whole and half steps

While they slice me apart, I desperately call my brother, Nathan Slade. He finally picks up as my consciousness starts to slip and answers in an annoyed voice, "What now?" "Nathan, help—" I don't get to finish before he cuts me off. "Can't you ever go a day without drama? Gemma's graduation is at the end of the month. Miss it, and I swear I'll kill you!" Then, he hangs up without a second thought. The agonizing pain swallows me whole, and my eyes close for good, tears still trailing down my cheeks. Well, good news, Nathan… You won't have to kill me because I'm already dead.

I spent six months and over $20,000 to plan a family vacation. However, when my mate’s childhood sweetheart Victoria heard about our trip, she begged to join us. Alexander didn't hesitate. He cancelled my spot in the protected convoy and gave it to her instead. He forced me to travel alone through deadly Shadow Pack territory - a thirty-six hour journey where three wolves had died last month. The whole family supported Alexander's decision without a thought for my safety. So I changed my travel plans. I headed north instead of south. I spent three months enjoying myself, ignoring their mindlink message. That's when the family started to panic...

Jess Willis gets sucked into a novel set in the 1980s where she's the villainous ex-wife of a disabled big shot who dies early. She's stuck with a "villain system" that says she has to stir up drama and be awful to everyone before she can go home. Jess's like, "Play the villain? Hell no!" But then she's like, "Actually, you know what? Villains have way more fun!"She rolls up her sleeves and starts living her best chaotic life—except she doesn't know her whole family can hear her thoughts. The family grows closer than ever, and even her disabled husband recovers and becomes completely devoted to her!

Jess Willis gets sucked into a novel set in the 1980s where she's the villainous ex-wife of a disabled big shot who dies early. She's stuck with a "villain system" that says she has to stir up drama and be awful to everyone before she can go home. Jess's like, "Play the villain? Hell no!" But then she's like, "Actually, you know what? Villains have way more fun!"She rolls up her sleeves and starts living her best chaotic life—except she doesn't know her whole family can hear her thoughts. The family grows closer than ever, and even her disabled husband recovers and becomes completely devoted to her!

I spent six months and over $20,000 to plan a family vacation. However, when my mate’s childhood sweetheart Victoria heard about our trip, she begged to join us. Alexander didn't hesitate. He cancelled my spot in the protected convoy and gave it to her instead. He forced me to travel alone through deadly Shadow Pack territory - a thirty-six hour journey where three wolves had died last month. The whole family supported Alexander's decision without a thought for my safety. So I changed my travel plans. I headed north instead of south. I spent three months enjoying myself, ignoring their mindlink message. That's when the family started to panic...

Valentina, an American girl who just graduated from college, thought she could start a new chapter in her life, but she didn't expect to find disaster for the whole family because of her brother's gambling debts. They have offended the mafia Romano family. In order to prevent her brother from being killed by the mob, Valentina has to agree to marry Alessandro, the head of the Romano family. After a dramatic wedding, Valentina is placed in Romano's mansion as a "canary", but she is always looking for a chance to escape. After receiving a death threat, a terrified Valentina makes a secret escape plan with the help of Alessandro's cousin, but even she doesn't realize that she's fallen in love with Alessandro.

After the great war between the three clans of Human, Dragon, and Wolf, the Dragon Clan and Wolf Clan were cursed. Pure-blooded descendants of both clans could not inherit full power. To pass down the power of their bloodline, Kings of each generation of Dragon Clan and Wolf Clan would need to be with a Human woman who possessed Blessings. Whoever gave birth to a child of mixed heritage first would have their clan rule the three clans for a hundred years. In my past life, I married the King of Silver Wolves, Silas Hector, who was known to be a gentleman. One year after my marriage, I gave birth to a child who was half Wolf. He inherited full power from his bloodline, and Silas became the ruler of the three clans. The Wolves ruled the world for a hundred years. My sister, Lucia, became enamored by the magnificent Silver Dragon. She married the King of Silver Dragons, but the Dragons were arrogant and unpredictable. In a moment of mad rage, her husband injured her womb and caused her to miscarry. Lucia became barren after that. Lucia went crazy with jealousy for me, and she stabbed me to death during a family reunion. When I opened my eyes next, I had returned to the eve of the wedding organized by the three clans. Lucia was quick to enter the room of Silver Wolf King, Silas, and sleep with him. She was reborn too. However, she had no idea that Silas was a cold-blooded wolf who enjoyed torturing weak Humans.

