was never meant to love. But living a lie comes at a cost. As Lena grows closer to her husband, the lie becomes more dangerous. Enemies begin to close in. And just when she starts to believe she can survive the deception, the real Kimberly returns to reclaim her life. What happens when Nathan realizes he’s been deceived all along? Will he forgive the woman he’s come to love… or will the truth change everything?

One reckless night shattered her future. Now, it’s about to become her destiny. After catching her fiancé cheating hours before their engagement party, Aria Cole drowns her heartbreak in alcohol and ends up in the arms of a devastatingly handsome stranger. No names. No promises. Just one unforgettable night of passion. Until two pink lines change everything. When Dominic Ashford—the cold, ruthless billionaire CEO and her ex’s boss—discovers Aria is carrying his child, he refuses to let her walk away. Especially not after she nearly terminates the pregnancy he’s always craved. He offers her a contract: one year as his wife in exchange for protection from her toxic ex and the scandal threatening to destroy her. But their dangerous arrangement awakens something far more lethal than desire. As buried secrets surface—betrayal, hidden identities, and a decades-old massacre tied to Dominic’s powerful family—passion turns into obsession. The man she’s falling for may be her greatest enemy… or her only salvation. In a world of revenge, lies, and toxic love, how far will a ruthless billionaire go to claim the woman carrying his heir?

“Die peacefully, Natalia. I never loved you. Not for a second.” Betrayed, humiliated, and pregnant, Natalia Brown was pushed down the stairs by her half-sister, Gemma, and left to bleed to death while her husband, Christian Blackthorne promised to cover up the crime. But death wasn’t the end for Natalia Brown. Waking up three years in the past on her wedding day, she vows never to be their doormat again. Less than ten hours into their marriage, Natalia threw a zero-dollar divorce agreement on the arrogant billionaire’s desk and faked her own death in a fiery car explosion. Five years later, she is back. But no longer the submissive wife. Natalia is now Dr. B, a world-renowned doctor and the long-lost heiress to the world's most powerful empire. Beside her are genius twins who look exactly like the man who destroyed her.

The Sullivan brothers had always treated me like I was their whole world. That changed the day I was diagnosed with an aggressive brain tumor. The pain soon grew unbearable, and I was told I might lose my memories if I opted for surgery. I reached out to the brothers. I did not want to forget them, and I needed their help. However, when the call connected, the only thing I heard was an icy, sharp voice. "Summer, it's Yvonne's birthday today. Can you not ruin it for once?" I blacked out from the pain. When I woke up in the hospital, there was a message from Yvonne on my phone. "Summer, the boys gave me these lucky charms for protection." Attached was a photo of three silver pendants, each engraved with the brothers' initials. I knew those pendants well. I had spent seven hours in the freezing rain just to get them blessed. That was the moment I gave up. I went abroad alone for the surgery, and with it, all my memories of the brothers faded away. I completely forgot about them until one day, three strangers knocked on my door, begging like madmen for my forgiveness.

On my birthday, Connor Simpson's first love jumped off a building due to depression. She died on the spot. Connor blamed everything on me. I never celebrated my birthday again after she died. After the murderer electrocuted me for more than ten hours, they forced me to call Connor. "Connor, it's my 25th birthday today. Can you come over and spend time with me?" However, Connor did not notice anything unusual. His voice was laced with venomous iciness. "Clarisse Winter, Audrey wouldn't have died if it weren't for you. How dare you ask me to celebrate your birthday? If only you were the one who died." I heard him coaxing a woman on the other end just before he hung up on me. That low and gentle tone was what I loved to hear the most in the past. That night, the murderer cut my body into countless pieces, packed them in bags, and threw them in front of the police station. Connor was summoned back overnight. He spent two days and two nights piecing together the body parts, but he did not realize that the dead person was the wife that he hated the most.

Midnight Cravings: Don't Tell Anyone ​ Mature Content Warning: This collection is intended for readers 18+ and contains explicit sexual content, dark themes, and raw, forbidden concepts. ​"You’re going to ruin me," he said under his breath. ​I leaned in just slightly, close enough for him to feel my breasts rest on his chest. ​"Then stop me." ​Rules were made to be broken. Secrets were made to be shared. ​In the quiet hours of the night, when the rest of the world is sleeping, the real games begin. From the reckless adrenaline of a best friend’s brother, the silent hunger of a neglected wife and her driver, a confession experience in a secret elite night club, to a secret sex escapade in the office and many more forbidden desires. Midnight Cravings explores the moments we aren't supposed to have with the people we aren't supposed to touch. ​These stories are dark.They are intense. And they don’t look away. ​If you’re expecting soft whispers and safe endings, turn back now. This is for the ones who crave the tension of a locked door, the weight of a hand where it shouldn't be, and the thrill of the ultimate risk. ​Step inside. It’s about to get wet.

Andy Williams is a nineteen year old Senior struggling to balance her school life, after hours job and moonlighting as a rock star. When her band is booked to do the end of term concert her cover is blown and she struggles to cope with the groupie, who just happened to be her Mathematics teacher, Miss Gweneviere Sheldon.Her English teacher, Miss Preston, offers to tutor her during the holidays and they start to get really close, perhaps too close? Uncomfortable with the situation Miss Preston calls everything off and sends Andy spiralling into a world of alcohol and drugs.Andys band tries to help Andy get over Miss Preston but ends up making the situation worse. Andy rethinks her actions during a couple of days in the hospital, she quits the band, changed her school schedule and starts extra Mathematics lessons to make up for lost time.She makes new friends, finds a new job. Her life seems to be back on track when a tragic accident happens on a school trip that leaves Andy temporarily paralyzed.She makes it through with the help of family and friends and reconnects with the band. With a little hard work Andy graduates and is free to pursue Miss Carol Preston.

Sloane Madden has spent her entire life fixing her twin sister's mistakes while remaining invisible for all the right reasons. When her reckless sister disappears forty-eight hours before a high-profile wedding, Sloane is forced to walk down the aisle in her place or lose the only home her family has left and the medical care her younger brother desperately needs. Declan Shaw, billionaire CEO of Shaw Industries, notices immediately that the woman standing beside him is not the one he proposed to. He marries her anyway. Their marriage is supposed to be temporary. Three months. Public appearances. Separate rooms. No emotions. But Sloane becomes dangerously good at solving Declan's problems, protecting his empire, and seeing parts of him no one else can reach. Then he humiliates her in front of the entire world. And this time, Sloane doesn't stay. She disappears with a secret that could destroy everything Declan thought he controlled. Years later, the woman he underestimated walks back into his life more powerful than he remembers and far less willing to forgive. The question is: what happens when a man realizes he destroyed the only woman he was never supposed to lose?

Robert Blackwell promised to marry me, then postponed it thirty-eight times. The fifth time, a car crash broke eight of his ribs, and I signed seven critical-condition notices. The tenth time, on the way to get our marriage license, he and the car were thrown into the sea, and his suit was torn apart by sharks. By the thirty-eighth time, his heart disease had worsened and his life was hanging by a thread. Eight months pregnant, I changed flights three times and flew twenty-three hours across half the world to find him. When the door opened, a little boy who looked exactly like him lifted his face and said, "I thought Mom was back." Robert rushed out barefoot, panic written all over his face. I turned around and saw my best friend of twelve years standing behind me with a key in her hand. The little boy ran to her and threw himself into her arms, calling her Mom. So the fiance I had waited seven years for was my best friend's secret husband all along. "I will not wait through these thirty-eight near-death weddings anymore." "Robert, I do not want you either."