Fourth Industrial Revolution

After reliving my life for the third time, Soren Vantrell still died at 28. Unwilling to accept it, I started over again, meeting him and falling in love as before, until a sudden turn changed everything. He began claiming his mental state was unstable, using it as an excuse to visit his psychologist, Dr. Nadia Pembroke, again and again. Until one day, I caught them kissing inside her consultation room. With a light, mocking laugh, Soren said, "You might think I’m crazy if I told you this, but I really have died three times. Every single time, I died right next to Sloane Hartwell. "I was originally curious to see how she would try to save me this time. Now that I think about it, she must have been bad luck. Once I stayed far away from her, didn’t I end up living just fine?" I quietly stepped back. In this fourth life, whether he lived or died has nothing to do with me anymore. This time, I was going to live my own life.

I had been married to Natasha Bates for ten years, and not once did she ever join me for our family's Independence Day cookout. This year, on the night before the celebration, I finally gathered the courage to ask if she wanted to come. She scoffed and said, "What are you, stuck in the past? Who even celebrates the Fourth with a family dinner anymore?" Yet that very evening, I saw a social media post of Natasha with her male best friend, Stanley Rogers. They were quite intimate in the picture, and the caption read: [True happiness is celebrating Independence Day with your bestie!] I commented back: [Hope you two lovebirds make it official soon.] Stanley did not hold back. He messaged me a bunch of intimate photos of the two of them. Then, he added, [You're just a leech living off his wife. What right do you have to question anything about Nattie?] Everyone always thought I was a gold-digger living off Natasha's success. However, they all forgot that I was the sole major shareholder of the company. This time, I’m done staying silent.

Eliza Ward does not fall through time. Time bends toward her. Pulled from the present into Revolutionary America, Eliza becomes trapped in a landscape where history repeats unevenly, battles restart with variations, and memory functions as both anchor and weapon. She is not a chosen heroine, but a constant: a woman whose awareness destabilizes the moment itself. She meets Mercy Hale, a midwife and witch who understands time as a negotiation rather than a force to command. Mercy aids Eliza’s survival while refusing the role of savior, having already learned the cost of standing too close to history’s center. During a looping battle, Eliza saves Thomas Reed, a Continental soldier who does not shift when time does. Thomas is an anchor: steady, observant, unchanged across iterations. Their bond deepens in an almost-normal village where time briefly behaves. Eliza’s intervention triggers time’s response. Rather than immediate destruction, time collects interest. Mercy bargains to spare Eliza and Thomas, sacrificing her own future to stabilize the present. Time extracts payment from Eliza as well, stripping away her voice, the very tool she uses to name and hold moments in place. Silenced and unmoored, Eliza is violently displaced back into the original battle. Unable to anchor the moment, she watches Thomas die in the version of history that was always waiting beneath her defiance. Told in rotating perspectives between Eliza, Thomas, and Mercy, The Hours That Refused to Behave is a lyrical time-travel novel about revolution, restraint, and consequence, asking not whether history can be changed, but who pays when it is.

All because of Leo Cullen’s words, I gave up a place at a top-tier university in Ceres and stayed behind to retake the entrance exams with him—three times. By the fourth year, a girl arrived at our cram school, and Leo forgot the promise we made. He started skipping class, picking fights, smoking—doing everything but studying. One day, I stood at the school gate, blocking his path with a textbook in hand as he tried to ditch class. He smirked, unimpressed, and blew a bubble with his gum, letting it stick to the ends of my hair. “Naomi…,” he began, “who still cares about studying these days?” So I stopped caring and avoided him entirely. When he fooled around in the classroom, I went to the library. When he played basketball, I sat in a quiet corner with my books. Even when I craved noodles from my favorite shop, I’d scan the room first to make sure he wasn’t there. “Are you avoiding me, Naomi?” he asked later, his face in a frown. I shook my head. “Why would you think that?”

In my fourth year as a substitute bride for my runaway sister, married to King Alpha Kieran Ashworth, I became pregnant with his child. When I sought the High Priestess at the sacred temple to perform the "Protective Blessing Ritual" for our unborn pup, I was devastated to learn: "You and Alpha Kieran have never established a true mate bond. I cannot perform the blessing ritual." The soul truly connected to him was my half-sister, Isabella Morgrave. Isabella suddenly returned, claiming to suffer from "Luna's Eclipse",a werewolf affliction spoken of in whispered terror, with only three full moons remaining. To fulfill Isabella's dying wish, Kieran held a mating ceremony with her. At Isabella's birthday banquet, a blood curse appeared, and everyone believed it was cast by my jealousy. They imprisoned me in an obsidian cage that absorbed moonlight energy and purified me with "demon-breaking blood," causing me to miscarry and lose our child. When I discovered Isabella's illness was fabricated and all the framing was her elaborate scheme, I decided to leave. However, when the truth came to light, Kieran went completely mad...

