Something no one wants to talk about. But she's determined to uncover her family's dark secrets, even if they bury her.Five-year-old Sloane McBride couldn't sleep that night. Her parents were arguing again, their harsh words heating the cool autumn air. And then there was that other sound--the ominous thump before all went quiet.In the morning, her mother was gone.The official story was that she left. Her loving, devoted mother! That hadn't sat any better at the time than it did when Sloane moved out at eighteen, anxious to leave her small Texas hometown in search of anywhere else. But not even a fresh start working as a model in New York could keep the nightmares at bay. Or her fears that the domineering father she grew up with wasn't just difficult--he was deadly.Now another traumatic loss forces Sloane to realize she owes it to her mother to find out the truth, even if it means returning to a small town full of secrets and lies, a jilted ex-boyfriend and a father and brother who'd rather see her silenced. But as Sloane starts digging into the past, the question isn't whether she can uncover what really happened that night...it's what will remain of her family if she does?

    It’s been a jagged and tiring road with her longtime boyfriend Smoke. In the beginning she thought maybe he had been the one for her, but now she’s not so sure. From dealing with baby mama drama to random females on the side, Lay-Lay has had enough. Not only has she grown tired of Smoke’s cheating ways, but she’s finally ready to move on. In the back of her mind she knows she deserves better, but letting go is entirely too hard. Although Smoke’s reckless behavior plays a major role in Lay-Lay’s decision to move on, that isn’t the only reason why she’s ready to call it quits. Kyle Taylor, is and has been the most constant male figure in her life for as long as she can remember. When thinking of her fairytale ending her is who she would see as her knight in shining amour. The only problem with this is, he has a girlfriend. Fed up with the constant fussing and fighting, Lay-Lay isn’t sure whether or not Kyle is worth leaving behind the love and history she has with Smoke. Torn between the man she loves and the man she deserves, Lay-Lay is forced to make a decision.

    and Patrice Balark teamed up to bring you book one of this new and exciting drama filled series, The Wife of a Kingpin: Malik & Micah’s Story. Of course, romance, sex, deceit, backbiting, and illegal dealings will be served up like a five course meal. After losing his mom at the age of 18 during his senior year of high school, Malik Jefferson took comfort in the only thing that made sense to him at the time... the streets. Malik along with his best friend and right hand man, Rico “Goo” Grady, were taken under the wings and learned everything street by the connect who happened to be dating Goo's mom. They started out as corner boys and were making smooth waves along the way. After the connects demise, Malik and Goo went from the corner to the top. After being challenged for the top position over and over, the duo answered the call of being as ruthless as they wanted to be, thus informing Chicago and the world a new Kingpin had arrived. Eighteen year old Micah Sanders is all about her business. Not only is she a full-time student at the University of Illinois, but she also works part-time while being an unknown boss on the side. Coming from a life of privilege, Micah doesn't rebel against her upbringing, but she prefers to rely on herself to make her own way in the world. Despite having it all, she is only missing one thing, her now deceased brother. While everyone else may have forgotten about his untimely death, it stays at the forefront of Micah’s mind along with seeking revenge on whomever committed this heinous crime. Will she get the answer to the question that has been nagging her for so long? The first encounter was at random. The second encounter was accidental. But, the third encounter and every one afterwards were by design. After crossing paths with the beautiful mystery woman, Malik had to have her. It had been a while since the last time a woman captivated and held his interest that much. However, it was something more to the lady than meets the eye. He was on a mission to claim and to make Micah his woman. Malik and Micah are on the verge of starting something great. But, what happens when two bosses collide? Who will rule in the end? I don't know, but find out in book one of this new series. Warning: This book contains a cliffhanger.

    Who’s your daddy? The Parkers’ best friends, James and Serena, are in the final stages of a bitter divorce. Just when James thinks his nightmare is over, he learns his daughter has a different daddy… For the love of money… Single mom Lachez Baker is a ghetto-fabulous mother of three who seems to have it all, thanks to money from her children’s fathers. But soon, her life of designer clothes, endless parties, and steady cash collides with the man who’s been the target of her carefully crafted paternity fraud. From author Pat Tucker comes a drama-filled tale of lies, schemes and consequences as these men discover the importance of knowing the paternity laws in your state.

    Ever loyal to her mother, and adoring of her beautiful, restless, married sister Adele, Lita works hard to keep the family together as she attempts to establish her own life. But when Adele falls in love with Lucien Faure -- a smooth operator with "the devil's good looks" and a decades-old score to settle with Helen -- Lita unveils her mother's mysterious past to confront the Du Champs' long-buried secrets. Now, Lita finds she has one last and desperate chance to save the future of those she loves. Award-winning author Jervey Tervalon draws from his own heritage -- and the twisting family story that has lived and breathed inside him his whole life -- to create a spellbindingly luminous novel of passion, murder, and vengeance.

    But each time the wedding nears, Mona finds a reason to postpone. William is frustrated and agrees to meet his first love when she emails him out of the blue. Now it's William who is postponing the wedding.

    But when Claire's symptoms overpower her while she's driving into work, her two children in tow, she must pull over. Moments later she wakes up on the floor of a gas station bathroom-her car, and her precious girls have vanished.The police have no leads and the weight of guilt presses down on Claire as each hour passes with no trace of her girls. All she has to hold on to are her strained marriage, a potentially unreliable witness who emerges days later, and the desperate but unquenchable belief that her daughters are out there somewhere.Little Lovely Things is the story of a family shattered by an unthinkable tragedy. Played out in multiple narrative voices, the novel explores how the lives of those affected fatefully intersect, and highlights the potential catastrophe of the small decisions we make every day.

