Midnight Through the Door Another holiday alone wasn’t supposed to surprise Clara Bennett. Christmas had passed quietly. New Year’s Eve promised more of the same—snow-soft streets, half-torn party flyers, a night meant to be endured rather than celebrated. She was just walking to the corner market when she heard it. A faint music-box melody. A sound that didn’t belong. A door that hadn’t been there yesterday. Beyond it waits a winter ball that exists only at midnight—where time bends, choices linger, and some people arrive without meaning to leave. It’s there that Clara meets Julian, a man who seems to understand the rules of the night better than anyone… and who carries the quiet weight of someone who has already chosen once. But magic never lasts forever. As dawn approaches, Clara must step back into the real world alone—carrying a memory that refuses to fade. What follows is not a race against fate, but a season of becoming: learning how to live fully, how to hope without clinging, and how to choose love even when there are no guarantees. Because some doors open only once. And some loves are strong enough to cross worlds—twice. A quiet New Year’s Eve romance about choice, healing, and finding home—not in magic, but in each other.

She was raised to believe she was nothing. They were born knowing they were everything. At Draconis Academy, power determines worth—and Alina Stonewyn has none. A brown dragon who never shifted, branded a dud, she survives her final year by staying silent, staying small, and staying invisible. Until the five most powerful dragon heirs return. Pentaris—sons of the ruling houses, warriors-in-training, and future kings—are untouchable. Dangerous. Entirely out of her reach. Yet when fate binds Alina into their orbit, her carefully constructed invisibility begins to fracture. They see what no one else ever has. As whispers turn into threats and shadows close in, Alina is forced to confront a terrifying truth: her power was never absent—only buried. Suppressed. Hidden for a reason that could bring kingdoms to their knees. Because gold dragons were erased from history. And when the Blood Moon rises, so will she. Hunted by a ruthless king, tormented by those who fear what she might become, and drawn into a bond as undeniable as it is forbidden, Alina must decide what she’s willing to risk for freedom. Her life. Her heart. Or the world itself. A dark fantasy romance filled with slow-burn tension, found family, and a heroine who refuses to stay broken. This story contains mature and sensitive themes that may be distressing for some readers. Please read with care. Includes: Bullying (verbal, social, and physical) Physical assault and injury Emotional abuse Trauma and PTSD responses Threats of sexual violence (attempted, non-graphic) Coercive control and manipulation Violence and references to torture (non-graphic) Abuse of power and authoritarian control Psychological distress Blood and injury references

This New Year’s, desire doesn’t wait for permission. Rowan expects winter break to be an escape—sun, silence, and survival—when her best friend invites her to a luxury island resort for the holidays. What she doesn’t expect is Dominic Monroe. Lila’s father is disciplined, commanding, and entirely off-limits. A man whose presence sharpens every room he enters. A man who sees Rowan in ways no one ever has. The attraction between them is immediate, undeniable, and dangerous—intensified by late nights, lingering glances, and a resort alive with celebration and surveillance. As Christmas fades and New Year’s Eve approaches, restraint becomes a battle neither of them can win forever. Every moment risks exposure. Every almost-touch tests control. And when the countdown to midnight begins, Rowan must decide whether she’ll step into the new year unchanged—or let desire rewrite everything. After Midnight is a sensual, psychological New Year’s Eve romance about boundaries, recognition, and the choice that comes after midnight.