Port Isabel Public Library

"Hidden Queen" is a romantic royal love and action novel that follows the journey of Princess Isabella, the youngest daughter of King Frederick and Queen Emilia, who possesses the gift of mind-reading. Isabella has spent her entire life hidden away from the public eye, but when a dark force threatens the kingdom of Ardenia, she realizes that she must use her gift to save her family and her people. As Isabella struggles to come to terms with her destiny, she meets Prince Alexander, the charming and charismatic heir to the throne of the neighboring kingdom. Despite their differences, they are drawn to each other, and a passionate love affair ensues. But their happiness is short-lived as Isabella discovers that the dark force threatening the kingdom is none other than Prince Alexander's own father, King Maximilian, who seeks to expand his empire by conquering Ardenia. Isabella and Alexander find themselves torn between their love for each other and their duty to their respective kingdoms. As the battle for Ardenia rages on, Isabella's gift becomes both a blessing and a curse, as she must navigate the intricate web of political alliances and the treacherous nature of court life. But with Alexander by her side, Isabella is determined to do whatever it takes to protect her people and claim her rightful place as the Hidden Queen of Ardenia. Filled with romance, intrigue, and pulse-pounding action, "Hidden Queen" is a thrilling tale of love, power, and destiny in a kingdom where nothing is as it seems.

"You are not my mate," he tells me firmly, pushing me against the wall and holding my wrists over my head to stop me from struggling. "You're just an impostor, a liar!" A smirk appears on my lips. "Me? An impostor and a liar?" I lean forward, making sure that our lips are only inches apart. "I can prove it. Let me go and I'll show you who I am." He swallows hard, his gaze wandering from my eyes down to my lips, going farther down with renewed purpose. . . . * * * Meredith Lane is the most beautiful girl in the kingdom of Raven Solstice. With her angelic features, she could have been blessed by the gods themselves. But there's one catch. She's a mere human in the world of Lycans, and the daughter of a Duke's lowly maid. Inhibited by her status and forever hidden from the public, Meredith decides to break some rules and explore what the world has to offer. And it just so happened the universe granted her the attention of a Lycan Heir, Zeus Antonov. But what if someone is just out there lurking, waiting for the right chance to take Meredith's beauty, along with her royal mate?

Yasmin, my so-called best friend, got scammed out of fifty grand by some loser using an AI deepfake of me. She was on her knees in public, sobbing about how that money was all she had. Begging me — in front of everyone — to pay her back. Said I made "easy money" as an influencer. The whole internet tried to guilt-trip me into paying her back. Even Zack, my own brother, joined in. Called her pitiful and said I owed it to her. I smirked. You think you can use me to get rich? Not. A. Chance.

As Jimmy investigates an abandoned car, he finds a journal that sheds light on a mystery from twenty years before. As he explores his memories he discovers the truth behind the city and the supernaturals who run it. ~~~ Inside of each of us is the darkness wanting out. But what if that darkness is the ending and the beginning of us all? The full moon hung like a ghost in the night sky as Yada overlooked the lights of the city below from her tenth-floor apartment. She studied the diamond twilight for over an hour before turning away--No longer able to stomach the sight. It had been nearly a month since she had been home, having stayed in the coven’s inner chambers since the city fell under siege to a rival house a little over three weeks ago. Over the years, the city had seen many battles for control of the streets. To date, the two bloodiest battles took place within the last fifteen years. The Badens orchestrated both attacks. Led by Darius, the Badens seemed hell-bent on ruling the city with little regard for the Michelsons. The Michelsons governed the streets for nearly two hundred years and were a formidable force. Led by Gabriel, the Michelsons protected the city, and it survived unscathed. The streets were free from the blood deals, which went unnoticed by the public eye, normally. However, this last battle proved more difficult to keep quiet. It had been an all-out war for control, drawing innocent people into the blood feud as the Badens raided the streets for warriors to fortify their numbers. The Michelsons retaliated through unusual ventures to keep the war silent.

My widowed mother-in-law has an affair with a married man. Whenever she goes out to meet him, she uses me as an excuse and says I need her to run errands. Slowly but surely, my husband, William Sanders, thinks of me as a cruel daughter-in-law who orders her mother-in-law around. One day, my mother-in-law gets pregnant. She secretly uses my name when getting a checkup at the gynecology department and even wants to play the child off as mine and William's. Her lover's wife mistakes me for his mistress and strips me in public before beating me to death. When I open my eyes again, I'm back to the day when my mother-in-law's lover's wife finds out about her going to the gynecology department under my name. This time, I'm calm as I tell the woman what to do. "Let's get to the bottom of this. Let's ask the doctor who the actual patient was!"

