She's independent, street-smart and the daughter of a prostitute. Living in the mean streets of East New York and Bedford Stuyvesant Brooklyn shes forced to make a living the only what she knows how. When a wealthy, South African diplomat asks for her hand in marriage things seem to get brighter. Until she realizes that the soft-spoken, reserved, gentleman is pathological, kinky, and sadistic. One day she meets a mysterious stranger who approaches her with The Criss Cross. Is The Criss Cross her ticket to a better life? Or will The Criss Cross ultimately become the double cross? Wait! The Criss Cross isn't done yet! The old gang from Life, Love & Loneliness have some unfinished business to resolve. In this page-turning novel see how the drama unfolds for Lyric, Lacey, Madison, Joshua, and Estelle.

    She has a voice like honey and a body to match, but one heartbreaking setback after another threatens to derail her dreams of a recording deal. To make matters worse, it’s Christmastime, rent is past due, and the cops intend to kick her tight-knit family to the curb–until a small-town gangster comes to the rescue and offers them a place to stay.Years pass, and Fabiola continues to play gigs and travel around the country hoping for another shot at fame. She’s long forgotten the gangster named Casino who bailed out her family once upon a time. But when Casino is shot, Fabiola feels that she must help the man who helped her family during their lowest point. As Fabiola climbs the ladder of success, she is pulled between the spotlight and the street, trying to resist industry moguls who find the allure of fresh meat irresistible and the thugs from the shadowy side of the ghetto who threaten to keep her close.

    In this edgy urban tale from the author of "Daddy's Little Girl," two best friends are divided by secrets and find themselves fighting to survive.

    

    Having moved from Chi-town to Charlotte, North Carolina at an early age, Justice and her younger brother, Monk decide to take the streets of the Queen City by storm. All is well, and their hustle is fruitful until Justice's ex-boyfriend, Carlos (a vicious drug dealer), is robbed and all fingers point toward Justice and Monk. Subsequently, a war ensues between Monk and Carlos' clique of dealers and killers. No one is exempt from the bloodbath! Life begins to spiral out of control for Justice, and she swears off hustlers and is determined to find a guy with a legitimate job to settle down with. She meets JT, a handsome businessman who becomes her every fantasy. JT rescues her from a deadly and cruel world, and Justice thinks she has moved into a safe haven, only to find out that she has actually landed in a snake pit! She decides that her only escape is to leave Charlotte behind altogether. However, this may leave Monk with no one to watch his back. Justice refuses to leave without punishing all those that caused her harm, but her past soon catches up with her. She is confronted with a bare truth that explodes her world into a million tiny pieces. As her thirst for money grows, so does her appetite for revenge. However, she soon realizes that some thirsts can NEVER be quenched!

    Fueled by her crooked grandfather s blood and her gold-digging grandmother s teachings, Kyla mastered the arts of manipulation and seduction at an early age. While other girls were learning simple addition and subtraction, Kyla was being trained to divide men from boys in hopes of multiplying her funds. As she propels through adolescence and into her teenaged years, Kyla s heartbreaking beauty and notorious sex appeal become her trademarks. The more attention she receives, the more she craves; and she seizes every opportunity to increase her status in her urban St. Louis community. Kyla truly believes that the world and everything in it is at her disposal. That is, until she meets Shard Phaylon, a suave and powerful young kingpin in the illegal drug trade. From the beginning, the mysterious Shard presents an alluring challenge that spoiled Kyla has never before had to face. In an effort to live up to her family name, she blindly and tirelessly pursues him and his many assets. Kyla s misguided affection quickly blossoms into complete devotion; and she soon finds herself acting as a witness and eventually, an accomplice in Shard s immoral and dangerous schemes. Her newfound love for him begins to eclipse her lifelong love for the Brown family, and she becomes completely torn between the two. Just when Kyla believes that she has her life all mapped out, though, she suddenly begins to unearth bizarre and unsettling clues about Shard s past and present. It is only after Shard commits the ultimate act of betrayal that Kyla discovers the disturbing truth about him and learns an even more disturbing truth about herself.

    Like Queen Victoria, the world has preferred to believe that sex between women is impossible, resulting in a long silence between the writings of Sappho and the flowering of talent produced by feminism and the sexual revolution. Lesbian writing has come a long way since Virginia Woolf's famous essay of 1928. Since then women have challenged traditional forms of expression and subject matter in an extraordinarily rich and varied discourse to give voice to the lesbian imagination. In this wide-ranging anthology, Margaret Reynolds has brought together the work of thirty-two women from Britain, continental Europe, and the Americas - including three specially commissioned pieces - that covers nearly a century of lesbian writing, from Sarah Orne Jewett (1897) to Jeanette Winterson (1993). The collection ranges from Frances Gapper's pastiche of a Romantic melodrama, through the wry humor of Merril Mushroom's description of butch and femme courting rituals, to the wit of Alison Bechdel's cartoon strip. The anxiety of unresolved desire is present in many stories - Radclyffe Hall's Miss Ogilvy is unable truly to find herself in this world, Djuna and Lillian hold back from each other in Anais Nin's "Cities of the Interior," and the energy and commitment that should go into a loving relationship are stifled by convention in Jane Rule's story of passion outside marriage. But here are brave spirits, too - Renee Vivien's Sarolta and her Prince(ss) live forever in a vision of ideal tenderness, Colette's heroines preserve the sanctity of their little white bed, and Jewelle Gomez's bulldagger society survives far from the haunts of men. There are coming-out stories, stories about cross-dressing, vampire tales, science fiction, parody, and romance. Each story is quite different from the others, yet each acknowledges a particular facet of lesbian history and makes it real.

