That is, until he suffered an untimely stroke, under questionable circumstances.  Phyllis Neville sacrificed everything for her career, including her marriage to a man she'll love forever, and a positive relationship with her adult daughter.  But when she is passed over for the promotion of a lifetime, it’s just the first thing to go wrong in her once perfect life as the past rears its ugly head. Freddie Palmer is bored by the routine that her life has become.  Married thirty years to her husband, Don, the two of them have become empty-nesters and Freddie is anxious to start the next phase of her life.  After meeting successful author, Bianca Hightower, at a local bookstore signing, Freddie decides to take her passion for reading to the next level and signs up for writing classes being taught by her new author friend.  But Bianca sees potential in Freddie that transcends simply writing, and introduces her to the kinds of experiences a woman like Freddie never even knew existed. But when the past catches up to her, it becomes one more dark secret she’s not sure she’ll be able to keep. Tasha Darden has lived her life in foster care, and has finally gathered up the courage to try to find her birth mother. One of the three women holds the answers she seeks and she will stop at nothing until she gets them.

    Eight of them all together, all different races and ethnicities, but she loves them as her own. One woman has taught them how to love, trust, and respect one another. Claudette is their light at the end of a long, troublesome tunnel, and she shines so bright.Then, one dreadful day, it all comes to a crashing halt. Claudette is walking to the bus stop from the juvenile correction center where she volunteers her time, and she is gunned down in a seemingly random drive-by shooting. In the blink of an eye, Claudette’s kids are without a parent once again, and their lives will never be the same.They now own a house, and a 500,000 insurance policy is to be split between eight kids. However, they soon discover that they have also inherited enemies no one knew existed in Claudette’s world.Uncle Snap was well aware of those enemies, and after one of the children happens upon a lockbox with keys, codes, and monetary figures, Uncle Snap presents them with a video Mama has left, revealing the truth about her nefarious activities. A secret bunker underneath the house opens their eyes. It is filled with money, drugs, and specific directions from Claudette, who built an empire from the ground up. “The Syndicate” is what Uncle Snap calls it, and since Claudette is dead, it is up to the kids to keep it going.The Syndicate is a criminal enterprise that traffics millions of dollars of drugs throughout the United States. From the Port of Miami to the border of Canada, The Syndicate is a force to be reckoned with. Unbeknownst to them, Claudette has been training every one of them for this moment. She honed in on each of their skills to develop them to the fullest. Now one of them must step up to become the leader, so they can take over the Syndicate and run this city.

    He is living the dream, and his marriage to the bewitching Vivian is the center of that. But underneath the shiny surface of this perfect existence, fault lines are beginning to appear...and no one is more surprised than Russ when he finds every aspect of the life he took for granted turned upside down. In a matter of months, Russ finds himself without a job or wife, caring for his young daughter while struggling to adapt to a new and baffling reality. Throwing himself into the wilderness of single parenting, Russ embarks on a journey at once terrifying and rewarding—one that will test his abilities and his emotional resources beyond anything he ever imagined.

    After she is sexually and emotionally abused by her foster parents, she turns to the one person she knows she can trust--her boyfriend Chu, a mid-level drug dealer. But when life finally starts looking up for Camille, Chu is brutally murdered. Again feeling abandoned and helpless, and refusing to return to the system, Camille finds herself living with a stable of women in a tiny run-down apartment building in Washington, D.C., working for Nut, a deranged pimp. Fed up with her life, Camille is forced to right her wrongs, and slowly learns that her past does not necessarily determine her future.

     APF stands for Alpha Phi Fuckem, a sorority dedicated to sexual freedom and the fulfillment of its members. Zane's APF stories have appeared in her earlier collections, including The Sex Chronicles: Shattering the Myth, and are favorites among her readers. Many readers have written to Zane and asked to join the sorority or to launch a new chapter in their region. APF is fantasy, but the enthusiasm of Zane's fans is real. So now, with The Sisters of APF, she's offering readers what they want, a book-length story chronicling the adventures -- and recruitment process -- of the fearlessly sexy women of APF. Mary Ann is the daughter of a chicken farmer from South Dakota. She has never been more than fifty miles from home and has led a sheltered life. By the time she goes off to college in Washington, D.C., she has been intimate with only one man -- her high school sweetheart. The resident manager of Mary Ann's dormitory, Patricia, befriends the country bumpkin. She finds Mary Ann amusing, but also senses something intriguing about her, hidden under the surface. After Mary Ann becomes smitten with Trevor, the campus playboy, Patricia is determined to show Mary Ann how not to be a victim, but rather how to outdo the players and heartbreakers. She indoctrinates Mary Ann into the ranks of the sexiest secret society ever: the sisters of APF.

