Booktok New York Times Novels & Stories

I merely brought up the wedding decorations, and my fiancé's first love ran out of the room in tears. Ian Murray slapped me so hard I fell to the ground. His face twisted in fury, teeth clenched with hatred. "Daphne, are you that desperate to get married? Afraid no one else will want you, so you're clinging to me, forcing me into it? Our wedding next week is postponed!" I held my face, but not even a ripple stirred in my heart. This made the eighth time he'd postponed it. I had been waiting for him since I was twenty-eight. Now, in my early thirties, I was still getting nowhere closer to being married. So this time, I quietly packed my things and chose to leave. Maybe this marriage didn't need to happen after all.

After a brutal attack in the Wyoming wilderness, Clara Carlson wakes in a strange mountain lodge with no memory of how she got there. The last thing she remembers is hiking toward a secret waterfall—then pain, fur, and teeth. Now she’s surrounded by strangers who claim she’s no longer human. James Bishop, the lodge’s calm yet commanding leader, tells Clara she’s been bitten by a rogue werewolf and has transformed into one herself. As Alpha, he offers protection and a place within his pack—a secluded community hidden deep in the Rockies, bound by instinct, hierarchy, and secrecy. But to Clara, it feels like captivity. Struggling between disbelief and an undeniable pull toward her new instincts, Clara begins to unravel the truth about the world she’s entered. The pack is large, disciplined, and guarded—for good reason. There are threats beyond their borders: outcasts driven mad by isolation, hunters who’d expose their existence, and rival packs watching for weakness. As Clara’s powers awaken, she must decide whether to fight the change, risk escape, or accept the strange new life—and Alpha—who’s claimed her. But the more she learns about the wild world beneath the human one, the more she realizes that survival here requires more than acceptance. It demands loyalty, strength… and the courage to become the predator she never meant to be.

My sister abruptly returns to the country on the day of my wedding. My parents, brother, and fiancé abandon me to pick her up at the airport. She shares a photo of them on her social media, bragging about how she's so loved. Meanwhile, all the calls I make are rejected. My fiancé is the only one who answers, but all he tells me is not to kick up a fuss. We can always have our wedding some other day. They turn me into a laughingstock on the day I've looked forward to all my life. Everyone points at me and laughs in my face. I calmly deal with everything before writing a new number in my journal—99. This is their 99th time disappointing me; I won't wish for them to love me anymore. I fill in a request to study abroad and pack my luggage. They think I've learned to be obedient, but I'm actually about to leave forever.

Xena Xander returned to the past and found herself back in 1989. That year, she was thirty. Her husband, Julian Zane, was thirty-five. He had just become the youngest academician at the National Academy of Sciences. He was a national talent, and his future looked exceptionally promising. They had a pair of ten-year-old twins. Everyone said she was lucky. She was so lucky to have a good husband and sweet children. But the first thing she did after returning to the past was consult a lawyer and prepare two divorce agreements. She called Julian’s office. When the assistant realized it was her, the response was brief. “Xena, Professor Zane is busy. He doesn’t have time.” She went to the research institute to look for him, but the guard stopped her at the entrance. “Sorry, Professor Zane is unavailable right now.” After three days, she took the divorce agreement and went to see Julian’s first love. She placed the agreement in front of Moon Jensen and calmly said, “Please have Julian sign the divorce agreement. From now on, he and the two children belong to you.”

Zoe was framed, forced to marry with Mociya. Married him for three years, she was very loyal to love him for three years, but still couldn't compete his first love. This leads to the death of Zoe's father and child died one after another... Mociya thinks he is hating Zoe, until Zoe turns to leave, Mociya then finally knows that he had already fallen in love with this woman long time ago. "Let's be together again! I'll spend the rest of my life making it up to you." Zoe sneers, "Mociya, why do you think I will wait for you in the same place as long as you look back? The rest of my life is very long, but without you!

Melissa and Liam, the two names that brought back memories. Never in the world, would I have ever thought that the people that I once truly called my best friends would betray me. We were best friends ever since our childhood. Liam was my first love and I had been crushing on him since we were young. Until one day, I decided to let Melissa in on a secret as I trusted her with all my heart. Turns out, she was just like the others. She started changing herself, distancing herself from me and not even acknowledging me in school while hanging out with the popular kids. That’s when all the bullying bullies started. However, on the day of Liam’s birthday, Melissa revealed my big secret to everyone which left me humiliated. Liam just stood there not doing anything to defend me from those nasty comments. What really broke me was when I saw Melissa walk towards Liam and giving him a passionate kiss on his lips…….

The explosion wiped out my parents—and their company. All I had left was some insurance cash and a pile of patents nobody cared about. I begged their old partners to back me. Crickets. Then Alex Ross strolled in, played the hero no one asked for, and proposed. Five years deep into our marriage, after my 99th FDA rejection, I finally cracked. I was in the garage when I heard his phone on speaker. Mark's voice came through: "Dude, you're still handing Lily Emma's blueprints before she even files? How many times has she flopped now? Girl's relentless, huh?" Alex? Straight-up ice. "Ninety-nine. She'll quit soon." "You're really tanking your wife to boost Lily's brand? Worth it?" "Lily's launching her new product tomorrow at the Boston Medical Summit. Patent number 100. Watching her blow up from nothing... makes me proud." "But it's all Emma's stuff. Your dad made you marry her for her brain, didn't he?" "Don't bring up my father." His voice turned sharp. "He forced me to dump Lily. I just played along." I sank into the driver's seat, frozen. I wasn't a partner. Just a pawn—revenge bait for his dad and backup fuel for his ex.

My Alpha mate has canceled our carefully planned honeymoon trips fourteen times for his Omega secretary. The first time, because of the secretary's phone call about "lost territorial maps," he didn't hesitate to abandon me at a strange Nordic airport. The second time, because of the secretary's plea for help, he drove back alone to the pack's core territory, leaving me alone in the dangerous hunting grounds. For four years, I carefully planned fourteen honeymoon trips, but each time my mate would abandon me to choose to accompany his Omega secretary. Finally, I stopped insisting and decided to give up this mating relationship that was never firmly chosen. But when I joined the Alpha Council's secret research project and decided to leave forever, he cried and searched the whole world for me.

A one night stand that's all is was to her. I've spent the last four years trying to forget her. She's the one who slipped away in the middle of the night. The one who-after one night together-took my heart when she left me naked alone in a hotel room. She's the one that got away before I even had a chance to get to know her. I don't even know her name. I hate the way she left me. I hate the way she consumes my every thought even after all this time. I hate the way I look for a piece of her in every girl I meet. I hate mostly that I can't seem to forget her even after all this time has passed. After that night I looked for her but it was like she disappeared from the face of the earth leaving me with the memories of that night. I never thought we'll see each other again after she disappeared on me and not on the circumstances that we did. She was on the run and she needed me to take care of something for her. something that rocked my world upside down, something that was precious, our children and I'll do anything for them and their mother even if she wants nothing to do with me.

I dated my lawyer boyfriend for five years. He canceled our wedding. Fifty-two times. First time? His intern messed up some paperwork. He ditched me at the beach to fix it. I waited all day. Alone. Second time, we were mid-ceremony when he bolted. Heard that intern was getting heat from another lawyer and left me to face the guests and their stares. After that, every time we tried again, there was always some "emergency" with her. Always. I finally hit my limit. I was done. Packed up and broke it off. But the day I left Ainsley? He totally lost it trying to find me.