Better Read Than Dead Bookstore Novels & Stories

When my husband told me to go bungee jumping, I did not scream. I did not cause a scene. I just nodded and said, "Okay." Keep in mind, I was eight months pregnant. I only agreed because I had already lived through this nightmare once before. In my past life, his precious childhood best friend, Lily Lane, had been feeling down. My husband, desperate to be her hero, told her he would make her one wish come true. Her wish? She wanted a partner to go bungee jumping with. My husband was terrified of heights, so he could not do it himself. Instead, he volunteered me. I refused on the spot, obviously. I told them I was not going to strap a harness over a baby bump and jump off a bridge. Lily got upset because I would not go. She went to a bar to drown her sorrows, and things went terribly wrong. Someone spiked her drink, and she was assaulted. She could not handle the trauma. She left a suicide note for my husband that read: "If I hadn't gone to the bar that night, would everything be different?" When my husband read that note, he snapped. He wrapped his hands around my throat. "Why didn't you just go with her?" he screamed, squeezing tighter. "Would it have killed you to just say yes?" He strangled me until everything went black. My unborn baby died with me. However, then, my eyes snapped open. I was back. I was standing right there in the moment my husband was asking me to jump.

When Lacy tries to break of her forced engagement things take a treacherous turn for the worst. Things seemed to not be going as planned until a mysterious stranger swoops in to save the day. That stranger soon becomes more to her but how will their relationship work when her fiance proves to be a nuisance? *****Dylan Reed only has one interest: finding the little girl that shared the same foster home as him so that he could protect her from all the vicious wrongs of the world. He gets temporarily side tracked when he meets Lacy Black. She becomes a damsel in distress when she tries to break off her arranged marriage with a man named Brian Larson and Dylan swoops in to save her. After Lacy and Dylan's first encounter, their lives spiral out of control and the only way to get through it is together but will Dylan allow himself to love instead of giving Lacy mixed signals and will Lacy be able to follow her heart, effectively Reading Mr. Reed?Book One (The Mister Trilogy)

One life for another. That is the rule of the Aftergame. Lena was a ghostwriter who lived in the shadows—until a devastating betrayal by her sister pushed her into the path of a speeding truck. She expected the void. Instead, she woke up in a sadistic, system-driven purgatory where the dead must compete for a second chance at life. In this gore-soaked nightmare, survival has a name: Riven. A lethal player with eyes like cold flint, Riven breaks the game’s cardinal rule to save Lena, making them both targets of the system’s wrath. But as they reach the final level, the horrific truth unvails. Riven isn’t a player. He is the Executioner—a sentient program designed to mimic love, only to deliver the ultimate soul-crushing betrayal. But Riven has developed a terminal malfunction: he truly loves her. Now, Lena is back in the land of the living, but the world is starting to pixelate. To save her, the machine that was meant to kill her has built her a cage. And in the Aftergame, mercy is the most terrifying fate of all.

This is the third book of the Bloodstone series. It can be a stand-alone but will have cross-over characters from the first two books, Alpha Erik and Everlasting Fire. The Bloodstone pack was always known for its thirst for blood and its brutal Alphas. But a lot has changed in the last thirty years. So what happens when the youngest of the Bloodstone family decides to expand the pack business and leave the magic world behind to indulge in a different kind of hunt. Will he keep his place in the human world and sell his soul to the devil? When Balor Bloodstone comes out to play, all bets are off, or so he thought until a new player entered the game—putting him in the crossroads between salvation and damnation.

"What do you want?” Valencia snapped, her voice was furious and annoyed. Dominic merely looked at her dead in the eye, his gaze did not falter as he replied softly, "What I have always wanted…” He left the last word that was lingering on his tongue unspoken. “…you.” Valencia Raskin was the archon alpha; the alpha of the alphas who reigned the Sricgis forest and all the packs in it. The werewolf population was dwindling and she had to find a mate…soon. Who would she choose? The supremely charming alpha, Dominic Castro, who also happens to be her best friend, or the infuriatingly handsome mage, Calhoun Hawthorne, who might have a solution to all her growing problems?

My wife, wanting to spend a romantic birthday date with her first love, added a dose of sleeping medication to the milk bottle of our sick, crying daughter. The medicine took effect, and our daughter drifted into a deep sleep, which allowed them to enjoy a romantic, undisturbed date together. When I came home, I found our daughter still sleeping. By the time we arrived at the hospital, it was too late. I called my wife, but she answered with irritation. "Is it because I'm celebrating Shawn's birthday that you must ruin it? I'll go home after the celebration is over." Then, she turned off her phone. Little did she know that, for the sake of one romantic date, she had taken our daughter's life.

In eight years together, my boyfriend—Shayne Raffield—blocked me eighty-eight times. This time? Because I missed his call. At my best friend's birthday party. Usually, I'd panic-order a gift, then stand outside his office, head down, ready to beg. But today? I blocked him first. The Chat Feed popped up, loud as ever: [Nooo, Ley-Bae, don't block Shay-Shay! He's just got abandonment issues. Comfort him!] [Shay's heart = shattered; Eyes = red. Ley, go! One pout and he's yours again!] Then Shayne called. Didn't say a word. Just breathed for ten seconds and hung up. The Chat Feed freaked out. [AHHHH SHAY LOVES LEY SO MUCH HE JUST SUCKS AT SAYING IT. THIS COWARD'S GONNA LOSE HIS GIRL.]

Alpha Jaxson is a playboy that always gets what he wants. The ladies fall at his feet and the money is rolling in. However, Alpha Jaxson has a dark side that he has learned to perfect. A hire for killer by night that has yet to never deliver. Scarlet had a rough childhood that has caused her to live outside the pack that her brother is the Alpha of. Although, they have a great relationship, Scarlet has built a live for herself doing what she does best with her friends. Together, they steal what was stolen in the first place and give it back to the owner. Scarlet finds herself with an enemy and with a Target on her back. Alpha Jaxson is hire to kill the thief but when he finds out the thief is his mate, will he fulfill the job requirement or accept her as his mate going against everything he wanted? Will he help protect her or will he leave her to fight her own battles?

Kai Parker has a past with his high school arch enemy, Hunter Steele, and that past made him hate the now billionaire businessman. He wants nothing to do with the man, but fate has other plans. When Kai's mother and Hunter's father announce themselves to be in love and are setting off to get married in 4 months, Kai has to do something he never thought he would do. He makes a pact with his soon-to-be step-brother to make their parents break off the alliance. In the process, he gets more than he bargained for. He isn't ready to feel the sparkle again. He isn't ready to let Hunter enter his life. Again. Kai Parker definitely isn't ready to fall in love with his enemy. Again. Follow Kai as he stumbles into a life filled with hatred, bitterness, love, betrayal, and a deadly stalker. Kai Parker isn't ready for any of these. What about the hot-headed and playboy billionaire?

Julian Carter orders me to clean up his childhood sweetheart's new home when I'm still recovering from childbirth. "Everyone knows you're good at home economics! Things will be much easier for us with your help." I'm wrapping things up when I feel something dampen my pants. The discharge trickles down my leg and onto the floor. Nadine Stephens covers her mouth and cries dramatically, "What's that? It's so disgusting!" She even bends over and pretends to gag. Awkwardness and shame wash over me, making me want to dig a hole and hide myself. However, Julian grabs me and scowls. "I told you to come here to help. You're causing trouble on purpose, aren't you?" It's Valentine's Day, but he chases me out and tells me to go home. I wait for him for the whole night with our child in my arms. He only returns the following day with love bites on his neck. That's when I know we won't have a future together.