John Holt: Books

"Some books are meant to be read, while others are to be put away." Francesca Johnson, unaware of her true identity, lives her life like every normal girl, until one day, she awakes in a strange land where she is princess and has a big duty to perform. It dawns on her that all she has been reading in a fantasy book are not mere fiction but her life's story. Things get even more complicated when she meets Rio — the runaway alpha — whose dark secrets and past deeds threaten their relationship. How will Francesca survive in this whole new world with lot of secrets and evil?

Vivian Harper has always been invisible—a shy, introverted high schooler who prefers books to bullies at Westbridge High. But when Tyler Grayson, a dangerously handsome transfer student with eyes that pierce through her defenses, arrives, her quiet life unravels. Tyler whispers of werewolves and mates, secrets Vivian can’t comprehend. As Vivian grapples with the truth of her hidden werewolf nature, Tyler reveals his own: he’s a future alpha, bound by pack duty, and Vivian is his fated mate. But with every secret unveiled, a new threat emerges—will their mate bond survive, or will the shadows tear them apart?

Jewel is expected to be a modest Hasyenda Mangubat heiress but she is addicted to erotic novels. She would buy those books in secret and hide them in her room, away from her parent's eyes. She agreed to marry the Mayor's son, Gideon Manasseh, in the hope that Gideon would tolerate her vices. But to her surprise, her new husband appears to be stricter than her parents. Not only do her vices need to be hidden from him, but so do her sexual nightmares. Because those wet dreams are crawling out of her fantasies into her reality... and it is scarier than she thought.

"Rather than serving you, I prefer to die." The Outsiders have been subjected to the oppression of the king's soldiers for centuries, especially during the annual Purge, where every fifteen-year-old person - now an adult - is kidnapped. Ystal is only a child when, during his tenth Purge, is bought by a mysterious man. He says his name is Sylien and that he is an Alchemist, the only known survivor of a population that has now been destroyed. He claims to be looking for an assistant, and that Ystal is the right person. Through mysterious spells, ancient books of lost history and unknown feelings, Ystal will make a journey, in search of true freedom, against a tyrant who, for years, has reigned supreme.

Donovan Du Pont is not your typical rich boy toy from a wealthy family. He has big dreams and goals with his life. What he wants most of all is to break away from the mundane everday uptight lifestyle he has grown up in. Everyday it's piano lessons, dance classes, tutoring in the highest mathematics, sciences, language arts, and more. His family counts on him to carry on their legacy and get into John Hopkins to become a world-renowned surgeon. But what happens when you add in you add falling for the unattainable? What happens when the ones you trust the most cut you deepest. Some pains you never get over and you never see coming.

Anastasya, seorang wanita berusia 23 tahun yang menjadi istri kedua, harus menyembunyikan identitasnya dari sorotan publik yang terus memantau keluarga besar suaminya, Samuel John Len, pria berumur 29 tahun, seorang pemimpin perusahaan pertelevisian terkenal bernama SJL, tengah menghadapi masalah mental yang muncul sebagai dampak dari sebuah kecelakaan yang terjadi ketika ia dan istri pertamanya sedang dalam perjalanan menuju sebuah acara peluncuran yang diadakan oleh mitra bisnis mereka di Los Angeles, Amerika Serikat. Menjadi titik awal bagi perjalanan pernikahan mereka, dimulai dari obsesi Anastasya yang meyakini bahwa kebahagiaan Alesha berarti kebahagiaannya, termasuk memiliki Samuel.

