

All because I talked to a girl from school, my parents decided I was too young to date and sent me to a behavioral correction camp over winter break. I spent 14 days there before they came for me. When Mom reached for my backpack, I flinched and dropped to my knees. "Mom, I'm sorry. I'll carry my own things. Please don't touch me. You're the opposite sex." Her expression soured. "I told you to watch out for girls out there, not treat your own mother like one of them." I kept my head down and said nothing, because responding to the opposite sex was also a violation. On the drive home, Dad noticed me sitting rigid and perfectly still. He laughed, pleased. "Look at him. He's so well-behaved now." "It worked even better than I expected. We'll have our family dinner tonight and send him back in the morning. They need to straighten him out for good." I said nothing. I just turned and looked out the window. There would be no tomorrow. Tonight was my farewell gift to them.

Orphan Quinn craved family, so he always deferred to his wife Wren's relatives—only to be met with contempt. When Quinn finally snapped and left, Wren returned to her own home, but her family was very cold to her. Realizing her true family was Quinn and their daughter, she went back, and they started a new life together.

The night I died, my whole family was busy celebrating my twin sister Elena's eighteenth birthday. Everyone thought Elena was going to die the next day. We're elves. My father worked as a clan guardian, and after Mom gave birth to Elena and me as twins, she stopped working altogether. We should have been a happy family. But from the moment we were born, Elena and I were bound by a witch's curse. Because Elena came into the world one minute before me, she took the full weight of it onto herself. She was never supposed to live past eighteen. From the day we were born, Elena was the family's treasure. Mom and Dad treated me like I owed her something. New toys went to her first. New dresses were always her pick. Every night, Mom would sit in Elena's room for at least an hour before she'd turn off the light. I always fell asleep alone. One night I had a nightmare and ran barefoot to find Mom. She was holding Elena and didn't even look up. "Go back to bed. Stop making a fuss." I kept telling myself: she's dying, of course they're kind to her. But every time I let something go, that splinter in my chest pushed a little deeper. Then the day the curse was supposed to take effect finally came, and naturally, that was the day my stomach cramped so badly I could barely stand. Mom and Dad didn't hesitate. They shoved me into the cellar and locked it from outside. I crouched on the stone floor with the smell of mildew everywhere and knocked on the door over and over. "Mom... Dad... my stomach really hurts, I can't even stand up... let me out, please..." One sentence came back through the door. "Your sister is dying tonight! Can you just give us one day? One day!" "But... Mom... I'm scared..." Nobody answered after that. The cellar went quiet. My eyelids grew heavy. My last thought was: if I were the one dying of a curse, would they come hold me too.

The night I died, my whole family was busy celebrating my twin sister Elena's eighteenth birthday. Everyone thought Elena was going to die the next day. We're elves. My father worked as a clan guardian, and after Mom gave birth to Elena and me as twins, she stopped working altogether. We should have been a happy family. But from the moment we were born, Elena and I were bound by a witch's curse. Because Elena came into the world one minute before me, she took the full weight of it onto herself. She was never supposed to live past eighteen. From the day we were born, Elena was the family's treasure. Mom and Dad treated me like I owed her something. New toys went to her first. New dresses were always her pick. Every night, Mom would sit in Elena's room for at least an hour before she'd turn off the light. I always fell asleep alone. One night I had a nightmare and ran barefoot to find Mom. She was holding Elena and didn't even look up. "Go back to bed. Stop making a fuss." I kept telling myself: she's dying, of course they're kind to her. But every time I let something go, that splinter in my chest pushed a little deeper. Then the day the curse was supposed to take effect finally came, and naturally, that was the day my stomach cramped so badly I could barely stand. Mom and Dad didn't hesitate. They shoved me into the cellar and locked it from outside. I crouched on the stone floor with the smell of mildew everywhere and knocked on the door over and over. "Mom... Dad... my stomach really hurts, I can't even stand up... let me out, please..." One sentence came back through the door. "Your sister is dying tonight! Can you just give us one day? One day!" "But... Mom... I'm scared..." Nobody answered after that. The cellar went quiet. My eyelids grew heavy. My last thought was: if I were the one dying of a curse, would they come hold me too.

The female protagonist, Yetta Hobbes, appeared frail on the outside, but she had a complex inner world. She was the only seemingly ordinary person in her family. Her father, Ryan Hobbes, was a serial killer. Her mother, Joan Hobbes, was an expert in toxicology. Her brother, Eric Hobbes, harbored an unhealthy possessiveness towards his sister. The entire family concealed extreme antisocial personalities. Yetta had long been subjected to cruel bullying by classmates Lucy Wright, Sherry Nelly, and Belle Robert at school. Finally, one day, the three bullies volunteered to visit Yetta's home, unaware that they had already become prey...

Charlotte, noble and brilliant, seeks a husband to secure an heir for the family estate. She picks a seemingly honest man, helps him rise in his career—only to find he plans to take another wife on their wedding day. She calls off the engagement and chooses Timothy, a notorious playboy, instead. But beneath his reckless facade, Timothy hides many secrets.

Six years ago, heiress Milo left penniless Asher to save her failing family, keeping her pregnancy a secret. Now a ruthless tech billionaire still bitter about the past, Asher reunites with Milo at a gala — she's now a desperate single mom, scrambling to pay for their son Leo's life-saving heart surgery. As the truth of her sacrifice unfolds, a guilt-stricken Asher sets out to win her back, secures top care for their son, brings the real culprit to justice, and earns his second chance at love...

Amelin gave everything to make her brothers famous. On her wedding day, they poisoned her, just to hand her wealthy fiancé over to her stepsister, Jessica.Reborn, Amelin sees them for who they are. She chooses to follow her mother into the Burke family—the Shipping Kings.Victor watches her like a hawk. Theo thinks she's fragile. Gideon calls her a social climber. Everyone waits for her to fail.But she saves Theo from an assassin, makes millions for the Burkes at the racetrack, and revives a dying radio station with her horror stories. When her own brothers beg for mercy, she turns away with a smirk: "I'll make you pay, for everything."