After the great war between the three clans of Human, Dragon, and Wolf, the Dragon Clan and Wolf Clan were cursed. Pure-blooded descendants of both clans could not inherit full power. To pass down the power of their bloodline, Kings of each generation of Dragon Clan and Wolf Clan would need to be with a Human woman who possessed Blessings. Whoever gave birth to a child of mixed heritage first would have their clan rule the three clans for a hundred years. In my past life, I married the King of Silver Wolves, Silas Hector, who was known to be a gentleman. One year after my marriage, I gave birth to a child who was half Wolf. He inherited full power from his bloodline, and Silas became the ruler of the three clans. The Wolves ruled the world for a hundred years. My sister, Lucia, became enamored by the magnificent Silver Dragon. She married the King of Silver Dragons, but the Dragons were arrogant and unpredictable. In a moment of mad rage, her husband injured her womb and caused her to miscarry. Lucia became barren after that. Lucia went crazy with jealousy for me, and she stabbed me to death during a family reunion. When I opened my eyes next, I had returned to the eve of the wedding organized by the three clans. Lucia was quick to enter the room of Silver Wolf King, Silas, and sleep with him. She was reborn too. However, she had no idea that Silas was a cold-blooded wolf who enjoyed torturing weak Humans.

After getting hit on the head, Selena Logan woke up to find herself inside the very CEO romance novel she had been reading. Now, she was a spoiled heiress from the capital's elite circle, known for being love-obsessed and hopelessly naive.Her home life consisted of a scheming cousin and three dangerously powerful brothers.On day one, things went off-script: she accidentally drank the love potion meant for her cousin Yasmin and ended up in a chaotic one-night stand with a mysterious man.They met again at a lavish birthday banquet. To her horror, that stranger turned out to be Louis Johnson — the cold, untouchable heir of the Johnson family.What had started as a mistake turned into a deliciously sweet and chaotic game of cat and mouse. This "villainess" might just have stolen the whole show.

For ten long years, Cynthia had loved Ethan Luciano in silence. On the night he won the national championship, he finally pulled her into his arms: “I’ll marry you the moment we graduate.” The next morning. What she heard instead was Ethan’s cocky laugh echoing among his teammates: “She was so fucking eager… legs wrapped around me the whole time, telling me she loved me. She’s a good warm-up though. Looks innocent but takes it like a pro. I’m gonna use her a few more times until I get with Sylvia.” In that moment, Cynthia’s world shattered. The boy she had loved for ten years had never loved her back. She was never his future — only his practice.

Vivian Harrington gave everything—her trust, her mother's shares, even her heart—to her charming boyfriend Nathan Ellis. But the moment she signed those papers, Nathan, his father Gideon, her scheming stepmother Monica, and her jealous stepsister Serena betrayed her... and sent her to her death. When she opened her eyes again, she was back—reborn, right before the betrayal. This time, she knows who her enemies are. And she knows who truly loved her. Adrian Chandler—the dangerous underworld king who once avenged her and died for her. He may not believe her love now, but Vivian swears she'll make him hers, even if she has to burn the whole world to do it.

Katy Ferguson is a renowned businesswoman in the city who dotes on her biological daughter Naomi Ferguson, giving her everything while remaining cold and distant toward her adopted daughter Alice Ferguson. However, Naomi schemes to steal the family fortune,causing Katy immense suffering. Before dying, Naomi reveals the truth: she's actually a fake daughter! Everything stemmed from butler Howard Adams' conspiracy years ago—he switched his own daughter with Katy's real daughter, deceiving Katy for her entire lifetime. Only in her dying moments does Katy realize that the "biological daughter" she spoiled her whole life wasn't as worthy as the adopted daughter she drove away three years ago. Given a second chance at life, she decides to shower all her love on Alice instead.

