Autumn Reads Novels & Stories

Happily married for 2 years, I thought all his grumpiness lately was only temporary. Maybe not the richest man, but he definitely puts his work as his priority, and I want to support him with all I have. I gave all the millions of dollars of my family wealth to him to build up his company, and didn't regret that. I love him. All I wanted was a family with him, a child for me to focus my attention on. But he often says he doesn't want a child before his career is stable. I understand, and I am willing to wait, until last night-- I found out that I had adopted his mistress's child thinking he was mine. On the day of our anniversary, I received a message from an unknown number. It's a picture of him with a woman in bed. And the text reads: he has been mine from the beginning. Three days later when he comes to the house that he shared with me in the past two years for one last time, he sees the divorce paper I left him, together with the necklace he gave the girl who saved him ten years ago! Pain and regret burst out in his chest, but this time he couldn’t find me anywhere. Five years later I came back to Arizona with beautiful quadruplets who have resemblance to the most powerful Alpha King in the world, but there's a problem: he isn't ready to let me go even though he's damaged and causes me nothing but pain.

On Christmas Eve, my parents and my fiancé, Ivano Dominici, finally agree to accompany me to Iberion to see the aurora. But when I arrive there, they never show up no matter how long I wait. I send messages to ask. They reply helplessly that something urgent has come up at the last minute and tell me to go to the observation point and wait. I stand alone on the icy field, turning back every few minutes to look at the road behind me. When my hands grow numb from the cold, I scroll my social media feed and see a recent post from my younger sister, Giada Soave. Holding gifts in her arms, she sits beneath a luxurious crystal Christmas tree with my parents embracing her from both sides. Ivano stands behind her with his hand resting lightly at her waist and his eyes full of tenderness. The caption reads, "Merry Christmas, I'm grateful to spend the holiday with those who love me most!" The comments section buzzes with blessings, praise, and envious messages. I stare at the screen for a long time without moving. This is not the first time they break their promise to me because of Giada. But this time, I do not argue or make a scene. I simply type and send one line calmly in the comments, "I wish your family of four a Merry Christmas." I finally let go of my obsession and stop waiting for people who will never come to me. But when I quietly step away, the ones who cannot let go turn out to be them.

The day I land a hundred-million-dollar deal for the company, my girlfriend—Paisley Needham, the CEO—finally agrees to marry me. The next day, I wait at the city hall until it closes. She never shows up. Instead, what I get is her official announcement with her assistant, Jude Grayford. In the photo, she nestles in his arms. A crisp marriage license sits in her hand, impossible to miss. The caption reads, "My CEO, Ms. Paisley Needham, couldn't bear to see me going on blind dates, so she just went ahead and got the marriage license with me today. I'm so happy!" My colleagues gossip, assuming I'll be jealous and furious. I don't. I just like the post and comment, "So, when's the ceremony? Don't forget to invite me!" Paisley calls immediately, cursing me out. "I just didn't want to see him being pressured into blind dates by his parents, so I agreed to get married on paper to keep them off his back. It's not like we're actually married. Do you really have to be so petty? "Delete your comment right now and get on your knees to apologize to Jude. If you don't, I'll never marry you." I laughed bitterly. "Even better," I say. "I hope you two have a long, happy life together… and have lots of kids."

On my birthday, I go out to eat with my family. I make a wish, hoping that we will always stay happily together. When I open my eyes, I see my son, Luigi Marino, holding up his tablet. On the screen, a line of text reads, "Dad, Maria says she's pregnant with your baby. Am I going to get a new mom?" Giovanni Marino is busy taking pictures of me with a Polaroid. He glances at the screen casually before writing a reply on the back of the photo. "No. I made a promise with your mom. If either of us betrays the other, we will have to disappear from the other's life forever. I can't live without your mom. So, you have to help me keep this from her. Even if Maria's baby is born, they will never appear in front of your mom." After writing that, he looks at me and asks in a gentle voice, "What's wrong, my love? Why are your eyes red? Did the smoke from the candles irritate them?" My tears are about to fall, but I force a smile and reply, "I'm fine. The birthday gift you all prepared for me is wonderful. I'm so touched that I can't help but cry." He doesn't know that my dyslexia was cured a week ago. It seems I no longer have to hesitate about the job offer from a well-known international nonprofit that teaches children with dyslexia how to read. The paperwork will be done in seven days. When that time comes, I will disappear from their world completely.

