Harris County Library Novels & Stories

Alina Hart, a sharp-tongued high school senior, hides behind sarcasm and wit to mask the pain of fractured family life. Shipped off to a prestigious boarding school by a father who no longer sees her, Alina struggles to find her place in a world of strict rules and academic expectations. Enter Professor Cristiano Wright, a 27-year-old literature teacher whose calm demeanor and sharp intellect make him both an enigma and a fascination. Tasked by Alina’s older brother Ethan to keep an eye on her, Wright finds himself drawn to the complexity beneath her rebellious exterior. In the backdrop of Shakespearean sonnets and Romantic poetry, Alina and Wright navigate an increasingly fraught connection. What begins as reluctant mentorship soon transforms into a tangled web of forbidden emotions, unspoken words, and an undeniable pull that neither can ignore. Set against the bustling corridors of an urban high school and the quiet corners of a library filled with unspoken confessions, Silent Flames, Forbidden Paths explores the fine line between admiration and desire, duty and vulnerability. As Alina and Wright grapple with their feelings, they must confront their moral boundaries and the cost of their choices. Can they maintain the lines they’ve drawn, or will their emotions blur them beyond recognition?

Alpha Wesly Harris is a hard man on an even harder mission. Feeling denied and rejected by his family. He left his brother's pack to start his own dynasty. He now wants an hier to go with it. He rejected his mate due to her infidelity. Now, only a pure blood virgin from the powerful Trentity bloodline would do. He finds and purchases the beautiful Annabella Collins from her Alpha. Only to discover she is not the willing play toy he expected her to be. Alpha Wesly would not be denied his prize. He intended to force her to do his will if necessary. His wolf, however, will not allow him to harm his second chance mate. It is Wesly who will have to bend to their wills in order to survive. He may learn along the way there is more to life than hate and vengeance. "I reject you, Lindsey Mills, as my mate." Alpha Wesly said to her, still straddling her in his bed. "Wesly," she cried as she clutched her chest. "How can you do this to me?" Alpha Wesly looked at her cold-heartedly. "Very easily, apparently." He said. "Accept the rejection!" He demanded. "I, Lindsay Mills, accept your rejection, Alpha Wesly Harris." She said as she glared at him. Alpha Wesly casually removed the used condom as he watched Lindsey leave his bedroom. He should feel something. Anything. But he doesn't.

#DarkRomance #Steamy #CEO #Possessive #ContractMarriage #Revenge #Betrayal #ContractMarriage #FamilySecrets #Dominant Twenty-four hours. That's how long Grace Vance has before her father's empire collapses. With bankruptcy looming and scandal threatening to destroy everything her family built, she has only one option: sign a marriage contract with Elias Thorne—the ruthless billionaire who owns half the city. The terms are simple. Two years of marriage. Perfect devotion in public. Separate lives behind closed doors. And one rule she must never break: Never enter the East Wing library after midnight. But when Grace discovers a hidden wall filled with photographs of herself taken long before they ever met, she realizes her husband isn't the man he claims to be. Because Elias Thorne didn't choose her by accident. He's been watching her for years. And the deeper Grace digs into the secrets surrounding her mother's death, the more she begins to suspect that the man she married isn't her savior. He's the reason she was trapped in the first place. Now she's bound to a billionaire who will do anything to keep his secrets hidden—even if it means destroying the woman he can't let go.

Catherine Turner was the naive young lady of the Turner family. She should be loved and treated like a precious jewel but the wrong marriage with Billy Rodriguez - the young master of the Rodriguez family - had brought her down to hell. Her beloved husband had an affair with her soulmate and planned to get the Turner family down. He took Turner Group as his property, made her mother and father die in an accident. Her eldest brother had been taken to a mental hospital. Catherine had lost everything, then she decided to risk her life to drag those two ungrateful people to the grave. After all her efforts, she failed and she was killed. When she was near death, she prayed to Mighty God that if she had a chance to do it again, if she could be reborn in a new life, she would change everything. She would stay away from these bad people who just used her like an ugly doll. She would take revenge for what they had done to her. And if she had the last chance, she would find him, Christoper Harris Borrisons. She would appreciate him - the one who did everything for her but did not want her to return anything, even though she had been cruel to him all the time. If there's an afterlife, I will find you and make up for everything that I owed you. And… if there's any chance, I will be truthful to myself, not living a lie anymore.

Yselle Morel is watching her family's glassworks collapse—unpaid wages, angry suppliers, a bank ready to shut the gates. When Renaud Valois, a feared billionaire financier, offers a rescue, it comes with a cruel condition: marriage. He says it’s business. His eyes say it’s revenge. In Valois’s riverside estate outside Paris, Yselle plays the obedient wife—smiling, thanking staff, acting harmless. She calls it "wife camouflage." Then she finds a locked room behind the library wall: a war room filled with files, photos, and timelines about her father’s life… and a folder stamped with Yselle’s name. Renaud didn’t choose her. He planned her. As “accidents” start closing in—tampered brakes, poisoned tea, a near fall on a dark stairwell—Yselle realizes the marriage isn’t only punishment. It’s protection. Someone wants her silent before the Day 30 board vote that will decide her family’s future. And the closer she gets to the truth, the more she fears the man who raised her. On the eve of the vote, Yselle opens the last drawer in the war room and finds an envelope addressed to her—in her mother’s handwriting. The ink looks fresh. Then the lights go out, and a voice behind her whispers, “Don’t trust your husband.”