The novel is mainly about the forgotten British poet/writer named C. J Richards who lived in Burma/Myanmar in colonial times and he believed himself as a Burmophile. He served as I.C.S (Indian Civil Servant) and when he retired from I.C.S service, he was a D.C (District Commissioner) and he left for England a year before Burma gained its independence in 1948. He came to Burma in 1920 to work in civil service after passing the hardest I.C.S examination. He wrote several books on Burma and contributed many monthly articles to Guardian Magazine published in Burma from 1953 to 1974 or 1975. Though he wrote several books which had much literary merit to both communities, Britain and Burma (Myanmar), people failed to recognize him. The story has two parts: one part is set in the contemporary Yangon (then called Rangoon) in 2016 context and a young literary enthusiast named “Lin” found out unexpectedly the forgotten writer’s poetry book and there is surely a good deal of time gap that led him into a quest to know more about the author’s life. The setting is quite different comparing to colonial Burma and independence Myanmar (Burma), early twentieth century and 2016 which is a transitional period in Myanmar. The writer’s life is fictionalized in the novel and most of the facts are taken from his personal stories and other reference books. It is a kind of historical novel with a twist and it has comparatively constructed the two different periods in Myanmar history to convince readers, locally and abroad more about history, authorship, humanity, colonialism, and transitional development in Myanmar today.

DAILY UPDATE — I don't love you. — I muttered. He set his wine aside and stood up, slowly closing the distance between us, and with his fingertips he touched my chin, his gaze wandering to my mouth and then lingering on my eyes. — I don't love you either, princess, and I don't intend to. He said those words with complete coldness and walked away sitting down again and it infuriated me. — Why fight a tournament for my hand then? All this because I'm a princess? — I asked like a shot. — You are a Lancaster princess and I need a worthy heir. — I wish my uterus was dry as the desert sands, Commander. He glared at me and I saw a flash of anger in his black eyes, but at the same instant he hid it and put his cynical smile in place. — So in that case we would have to try many times, dear, until your uterus becomes less dry. I would try for the rest of my life even. — He countered maliciously. In a tournament by the hand of Princess Helena Lancaster her destiny to cross with John Chase, a fearsome commander and warrior, with a peculiar personality. He was everything she detested, possessive, audacious, authoritarian, and dominant in the extreme, and he was the who had the best chance of winning the tournament for her hand. But John Chase was much more than a commander of Corvo Island, he was hiding a dark secret that would change her life forever. An island full of mysterious men, with their own secrets and conflicts, and she would be their lady, soon Helena would discover that a great danger lurks on the island, could she trust her husband to protect her?

Since young, Dione Amaris has always been fascinated by supernatural creatures; vampires, fairies, werewolves and many more. Her mother always read her stories about them. Until she turn to a fully grown woman, she has collected a lot of books about them and would still read them time to time and she ends reading a book, she can’t help but think if they really do exist. And what if… they really do exist? And one of its kind has been by her side all along? Will it be a start to a something new to her life? Or… it’ll start a havoc in her life?

Being the only child to the Queen of Castle Grey, lost within the confines of mount Trenon, Kilvic is made to learn a number of things best suited to the heir to the Elzcrid bloodline at the hands of tutors handpicked by his mother. However, his fifteenth birthday sends him beyond the reaches of his mother’s domain. She has tasked him with the duty of learning more. Understanding greater things than she can teach him, greater things with which to cope with the curse upon his bloodline as she had been taught by her father and mother. Finding himself in a new kingdom, in an academy designed for only the most elite of mages, Kilvic is tasked to survive the new things he will come to learn, while struggling with the chaos of human association, as he comes to understand that while he may know a great deal about the world from the castle archives, it is a different thing to experience them. The association between people isn’t as easily deciphered as the books made them seem. As he struggles with the task of becoming a mage and a student along with surviving new friendships, failure threatens him at every turn and people prove pettier than the books would have him believe. Yet, despite all these, somewhere hidden in the shadows of the kingdom, a creature stirs, taking from the academy the one thing it values most. Kilvic must survive the trials of the academy, keep his friends, best his first enemy, and ensure that what stirs must not cause more damage than the kingdom can bear, lest the supremacy of Castle Grey be called into question in realms beyond that which most know. And all in time to attend the Winter Hall Fest.