She left him after that steamy night, and she was confident he would never look for her because he never saw her face because of the mask she wore. But what if fate suddenly pulls its strings and bring them back together? ----- Autumn Aurello did something three years ago. For the sake of money, she did pole dancing in front of someone she admired, not expecting she would give in to the way he stared at her, and to the way he caressed every inch of her skin. After that steamy night, she left him, moved on from that night and got herself a boyfriend. She became a successful painter in those three years and went to Manila. When she came back, she planned to surprise her partner, waiting inside his room only to witness his adultery. Taking her broken heart with her, she hurriedly left his unit but accidentally broke his flower vase. She didn’t have any choice but hide in the next unit which had its door opened. And it was a decision she regretfully made. Because in front of her is Dr. Knoxx Silva, the man whom she had a one-night stand with three years ago. Now that their paths crossed, fate never separated them from each other, especially when Knoxx asked her to become her date in his parents’ anniversary and things took a turn when the supposed-to-be anniversary turned into their engagement party. Now, what will happen to them? Will Knoxx find out about their steamy night? Or will their sudden wedding make him get his mind off from that night?

Richard Franklin has left his Midwestern roots behind to live on the coast of Maine with his family. But in the autumn of the year 2000, he must return to his Illinois birthplace on a sorrowful journey. His wife Michelle has been killed in New England by a hit-and-run driver who is never found, so back home he comes with her cremated remains, to fulfill a final wish and on her birthday scatter her ashes in the park along the river in Blackwater Valley—simply Blackwater Val to locals—the small town where they both grew up and fell in love. With him he brings his six-year-old daughter Katie who still grieves for her lost mother: Katie, who can sometimes guess who’s going to be on the phone before it rings. Who can stop all the clocks in the house, and break up clouds in the sky with her mind, and heal sicknesses, and who sometimes sees things that aren’t there...people who are no longer alive. All gifts she inherited from her mother. Only something isn’t quite right in the Val. Sinkholes are opening up, revealing the plague pits the sleepy hamlet was built over in the 1830s, when malaria and cholera outbreaks ran riot. Mysterious bird and fish die-offs begin to occur, and Katie can see ghosts of the dead gathering all around. But what she can’t see is the charred, centuries-old malevolence which has been waiting for her, and wants her for its very own. Or the pale Sallow Man who haunts the town’s nighttime streets...or the river witch—another Blackwater Val, of sorts—each of whom will be drawn one by one into the nightmarish bloodletting about to take place. ©️ Crystal Lake Publishing

In a universe where the lost worlds outnumber the dominant ones, survival often favors the strong, leaving the weak to decay into obscurity. Among these forgotten realms lies Gorgor, an alien world once vibrant and thriving, now erased from Omania’s memory, Yet, Gorgor's spirit endures, yearning for resurrection and revenge against those who condemned it to oblivion. For five-year-old Lilith, Gorgor is not just a lost world—it's the enchanting realm of her favorite bedtime story. Each night, she drifts into dreams of its wonders, captivated by tales of its heroic prince, Andreas. As her mother reads, Lilith imagines herself among the stars, forging a bond with the alien Prince. But as Lilith's imagination brings Andreas to life as her imaginary friend, she unwittingly becomes the key to Gorgor's resurrection. With every shared secret and whispered wish, Andreas hopes to harness her innocent belief to break free from the shackles of his lost world and take his rightful place as ruler of Triven. As Lilith grapples with her extraordinary friendship, the boundaries between reality and fantasy blur. She discovers that her dreams may hold the power to reshape worlds, but dark forces conspire to thwart her and Andreas’s plans. Just when it seems they will triumph, a shocking betrayal threatens to unravel their connection, leaving Lilith to choose between the stark reality of her existence and the allure of Gorgor's destiny. Will Lilith rise to the challenge and help her alien prince reclaim his world, or will she be consumed by the very darkness she seeks to conquer? Packed with thrilling twists, heart-stopping cliffhangers, and a poignant exploration of courage and friendship, _My Alien Prince Charming_ invites you to embark on an unforgettable journey through the stars. Happy reading! 🌟

