Years Of Rice And Salt

In my previous life, my brother and fiancé teamed up to sabotage my company for the sake of my so-called best friend. After I went bankrupt, they stood beside her watching me collapse in the pouring rain, laughing mockingly at my pathetic state. "Linda Turner, you look as pathetic as a drenched dog!" they sneered. When I opened my eyes again, I was back at the project bidding meeting three years earlier. In my previous life, when my company was just starting out, my brother and fiancé had warned me against using the Turner and Peterson family connections. They claimed it wouldn't be fair to others, but then turned around and handed projects to my best friend under various pretexts, just to see her smile. Now that I was back, I watched them secretly manipulating things just like before, giving my projects to my best friend. I finally gave up on them completely. When they found out I was leaving the country, my brother and fiancé set off fireworks all night, celebrating that they'd finally gotten rid of me, the burden. But three years later, at the Trada Corp's bidding meeting, I took the stage as the CEO's wife—and they couldn't hide the redness in their eyes.

During a turf war, I took a bullet for Daniel Wilson. When I woke up in the family hospital after three years in a coma, I discovered that Eva, the showgirl I'd saved from a black market auction, had usurped my place in the Wilson family. My husband Daniel, the family's Underboss, saw that I was awake, and his first words to me were: "The entire underworld recognizes Eva as the woman by my side now. Why did you have to wake up at a time like this?" "Alice and I both love her. She's the one who's been by our side these past three years. And you? You've just been a body in a hospital bed, absent from our lives." "We're through, Sarah." Watching the man I once loved so deeply speak such heartless words, I didn't put up a fight. I simply nodded and gave him what he wanted. But he had no idea the Wilson family was about to burn to the ground.

Buried deep in the Aster estate was the Heartwood—ancient, sacred, mine. Told my husband, Julian Aster—back when he actually listened—that if it ever fell, I'd die with it. At first, he freaked out. Flew in glacier water, hired a whole squad of plant experts to nurture it 24/7. Then one day, just because his childhood friend—Isabella Duvall—got a scratch from the bark, Julian had the Heartwood ripped out. The second it crashed, I choked on glowing blood—ichor. My power? Gone. Barely standing, I grabbed his arm. "You knew. If the Heartwood dies, I—" He laughed. Straight-up mocked me. "Sera, come on. That fairy tale? Only Grandma still believes that crap. Is that mayo on your mouth? Relax—it's a tree. I'll buy you a forest if you want." Overnight, my hair turned gray. Skin cracked. Eyes dulled. Still, I dragged myself to his grandmother, Henrietta. "I kept your family safe for two hundred years. That's why the Asters thrived. But the Heartwood's gone. Debt's paid. One day left. Whatever happens next? Not my problem."

When Deidre Carey inherits her grandmother’s woodland cottage, she returns to Moonhollow Village for the first time in years for a fresh start. When she learns that her first crush is still living in the village, she finds herself drawn to him, regardless of his tempestuous moods. When she begins to unearth the web of secrets her grandma left behind, Deidre finds herself caught up in more than she ever could have imagined when she returned to the sleepy little mountain town. Grant Hawthorne was always going to be the town disappointment, but something has changed in all those years since Deidre’s been gone. In an accident that took his older brother’s life, Grant’s world was changed forever when he became not just the sole guardian to his young niece, but a werewolf. Grant does everything in his power to keep the curse subdued and secret, but all his walls come crashing down around him when his world collides with the force of nature that is Deidre Carey. “Of Wolves and Magic” explores the tumultuous relationship between a newly realized witch and a troubled man suffering from a lycanthropic curse as they navigate the complex secrets of the supernatural world lurking just beneath Moonhollow’s deceptively cozy surface.

Zoya is a girl who comes from a high class home, but is more interested in writing and reading rather than her world that involves attending various business meetings or planned hangouts with Sami, who has been obsessed with her for years and would rather die than not have her. Then she meets Ivandor and she started to feel all she has never felt before. But there is a societal problem here, Ivandor is from the poorest of families and Sami would kill anyone who tries to come in between he and Zoya. And he succeeded, he got her, against her will, one that was disguised as betrayal from her part to Ivandor who didn't know her predicament. And when Ivandor is back, bigger and better, he's not just back for fun, he's back for revenge, to make all the people who spat and looked down on him bite their tongues. But when Sami finds out about all of these, war breaks out, as he would rather die than let any other man have Zoya whether she likes it or not. So sleeves gets rolled up and guns get cocked. Clashes, tears and deaths ensues, secret affairs arises, the eternal love rekindles and it starts to cause chaos and war that seems to never end.

Cammy has spent her life hiding a dangerous secret—she is not just a werewolf but a rare and deadly hybrid, part vampire and part wolf. As her 18th birthday approaches, she yearns for a normal life, but fate has other plans. The moment she meets Kai, the cocky and infuriating future Alpha King, their mate bond ignites with fiery passion. He’s a notorious playboy, unaccustomed to true commitment, but Cammy’s presence shakes his world. Their connection is undeniable, but Kai’s pack harbors dark secrets—secrets that threaten everything Cammy holds dear. When she discovers their true nature, her own hidden bloodline pulses with fury. As she and Kai navigate their dangerous attraction, outside forces conspire to tear them apart, threatening not only their love but their very lives.

In June of 1975, Ryan Baxter's mom moves him and his brother, Matt, to the small seaside town of Bayport, MA to escape their abusive father. For an eleven-year-old, spending lazy days hanging out at the beach and the arcades sounds like a dream.When he meets Leah and she agrees to be his girlfriend, Ryan is happier than he's been in his young life. Then the "Sea Monkeys" knock-off he bought from the back of a comic book starts to grow...and grow and grow.©️ Crystal Lake Publishing

She didn't even know werewolves were real! When Lisa journeyed to a small cabin in the Pocono Mountains to enjoy a bit of peace, little did she know that she was entering werewolf country or that she'd fall in love with one!

Giavanna Sperino didn't have high hopes about finding her true love at her first Mateship Ball. Despite some mild disappointment, she considered her evening a roaring success after she befriended a guy visiting from a pack halfway across the country. But when she discovers this friendship and the several others it led to all started on a foundation of lies, will her heart harden or heal?

Nova doesn’t know much, but she knows three things. One: Her mother was murdered by wolves. Two: She has terrible nightmares of a large black wolf with vivid blue eyes hunting her down. Three: There’s no out running fate. The past can be painful. Nova’s past is so painful that her brain blocked it out. With clouded memories and nothing more than a sick feeling deep in her gut, she’s forced back home where her mother was murdered to visit her grandmother and estranged sister that she hasn’t seen in eight years. Nova’s expecting the worst. To not make it home alive. To either be mauled or claimed by wild animals. To meet the same fate as her mother. Things start tumbling out of control when she meets an eerily familiar stranger. Nox in all his tall, dark and brooding demeanor leaves her with a bad feeling. It’s probably the fact that he claims to know her or it’s that she’s starting to believe him. But Nox isn’t the only one in her hometown that’s out to get her. They may be true mates, but what neither of them know is that Nova’s mother had more secrets than either are aware of. There’s another wolf that’s looking to collect what is rightfully his and he won’t stop until Nova is mated to him.