Rocket Reads

When a child mysteriously disappears from a small town and even his mother seems indifferent, it’s time for the new sheriff to step in. Meet Chris Baker, the new sheriff of the quiet Adirondack town of Clifton Heights. As one inexplicable case after another forces him to confront the townsfolk in The Skylark Diner, it’s the furtive Gavin Patchett that hands Chris a collection of not-so-fictional short stories that tumbles him into a world of monsters, ageless demons, and vengeful citizens. As Chris reads through the stories the veil starts to lift, and he soon questions what is real and what’s not, and whether he really wants to know. Nothing will ever be the same again. ©️ Crystal Lake Publishing

I'm an heiress who's been bound to a gossip system. Everyone reads my mind on my first day back home after being reunited with my family. "Mom sure has done a good job of maintaining her beauty. It's no wonder she became an OnlyFans streamer after divorcing Dad." My mother is about to berate me for something, but she pales and stops when she hears my thoughts. I glance at the fake heiress, who's weeping pitifully. "My, she's pregnant. Is it John's or Zach's?" My two brothers exchange odd looks. Then, my father arrives. I cluck my tongue. "Oh, it's Dad's."

On New Year's Eve, I prepare a feast. The clock strikes twelve, but my husband, Vincent Porter, still isn't home. My daughter, Lorelei Porter, tugs at my sleeve and holds up my phone. "Look Mommy, Daddy is at this lady's house!" Vincent has posted an update on Twitter. He is with Christine Snow, his childhood sweetheart. They are smiling at the camera, with a boy who looks about ten standing between them. In front of them sits a swan-shaped cake. The caption reads, "The most special day for the most special you." My heart sinks into my stomach. A marriage that came later in life can never compete with a pair of childhood sweethearts. I accept defeat.

The day Adrian Knight clinched a contract with our biggest client, I "accidentally" tipped a bottle of ink across the paperwork, voiding it on the spot. Because of that single blot, the project landed in Alex Lewis’s lap, and he won Chairman Henry Carter’s favor almost overnight, moving into the Carter mansion as their future son-in-law and watching his net worth rocket into eight figures. Adrian never blamed me. He just laughed that he’d never been executive material anyway and happily brought me home as his bride. Everyone whispered that, if not for my meddling, Adrian would already be sitting in the Carter family’s executive suite instead of scraping by in an ordinary life with me. Only I knew the truth: stopping him from signing that contract had saved his life. When Adrian learned I was pregnant, he locked me in the basement, fingers digging into my throat. "If it hadn’t been for you," he snarled, "I’d be Henry Carter’s son-in-law by now. You’re the reason I lost Rachel, the princess of the Carter family." That’s when I realized he’d been nursing this grudge for years. After he killed me, I woke up, reborn on the very day Adrian first reached for that fatal contract. This time, I’ll make sure Adrian Knight gets exactly what he wants.

Just when things have been doing good for Hailey, her life is changed by single gunfire. It was the night after the top of the criminal organization jumped from a building, and because of this, the top brass of the criminal organization have been scattered in different parts of Manila. Hailey just happened to walk past by a convenience store when she saw a short-haired man in a three-way suit killed someone by simply being on their way. Since Hailey is a witness, the man whom she saw murdered someone cannot just let her go, and the next thing she knew, she was lying down in a king-size bed and as she looks around the room, a long-haired man is sitting right across her direction while siping at the glass of bourbon he was holding as he reads the newspaper with a gun as his reading pointer.

re·pent /rəˈpent/ verb feel or express sincere regret or remorse about one's wrongdoing or sin. Haven is your average Christian young woman. She attends church, always reads her bible, and is the leader of her church's Youth Group. She even has the perfect Christian boyfriend, who she's sure she'll marry. Tristian is your average trouble maker. He drinks, smokes, and has no interest in religion. He's been sent to live with his religious grandmother harboring a lot of guilt and a horrible secret. When Haven meets Tristian, he turns her Christian world upside down and offers to show her a life outside of God. Her faith wavers as she falls in love with him and sets down a passionate, sinful path. She tells herself God will forgive her if she repents. But repentance means nothing when you're not sorry for what you've done.

Just a few days before my wedding, I accidentally come across a post while scrolling online. The title reads, "To the guy getting married in this city, your fiancée's already cheated on you." Curious, I click in to see the gossip, only to realize I'm the one being talked about. A deep male voice plays in the video. "I heard you're getting married?" The woman in the frame, bare-backed and trembling, chokes back a sob. "After you left, I realized you're still the one I love most. I'm done with him. Take me away, please!" The moment I hear her voice, it feels like someone punches me straight in the chest. Then I notice something on her wrist—the luxury couple's bracelet I gave her just yesterday. And in that instant, I feel like the biggest joke of all. Turns out the fool was me.

This Thanksgiving, Elmer Fuller finally agrees to go on a trip with me. But when I wake up in the hotel, I don't see him anywhere. I spend the entire day desperately searching for him, only to stumble across a social media post from his first love. It's a selfie of her and Elmer having a cozy family dinner with her parents. The caption reads, "Someone's finally meeting the parents on Thanksgiving night. Mom and Dad can stop pressuring me to get married now!" Around her neck is the scarf my mother knitted for me before she passed. I left a comment. "Stop using my things to flirt with my husband. Take the scarf off—you can have him." Not long after, she posts an update. The scarf is shredded into pieces and tossed into a dog bed, with the caption, "What trash—too filthy even for a dog!" Elmer likes the post.

Caitlyn Clarke was a woman of logic. A dedicated therapist, a loving girlfriend, and a believer in control—until she found her boyfriend in a compromising position with his bodyguard. Betrayed and disillusioned, she threw herself into work, determined to move on.Her next assignment? Conduct a psychological evaluation of Vladislav Mikhailov a notorious Russian Pakhan imprisoned at BlackRidge Penitentiary. The job was supposed to be simple: assess his mental state and determine if he was fit for release.But Mikhail isn’t just another criminal. He’s a king in a cage. A predator in waiting. And from the moment Caitlyn steps into his cell, he decides she belongs to him.He toys with her, pushing past her professional boundaries with his sharp mind and even sharper words. He reads her like an open book, unraveling the parts of herself she’s tried to keep locked away. And worst of all? He makes her want things she has no business wanting

When Iris surrendered to a night of passion with Gavin , the ruthless alpha CEO, she never expected her life to be forever changed. Believing they shared a fated connection, she was shattered by his callous dismissal with the statement, “I don't eat same food twice” But fate had other plans. Months later, Iris discovers she's carrying twins - identical replicas of the man who broke her heart. Determined to raise them alone, she sends a defiant message to Gavin, packaging one of the twins with a note that reads: "Dessert after supper." Gavin's world is turned upside down by the arrival of his unexpected heir. Enraged and intrigued, he dispatches his team to track down the elusive Iris, only to find her vanished into thin air. As the new head of the enigmatic Green family, Iris has mastered the art of invisibility. But Gavin's not one to give up easily. The game of cat and mouse has begun, with the twins as the ultimate prize.