Wealthy heiress Lina Veyne is forced into an engagement with ruthless heir Lucien Moro to save her family, trapped like a bird in a gilded cage. At the IRIS Club’s secret Phantom show, she's shocked to find masked dancer ""Seven"" is Stian Quinn, her first love who was declared dead at sea 5 years prior. This is all Lucien’s cruel scheme: he faked Stian's death, and uses the supposedly amnesiac man to break and tame Lina once and for all. When Lina's reckless defiance only brings brutal punishment down on Stian, she puts on a mask of obedience to Lucien, while secretly plotting her revenge. She soon makes a shocking discovery: Stian's amnesia is a lie. He's been undercover at IRIS this whole time, gathering damning evidence to take down this dark empire for good.

George Culkin has one year left to live and descends the mountain with seven marriage contracts, a body full of unmatched medical and martial ability, and absolutely no plan beyond survival. On his first day down he accidentally saves Cindy Ginger, a powerful CEO who pulls him into her world before he can think twice. What was supposed to be a casual detour becomes considerably more complicated. George's seven senior sisters,each formidably powerful in their own right, have strong opinions about his wellbeing and even stronger opinions about anyone who threatens it. When he discovers that the enemy behind his shortened life and his new entanglements is one and the same person, he stops keeping a low profile. He came down the mountain to survive his last year. He ends up fighting for a whole lot more than that.

Frank Chavez, the richest man's son and the Dragon Temple's owner, works as a chauffeur and a fruit vendor. 5 years ago, Frank saved Helena Solis, and they had sex. Now, she and their daughter Eve have found Frank, so he decides to make it up to them. But Eve has heart disease due to a genetic mutation and can't walk. Only the drug Helena has been developing might cure Eve.Helena's stepmother and stepbrother sabotage her efforts and even force her to sleep with the Larson family's young master. Frank repeatedly saves Helena. With Master Giles and the 10 Major Medical Laboratories' help, Eve's illness is cured. Helena's stepmother and stepbrother are punished. The Larson family's and the Dark Alliance's plan is destroyed. In the end, Frank reunites with his father, Helena has a second baby, and the whole family lives happily.

Brandon Cole is a seasoned veteran detective with decades of solved cases behind him and wakes up in the wrong century as an eight year old ninth-rank official in ancient era, the lowest rung of the imperial ladder. The local gentry have already decided he is a figurehead they can control. They miscalculate immediately. A celestial magistrate system activates just in time, and Brandon, drawing on every interrogation technique and investigative instinct from his past life, begins dismantling their assumptions one case at a time. He cracks a child abduction case in broad daylight with the whole town watching, outmaneuvers the gentry at their own game, and drives out the bandit threat they thought nobody could touch. Every victory earns system rewards: martial arts manuals, attribute upgrades, the tools of a legend in the making. He is eight years old. He is also the sharpest mind in the province. The locals call him Mr. Justice. They mean it with complete sincerity.

In her first life, set against the backdrop of 1970s, Josie Cole married a dependable, simple man who rose to become a respected cultural official, and she stood faithfully beside him. Her cousin Gracie Hill, meanwhile, married into wealth, watched it crumble, fell into ruin, and in a fit of bitter envy, ended up murdering Josie. Reborn on the very day the marriages were being arranged, Josie watches Gracie steal her original match. Josie ends up with the one everyone wrote off as a spoiled playboy, but she’s lived a whole life already; she knows how to read people. Josie and Sam Jordan agree to a cold, transactional marriage and leave it at that, until they don’t. She helps him rebuild his family’s fallen fortune; he becomes someone worth keeping. This time, Josie wins, not by fighting for what she had before, but by building something better.

In her first life, set against the backdrop of 1970s, Josie Cole married a dependable, simple man who rose to become a respected cultural official, and she stood faithfully beside him. Her cousin Gracie Hill, meanwhile, married into wealth, watched it crumble, fell into ruin, and in a fit of bitter envy, ended up murdering Josie. Reborn on the very day the marriages were being arranged, Josie watches Gracie steal her original match. Josie ends up with the one everyone wrote off as a spoiled playboy, but she’s lived a whole life already; she knows how to read people. Josie and Sam Jordan agree to a cold, transactional marriage and leave it at that, until they don’t. She helps him rebuild his family’s fallen fortune; he becomes someone worth keeping. This time, Josie wins, not by fighting for what she had before, but by building something better.