Quieter Or More Quiet

Lia lives a quiet life in a small two-bedroom home on the outskirts of a major city. Between playing piano at a piano gallery, waitressing at a high-end restaurant, and her never ending love for books, she never thought there would be anything more to life. She was content. At least she thought so. It wasn't until she went out with her best friend and had a hot encounter with a large and sexy stranger. One moment they are flirting in a booth, the next she's rushing out of an expensive hotel room after waking up naked beside the handsome stranger. After living through her first one-night stand, she decided to leave it at that. But what she wasn't expecting was to be hunted down by the most dangerous man in the country. Turns out, the man from her one-night stand held more mystery than she thought. Now she must determine whether to find some way to be comfortable with his lifestyle and embrace the kind of love she only seen in her romance novels or to stick with her morals and let this relationship go. That is, if he lets her...

"From now on, you're my fiancée, and my fiancée should live with me. Don't talk, don't ask questions. Just obey," he spoke. "When you come to the mansion tomorrow, I expect to see you in your casual clothes and with your suitcases." - When Jimena, a young single mother with a dark past and a violent ex she's desperate to forget, crosses paths with Alessio Fanucci, a dangerous mafia heir, her world is turned upside down. All she wanted was to get by working as a maid at the Fanucci mansion and to keep her distance from the three infamous Fanucci brothers as much as possible. Things take a turn when the oldest brother and heir, Alessio, breaks off his arranged engagement with his ex and urgently needs a new one. Alessio, cold, ruthless, dominant, and not someone anyone talks back to, sees the quiet Jimena as nothing more than his pawn. Meanwhile, she sees Alessio as nothing more than another monster she needs to escape. As they spend more time together, the lines between fake and reality begin to blur, and they discover they have more in common than they initially thought. Tensions rise when Jimena's ex returns, threatening her new comfortable life and the secrets she’s been withholding. He is out for revenge and is determined to go to any length for it, even if that means allying with the Fanuccis' enemy, who happens to be the family of Alessio’s ex. With a war, untold truths, and feelings at stake, will Jimena’s newly formed bonds keep standing, or will everything around her crumble?

Lilly Riverwood, daughter of Alpha Mick and Luna Harmony, lives in the shadow of her brother Luka, the heir to the Riverwood werewolf pack. Unlike most Alpha offspring, Lilly isn't power-hungry or interested in pack politics. She's a talented violinist who has gained fame in both human and werewolf societies worldwide. Standing tall at 5'9", Lilly is unusually tall for a she-wolf. She finds herself constantly avoiding her brother's overprotective nature and the scheming she-wolves who try to befriend her solely to get closer to Luka. While her brother enjoys popularity as the Alpha heir and football team captain, Lilly prefers a quieter life focused on her violin, studies, and helping at the pack's preschool. Under her mother's guidance, Lilly has been training to become a future Luna, as her mother believes she's destined to mate with an Alpha from another pack. The only thing Lilly truly does for herself is playing the violin, having no genuine friends except Emma, Rachel, and Mia. Lilly's routine is disrupted when a mysterious new Alpha heir named Axel Blackthorn joins her Advanced Music Theory class. After she performs a violin piece that captivates the class, Axel approaches her and shows interest, kissing her hand in front of everyone. This unexpected gesture sends the school's rumor mill into overdrive. When confronted by Kendra, the self-proclaimed future Luna of the Riverwood Pack, and her posse about Axel's attention, Lilly finally snaps and declares that, unlike them, she doesn't aspire to be someone's Luna—she just wants to be left alone with her violin and her music.

Jace Steadman. My best friend’s father. Older. Controlled. Quiet in a way that makes my pulse stutter. A man who never looks twice at anyone… Except this time, he looked at me. One glance at my ruined makeup and shaking breath, and suddenly he felt too close. Too warm. Too dangerous. His voice was gentle when everyone else had been cruel. And when he sat beside me beneath the glow of the fire, I felt something I hadn’t felt in years: Wanted. Not sweetly. Not politely. But with a quiet, restrained hunger that made my heart slam against my ribs. To distract me from the pain—and to stop himself from touching me—we made a game of it: Twelve days. Twelve dares. No rules… except the ones we couldn’t stop breaking. A whispered challenge in the dark became a dare. A dare became a touch that lingered too long. A touch became a pull neither of us knew how to resist. He shouldn’t crave me. I shouldn’t crave him back. But the more we tried to stay respectable, the more our restraint fell apart. The lodge turned into a minefield of temptation—Christmas lights, stolen glances, near-kisses that burned hotter than the fire. Jace wasn’t just a man I wanted. He became the man I couldn’t stop fighting—and falling—for. If anyone finds out, my life falls apart. His reputation shatters. Everything explodes. But desire doesn’t care about consequences. And this Christmas, I’m done being careful. Done being quiet. Done pretending I don’t want the man who looks at me like I’m the first real taste of life he’s had in years. Twelve days. Twelve dares. One forbidden man I can’t walk away from… even if he ruins me.

