Social Temperature

For five years, I thought our marriage was solid. Then, my husband, Lionel Franco’s first love, Sandra Howard, posted a photo of a property deed on her social media. The caption read: [Thank you, Lionel, for transferring the house to me.] I stared in disbelief and left a single comment: [WTF?] Lionel called within minutes. “She’s a struggling single mother. Transferring the house to her makes it easier for her son to get into school. It doesn’t affect where we live,” he snapped. “How can you be so lacking in compassion?” In the background, I heard her muffled sobs. Half an hour later, she tagged me in another post.  This time, she flaunted her Mercedes worth over a million dollars, with the caption: [Paid in full. As the saying goes, ‘Where a man spends his money, that's where his heart is’.] I knew he bought it to soothe her temper. But this time, I had enough. I decided to divorce him.

An orphan girl who was bullied in her childhood, grew up in the slums along with her brother seeing the underbelly of the city full of crime and greed. Her brother intervened when his friends were trying to teach her a 'lesson' and was killed for it. That night she decided she was never going to be weak again and she would be the nemesis of crime. Her most recent case leads to a face off with a drug lord who works in multiple countries and runs human trafficking rings. Will she survive the dangerous drug mafia who stop at nothing? She got in touch with a social organisation and got herself into schooling. One step at a time she completed her education and became a cop. She meets Andy when he visits her police station to file a complaint against Sushant for assault on Mia, his best friend. Andy is an IT professional working with a multinational company. Mia and Andy were best friends since high school. A good looking athletic guy with the best brains, he soon loses his job to office politics. Takes it as an opportunity and creates the most successful startup of the country. Anya is an integral part of his journey. Andy's start up funder is a woman connected with film and drugs industry. What will he have to give up to realise his big dream? His money and Anya's job brings glamour, decadence and dangerous liaisons into their lives. They come together to create a volatile mixture of passionate love, ruthless crime, base desires, human degradation, death and devastation; where his life hangs on a thread. How much will she go through before she breaks?

"Read that to me again, but this time cover your face." Janette has been told one thing all her life. "You're fucking ugly." Judged and humiliated because of her looks, she hopes to live a silent and uneventful life filled with unrealized dreams and solitude, but all that changes the moment Billionaire father and son, Ayden, and Xavier Bravlov make an entrance into her life. Ayden is a man well known for his striking good looks and amazing business prowess. He's a social recluse and also a veteran actor. Everyone knows that since the death of his wife, he has withdrawn from society and hardly steps out of his mansion, yet he breaks his protocol, interrupts a class, and takes a young girl into his custody. It's strange, but Ayden Bravlov isn't a man who does things without a reason. With Mr. Ayden as a former actor himself, and with her passion for acting and her aspiration to become an actress, Janette agrees to his strange terms and soon finds herself thrust into a world of conspiracies, discoveries, and forbidden passion. He is older than her, and way out of her league, but a girl can hope can't she? Apart from Mr. Bravlov though, there is also one person she didn't see coming. One person her heart aches for in a totally different way, and who she can't get her mind off. She knows she's doomed when he's the son of the billionaire she's working for, but she can't control the attraction that grows deeper between them by the day. Will Janette be able to decide between these two men? And what happens when she finds out that she might not be fully human? The same way the two men her heart aches for are also not fully human.

Natalia Shaw and Noah Shaw had always looked very happy to the general public, and everyone who knew the Shaw couple wanted to be like them. But there was something else... Nobody else knew about it, even Natalia's best friend, but Noah had a bad habit of hurting Natalia. It had started out small, like all bad habits did, but then later, Noah had morphed into someone that Natalia could not recognize. Piero Teodoro D' Ricci was Noah newest acquaintance, and he got invited to Noah's home by Noah, himself. Piero is able to recognize the signs of abuse, no matter how subtle, and after meeting Natalia, the warning bells in his head kicked in. He left their house eventually, promising to get to the heart of the case. He met Natalia again in a social gathering, and then he proceeded to use that to his advantage, and spoke to her, trying to get her to tell him what she was passing through. Natalia did not open up, but she did get two of his business cards "in case she lost one.", he had said. The abuse from Noah got to a head and Natalia eventually decided to contact Piero, and then she let him know that she was ready to open up and receive his help. Natalia and Piero worked together, and all seemed fine until she showed up with divorce papers and got beaten up by her husband, Noah. Piero stood by Natalia in the dark, as she did not want him to in public, as a friend and attorney. And maybe as something else too. What happens when Noah finds out that his wife was in cahoots with an acquaintance of his? And what would happen to Natalia when her drunken affair with Piero gets to light?

