Books
Standalone novels within a connected universe of psychological realism and adult intimacy. Different expressions of power, desire, and consequence.
Claimed by Sterne Novels
Sterne: Origins
Every empire begins before anyone is watching.
In 1999, Julian Sterne is a young man shaped by ambition, discipline, and the encounters that forge him.
Origins chronicles the collisions that mark the beginning of everything that follows — not a romance, but the architecture of a life built through consequence.
Released January 8, 2026
Sterne: Monica
Some bonds are chosen. Others are recognized.
In 2009, Monica Vale takes a position under Julian Sterne believing she can stay professional. She is wrong about that — and about what she actually wants.
Monica is a slow burn story about consent, power, and the quiet transformation that occurs when being fully seen stops feeling like a threat and starts feeling like arrival.
Released February 14, 2026
Sterne: Valerie
Some encounters are inevitable. Others are irreversible.
In 2024, Valerie Mitchell meets Julian Sterne on a routine flight. A look held a second too long. What follows is deliberate, structured, and not what she expected to want.
Valerie is a slow burn story about devotion, restraint, and the cost of choosing to be claimed.
Released June 10, 2026
Sterne Universe Novels
Two x Three
Three women. One fracture point. No clean exit.
In 2024, three women — Ingrid, Nora, Sasha — cross paths in a series of charged, unexpected moments that none of them planned and none of them can quite leave alone.
Two x Three is a sapphic novel about adult desire, negotiated connection, and what it takes to stay when leaving would be simpler.
Released April 15, 2026
Chaos Owned
Some rescues come with terms. Precise ones.
In 2006, Lea Mercer is a founder running out of time, and Sabine Durell knows what she needs, what she owes, and how long she can last. By summer the company is sold and Lea is in a house above Lake Zürich where the clothes are chosen and the quiet is the point.
Chaos Owned is a dark sapphic literary novel about acquisition — of a company, and of the woman who built it. Explicit, and not a romance.
Released August 5, 2026
Lorene, Ruled
Some power is taken. Some is set down by choice.
In 2003, Lorene Feldman is at the peak of a career she built room by room — and meets a man who saw what she wanted before she said a word.
Lorene, Ruled is a slow burn D/s romance about what it costs a woman to set down, in private, the authority she never loses in public.
Released October 1, 2026
Upcoming Sterne Universe Novels
I Serve Somewhere.
He told her she'd find someone who wants this. She found somewhere instead.
In 2017, Vera runs the counter of a Palo Alto bakery and raises two daughters above the shop. On Wednesday nights she drives into the hills, where an old house keeps different hours, and serves there too. Nobody in one life knows the other exists.
I Serve Somewhere. is a novel of work, motherhood, inheritance, and chosen submission. Quiet prose. Explicit submission. Not a romance.
Releasing December 2, 2026
Sterne Universe Stories
Nothing Unusual
Nothing unusual happened in suite 1803.
At least, nothing Rose intends to report.
An intimate story about discretion, rules, and the things two women know better than to explain.
Enter the Sterne Universe. Subscribe to occasional letters from C.R. Hale — new releases, the odd extra.
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