Novel & Cerita Play Nice But Win

Raquel Renaud has spent her entire life overshadowed by the brilliance of her younger sister, Camille—the epitome of beauty and perfection. Raquel has long accepted her role as the family's overlooked daughter, enduring subtle humiliations and a constant sense of inadequacy. When her parents arrange her marriage to Alvaro Bernardi, a strikingly handsome and wildly ambitious businessman, Raquel dares to hope that this union might finally grant her a life of purpose and love. To Alvaro, Raquel is just a tool to fulfill his family's obligations. He hates her—her looks, her existence, even her audacity to love him. Alvaro’s contempt turns to betrayal when Raquel discovers the cruelest truth: Alvaro is having an affair with Camille, her younger sister. The betrayal shatters Raquel to her core. With her heart in ruins, she walks away from the wreckage of her marriage, keeping one devastating secret: she’s pregnant with twins. Five years later, Raquel returns—not as the woman once overlooked and discarded, but as a force to be reckoned with. Her beauty, strength, and newfound grace now turn heads, leaving everyone who once dismissed her in awe. Beneath her dazzling transformation, Raquel hides the wounds of a past that refuses to heal. When fate thrusts her back into the path of Alvaro—a man now consumed by the weight of his past mistakes—and Camille, who has woven herself deeply into Alvaro’s life, old secrets begin to unravel, threatening to tear everything apart. In a world where love is laced with regret and revenge, Raquel must fight her fiercest battle yet: to protect herself, her children, and the fragile happiness she’s painstakingly built. Will the ghosts of her past rise to destroy her, or will she finally take control and emerge victorious in the story of her own life?

Three months after my husband, Josiah Erikson, disappears in a skiing accident, I spot him in a bar. He's laughing freely with an arm slung casually around his "best friend", Monica Jones' shoulders. "Good thing you came up with the idea. I'd almost forgotten what freedom feels like." One after another, his buddies clink glasses with him and ask about when he plans to reappear. He looks down and thinks about it before saying, "In a week. I'll show up once she's gone completely crazy searching for me." Standing in the shadows, I watch him savor his freedom, then call my friend who works at the state vital records office.

Seventeen-year-old Harper Lane has always flown under the radar. A curvy, quiet junior with a passion for sketching dragons and acing calculus, she’s the kind of girl people borrow notes from but never invite to parties. That’s fine by her—Harper has no time for popularity contests or high school heartbreaks. Until he starts talking to her. Jaxon Brooks is Madison Grove High’s golden boy—star quarterback, arrogant heartthrob, and very much taken. He’s everything Harper avoids... and everything she secretly can't stop watching. But when fate—and an unfortunately timed biology assignment—forces them together, Harper discovers there’s more to Jaxon than flawless abs and Instagram fame. He’s been watching her too. Caught between late-night texts, hallway tension, and the spotlight glare of Jaxon’s cheerleader girlfriend, Harper is suddenly drowning in attention she never asked for and feelings she doesn’t know how to handle. And Jaxon? He’s playing a dangerous game—torn between the girl who fits his image and the one who sees through it. In a world where likes mean love and screenshots can ruin lives, Harper must decide if risking everything for Jaxon Brooks is worth the heartbreak... or if some boys really are Out of Her League.

Matteo Cassimo and I are childhood sweethearts. But he gets assassinated on the day before our wedding. I cry my heart out in front of his grave to the point I faint from exhaustion. When I wake up again, I see a few live comments crossing my vision. "Poor Annie… She's still kept in the dark about the truth." "Seriously, Annie believes everything Matteo tells her. Serves her right for getting duped by Matteo's fake death." "Can someone please tell Annie that Matteo fakes his death to get rid of her, because his mistress finds out he's about to get married and decides to secretly leave him? I bet those two are being lovey-dovey with each other right now!" "Forget about it. Annie has nothing but blind trust in Matteo, after all. Maybe when he finally comes back from the 'dead,' she'll marry him happily again." One month later, the news headlines all over the papers are filled with the explosive news of the impending marriage between me and the heir of the Valente family, William Valente. That's when Matteo's subordinate confronts me. "Our Don has just passed away recently, and yet you're already planning to marry someone else?" I merely chuckle icily in return. "So what if I am? I can't just be a widow at such a young age now, can I?"

A daughter risks everything; her identity, her safety, and her heart—when she disguises herself as a boy to join an all-male hockey team in a bid to save her father’s life. But in the cold world of ice and ego, falling for the enemy could be her biggest slip.

