Love Like Roses, Hurt Like Thorns

"I'll accept the hospital's offer. I leave for Italvia in two weeks." Vanessa Jahn stood by the window, pregnancy report in hand. On the other end of the call, Rob Lambert, the hospital director, sounded thrown. "Wait—what? After all this time? I've been trying to get you on board for years." She let out a humorless laugh. "Guess it finally felt like time for a change. Anyway, I've got a lot to wrap up before I go. We'll catch up later." She hung up. The ache in her heart lingered as she glanced back down at the report.

Claire life crashes when she comes home to an empty apartment. Her boyfriend, Ben had run away with all her savings, sold all her furniture, leaving her with nothing but a broken heart. She tries to forget the heart ache by having a one night stand with a handsome stranger. Her luck changed when her father, a media mogul, who she never thought existed shows up introducing her to her step brother. But in an odd twist she realizes that he was her one night stand.

To escape harassment and bullying at an elite university owned and dominated by mafia, Ren Ralph makes a desperate deal with the city’s most feared mafia boss, Ciro Don. In exchange for protection, Ren agrees to become Ciro’s fake lover, used as a toy. At first, it’s all business, but what starts as a fake relationship soon turns into dangerous obsession, Ciro wants more control, he wants to possess Ren, he becomes jealous of people around Ren. When Ren learns he wasn’t randomly selected, but specifically chosen to be in this situation, he tries to run but Ciro snaps. “I want him here, Now.” As the war between rival mafia families escalates, Ren is kidnapped and tormented. Ciro stops at nothing to get him back, and when he does, he possesses Ren. “I don’t want you as my toy, I want you as a wife.”

Nina Whyte finds herself trapped in a marriage that is going very differently from how she imagined. Being married to the gentle, handsome and wealthy Cody Whyte, she expects their marriage to be like a fairytale but reality dawns on her when she finds herself cuffed with a serial cheat. This leads her to make drastic decisions that lands her in a middle of a crime scene being targeted as the main suspect. It is in the toughest moments in her life that she learns that, sometimes letting go makes room for something new and that sometimes love finds you at your lowest and lifts you up to places you can’t imagine.

You think of my love as a burden and can't see my pain and suffering. Love ensnares them in a world filled with disappointment. What will the female protagonists in the stories do once they've had enough of being let down?

Pernahkah kamu melihat makhluk yang kamu kira hanya ada di dunia dongeng sebelumnya? Seperti elf, alkemis, penyihir, vampire, werewolf, orc, dan lain-lain. Aciel pernah. Aciel adalah laki-laki beruntung yang nyawanya diselamatkan oleh perempuan cantik bertelinga panjang dan runcing, ketika dia sedang bertugas menyelidiki hewan-hewan yang tiba-tiba saja menjadi liar dan tidak terkendali. Apakah kalian tahu makhluk apakah yang telah menyelamatkan Aciel? Aciel bekerja sama dengan makhluk itu untuk menyelesaikan masalah ini, dan tak disangka-sangka penyebab semua ini adalah karena dendam masa lalu yang belum terselesaikan. Tidak hanya menceritakan tentang dendam, cerita ini juga menceritakan sebuah petualangan, pertarungan, pertengkaran, dan juga percintaan. Seperti kisah dongeng pada umumnya. Akankah kisah Aciel juga berakhir bahagia seperti dongeng-dongeng pengantar tidur lainnya? "Pasti! pasti! semuanya akan berakhir bahagia!" harap Aciel. cover by : I.Salsabilla

In my sixth year with Nathan Bennett. "Nathan, I'm getting married," I said. He jolted, suddenly snapping back to reality, looking somewhat troubled. "Hannah, you know the company is at a crucial point with our financing. I'm not in the mood to..." “It’s okay,” I replied, my smile calm and composed. Nathan misunderstood. I was getting married, but not to him.

On New Year's Eve, I waited at home with a box of sparklers, hoping Jake Thompson would come. Instead, an earthquake struck. Trapped under fallen debris, I prayed for his safety. Little did I know, Jake was putting on a grand fireworks display across the city for his high school sweetheart who had just returned from abroad. The whole town buzzed with excitement, wishing them a lifetime of happiness together. Meanwhile, I had lost my hearing in the disaster, with no hope of recovery. When I tried to break off our engagement and leave town, Jake stood before me, his eyes red-rimmed and pleading. I couldn't understand a word he said. I simply wished him, “May you always have a day like today, year after year.”

Jace Storme is the most popular guy in school, while Maxxie Gray is the superhero-obsessed nerd....who just so happens to be obsessed with Jace. After Maxxie drops a pair of underwear, Jace says those fated words: "I like your Batman underwear." The two discover the ups and downs of young love, navigating identity, friends, and family while trying to keep their relationship alive.

My Alpha mate, Ross, and I were known as the most resentful couple. He hated me for allegedly swapping his sister's antidote, which led to her death from wolfsbane poisoning. On the other hand, I despised him for turning a blind eye when my younger brother was bullied, abandoning him to die alone in the pitch-black forbidden forest. Upon hearing the news, he sneered and spoke to me for the first time in ages, "This is your karma." When I was three months pregnant, I was kidnapped by an enemy pack. As I was left bleeding from the torture and my unborn child slipping away, the enemy demanded he surrender his western territory in exchange for saving his Luna. However, he just scoffed. "It's about time to stop this act. Tell Jenny that I'm not falling for this. Don't even think of watching me make a fool of myself." In the end, I lost everything—just as he wished, as if it was my retribution. So, why did he regret everything?