Best Books About Orphans

Marissa was the perfect wife. She gave up her high powered corporate career to build a beautiful life supporting her husband, Ethan—home cooked meals, a curated home, and unwavering loyalty. But her world shatters when Ethan confesses to a four-month affair, not out of guilt, but because his mistress is blackmailing him for $300 million. His solution is as cold as his betrayal: “Cheat back. Get even. Stay married.” Fueled by rage and humiliation, Marissa agrees. Determined to reclaim her power, she steps into the night seeking one reckless moment to erase the sting of his betrayal. It leads her to an exclusive masquerade club, where identities are hidden and desire rules. Behind a mask, she meets a commanding stranger—mysterious, intoxicating, and unlike anyone she has ever known. For one night, he sees her not as a wife, but as a woman with fire still burning inside her. Their connection is intense, unforgettable. By morning, Marissa disappears, intending to leave it as nothing more than a calculated act of revenge. But some secrets refuse to stay buried. When she returns to the corporate world, Marissa comes face to face with the man behind the mask....Xavier Sterling, her former boss, a ruthless billionaire CEO… and Ethan’s best friend. Xavier recognizes her. He knows her in ways no one else does and he knows exactly what Ethan did. Now, Marissa is trapped in a dangerous web. Her husband is desperate to keep her, his mistress wants her gone, and Xavier is determined to claim the one woman he was never meant to touch. As power, betrayal, and desire collide, Marissa must decide....will she remain a pawn in their game or become the one who controls it?

She was always off limits. Until one forbidden summer, shy Elena surrendered to her brother’s best friend, the emotionally guarded Damien, in nights so hot they burned every rule to ash. Then he shattered her. Called their unborn child a bastard and walked away. Five years later, Damien comes face-to-face with the little boy who looks just like him… and the woman he never stopped craving. Now the man who runs from feelings must fight for the family he threw away. But Elena isn’t the timid girl he left behind and this time, she won’t make it easy.

She was supposed to heal him, not crave him. Olivia Carter, a divorced physical therapist, thought her new job with the Chicago Blizzard hockey team would be simple—treat injuries, keep her head down, and cheer for her son on the ice. But when the team’s arrogant and devastatingly handsome captain, Xander Hayes, lands in her care, everything spirals out of control. He’s engaged. He’s her son’s best friend. And he’s forbidden. What begins as teasing flirtation turns into stolen touches, midnight encounters, and a dangerous obsession neither of them can resist. But secrets never stay buried—especially in the world of fame, fortune, and ruthless tabloids. When their affair explodes into the public eye, Olivia risks not only her career and reputation, but the one bond she can’t afford to lose: her son’s trust. Will Xander choose his fiancée, his career, and his best friend… or the woman he should never want?

Riley thought her life was better the way it has been; a man to run to, a best friend whose shoulder she could cry on all the time. But everything came crashing when she found her best friend and her boyfriend on the bed, where she found out that her boyfriend had used her to get to Zelia, her best friend. Her world came crashing as they were the only ones that she had to call family.It wasn't intentional when she slept with her best friend's father that night; it was just a way she had considered to take things off her head. But what happens when Riley ends up pregnant, unsure of whom the father of her kids is.

Vanessa Archibald is heartbroken and ready for a fresh start. Escaping her cheating ex and small town, she gets admission to Yale and moves in with her dad's charming best friend, Antonio who is also a professor at Yale. Older, sophisticated, and devastatingly handsome, Antonio is everything Vanessa's ex wasn't. But their age difference and Antonio's upcoming wedding make their undeniable attraction forbidden.But what starts as a convenient arrangement explodes into a forbidden passion they can't deny.One drunken night ignites a spark they can't ignore, leading to a passionate encounter that binds them in a thrilling, yet terrifying, secret. All is well up until an anonymous emailer threatens to expose Vanessa’s secret, sending shivers down Vanessa's spine. Will she succumb to the blackmail, or will she risk everything for a taste of the forbidden?

