Modern Library's 100 Best Novels Novels & Stories

On the day of the company's annual gala, I quit my job and went back to the countryside, using up all my savings to help my best friend raise her daughter. She had died tragically, swept away by the river while trying to retrieve my hundred-million-dollar gala prize ticket that had fallen into the water. Wracked with guilt, I honored her dying wish and married her husband. After the wedding, I sold my blood and even a kidney just to make ends meet, raising my stepdaughter with everything I had. Eventually, she fulfilled her dream of winning the Best Actress Award and was about to marry the richest man in the country. But just as I was preparing to give a speech at her wedding, I saw my best friend, who had been dead for over a decade. She clutched my stepdaughter's hand and accused me of being a homewrecker who seduced her husband, and even claimed I had been the one who pushed her into the river all those years ago. Only then did I learn the truth—she had faked her death all those years ago, just to steal my prize ticket and travel the world, leaving me behind to raise her family. The shock sent me into a cerebral hemorrhage. When I opened my eyes again, I had gone back to the day she drowned.

As I lay limp in the man’s arms, my face flushed red. I could not help but let his oil-covered hands move over my body. “No… That tickles…” I whined and shuddered because the oil felt hot on my skin. His hands tightened around my thighs as he leaned in and whispered in my ears, “Be good, Claudia. Repeater students face a lot of pressure. Spread your legs. I’ll help you relieve your stress.”

Emily has never known the warmth of a real family. Abandoned before she was born and orphaned young, she was taken in by her best friend’s mother—fed, clothed, and educated, but never truly loved. To them, she was just the charity case they picked up from the streets, tolerated but never chosen. Still, Emily believed in love, she trusted her boyfriend, she trusted her best friend. Until the night she walked in on them together… in his bed. Shattered and drunk, she spent one reckless night with a mysterious stranger, desperate to forget the betrayal. By morning, he was gone, leaving only a name behind. Mr. Harrison Grey. She never expected to see him again, until she returned home and watched her best friend run into the arms of the same man. “Daddy! I missed you!” In that moment, Emily’s world collapsed all over again, because the stranger she spent the night with was her best friend’s father. Now, a dangerous secret is growing inside her, one that could destroy what little stability she has left. As forbidden feelings, jealousy, and buried family secrets surface, Emily must confront a truth she never saw coming. What happens when the man who gave you one night of comfort becomes your forbidden baby daddy?

Wayne Rivers is the weakest wolf in Ironclaw-eighteen years old without unawakened wolf, a disgrace in a world where power is everything. The only person who ever made him feel seen is Ren Storm… his alpha, best friend, and the man he loves in secret. On the night of his awakening ceremony, Ren rejects him and shatters him before the entire pack. Heartbroken, Wayne runs into the forbidden woods where soul-hunting creatures wait to claim what’s left of him. But a forgotten stranger drags him back from death, and neither of them realizes the truth between them is already shifting fate. And Ren is about to wish he never let him go.

My best friend said she was just protecting me from bad men. So every time I started dating someone new, she would turn herself into his dream girl. She'd flirt, chase him, and seduce him until she ended up in his bed. And every time, she'd send me the photos. Always with the same cheerful caption: "Bestie! If I hadn't tested him, you'd be heartbroken again. Aren't I good to you?" I was tortured, broken, humiliated. Eventually, I cut her off completely and moved to another city. Then I met the man I thought was my true love—Liam. He was kind, devoted, and loving. I thought I could finally be happy. On my wedding day, I found Madison standing in my dressing room, disguised as my makeup artist. She smiled at me, just like she used to. "Don't worry, bestie," she whispered. "Let me test this one for you. Then you can marry him." She drugged me, then put on my wedding gown and got into bed with Liam. But I woke up in time. I burst into the room with our families. I caught them together. Later, I got pregnant. During labor, I hemorrhaged. Liam watched me bleed and refused to sign the emergency consent form. "Madison just wanted to give herself to me before our wedding—to fulfill her wish," he said coldly. "You humiliated her. You drove her to suicide. She died carrying my child." "You and the bastard in your belly deserve to die too." That was when I realized—the man I loved had already fallen for my best friend. I died in agony. My ashes were thrown into a ditch. Then I opened my eyes. I was back. On my wedding day. And Madison was standing right in front of me, pretending to be my makeup artist.