Silas Grant and I are renowned in our social circle for being a loving couple. However, a month before our wedding, he calls everything off. He wants to marry the poor student that my parents have been sponsoring. I demand an explanation. He says to me, "Vivian will have to marry that cripple if I don't marry her. You're the kindest person I know, Serena. I'm sure you can understand why I'm doing this." "Fine, then," I say. Silas leans down to kiss my cheek. He holds me happily and says, "I knew you'd agree to this. Don't worry, okay? I'll divorce her once this matter is settled." I push him away lightly and wipe his saliva from my cheek. Then, I pull out an invitation from my pocket. He takes it. His smile freezes when he sees the names on the invitation.

Drawn to the internet, Uwana had always wanted to feel among. For once all she wanted was to have that perfect social media character that no one ever insulted. Sadly her story is quite the opposite. Uwana faces a series of cyberbullying depression and worse she is being accused of murder. With all this surrounding her, she had thought long and hard about ending her life. Will, she ever survive this

It's not what you think. Two social worlds collide with words, feelings, behaviours and ideas most unexpected to bring an even more unpredictable end. Lacey Atkins leaves school for a tear and comes back wanting nothing more than to be left alone. Alone in a classroom, Tom Wade sees Lacey and soon comes to want nothing more than to be with her. Her weird and unusual ways all make him the more curious and drawn in.

George Sunther doesn't show up on the day we're supposed to get engaged. His family is nowhere to be seen either. Mom's and Dad's faces become increasingly darker as our relatives whisper disapprovingly. I'm about to contact George when I see a social media update from Winona Sunther, the Sunther family's adopted daughter. "From today onward, we're siblings and also spouses." A photo of her and George decked out in wedding attire while holding each other close is attached. Later, I find George, and he says guiltily, "Winnie is pregnant out of wedlock, and her boyfriend has made a run for it. I have to marry her first so that her reputation remains untainted. It's all so she can have the baby without any hitches." I'm stunned. The invitations for our wedding have already been sent out! George wraps an arm around my waist, his tone as gentle as always. "I'll marry you once the baby is born, okay? You're the only woman I'll call my wife, Mary. You have to trust me." I look into his eyes, which I had once loved with all my heart. My heart twists painfully. He's always like this. He always tells me I have to be more tolerant and magnanimous when it comes to Winona because she's his sister. I watch as he leaves in a hurry after answering a call from Winona. Then, I stop hesitating and call my parents. "Mom, is the Zowski family still up for a wedding?"

Two teenagers from two different social classes discover their feelings for one another when a strange viral disease outbreak forced them to mingle in quarantine.

Mengisahkan watak Monika yang merupakan seorang artis rakaman. Dia berasal dari sebuah keluarga ternama, kaya dan berpengaruh. Namun dia berusaha merahsiakan identitinya dari diketahui umum untuk keselamatan dirinya yang menjadi buruan pembunuh upahan setelah kesemua ahli keluarganya mati dalam satu kejadian yang tragis. "Polis ada tunjukkan satu fail sulit dekat aku. Dalam fail tu ada gambar-gambar mayat ahli keluarga aku. Yang menarik perhatian ialaha tanda yang sama ditinggalkan di beberapa bahagian tubuh mereka." Kehidupannya semakin teruk. Dia tidak tahu kemana arah patut dituju. Dia tergelincir di dalam lembah penuh kegelapan. "Aku mengaku ketika aku berumur belasan tahun, aku pernah ambil benda-benda macam tu. Dengan harapan ia dapat menolong aku keluar dari dunia realiti walaupun untuk seketika." Tepat pada masanya, Haliene hadir dalam hidupnya. Haliene merupakan pemilik studio rakaman yang menjadi naungan Monika juga selaku sahabatnya. Dialah yang bertanggungjawab membantu Monika keluar dari dunia gelap setelah pelbagai dugaan dilaluinya. Dia menjaga Monika seperti adik perempuan kandungnya sendiri. "Umm... aku tertanya-tanya apa akan terjadi kalau kita tak pernah berjumpa? Aku tentunya dah mati." Haliene juga menyimpan rahsia yang Monika tidak tahu mengenai pembunuhan keluarganya juga kemalangan yang hampir meragut nyawanya. "Sampai bila kau nak kita semua terus berlakon? Bila ingatan dia dah pulih nanti, dia akan tahu juga siapa dia. Kau tak boleh nak rahsiakannya lagi. Aku kawan dia, aku kenal dia dahulu dari kau." Credit Cover Book (pink colour): via Monika Santucci's social media post