Mistakes? I’ve made plenty. The biggest one? Falling head over heels for Brian Lockwood—my brother’s best friend and the captain of the school’s basketball team. For years, I lived in the shadow of my one wish: for him to see me as more than just Simon’s little sister. But how could he, with Lyla, his perfect girlfriend, glued to his side? Then everything changed. Lyla cheated, Brian’s heart shattered, and he was desperate for a distraction. That’s when he came to me with a deal—a no-strings-attached arrangement where we could give each other exactly what we wanted. I saw my chance. I thought I could make him fall in love with me. But I didn’t account for how messy things could get—how keeping it all a secret from Simon would twist everything. And when Brian crossed a line I couldn’t forgive, I knew it was time to let go of my high school crush. Fast forward three years. I’m over him. Or so I tell myself. Except now Brian’s back, no longer the heartbroken boy I knew but a leading basketball star with one goal: to win me over. I swore I wouldn’t fall for him again.

When Mia hooks up with her brother’s best friend Ethan, their one-night stand ignites years of hidden love, risking family betrayal and heartbreak.

Avery Nash had two lives and one rule. Keep them completely separate. By day she was the captain of the Crestwood University cheer squad and a Business Management student holding onto her scholarship by her fingernails. By night she was Scarlett, masked and wigged and untouchable, dancing at Velvet Underground to cover the gap between what her scholarship paid and what her mother's deadbeat boyfriend kept taking from them. On the night her boyfriend cheated on her with her biggest rival, Avery made one reckless decision. She followed a brooding stranger back to his motel room and gave him the one thing she had been saving. Her virginity. "Take off the mask. I want to see you." He had said. "A little mystery never hurt anyone, did it?" she replied. She slipped out before dawn, telling herself she would never see him again. Then she rang her best friend, Jade's doorbell and he answered the door. Liam Harrington was Jade's new stepbrother, who she hated, the transfer quarterback every girl on campus was already talking about, and the boy sitting three seats away from her in every Business Management lecture. He was also the only person in the world who knew what Avery felt like without her armour on. He just did not know her real face. Now Avery was living three lives at once. The captain, the stripper, and the girl quietly falling for the one man she was absolutely forbidden to want. And the secret that started as one reckless birthday night was growing into something big enough to burn everything she had built.

When Corinne turned fifteen, she was sent to live with the Silver Stone pack… To learn how to be a wolf. Half human, half wolf, with no awakened wolf inside her. An outcast. Weak. Labeled “the hybrid”… But what no one knows is that she carries an Alpha aura she should never have had. Three years of bullying and silence, And three years of falling in love with the one man she was forbidden to want. Glacier… The Alpha of Silver Stone. Her father’s closest friend. A man whose heart was sealed shut by betrayal, who turned his back on the Moon Goddess forever. He swore no mate would ever threaten his control… Until Corinne’s scent began to change. As her eighteenth birthday draws near, A bond awakens. Impossible to deny. A hunger she was never meant to feel. Can a weak hybrid become an Alpha’s mate? And can an Alpha refuse fate… simply because she is his friend’s daughter? In a world ruled by laws, Love may be the one crime that is never forgiven.

His face was inches from mine. His breath ghosted over my lips—warm, whiskey-scented from dinner and my body remembered him instantly: the way he’d pinned my wrists, the slow grind of his hips, the filthy things he’d growled in my ear while I came apart beneath him. He leaned in. I felt the pull—like gravity, like hunger. My lips parted on instinct. Just one more inch and we’d be kissing again, messy and desperate, right here in his car like teenagers who couldn’t wait. But reality crashed in. I jerked back, pressing myself against the door. “We can’t.” His jaw ticked. “Why not?” "Because I practically raised you.” My voice shook. “Because your mom is my best friend and I'm way older than you..." "I don't care" he bit out, shocking me even further. "I’ve wanted you since I was old enough to know what wanting meant. And don’t pretend like you don't feel something too." Sophie helped raise him. She was there for homework, school runs, and the lonely years when his parents were too busy. To her, he was just her best friend’s son. Years later, she catches her husband cheating on their anniversary and loses her unborn child due to the shock, Sophie spends the night with a stranger that she never expects to see again. But the stranger is Antonio — the boy she once helped raise. Now he’s all grown up. Powerful. Successful. And off limits. She manages to escape from him — so she thinks — until days later, she gets hired in a fashion company where Antonio is the CEO.