After escaping her adoptive father's creditor, the infamous Sebastian Bernadotte, Isabel Hadid opted to be a surrogate mother to an anonymous billionaire in desperate need of an heir, just to pay up the debt. She conceived a pair of triplets and upon delivery, she maneuvered her way to have one of the children for herself, breaching the contract she'd signed. Eight years later, Isabel has created a new identity for herself and her son, Reynolds. However, fate had other plans for her, when her path crossed with Sebastian Bernadotte again, and she discovered that he was the anonymous billionaire whose son she'd stolen. Seeing the striking resemblance between her son and the sons he'd left at home, Sebastian needed no Sherlock Holmes to deduce Isabel's foul play. "Woman, you've breached our contract by taking my son and now, you'll pay. Either I take back my son and have you pay for infringement, or you accept to be my mistress." Isabel was stuck between losing her son or becoming the mistress of the man she'd once despised.

My uncle buys an expensive insurance policy for my grandmother, who has cancer. To avoid implicating himself, he makes me take care of my grandmother during dinner. My mother agrees and forces me into submission, saying that it's my duty to care for her. Then, she hands me my grandmother's medication, which has been switched out for poison. Later, my grandmother dies of poisoning. My uncle and his family claimed I did it to collect the insurance money and even took me to court. I end up behind bars after being wrongfully convicted. I become public enemy no.1, and everyone hates me. I am executed in the end. When I open my eyes again, I'm taken back to that fateful night.

My best friend and I go to a music festival together. There, my brother's girlfriend locks me in the toilet. "Young women these days are so shameless—I can't believe you had the nerve to seduce my CEO boyfriend! I'm going to teach you a lesson today since your parents obviously didn't raise you right!" She refuses to listen to my explanation. She pours dirty water all over me before slapping me in public and stripping me. Then, she brands me with an insult. By the time my brother arrives, I'm tormented beyond recognition. "I can explain, Spencer! I thought you were lying when you said she was your sister!"

“Don’t tell me that meeting the man who slept with me at the whiskey library was all a part of your brilliant plan to Control me, my family, and my father's properties?” she throws the question at me. “It was not all a part of my plan” I try to defend. “If you knew something about the stranger at the whiskey library, why didn't you just tell me?” she asks, looking at me dead in the eyes with her Hazel eyes piercing deep into my soul. “Why did you bind me to an arranged marriage with you and accept my baby as yours when the Queen tried to throw me out as if you were doing me a favour?” she yells. “What was the aim behind your notion of false sacrifice?” she continues with her series of questions. “I know that you may not believe me right now, but I can swear on my life that the whole episode at the whiskey library was not part of the plan,” I try to explain even though I know that I sound really stupid saying that “So there was a plan,” she asks, wearing a smile that is loaded like a gun. “Can you please listen to me,” I plead. “Listen to you?” she scoffs. “Just because you are the billionaire crown prince of Orion you killed my father, then You set me up as the prime suspect in the murder case, blackmailed me to be around you or you exposed my identity as the legitimate daughter of Dylan Grayson and now I am stumbling on the secret that the stranger that I had a one night stand with at the whiskey library was all a part of your brilliant plan to get me entangled with you?” she scoffs in disdain

Crown Prince Kieran is a royal disaster—too bold, too wild, and far too scandalous for the throne. Between picking fights with the council, making offensive public remarks, and changing lovers like wardrobe changes, he’s the palace’s greatest headache. But when his reckless behavior earns him a new personal bodyguard, Kieran finds something he despises even more than politics: the cold, silent man who follows his every move. Commander Adrien Vale is everything Kieran isn't—disciplined, composed, unreadable. He has only one duty: protect the uncontrollable prince. Adrien becomes the shadow of the Prince. But beneath the tension and taunts, Adrien sees something no one else does: a grieving young man who is still not over the death of his brother. When an assassination attempt shakes the kingdom, the prince is exiled to a remote island for his safety with Adrien. Change in atmosphere cause the masks to slip and the new tension starts to brew between them. But nothing stays secret in a palace. When their lives go viral, the royal family forces Kieran into an engagement with a foreign princess to save face. Caught between duty and desire, between obedience and love, Kieran must choose: the crown, or the man who’s become his only truth.