    But memories of tragedy and betrayal have kept him entrenched in the past, as have the living reminders of his former life, including his down-on-her-luck sister, Nadiah; JaQuan, Nadiah’s thugged-out teenage son; and Karim’s older brother, Omar, serving a life sentence for a crime he didn’t commit. As emotions reach a boiling point, does Karim have what it takes to set JaQuan on a straight path, clear his brother of a bogus indictment without jeopardizing his own future, and hold together the family that he so desperately loves?As Travis Hunter skillfully draws us in with strong, believable characters with endearing flaws and broken dreams, A Family Sin, full of riveting twists and turns of plot, unravels the mystery of a long-buried secret that threatens to tear a family apart.

    Now as adults, their friendship is put to the test when envy, built up animosity, hidden betrayal and the bad boys in their lives cause havoc. Every day becomes a struggle to keep the clique tight. Every day something beats against the tried, tested and proven relationship. Several dramatic occurrences take the odds against the trio. When the dust settles, with all that's already riding against them, will these girls be down for one another or just plain "SHEISTY?"

    From the "Essence"-bestselling author of "All That and a Bag of Chips" and "What Goes Around Comes Around" comes a riveting page-turner about an NFL coach who's forced to choose between his love and his freedom.

    She is in an abusive relationship with her boyfriend Raymone. Tired of being forced to deal with his baby mama drama and sidechicks, Mia finally decides that enough is enough! She decides to move on and turns to Harlem, who has always been there for her. However, Raymone won’t make it easy. His obsession and jealousy gets out of hand and leads to all sorts of conflict. Will Harlem and Mia be able to weather the storm and find true love, or will Raymone ruin their relationship? Love, Lies, and Obsessions is a tale filled with deceit, murder, and drama with an unbelievable ending!

    They’re also bitter rivals. What happens when they fall for the same sexy reporter? Alicia This is her first big break as a journalist. Using all her assets, she lands the interview that no one else can get. She’s interviewing the famous Dylan Brakster and James Sledge…the famous rivals together in the same room at last. But now that she’s gotten what she wanted, can she resist their advances? After all, she’s never met anyone hotter than these two. Dylan She’s the hottest woman he’s ever seen, and he’s had his fair share of groupies. Dylan would be free to make his move, if only his arch rival, James Sledge, wasn’t sitting right next to him. The tension between them feels like it’s going to boil over and explode at any moment. It’s either fight or… James James knows he wants her the second he sees her. But he’s acutely aware Dylan wants her too. Things are getting complicated quickly—the three of them have a dangerous choice to make. The consequences could be terrible, but who’s thinking about that when the reward is so… screamingly hot? Rival Quarterbacks is an ultra steamy standalone bisexual romance with explicit MF, MM, and MMF scenes. Guaranteed HEA. Very high heat level!

    From the moment they laid eyes on one another, it was love at first sight. One problem is wrong with that; they’re both in a committed relationship. Being with her abusive fiancé for 8 years, Teyana saw no way out of her situation. Gambino on the other hand was ready to call it quits with his longtime girlfriend. Only problem behind it is, she refuses to let go without a fight. Take a ride with Teyana and Gambino as they show us how being in love can make you be disrespectful without thinking twice.

    Ten years ago Jackie fled Mountain Ridge, her need to escape the pain and abuse her single motivation. It wasn’t until after she left that she realized she’d left her heart behind. Burying her feelings for the only woman she’d ever loved, and the only loving family she’d ever known, Jackie struggles to forget her past and move on with her life. Now ten years later, she wonders if she’ll ever find someone that can love the person she’s become. A suggestion from her therapist sends Jackie back to her old hometown in search of those she’d left behind so long ago. Can she settle the past and hope to find her future?

    Cesar is not only sexy but he's a rare and hot commodity who's every woman's dream. But he's taken by Mink, a selfish trick who doesn't deserve him and loves money more than her own snatch. When his back's against the wall, Cesar struggles to keep his hands clean. His pride won't allow him not to take care of his son, the one thing tying he and Mink together. Will Mink suck him dry before its all said and done or does Cesar have other tricks up his sleeve?