In her past life, Lindsay and the adopted daughter of the Harper family were kidnapped together. Tragically, her biological parents, five older brothers, and childhood sweetheart all chose to save the adopted daughter first, resulting in Lindsay's death. Reborn, Lindsay decided to sever ties with her family and break up with her childhood sweetheart. Determined to survive, she set out to conquer the entertainment industry. Her eldest brother, a powerful CEO in the entertainment world, soon witnessed her star studio rise to the top of the industry. Her second brother, a top agent, saw her become the ace agent in the circle. Her third brother, a popular and talented singer, watched as one of her songs quickly topped the charts. Her fourth brother, a genius new director, found himself envious of her film’s box office success. Her fifth brother, a top young idol, saw her win numerous awards and become a top actress. Eventually, her biological parents and five brothers begged for forgiveness, filled with regret. Even her ex-boyfriend, now a renowned actor, begged for reconciliation. Lindsay, however, refused to forgive them.

​“I dragged you out of that filthy gutter, Leylie. I paid for your mother’s last breath and your sister’s cheap little dreams. I turned a nobody into something almost presentable. And now you’re going to repay that debt in another man’s bed. That’s all you were ever good for, anyway. ​●●●LEYLIE●●● ​My fourth wedding anniversary started with a bouquet of roses and ended with Finnian Thorne, my husband, forcing me to watch him have sex with another woman. ​He says I’m ungrateful. He says I’m selfish. ​But the truth is, I’m just a pawn in a billionaire’s game. ​To keep my family alive, I have to follow his final, twisted order: Seduce Hayes Doyle — his business rival, and destroy him with a single lie. As Finnian serves me divorce papers and throws me to the wolves, he makes one fatal mistake. He hands me over to a man even more ruthless than himself. Instead of a target, I find an ally. Instead of a victim, I become a weapon.

Rich. British. Hot as hell. Elizabeth Bennett has never appreciated any of these traits in a man. So when Mr. Darcy, billionaire British playboy and GQ's Bachelor of the Year, meets her at a function, she's surprised at how attracted she is to him. That is until he puts his foot in his big, arrogant mouth. The slap that she gave him got her thrown out of the biggest fundraiser of the year, but the mark she left on Mr. Darcy won't leave his mind. The second time that they meet "on accident", he turns up the arrogance even more. The third time, he tries flowers. By the fourth time, he's wearing a cup to protect himself. Mr. Darcy is the last man in the world that Elizabeth could ever be with. However, love makes fools of us all, and the one man that she can't stand is the one man she can't resist. Can Mr. Darcy's kiss win over the heart of Elizabeth Bennett? Join New York Times bestselling author Krista Lakes in this modern retelling of Jane Austen's beloved "Pride and Prejudice".

Handsome, moody, and reclusive, billionaire Alpha werewolf Dane Wiltshire is confined to Vukasin, a secluded but pleasant internment island for werewolves where humans are allowed to visit for only three weeks a month (the fourth week is that of the full moon, when werewolves run rampant and no human is safe). The proud Dane meets his match during a chance encounter with the stubborn and willful middle-class human, Adara Huntington. She’s attracted to his handsome looks but put off by his Alpha arrogance. Nevertheless, she embarks on a love affair with him. But it ends when he breaks the heart of her sweet and beloved sister, Fawna, by dissuading his best friend Edin from marrying her, suggesting the sisters are social-climbing gold diggers. Things worsen when one of the island’s enforcement officers, the boyfriend of Adara’s other sister Emmalina, tells Adara how Dane stole the woman of his dreams, later causing her death. All of this is enough to make Adara despise Dane and avoid him at every opportunity. And yet she cannot overcome her attraction to his powerful Alpha personality and stunning good looks. Just as Adara and her sisters must leave the island for the week of the full moon, a dangerous turn of events gives Dane the chance to redeem himself in Adara’s eyes . . . but will he succeed?

I spent four years pretending to be obedient by West Graham’s side. Four years ago, after the video of Nina Avery running over my younger sister was exposed, my boyfriend, Jake Smith, hired a top-tier defense attorney for her to clear her name. When I was completely alone, with no one to rely on, it was Nina’s stepbrother, West, who stepped forward and chose justice over blood. He found a lawyer for me and gathered witness testimonies and physical evidence everywhere he could. In the end, he personally sent Nina to prison. When everything finally settled, West proposed to me, and I said yes. However, in the fourth year of our marriage, I saw an email in West’s inbox. It was a birthday message from Nina, and attached was a selfie of her smiling brightly at the beach. In the bottom-right corner of the photo was yesterday’s date. [Happy birthday, West! It’s been four years since I received Erin’s sister’s heart. There haven’t been any complications at all. Thanks to you and Jake, I’m given a second chance in life.] West replied. [To make you happy, I’ll do anything.] After reading all of it, I smiled brighter than ever. It’s been four years, and their time to die has finally come.