Twenty years before the beginning of this story, her back was attacked and her parents got killed. The warriors of Canine Pack led by the fierce Alpha Hugo spared no one except Adrianna and herself. Alpha Hugo took her along and raised making her to think he was his real father. But things start changing when she hits her nineteenth birthday. Everyone's attitudes changes towards her and the atmosphere becomes extremely toxic for her. Except for Jayden who treated her like a human being. Get reading this marvelous story full of adventures and witful twists to understand how the twins, Luciana and Adrianna reunited in beautiful marriage.

Barry Ocason, extreme sportsman and outdoor travel writer, receives a magazine in his mailbox and opens to an ad for an adventure in the Bavarian Alps. Initially dismissing the invitation, which seems to have been meant specifically for him, he soon finds himself involved in a larger plot and seeking answers to why an individual known only as the elephant man is terrorizing his family. Barry and his daughter Kristen, who survived a twin sister taken from the family at a young age, travel from Juneau, Alaska to the sinister Spider Festival in Rio Tago, Brazil, before he ultimately answers the call to Bavaria, where the puzzle begins to come together. Amid tribulation, death, madness, and institutionalization, a document emerges describing a scientist’s bloody bid to breed a theoretical “third twin,” which is believed to have the potential, through its connection with its siblings, to bridge the gulf between life and afterlife. The godlike creature that soon emerges turns out to be Barry’s own offspring, and she has dark plans for the world of her conception that neither her father nor any other mortal can stop. ©️ Crystal Lake Publishing

"I'm going to be the best architect ever and make my dad real proud of me." Beautiful, smart, ambitious, as well as determined Nadia Campbell had the zeal of being the best at what she dreamt of becoming. She had her life well planned out thus, nothing prepared her for the sudden tough phase of her life — being a young mother and marrying the father of her child, a child she never hoped for this early in her life. Not when she was so close to her goal. " He's a player. I shouldn't get entangled but why does my heart say otherwise?" "There's no way something as feeble as love can ever find a way of getting to me." Playboy Derek Ashford's popular mantra, "NO LOVE, NO PAIN", was his everyday principle of living. Flirt with girls, temporary tango in the sheets, take a walk and never look back on the tears — total show on their parts to bring the toughest man to his knees. It all seemed easy until faced with the toughest price he had to pay for his inheritance — marry the mother of his mistake baby. " I play girls, I dont date them. When and if I do, no marriage or commitment is made clear from the onset so why does my heart argue with my head on this when it comes to her?"

Since it's already the end of the year, the music app I use produces a report on the songs I've listened to in 2025. The keyword of my report is "resonance". Over the year, I don't spend much time listening to the songs on this app. My girlfriend, Sienna Fletcher, is the one who's been using my account this whole time. There's a row beneath the keyword that's written in a tiny font. "You had listened to this song with someone at 4:00 am on December 1st. It turns out that love can go beyond a night's sleep." My breath gets hitched in my throat. December 1st is my birthday. But that night, I had gone to bed at an early hour. Meanwhile, Sienna had left hurriedly after cutting my birthday cake with me with the excuse that she needed to pull an overnight shift at the company. For some reason, I tap onto the unfamiliar-looking profile that has been interacting frequently with my account with a trembling finger. Their keyword of the year is "favor". My heart skips a beat at the sight. Then, I tap on the details. "Over the year, you've listened to songs with this user 688 times in the middle of the night. Every time you do, it's a secretive conversation meant for your souls." The next thing I know, I receive a message from Sienna. "Babe, I need to work overtime tonight again. You don't have to wait up for me. Just go to bed early." At the same time, a new post is uploaded on the unfamiliar profile. It features a photo of two hands that are intertwined together. "I love working overtime with her the most. I want to listen to songs with her forever."

When Ivy Yarley learned that Jason Hough had been in an accident due to speeding and lost a massive amount of blood, she rushed to the hospital without hesitation and donated a full liter of blood for him. His friends all urged her to go home and get some rest. Reluctantly, she agreed, but the moment she reached the exit, worry hung heavily in her heart, so she turned back. That was when she saw the nurse dumping all five full bags of blood that had just been drawn from her into the trash can. Before she could even process what was happening, a burst of laughter erupted from a nearby room. "Hahaha! That idiot Ivy Yarley fell for it again!"