Herrick District Library Holland Novels & Stories

“At least my books can distract me from remembering what you did to me last night.” “A distraction?” His lips ghosted over my ear. “Then I'll have to be more memorable. I'll take you on every surface of this library until the only story you know…is ours.” When Mirabelle witnesses mafia don,Theo Gaspard commit a murder, her life is his to command. To save her family, she must play the part of the ruthless billionaire's beloved girlfriend, living in his luxury mansion and warming his bed. Theo is a man of ice and control, but the defiant, soft-hearted server ignites a fire in him he can't extinguish. Their forced proximity is a battlefield of whispered threats and stolen, scorching touches which he tells himself it's all to protect his empire. As a deadly betrayal closes in from the heart of his own organization, their dangerous lie becomes the only truth holding them together. But when a secret from the past surfaces, Mirabelle discovers the man who holds her captive is hiding the one truth that could shatter them both.

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.”

Jordan Carter has made a career out of defending the kind of clients everyone else is afraid to touch—without ever crossing her own line. So when a sealed, high-dollar retainer lands on her desk tied to Mercer Holdings, she expects a rich man’s mess and a clean paycheck. Instead, she’s driven through gates and cameras to a fortress of “security” men who watch her like prey, and introduced to Maddox Mercer—cold, controlled, and dangerous in a way no suit should be. A body has surfaced on his land: a violent trafficker killed in self-defense… and then buried. The district attorney, Silvia Smith, isn’t just looking for a conviction—she’s building a task force meant to destroy the entire organization. Jordan’s job is to keep the pack out of prison. Maddox’s job is to make sure she and her team doesn’t learn enough to ruin them. But the deeper Jordan digs, the more personal it gets. The dead man’s name is tied to her father’s “wild animal” case—the call that ended his life and left her with questions no one would answer. Forced to live on Mercer land “for security,” Jordan finds missing footage, rehearsed stories, and an internal traitor with a grudge sharp enough to burn the pack down from the inside. Maddox can be her greatest threat… or her only ally, if she can survive the pull between what she feels and what she knows. Because if Jordan exposes the truth, she can win the case—and destroy him. If she protects him, she’ll become complicit in a secret that was never meant to survive daylight.

She was about to share her wonderful news, but he beat her to it with a revelation of his own: “I think we should get a divorce.” In an instant, her entire world crumbled. “Fine. If that’s what you want, I’ll divorce you.” --- Because she had used her family’s influence to force Parawee into a marriage he never wanted, he had spent three years merely enduring her. But now, Nicha—the woman he had always loved with all his heart—was back. “Let’s get a divorce.” He finally made his move to end it, expecting a clean break and a fresh start. --- Kajarin had been in love with Wee for as long as she could remember. She had begged her family to do whatever it took to make him hers, even though she knew his heart was already occupied. “I have some good news for you.” She had been ready to tell him, but his sudden demand for a divorce changed everything. Now, she had no choice but to bury her secret as deep as it would go. “Let’s head to the district office. I’ll give you the divorce you’ve been waiting for.” She was done. Truly, utterly done with it all. --- While driving his favorite yellow ride, Thamnithi was suddenly flagged down by a woman in a cream mini-dress. She looked like she was running from something, and moved by a sense of kindness, he decided to pick her up. But that one good deed was about to become a moment he would never forget for the rest of his life. “Damn it, Tham! What have you gotten yourself into?!”

Everyone warned me never to fall for Dante Moretti. They said he was the ghost of the Velasco family—an underboss who ordered hits without blinking, his heart colder than the barrel of his gun. But when he bent me over that mahogany desk, his mouth against my ear commanding me to say his name, I was stupid enough to think that was possession. It took me an entire year to see the truth. The photographs locked in his study drawer were never of me. The woman in white waiting for him in the cathedral district on Sunday mornings was never me. The girl who took a bullet for him, the one he called his "salvation"—her name is Elena Abate. And Elena happens to be my stepmother's daughter. My father is trying to sell me to a half-dead Agosti heir for five hundred million to save the family. My stepmother is scheming to erase me from existence entirely. And the man I thought would burn this city to the ground for me? On the day I needed him most, he was lifting Elena up a flight of stairs, cradling her like something sacred. They all thought I was just a pawn to be moved around their chessboard. They were wrong. If Dante can't let go of his precious white moonlight, his "salvation," then I'll become someone else's "widow." If Elena believes she's already won this game, I'll let her watch from the front row as a woman with nothing left to lose burns it all down. My name is Serafina. Remember it. Because I am about to become the reckoning none of them saw coming.

After Iris Miller ditches me at the altar for the seventh time just to be with her childhood sweetheart, Aaron Trent, the Millers personally show up on my doorstep so that they can apologize to me properly. "We'll add on another 11 pounds of gold, three buildings in the south-western district, and nine stores located in prime locations of the city center on top of the current list of wedding gifts in order to make it up to you." Before Daniel Miller is done speaking, Iris, who's listening to the conversation from her phone, lets out a light scoff. "As if Jasper deserves all these gifts. Believe me when I say I'll have him eating out of the palm of my hand with just a pebble I randomly pick up on the street. Grandpa, I might as well invest these wedding gifts in Aaron's art gallery." Daniel quickly ends the call before looking at me in embarrassment. Soft mocking laughter rings out around me. Everyone is waiting for me to quietly endure all the humiliation, just like before. But I've already received such compensation six times in the past. I'm no longer interested in them. Heck, I'm no longer interested in Iris as well. After thinking for a moment, I glance at the crowd with a raised brow, where I find myself staring at Taylor Miller, Iris' most hated half-sister due to her illegitimate lineage. "Mr. Miller Senior, you mentioned that whoever I marry will become the future heiress of the Miller family. This promise still stands, right?" It's fine if Iris refuses to marry me. Plenty of women are dying to marry me anyway.