    He makes a handsome living doing what he enjoys. His wife, Penny, a children's book author and illustrator, is the love of his life. Together they have a brilliant six-year-old, Milo, affectionately dubbed "Spooky," and a non-collie named Lassie, who's all but part of the family.So Cubby knows he shouldn't let one bad review of his otherwise triumphant new book get to him — even if it does appear in the nation's premier newspaper and is penned by the much-feared, seldom-seen critic Shearman Waxx. Cubby knows that the best thing to do is ignore the gratuitously vicious, insulting, and inaccurate comments. Penny knows it; even little Milo knows it. If Lassie could talk, she'd tell Cubby to ignore them, too.Ignore Shearman Waxx and his poison pen is just what Cubby intends to do. Until he happens to learn where the great man is taking his lunch. Cubby just wants to get a good look at the mysterious recluse whose mere opinion can make or break a career — or a life.But Shearman Waxx isn't what Cubby expects, and neither is the escalating terror that follows what seemed to be an innocent encounter. For Waxx gives criticism; he doesn't take it. He has ways of dealing with those who cross him that Cubby is only beginning to fathom. Soon Cubby finds himself in a desperate struggle with a relentless sociopath, facing an inexorable assault on far more than his life.

    Rollin' dice is an everyday hustle for Wasuan, and he's one of the best the hood has ever seen. No one can defeat him. That is, until he stumbles across a dude from the same hood named Tone who has just as much confidence, a little too much mouth, lots of cash to back it up, and a strong desire for Wasuan's girl. When Wasuan is challenged and the stakes grow high, he finds himself caught out in deeper waters than he can swim in, with Tone dangling three options: pay up, take your last breath, or sacrifice something much greater...his girl, Enychi. But when Enychi agrees to spend one night with Tone in order to save her man's life, she finds herself caught up in an unwilling love triangle like the streets have never known. Love, betrayal, lies, sex and money are just the beginning in this scandalous tale, where loyalties are put to the ultimate test. In this new novel, T. N. Baker takes the term "sheisty" to a whole new level.

     A successful career. A beautiful wife and children...and his pick of the sexiest women in town. It seems Tarron has the best of both worlds as he manages to indulge in wild nights out with his lover and quiet nights at home with his family. But the party is about to end...When Tarron's cheating ways are revealed, his cool-headed wife, Secret, handles it like a pro. That's partly because, true to her name, Secret is hiding some bad behavior of her own. And now, as Secret starts to really live out her own fantasies, neither she nor Tarron may be ready for the explosive consequences... "A fascinating debut novel... There are so many exciting twists and turns to this story that you'll be begging for more once you read the very last page." --Urban-Reviews.com

    An ambitious and passionate film director, her award-winning productions achieve the rare combination of critical and commercial success. But she has little interest in the glitz and glamour of Los Angeles, instead focusing intently on her work and family.She has close, loving relationships with her daughter, her elderly father and Hunter Lloyd - her co-producer and partner of four years. Completing her trusted circle is Brigitte Parker - Tallie's best friend and devoted personal assistant. They've been friends since film school, and Brigitte's polished glamour and highly organized style provides a perfect balance to Tallie's casual appearance and down-to-earth approach to life.However as Tallie is in the midst of directing her most ambitious film to date, small disturbances start to ripple through her faultlessly ordered world. An audit reveals worrying discrepancies in her financial records, which have always been maintained by her trusted accountant, Victor Carson. Receipts hint at activities of which she has no knowledge. Someone close to Tallie has been steadily helping themselves to enormous amounts of her money. Her once safe world of trusted associates is suddenly shaken to its very core - and Tallie is in shock, trying to figure out who has betrayed her among those she trusts and holds dear...

    When Sadie Roper moves back to London, she's determined to pick up the pieces of her shattered life. First, she needs to get her daughter settled into a new school-one of the most exclusive in the city. Next, she's going to get back the high-flying criminal barrister career she sacrificed for marriage ten years earlier. But nothing goes quite as planned. The school is not very welcoming newcomers, her daughter hasn't made any friends yet and the other mothers are as fiercely competitive as their children. Sadie immediately finds herself on the outside as she navigates the fraught politics of the school gate. But the tide starts to turn as Sadie begins to work on a scandalous, high-profile case that's the perfect opportunity to prove herself again, even though a dangerous flirtation threatens to cloud her professional judgment. And when Julia, queen of the school moms, befriends Sadie, she draws her into the heart of the world from which she was previously excluded. Soon Sadie and her family start to thrive, but does this close new friendship prevent her from seeing the truth? Sadie may be keeping her friends close, but what she doesn't know is that her enemies are closer still... Dark, addictive and compelling, The Lies You Told is a compulsive psychological thriller from a master storyteller.