Ever since we brought our six-year-old daughter, Elise, home, she's been keeping her distance. My husband, Patrick Sheeter, chalked it up to "adjustment issues." Told me to bring her more gifts when I got back from my overseas trip. I was halfway out the door when I heard her voice in my head. 'Should I tell Mom that Della always hits me? 'Dad says Mom hates tattletales. Especially me. 'But if I keep quiet, I might not make it till Mom gets back.' My stomach flipped. I turned around. Elise was curled up in the corner, eyes glassy with tears. Silent. But I still heard her. 'Maybe I lived again just to see Mom one more time.' Patrick, noticing I was frozen, casually reminded me I was gonna miss my flight. Right. Like that mattered. I turned and slapped him so hard. Screw the business trip. I was staying. Let's see who's got the guts to mess with my kid now.

She was born an omega, and they said that meant she was weak. In the cold heart of the Blackridge Pack, Elira lived like a shadow—beaten, silenced, and used by the very people who should have protected her. Even Kael, the Alpha heir she believed to be her fated mate, only ever whispered lies and left her to bleed when she became inconvenient. But death didn’t claim her. A Lycan King did. Lucien is feared across the realm—cold, ruthless, and untouchable. Yet when he finds Elira broken and left for dead, he doesn’t turn away. He saves her. And in his quiet strength, she sees something she never had: respect. Safety. A future. He offers her more than a throne. He offers her the chance to become something more than a discarded omega. But to wear a crown, Elira must rise. She must face the pack that shattered her, confront the mate who betrayed her, and stand as the fierce queen she was never meant to be. Because the moon doesn’t choose the strongest. It chooses the one who survives—and rises.

Invisible. Overlooked. Forgotten. Avery Quinn has always lived in the shadow of her golden-boy twin brother, Ethan—the star athlete, the perfect son, the one everyone notices. Birthday parties, family dinners, school events—Avery’s presence feels more like background noise than a celebration of her own life. She’s the invisible girl, the quiet one, the forgotten. Then there’s Jaxon Carter—the handsome, magnetic captain of the football team and heir to a mysterious legacy no one suspects. Jaxon walks through Avery’s world with ease, surrounded by friends, girls, and power, yet hiding a secret that could change everything. When Avery’s birthday celebration crumbles under betrayal and humiliation, fate brings her face-to-face with Jaxon in a way neither expected. A spark ignites—raw, complicated, and forbidden. But Avery quickly learns that Jaxon’s world is darker and more dangerous than she ever imagined. And the line between ally and enemy blurs. In a high school where popularity reigns, secrets lurk in the shadows, and supernatural forces stir, Avery must find her voice, fight for her survival, and confront a destiny she never asked for.

The Shadow Bride is a haunting tale of duty, mystery, and a love that defies fate. When 23-year-old Avery is forced to marry her late sister’s fiancé to preserve a long-standing family tradition, she finds herself leaving behind her dreams for a life she never chose. Set in the quiet, eerie countryside of Montana, Avery is thrown into a loveless union with the brooding and distant Elias—a man mourning the woman he was meant to marry. But Avery soon senses something more than grief lurking in Elias’s eyes. Whispers of secrets buried in the woods, a strange connection to the moon, and a family with a history shrouded in darkness begin to unravel around her. She may have said “I do” out of obligation—but what she doesn’t know is that her husband’s curse is only just beginning to unfold.

After his sister is brutally attacked and crippled investigating the rape of a thirteen-year-old, Richard Baimbridge rushes back to his hometown of Wilmington, NC, to assist in her recovery only to come face to face with his tormented past and a dark family secret. Serving as his sister's legs, he fights to stay above the flood of childhood trauma as he is drawn into the dark underside of this quiet coastal community where he becomes the primary suspect in the murders of Wilmington's young girls in this riveting suspense thriller that explores the special bond between a brother and sister. More than 500,000 copies sold worldwide. "Bill Benners is a fresh and welcomed new voice in crime fiction. My Sister's Keeper is a compelling and original psychological thriller. Awesome, powder-keg suspense!" --Andrew McAleer, Crimestalker Casebook/crimestalkers.com

She has never spoken a word. Not because she chose silence— But because life chose it for her. Aradhya Mishra, mute since childhood and walking with a painful limp in one leg, has lived in the background of the world. Quiet, observant, and emotionally scarred, she’s learned to express her thoughts through gestures, eyes that speak volumes, and a heart that still dares to dream. She's fragile on the outside—but only fools mistake her silence for weakness. He was born to dominate. Avyaan Singh Rathore—aka MADVIPER—is the brutal, cold-blooded mafia king. Ruthless, feared, and untouchable, he rules the underworld as the head of the secretive gang THE VEYRIX. His name alone silences rooms. He doesn't believe in love. Doesn't care for innocence. Until he's forced to marry her. A girl who cannot speak. A man who doesn't listen. Tied in a bond neither wanted— And for a reason neither knows. What begins as a mistake turns into something much more twisted. A war of silent stares, guarded hearts, and slow-burning emotions. She's the calm to his storm. The quiet to his rage. And perhaps—the only voice his soul can still hear. But love doesn’t bloom easily in a world soaked with blood and secrets. When two broken souls collide under a lie, Can truth set them free— Or will it destroy them both?