Download Chereads APP
Chereads App StoreGoogle Play
Chereads

Strand Bookstore Nyc

A Woman Without a Mask

At 28, Clara Hayes has mastered the art of wearing masks. To her colleagues, she’s the perpetually cheerful graphic designer who never misses a deadline. To her overbearing mother, she’s the dutiful daughter hiding her anxiety behind polished smiles. To the world, she’s a woman who “has it all together”—except she’s crumbling inside. Clara’s life unravels during a corporate presentation where a panic attack strips her façade raw. Humiliated and exhausted, she flees to a quiet coastal town, renting a cottage owned by an eccentric, free-spirited potter named Marisol. There, Clara stumbles upon a dusty journal in the attic, its pages filled with haunting sketches and anonymous confessions from a woman who once lived there decades earlier. The entries mirror Clara’s own suffocating duality: “I paint myself in colors the world approves of, but my soul is a grayscale.” As Clara tentatively befriends Marisol and a reclusive widower, Eli, who runs the town’s crumbling bookstore, she begins confronting the lies she’s told herself for years. Through their unconventional guidance—and the journal’s cryptic wisdom—she starts shedding her masks one by one. But vulnerability comes at a cost: her corporate career teeters, her mother’s disapproval intensifies, and a buried trauma from her teenage years resurfaces, threatening to drown her newfound courage. When Clara’s raw, unfiltered artwork—created in secret—goes viral, she faces a choice: return to the safety of her old illusions or step into the terrifying freedom of living unapologetically. But the journal hides a final secret, linking Clara’s journey to the cottage’s mysterious past, forcing her to question whether true authenticity is a rebellion… or a homecoming.
Daoist5CDTxH · 601 Views

Beastbound: The Gryphon Tamer

Benjamin was a simple bookstore clerk, a young dreamer lost in the pages of fantasy—until one night, fantasy became real. A quantum shift, a ripple in the unknown, and suddenly he found himself in Khial, a world unlike any he had ever imagined. A world where the very fabric of reality is shaped by Laws, not rules, but patterns of existence woven by those who can perceive them. Here, the Sages are more than scholars—they are forces of nature, bending the world to their will. And beyond the surface, in the shadows of history, a war wages unseen, where those who understand the Laws fight for power, survival, and something far older than the world itself. Benjamin, however, is different. He has no connection to the world. His soul does not resonate with its Laws, making him an anomaly—a ghost in a reality that should reject him. But he has something else. He can absorb knowledge, not just learn but internalize entire histories, combat styles, strategies, languages. It should have made him powerful. Instead, it made him a target. His journey to find his place in Khial led him to the Academy of Sages, where he trained to survive. But the more he learned, the more he saw that power was never as simple as strength. He forged bonds, crossed paths with warriors and schemers, and found himself entangled in a conflict far greater than he understood. A single mistake sent him tumbling into the depths of the Black Flame, the shadow empire controlling the world from beneath its surface. Enslaved, broken, forgotten, he is forced to claw his way back from the bottom. He will rise—not as a hero, but as something else. His path will take him beyond this world, across vast empires and ancient ruins, toward a final reckoning with Malachros, the entity that should have never existed—the first Itharim to break free from the Maker’s will. But before that, Benjamin must do the impossible: Escape. Survive. Become more than what this world allows.
TheBlackLion · 6.7K Views

The Lunar Curse: A Second Chance With Alpha Draven

Meredith Carter was once the pride of her pack—until the Lunar Curse marked her as wolfless, unwanted, and a disgrace. Humiliated, abandoned, and rejected by her fated mate, she thought the Moon Goddess had forsaken her. But her curse came with a cruel side effect—wild, uncontrollable pheromones that drove men insane with desire and disgust. A scent so intoxicating, it made her a target. The night she was cast aside when her pheromones spiralled beyond control, Alpha Draven Oatrun—the most feared and untouchable Alpha in the kingdom—claimed her instead. But Draven doesn’t want love. He doesn’t even want her. His reasons for marrying her have nothing to do with fate. Thrust into a world of ruthless politics, deadly enemies, and a mate who sees her as nothing more than a pawn, Meredith must fight to survive, reclaim her dignity, and uncover the secrets behind her curse. Because something is awakening inside her. Something powerful. Something… ancient. And when the truth is revealed, not even Alpha Draven will be able to resist what she becomes. Rejected. Cursed. Desired. Chosen. Will Meredith break free from her fate? Above all, what is this mystical force pushing her to start a war? — Excerpt: "You may have claimed me," Meredith whispered, her violet eyes burning with defiance, "but you will never own me." Draven exhaled a low, dangerous laugh. His golden eyes gleamed as he caged her in, his presence suffocating. "Own you?" His voice was velvet and steel. "Little wolf, I don’t need to own you." He brushed a strand of silver-white hair behind her ear—a touch so light, yet it sent shivers down her spine. "Because whether you like it or not…" His breath ghosted against her skin. "Your body already responds to me." Meredith clenched her jaw, ignoring the traitorous warmth pooling deep inside her. It was the pheromones. It had to be. "I hate you," she forced out. “Good,” Draven smirked. Because hate was just another form of obsession.
Paschalinelily · 5.7K Views

Hiding the Jury's Legacy

A Nameless Transmigrator — that’s all she could call herself. A woman from the 21st century, abruptly waking up in an unfamiliar world, with no recollection of how she ended up there or who she was supposed to be. The world around her operated on its own set of rules, a modern society brimming with political intrigues, power struggles, and deeply rooted secrets. Her only clue? A name etched deep within her fragmented memories — Gauis Anubis Steinheart — a name she barely remembers reading from a synopsis of a book she happened to glance at in a random bookstore back in her world. Is Gaius Anubis Steinheart the key to her past — or the harbinger of her downfall? Without a name, without allies, and with no memories to guide her and no cheat-like abilities that other transmigrators often possess in stories, she finds herself trapped in a foreign body — a woman with a complicated life in the middle of a high-stakes political battlefield. But the biggest shock comes when she discovers she's pregnant — carrying the child of an unknown man, without a single clue who the father is or what role she’s supposed to play in this world. The clock is ticking, and the shadows of conspiracies loom ever closer. As she navigates the treacherous waters of this world, she must uncover the truth behind her identity, the child she carries, and why fate brought her into this twisted story. Who is that? Probably the Protagonist of the story. Well, who knows? Contains MATURE scenes/events that were not suitable for minors. READ AT YOUR OWN RISK!
Gael_The_Great · 946 Views
Related Topics
More