Linda Pastan writes, "the art that mattered / was the life led fully / stanza by swollen stanza." That life is portrayed here, from memories of the poet's earliest childhood and the ambiguities of marriage and love to the surprises that come with age, always with a consciousness of what is happening in the larger world.

    Her best friend, Sherry, is into the BDSM scene, and on a whim and a bet, Kristy finds herself in the playroom at an exclusive club. A disguised Dom named Master Jay uses sensation play and a piece of silk to help her discover the world of kink. She finds it enjoyable and addictive, but what she doesn't know is that Master Jay is really Jake, a much younger man to whom she's strongly attracted.For the past couple of years, Jake quietly watched Kristy in his gym. He doesn't care that she's older than him; he wants her. When the virgin BDSM sub he's hired to train ends up being Kristy, Jake almost falls apart. During the scene they play at the club, he fantasizes about getting her into restraints in his own playroom. But Kristy is shocked when she learns that the two men she desires are one and the same. Can Kristy who's led a vanilla sex life, and Jake, who knows nothing but kink, find a future together?

    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.