⚠️ WARNING: Only for readers 18+ who like their stepbrothers FERAL and their stepfathers FILTHY. *** He bit me at a frat party I only attended to get over my ex. Three days later, he was sitting across from me at my mother's engagement dinner – and then standing at the foot of my bed unbuckling his belt at 1:47 AM. Knox Voss is a werewolf, a biker, and my new stepbrother. He marked my neck so every wolf in the city knows I'm his, and he fucks me like he's trying to ruin me for anyone else. It's working. But his father is worse. Dominic Voss is my professor, my stepfather, and a wolf who's hidden behind a suit for twenty years. He locks his office door on Thursdays, then takes me apart with a cruelty so precise it feels like worship. I'm human. They're not. I'm sleeping with both of them in the same house, down the hall from my mother – and a world I was never supposed to know about is closing in. A jealous she-wolf who feels every orgasm through a broken bond. An Alpha uncle who considers my existence a death sentence. And a law that says the punishment for a human knowing about wolves is execution. Knox claims my body. Dominic reads my soul. Both will burn this family down before they let me go. And I can't stop going back. Contains: werewolf shifters, stepbrother/stepfather, MC bikers, over-the-knee discipline, bite bonds, Level 2 shifts that make him BIGGER in every way, and a mother who never looks at the right moment. All characters are 18+. All scenarios are fiction. All orgasms are supernatural.

“All he wanted was the woman he could never have - my sister. So he and his family treated me like nothing. Now the tables have turned and revenge they say, is a drink best served cold.” *** One year ago, Brianna Page escaped the suffocating grip of her marriage to Nico Armani, a union that had reduced her to a mere shadow of her former self. Treated like a nobody by her husband and maltreated by his family, Brianna's almost nonexistent spark had been all but extinguished, snuffed out and scattered like the autumn leaves in gusts of wind. Now, she is a different woman altogether, a force to be reckoned with. The timid, submissive bride is gone, replaced by a confident, powerful entrepreneur who's built a small empire of her own. As the owner of a thriving company, Brianna has finally found her voice and her freedom. Just as she is savoring her newfound independence, Nico shows up and drops a bombshell: their divorce couldn’t go through and they are required to live under the same roof for half of a year before it is official. Now she is hell-bent on exacting revenge on her husband and his family for all the pain they’ve caused her. She is determined, ready, and resolute in her revenge plan and it doesn’t matter now that Nico is willing to do whatever it takes to win her back, to prove his love and devotion. She has moved on, and she's not about to let him dictate her life again. The question is: can Nico convince Brianna to give him another chance, or has she truly closed the door on their tumultuous past? One thing's for sure - Brianna's not going to let anyone, including her ex-husband, undermine her newfound happiness and success.

Connie Reid doesn't date athletes. She doesn't talk about her past. And she definitely doesn't play hockey anymore. She built her new life at Crestfield University carefully — warm smile, sharp instincts, a matchmaking reputation that keeps everyone else's love lives running smoothly while her own heart stays locked away. It works perfectly. Until the university board decides her skills belong to them. The deal is simple and non-negotiable: fake a relationship with Kyrian Maddox — Crestfield's most controversial hockey recruit — on a live reality dating show, or watch her most painful secret broadcast to every student on campus. Kyrian Maddox doesn't explain himself to anyone. He arrived at Crestfield already carrying a scandal he didn't cause and a reputation he can't escape. The PR arrangement forced on him is just another thing he has no choice but to endure. The girl they've paired him with is warm, clever and reads people like open books. He finds that deeply suspicious. Off camera they're strangers who tolerate each other in cold silence. On camera they're convincing enough to trend. But the longer they share a house, an ice rink and the weight of secrets neither will speak aloud, the harder it becomes to remember where the performance ends. Then the boy who destroyed Connie's life walks into the show house smiling like no time has passed. And everything she buried starts clawing its way back to the surface. Kyrian notices the shift in her before she can hide it. What he doesn't know yet is that protecting her might cost him everything he came to Crestfield to rebuild. Some performances become real. Some secrets refuse to stay buried. And some people are worth burning everything down for.