Max Hardcore Paradise Hill

Beta Max and I were at the Civil Affairs Bureau, ready to register our marriage. We were just waiting to take the final photo when he got a phone call and left. He abandoned me right there at the marriage registration office, leaving me stuck in an impossible situation. I called him—no answer. I messaged him—no reply. In the end, I had no choice but to call his childhood sweetheart’s number. Beta Max answered. “Louis, can you stop being so annoying? Grace twisted her ankle—I need to take care of her today. Stop calling and waking her up. We’ll reschedule the registration.” I bit my lip and murmured into the phone, “This makes it the seventh time we’ve rescheduled.” “So what? The Civil Affairs Bureau isn’t going anywhere—it’s not like it’s going to disappear!” My face was blank, but it felt like my heart was being carved open. A staff member looked at me with pity and asked, “Alpha Louis, are we still doing this?” I gave a small nod. “Yes. Let’s go through with it.”

On the night before my arranged marriage to Teddy, I gave my virginity to a stranger who made me feel alive for the first time. I thought it would stay a secret, that I would never see him again. Until he walked into my wedding reception as my husband’s uncle. Sebastian Hill is ruthless, untouchable, and the one man I should never want. But he is also the only man who won't let me go. The more he holds on to me, the higher the stakes become. My marriage is a cage, my family's empire is built on lies, and one secret that has been hidden for so long could shatter everything. He needs to let go. But Sebastian doesn’t share.

Two months into my cold war with Sean, the lover he’d been keeping finally danced her way right up to me, the real deal. Everyone expected me to react the same way I always had before, kicking up a huge scene to stake my claim. Instead, I looked at the intimate photos of Sean and her in the group chat, smiled, and sent them my blessing. [Looking good. Wishing you two a long and happy life.] The chat went dead silent. Sean must’ve sobered up from his little paradise because in the middle of the night, he drove home and pounded on my door. He was furious. “Do you think this is funny?” However, I only met his gaze calmly. “Honestly, after all these years, none of it is.”

Bring something found. Find something lost. The paradise island of Foxgrove hides a secret. It is said that a fox deity lives in the island's tallest mountain, Mt. Kitsune. At the foot of the mountain is an inn where, according to legends, one can find what they have lost if they trade something they have found, as long as the fox is pleased. Vivi is the granddaughter of the owner of the Chocolate Kiss Inn. She returns to the island with her little sister in order to help her grandmother manage their family business, when her peaceful life is suddenly disturbed by the arrival of a VIP guest. Leo, the VIP of Cottage 2, is a popular idol at the peak of his career. He visits the island to spend his vacation there and ends up getting close to Vivi. In truth, he is there in search of something. Will they ever find what they are looking for? Or will they find something equally worthwhile?

Gutemberg Ramsey wants revenge. He is a rich young man who is secretly involved in the criminal underworld. Timmy is in love with his childhood sweetheart, but he doesn't have the courage to confess it. Aaron is a troubled young man with a dark past. And there is the poet, but he is so deep in his own plots that he does not see his own feelings. They all want the same girl, although the reasons are different. One wants revenge. The second wants a chance. The third needs it. The latter wants to use it. Davina is confused, angry, and doesn't know where her sister is. Her parents are separating and everyone wants something from her. She thinks the boys on the Hill will break her, especially Gutemberg, but maybe they will save her.

The summer of 1954 brings forth changes and realizations to two girls who find themselves separated by race, family, friends, and society. Rosalie Johnson must confront the demons of her past to move forward. Ida must find who she is in a changing world. Will love be enough to challenge a society unwilling to accept them? Can they accept each other? "You aren't scared?" She asks me and I know what she means. Of course I am scared. I am terrified of my mother finding me here, wrapped up in the arms of a woman. I am terrified of someone finding Ida in my arms and burning her home to the ground. Every component outside of this hill was terrifying. "Of loving you? Never."

For Chrissie Hill, turning thirty is enough of a nightmare. But to hit the big 30...and wake up married? To a man she'd never met or seen before that morning when she finds him on her couch. Race insists they have been married for two years...and he has the proof, but can she make herself believe him? Suffering from an unusual bout of amnesia, Chrissie slowly comes to accept this man in her life -- and the life she didn't know she lived. Love, marriage and happiness had never been sweeter for two people. However, true love doesn't just drop out of her dreams onto her couch...she must go a little crazy first.

This is the story of Millicent Walker, a mysterious orphan who arrives in the small coastal town of Crimson, mute, nameless, and with no memory of her life before. Hired out by the orphanage to pay for her room and board, her strange appearance and mannerisms lead her to be seen as a freak. To many, she was seen as having less value than the rags she used to clean the floors. When a blight comes to Crimson, the dragon demands a virgin "of marriageable age" as a sacrifice in exchange for his assistance. Seen as strange, even cursed, Millicent was an easy choice for the sacrifice. Loved and wanted by no one, there was nobody to fight for her when they chained her to the cart and left her at the base of the hill to be defiled or devoured. Little did they know, her sacrifice would be their biggest mistake.

Layla Reyes wasn’t looking to be noticed. New to Maple Hill High, she only wanted to keep her head down, finish senior year, and forget the mess she left behind in Chicago. But then she meets Jayden Carter—a quiet artist with soulful eyes and a sketchpad full of secrets. What starts as a simple school project soon becomes something deeper, richer, and more complicated than either of them expected. Just as they begin to open up, Layla’s past crashes into her present, threatening to undo everything she and Jayden were building. Can two people still healing learn to trust each other with more than just paint and poetry? Or will they stay stuck in the space between what almost was… and what could be?

Arilyn has always dreamed of escaping Green Hill, leaving behind the pain of her father's abuse and the memories that haunt her. When an unexpected transfer to Riverside University gives her the chance to start over, she seizes it-only to come face-to-face with Xander Hale, her former best friend who vanished from her life without explanation. Xander is no longer the boy she remembers. Now a star hockey player with a sharp edge and a colder heart, he keeps everyone at arm's length. But Arilyn's arrival stirs something in him he thought he'd buried long ago. As the two are forced to confront their shared history, tensions rise, and buried emotions thaw, revealing truths neither expected.