    The promise of a cleaner tomorrow and the economic impact on world markets could be staggering. Then she makes an alarming discovery: someone has tampered with the production process, resulting in toxic waste leaking into the Florida waterways and the Gulf of Mexico.Fighting mounting terror fueled by too many accidents and untimely deaths, Sabrina pieces together the grim puzzle. The evidence points to a cover-up orchestrated by the chief executives of EcoEnergy. Now her determination to expose the company's secret has placed her in the crosshairs of a conspiracy that reaches further than she could ever imagine—America's biggest traitors are lurking behind the doors of one of the highest offices in the land.Desperate, Sabrina flees the company with damning evidence, aware that an enemy with eyes and ears everywhere makes each move a gamble. Running for her life with nowhere to hide and no one to trust, Sabrina knows her next step could be her last….

    It is the story of an ex-cop, a missing girl, and a killer locked in a race where there can be only one winner—and the losers die trying. In a trailer in a Florida swamp, time is running out for eighteen year-old Erin Seabright. A pawn in a kidnapper's terrifying game for a ransom no one can pay, her last hope is a washed-up ex-cop who has already lost it all-not once, but twice.The wealthy world of the Palm Beach horse set seems a long way from a cop's world in the narcotics division. A lifetime ago, undercover sheriff's detective Elena Estes worked the mean streets and BackTop alleys, living by her wits and playing the long odds until she took one risk too many. Now Estes lives on the ragged edge of lost hope and self-hatred, hiding from the past and believing she doesn't deserve to have a future. But the past is about to come back with a vengeance, and the future is about to become a race between life and death.A young woman is missing and her twelve year-old stepsister comes to Estes for help. No one but serious, studious Molly Seabright seems concerned about what's happened to her troubled older sister. But Molly is convinced Erin is in danger. Estes has no P.I. license, no interest in a new career, and no desire to break her self-imposed exile. But the more she learns about the people Erin Seabright was involved with, the more her long-dormant cop instincts come back to life.One trip to the show grounds where Erin worked as a groom, and Estes is quickly pulled to the dark side of a glamorous sport. Behind the glittering, ultra-rich facade is an ultra-ruthless world of drugs, payoffs, and dirty deals. A world of dissolute playboys and crooked horse-dealers, of royalty and rabble, of rivals and enemies. An obscenely wealthy world where anything can be had for a price—including a life.And in that world stalks a killer who will lead Estes down a dark, twisted trail of decadence and deceit, mayhem and murder—from the gilded life of Palm Beach to the darkest corners of the Florida swamps, to a final show-down that could cost her everything. A race against time and evil. A race in which Estes is the dark horse—and no one is betting on her to win.

    He’s married to his college sweetheart, Leah, and they have two children and a dream home in Los Angeles. But an injury has sidelined his hot career, and prescription medication and depression are pulling him into a downward spiral, leaving Leah feeling emotionally distanced and lonely. Their fighting escalates, and one night Dell commits an act of violence that changes the course of their lives forever. But Angel Lopez, the cop who arrests Dell, decides to take the law into his own hands. Determined to teach the famous athlete a lesson, he drives Dell to the worst part of town and tries to kick him out of the car. The men struggle and the car crashes. When Angel comes to, Dell is gone and no one knows if he’s dead or alive.Leah is grateful when a guilt-stricken Angel offers to chase the media away from her home and help out around the house, “just until Dell comes home.” She and her family grow to trust him, and Angel falls in love with the Roadrunner’s lovely, grieving wife. Will Dell find his way home? Will Angel replace him? And what really happened that dark night the Roadrunner disappeared?

    Being the first person in her family to gain a high school diploma, she has set the tone for greatness. But her prominent future becomes so nebulous that she turns to the streets for guidance and support. She soon realizes that the ''life'' of fast money and frivolous behaviors has not only plagued her, but other family members as well, suffering the same issues that were handed down for generations. In spite of her failed attempts to overcome her problems, she's determined to triumph once again.

    High School. College. Marriage. Motherhood. That was how it had gone for her sisters, her cousins, her friends. But it didn’t work out that way for Angie. She and her husband tried desperately to have a child; year after year, their perfectly decorated nursery remained empty. Finally, their marriage collapsed under the weight of lost dreams.After the divorce, Angie moved back to her hometown and rejoined her loud, loving, slightly crazy family. In West End, a place where life rises and falls in time with the tides, she will find the man who once again will open her heart to love . . . and meet the girl who will change Angie’s life.Lauren Ribido lives in a rundown apartment in a bad part of town with a mother who cares more about her next drink than about her daughter. At seventeen, Lauren knows that her aspirations in life may never come to pass.From the moment they meet, Angie sees something special in Lauren. They form a quick connection, this woman who is desperate for a daughter and the girl who has never known a mother’s love. When Lauren is abandoned by her mother, Angie doesn’t hesitate to offer the girl a place to stay. But nothing could have prepared Angie for the far-reaching repercussions of this act of kindness. In a dramatic turn of events, she and Lauren will be tested in a way that mothers and daughters seldom are. Together they will embark on an intensely moving, deeply emotional journey to the very heart of what it means to be a family.