Pierre Delacroix was once the powerful CEO of the Delacroix empire. But when a rather brutal attack left him with one blind eye and a weak heart, he is forced into an arranged marriage with Kate Beaumont to protect his family's reputation. Kate Beaumont who is a rising fashion designer however hides a secret from Pierre who does not know that Kate is the woman from one of his many one night stand that he has spent time trying to find. As Pierre faces several enemies who are determined to destroy him, Kate works in secret to keep him alive while betrayals, hidden truths and other deadly conspiracies also come to light. Now will Pierre and Kate face their unintentional pasts. And can their love survive the coming chaos?

Despite having a crush on my best friend, Adam, since I was 12, I had never let him know about it. This was because I was afraid of how he would react. But one day, everything was going to change. For some odd reason, something told me to walk around the park. To which I obliged. When suddenly, my nostrils flared. Unsure of where it was coming from, I glanced around. "Hmm. What's that smell?" I whispered. Right when I said that, the sound of crunching leaves broke the silence of the night. "Is that you, Sasha?" I overheard a voice speak harshly, causing me to look up. And as I did, my jaw dropped open in shock. There he was, Adam. He was standing in front of me, looking like a God. And the feelings that were dormant 10 years prior had returned full force. Was I willing to unleash it, or would I leave it be?

⚠️ READER WARNING This book contains extremely explicit, uncensored sexual content including graphic scenes of dominance and submission, BDSM, spanking, and raw, filthy language. It is intended for mature readers aged 18+ only. If explicit content offends you, this is not the book for you. For everyone else ,enjoy the ride. Harlow Vance has spent twenty four years feeling invisible. Her younger brother is the success story, the one her father brags about, the one who can do no wrong. Desperate to feel something, to feel wanted, she decides to lose her virginity. Not to some boy her age who will fumble and forget her by morning, but to a man. A dominant she has been chatting with online for weeks, someone who calls her a brat and makes her pulse race with every message. She agrees to meet him at Radiant, an exclusive BDSM club in Pittsburgh. She uses a fake name. She plans for one night, nothing more. But when the door opens, it is not a stranger staring down at her. It is Kael Hawthorne. Her father's best friend. Her father's business partner. The man she has been secretly aching for since she was old enough to notice the way his gaze lingered on her a moment too long. Kael should push her away. He should call Julian and tell him his daughter is in a place she does not belong. Instead, he pulls her into the room and shuts the door. But secrets have a way of slithering out. And when Julian walks into Radiant and finds his daughter on her knees for his best friend, everything Harlow has built with Kael threatens to shatter. What do you think will happen? Read to find out!

Five years ago, Lana Roth’s world shattered when her fiancé left her at the altar; mocking her body, her worth, her love. From those ashes, she rose sharper, stronger, untouchable. Now the head of a thriving nonprofit, she’s living proof that survival can be beautiful, until Monroe Corp tries to take it away. Walking into Jace Monroe’s office felt like stepping into a storm. He’s cold, commanding, and maddeningly unreadable. Their partnership was meant to save her foundation, not awaken a dangerous pull that threatens the walls she’s built. But when buried secrets start to come to light, Lana learns that the man funding her dream was the stranger from her one night stand and her ex-fiancé’s best friend, her seemingly perfect life begins to crumble.

Oh yeah,” she let out a strangled moan when his girth hit her spot and the sensation almost made her combust on the spot. His hand dug into her hair as he drilled into her repeatedly, letting out muffled grunts with each thrust. As she held onto his rippled muscles on his back, drawing him close, Camille knew she shouldn’t be doing this, letting her best friend’s brother use her as his personal toy when she was right in the next room, asleep and completely unaware of everything going on. *** When Camille’s roommate and best friend Lucia, invites her heartbroken older brother to their apartment for only a month to recuperate, she expects to meet a depressed, quiet and needy ex-lawyer, who lost everything after his heartbreak. However, when Camille meets the drop-dead gorgeous player with a thick British accent when he throws a party at their house, she discovers he is the complete opposite of what she imagined. What happens when Camille finds herself falling hard for the very man she swore to both herself and her best friend, to never feel that way towards. What happens when he makes it extremely difficult for her to resist him and they begin an explicit but forbidden romance without her best friend’s knowledge.