    But after a difficult birth, her careful planning is shattered by exhaustion. Numbness replaces her connection to the people around her and the baby daughter who needs her. Her husband Leo Green, her sister Emma and friends keep telling her she’s not herself, but no one can seem to help her find her way back to the happiness that had warmed her life before little Annabelle came along. When Leo heads off for a business trip, Chelsea is overwhelmed by the endless duties of caring for a crying baby and the dark mood that pulls her down, immobilizing her. Her sister says it’s postpartum depression, but the doctor passes it off as the baby blues and encourages her to get exercise and eat right. Easy for him to say. He doesn’t have a soft, pink baby shrieking at the top of her lungs, eliciting looks of annoyance and horror at the park and the grocery store. Chelsea’s collapse is inevitable, but what’s the harm in letting a baby cry it out? She collapses in bed. Restored by sleep, Chelsea goes to the crib in the morning but finds it empty. Her baby is gone? Maybe she left her in the stroller…or the swing…or the bouncy chair? But her panicked search turns up no sign of Annabelle. Her baby is gone... And Chelsea doesn’t have a clue as to who would have taken her away. When the police respond with a thorough search and endless questions, Chelsea realizes she can’t clearly recall the details of that night. Why can’t she remember? Has she blocked it out? Could she have done something to make her own baby stop crying? Did she act on the dark visions that have paraded through her fractured mind? The race is on to find baby Annabelle. Time is of the essence in a case like this. Her baby is out there…somewhere…and Chelsea is determined to cooperate with the police, even if the evidence points right back to her.

    Trying to put his past as a drug dealer behind him, Alec runs into one of his old clients, now a successful businesswoman, who asks for his help in stopping their teenage son from becoming a drug addict...Title: .Where There's Smoke..Author: .Little, Terra..Publisher: .Kensington Pub Corp..Publication Date: .2009/01/01..Number of Pages: .326..Binding Type: .PAPERBACK..Library of Congress: .bl2009013328

    . . and a murderer in their midst?Summer’s looking forward to a break from hustling for acting work in Manhattan when she, her husband Gabe, and Gabe’s nine-year-old son arrive at the annual family get-together at her in-laws’ sprawling estate. On the agenda are leisurely gourmet meals, tennis matches, and plenty of relaxation by the pool.But this year, Gabe’s brother Nick has invited his new flame Hannah, whom Summer immediately recognizes from a few years before. Oddly, her brother-in-law’s girlfriend claims not to know her. Yet she charms the other family members, and after Nick announces that he’s proposed to Hannah, Summer doesn’t have much choice but to grin and bear it.Then the reunion is rocked by tragedy when a family member is found dead. Though the doctors attribute the loss to natural causes, a grieving Summer fears that the too-good-to-be-true Hannah is involved, even as Gabe dismisses her suspicions.How far will Summer go to expose the truth? As she investigates just what Nick’s fiancée might have done to keep her perfect image intact, she begins to fear that the first death might only be the beginning . . .

    Now it’s up to ex-court reporter Marilee Jennings to decipher the puzzle of her best friend’s death. But someone has a stake in silencing her suspicion. Someone with secrets worth killing for—and the power to turn this beautiful haven into a . . .  And as Mari digs deeper beneath New Eden’s picture-perfect exterior, finding the truth is suddenly no longer a matter of justice.     It’s her only hope of staying alive.From the Paperback edition.

    After Tamar damn near killed Rozalyn a little over a year ago; the couple decided to cut their losses and move on. Rozalyn does her best to become a better, independent woman being she no longer has Tamar to depend on. She goes to school, opens her own beauty shop, and is even thinking of starting her own clothing line. Everything is going good especially when she meets Messiah; he sweeps her off her feet and shows her what true love is. Tamar feels since he's gotten rid of all of his enemies he's ready to jump back in the game. With a new lady on his arm, things are looking up and of course the cash is flowing nicely. That is until Messiah comes home and looks to reclaim his spot as the King of Miami. Messiah is messing with Tamar's paper and his woman. With the two men fighting for the crown and the girl; things will get rather ugly. Who will Rozalyn choose in the end? The guy that she bared three kids with and has gone through hell and back with, or the guy that treats her better than royalty? A choice must be made, but will that choice be a deadly one? This is the end and endings aren't always happily ever after.

    The last time she visited her aunt Sara there, as a teenager, she’d been sent home suddenly after being dragged out of a wild party—by the guy she had a crush on, just to make it more embarrassing. Obviously Mason Fletcher—only a few years older but somehow a lot more of a grown-up—was the overprotective type who thought he had to come to her rescue. Now, returning after her aunt’s fatal car accident, Lucy is learning there was more to the story than she realized at the time. Mason had saved her from a very nasty crime that night—and soon afterward, Tristan, the cold-blooded rich kid who’d targeted her, disappeared mysteriously, his body never found. A lot has changed in thirteen years. Lucy now works for a private investigation firm as a forensic genealogist, while Mason has quit the police force to run a successful security firm with his brother—though he still knows his way around a wrench when he fills in at his uncle’s local hardware store. Even Summer River has changed, from a sleepy farm town into a trendy upscale spot in California’s wine country. But Mason is still a protector at heart, a serious (and seriously attractive) man. And when he and Lucy make a shocking discovery inside Sara’s house, and some of Tristan’s old friends start acting suspicious, Mason’s quietly fierce instincts kick into gear. He saved Lucy once, and he’ll save her again. But this time, she insists on playing a role in her own rescue . . .