Warning!! This book drips with heat, desire, and forbidden pleasure. Explicit content. Strictly for 18+ readers only. One reckless night. One irresistible stranger. One taste of sin that changes everything. They thought it was just lust, raw, intoxicating, and unforgettable. They thought they could walk away when morning came. But desire wouldn't fade that easily…not when the man they gave their body to turns out to be the very one they couldn't have. Her mother’s soon-to-be husband. Her Husband's Therapist. Her Soon-to-be Father-in-law. Her own student, young and untamed. Her Husband's nephew Her dangerously powerful new boss. The forbidden fruit was never meant to be touched, yet once tasted, it leaves them aching for more. Passion deepens, secrets twist tighter, and temptation refuses to let go. A collection of dangerously addictive series: Book 1: One-Night Stand With My Stepfather. Book 2: One-Night Stand With My Husband's Therapist Book 3: One-Night Stand With My Father-in-law Book 4: One-Night Stand with My Student. Book 5: One-Night Stand With My New Boss. Book 6: One-Night Stand With My Husband's Nephew. If you crave stories that are sultry, scandalous, and impossible to put down, slip this into your library and surrender to the heat.

Blurb: When the university’s golden-boy hockey captain needs to pass Advanced Statistics or kiss his NHL dreams goodbye, the last person he expects to hold his future in his hands is Nathan Tanner. Brilliant, uptight, and utterly unimpressed by Maverick Rockwell’s charm. Nathan wants one thing: his glowing recommendation letter for the elite SiporaTech internship. Instead, he’s blackmailed into tutoring the arrogant, distractingly hot jock who represents everything he despises. But as their private sessions move from the library to Nathan’s couch, Maverick’s casual touches linger too long, his teasing grins turn wicked, and his “straight” confidence starts cracking under the heat of Nathan’s icy control. Maverick thought seducing the nerd would be easy revenge. He never expected the quiet intensity in Nathan’s glare to set his blood on fire… or how addictive it would feel to make the perfect tutor lose his composure. With only two weeks until finals, the stakes couldn’t be higher. One wrong move could destroy both their futures. But the forbidden tension simmering between them might just burn everything down first. Starting with their clothes. A deliciously steamy MM romance full of power plays, reluctant desire, and the kind of slow, scorching surrender that leaves you breathless.

The things we want are so very rarely the things we need. Clifton Heights, a modest Adirondack town, offers many unique attractions. Arcane Delights sells both paperbacks and hard-to-find limited editions. The Skylark Diner serves the best home-cooked meals around, with friendly service and a smile. Every August, Mr. Jingo’s County Fair visits, to the delight of children and adults. In essence, Clifton Heights is the quintessential small American town. Everyone knows everyone else, and everyone is treated like family. It is quiet, simple, and peaceful. But shadows linger here. Flitting in dark corners, from the corner of the eye. If you walk down Main Street after dark, the slight scrape of shoes on asphalt whispers you're not alone, but when you look over your shoulder, no one is there. The moon shines high and bright in the night sky, but instead of throwing light, it only seems to make the shadows lengthen. Children disappear. Teens run away. Hunters get lost in the woods with frightening regularity. Husbands go mad, and wives vanish in the dead of night. And still, when the sun rises in the morning, you are greeted by townspeople with warm waves and friendly smiles, and the shivers pass as everything seems fresh and new... Until night falls once more. Handy's Pawn and Thrift sits several blocks down from Arcane Delights. Like any thrift store, its wares range from the mundane to the bizarre. By daylight, it seems just another slice of small town Americana. But in its window hangs a sign which reads: We Have Things You Need. And when a lonely traveling salesman comes looking for something he desperately wants, after normal visiting hours, after night has fallen, he will face a harsh truth among the shelves of Handy’s Pawn and Thrift: the things we want are rarely the things we need. ©️ Crystal Lake Publishing

They say he's a devil in a man's disguise. He destroys everyone who comes in his way to get something but they don't know that... Devils aren't born, they're made. He's ruthless, he's compassionate, he's aggressive, his heart is as tender as a new bud. No one knows that he's a broken soul yearning for love. "Hunter, please let me go." Her words come out more like a moan as his teeth grazed the soft skin of her slender neck. Her fingers buried into his thick hairs as his hands are doing unforbidden things to her own. "Shhh...breathe, Anna. I am not going to eat you. You're too precious to be lost and you're mine. Only mine, my kitten." He whispers in her ear and next she feels her lips being captured for a toe curling kiss. Anna Harris' world turned upside down when she woke up in a hotel's luxurious room with a sore body specially the pain between her legs. She felt completed thinking she lost her virginity to her lover but she hadn't the slightest idea that she fell into the hands of the devil himself, Hunter Storm, the mafia leader of Rivas gang. Heartbroken, homeless and humiliated when her father got arrested. She has no place to go with her family.When she's on the verge of loosing all hopes to keep her family alive, Hunter steps in offering his help.

I married Leander Ivanov for love – even if our life together was more steady than passionate. After two years of building a quiet life side by side, I thought we were finally ready to start a family. I planned to tell him I was pregnant on his 30th birthday, surrounded by his favorite meal and the custom watch I’d spent months creating just for him. But when I turn on the news, I see him with Wren Harris – his first love, back in town after five years abroad. They look like the perfect couple, and the way he looks at her makes my heart shatter into pieces. When he comes home, he claims it was just a coincidence – but then Wren shows up at our door, wearing my watch and revealing the flowers he gave me were meant for her. As Wren and her mysterious business partner Leon Rossi weave their way into our lives, I start to suspect there’s more to their return than meets the eye. The rumors about a hostile takeover of Ivanov Industries aren’t just gossip – they’re part of a dangerous plan to destroy everything Leander’s family built. Now I have to fight for my marriage, my unborn child, and the company that means everything to the man I love. But can I trust Leander to choose us over the woman he once thought was his soulmate? And will the truth be enough to save us when lies threaten to tear our world apart?