This was the second time I lived this life. I was the last descendant of the serpent-kin. I treated men’s fertility issues and other similar problems. In the previous timeline, my adoptive parents chased me out of the house as a way to appease their true daughter, Cynthia, that they had reunited with. Lester Ward offered me his company’s shares and a luxury mansion to persuade me to marry his grandson. His only condition was for me to cure his barren grandson, Matthew Ward. In the end, I did so, and Matthew married me. However, on our wedding night, he forced me to reveal my serpent-kin guise and show him my tail. Then, he extracted my scales and sold me to a red-light district abroad. Only then was I made aware that he had been having a secret affair with Cynthia this whole time. “You’re just a greedy beastfolk who wants the matriarch position of the Ward family! Cynthia is my true love. I was cured when I slept with her. You waited in my room all this time just to pretend to treat me! Cynthia thought that we were really together and ran off. In the end, she was killed by some fiends! Aren’t you a serpent-kin? Your kind is loose and immoral. Well, you will die here in this den of iniquity!” I closed my eyes and waited for death. However, when I opened my eyes again, I found myself back in time at the moment Lester came asking for my help. I waved him off. “Your grandson’s condition is a curse, not a medical affliction. No one can treat him.”

She was his unknown damnation. He was just another to add to her death row. ``` 25 year old Alina Diaz, detective Lina by day, and a ruthless assassin by night. When past trauma of losing both her father and brother in one night leads her to a life of violence, weapons, fists and blood. From affluence to gang life, Alina loses all trace of fragility in her. When she’s given a new mission: “Infiltrate the Mexican Mafia estate and assassinate Antonio Alvarez”, Lina dives headfirst into a messy, tangled web of dangerous temptation, uncovered secrets and new discoveries. 33 year old Antonio Alvarez, a powerful don haunted by control, loyalty, and the slow realization that love is the one thing he can’t command, sharpened by the cruel reality of his world, is seen as a heartless beast just like his father and he makes no attempt to clear up the misconception. Cold, unwavering and devilishly handsome. He can snap a neck in mere seconds, and hold children delicately with those same hands. When the line between loyalty and burning passion blurs, when wrenching secrets are uncovered, will love really heal open wounds, or will it add fuel to the engulfing flames? WARNING!! BOOK CONTAINS: Language| Sexual activities| Substance| Violence If you love Action, drama and romance packed into one, then you’ve found the book for you. Please, like, share, comment and don’t forget to add to library to keep up with daily updates!

His hands pinned my wrists above my head against the cold library stacks as he thrust deep inside me, hard and relentless. “Say it,” Wesley growled against my ear, voice rough with need. “Tell me this pussy is mine, Samantha.” I bit back a moan, hating how much I needed him, hating how my body betrayed me with every wet slap of skin. “Fuck you,” I gasped, even as I wrapped my legs tighter around his waist. But we both knew the truth. I was already addicted. ————- Samantha Williams is a focused literature student and proud virgin, but one night of overhearing raw sex through her thin dorm walls changes everything. She meets Wesley Adams, the arrogant, cocky basketball star who turns her world upside down. What starts as pure hatred explodes into angry kisses in the rain and risky, addictive hook-ups. But Wesley’s teammate, kind-hearted Donald Brook, offers the gentle stability Wesley never will. Trapped between intense passion and safe love, Samantha must survive academic pressure, jealousy, and her own awakening desires. Will she choose safety… or surrender to the man who makes her lose control? Dorm Room Desires— Enemies to lovers has never been this filthy. Warning ⚠️: This book contains explicit content, so stay away if you are not ready to ruin your panties.

To transfer my sister, Suri Voss, who was 13 years younger than I was, to a new school district, I took 7 days of annual leave and went back to my hometown. I pulled strings, delivered gifts, called in favors, and finally forced a spot for her in the best middle school in the city. At last, when I could pause long enough to catch my breath, I told Mom, who was heading out to buy groceries, that I wanted grilled pork ribs for dinner. Suri walked over with a cold expression, then threw a full glass of icy water straight onto my head and pointed at my face as she exploded. "You country leech, mooching off our family for years, eating our food and living in our house whenever you feel like it. I let all that slide. Now you want to steal my mom too? Do you have any shame at all?! "Listen carefully, Mom only has one child. She will only ever love me!" I stood there, stunned. Suri had no idea I was Mom’s biological daughter, too. All this time, she had treated me as some freeloading relative. I looked toward the doorway, where Mom was changing her shoes to go out. She seemed not to have heard a single word of Suri’s disrespect. She merely said casually, "Suri doesn’t like ribs. Let’s have grilled shrimp instead." She had forgotten that I’ve been severely allergic to seafood since childhood. I lowered my head and let out a quiet, self-mocking laugh. Unbeknownst to them, if I could secure Suri a place in that school, I could just as easily make sure she lost it.