But despite her good fortune, she's still missing someone special to share her life with—until a chance encounter changes everything... Handsome, rugged Jerome Kimbrough is hard to miss among the fellow citizens serving jury duty with Erica. And as the two get know each other over the course of a two week trial, their relationship soon extends beyond the courtroom and into a full-on passionate romance. Although they come from opposite worlds—Jerome is a working class, city sanitation employee—they’re both hard working dreamers with big ambitions. Yet while their differences aren't an issue for them, their friends, family—and Erica's ex-fiancé—disagree. As all involved are forced to confront their hidden stereotypes, can Erica and Jerome endure the challenges in store for them—including a startling secret from their pasts?...

    Both are gainfully employed, Marcus as a detective for Chicago's Finest, and Monet as a nurse in the neonatal unit of an inner city hospital. They are faithful members of Reverend Ruth Wilcox's church, The Temple. The only thing missing from their life is a child. Doctors have been unable to explain the reason for Monet's inability to conceive, which she calls the Sarah Syndrome. Then the unthinkable occurs. Monet is brutally assaulted. Months later, she learns the news she has been longing to hear her entire married life: she's having a baby. Monet is thrilled, but Marcus is appalled by the news, and orders his wife to terminate the pregnancy. Monet refuses, and a cold war of monumental proportions breaks out in the Caldwell household. In the face of great adversity, will Monet's faith persevere?

    Against a backdrop of petty crime, she struggles to live her dreams, calling on cultural masters Charlie Chaplin, Kafka, and da Vinci for inspiration. In an effort to support herself and her layabout performance-artist boyfriend, Clown Girl finds herself unwittingly transformed into a corporate clown, trapping herself in a cycle of meaningless, high-paid gigs that veer dangerously close to prostitution. Monica Drake has created a novel that riffs on the high comedy of early film stars -- most notably Chaplin and W. C. Fields -- to raise questions of class, gender, economics, and prejudice. Resisting easy classification, this debut novel blends the bizarre, the humorous, and the gritty with stunning skill.

    The four of them run New Orleans with an iron fist. With their father stepping down and handing the thrown to Karlos and his brothers they have to live up to everything Kaine has built. Karlos aka Killz is a straight Savage! He does not play about his family or their business that stretches from Louisiana to Miami. All about his business, and pretty much nothing in between, love was never in the agenda. As fate would have it, he has a change of heart when he meets the sexy, Kylee Ricci. Kylee is the oldest of her three sisters, Kimmora, Kelly and Keira. They are from Italy but moved to the states with their drug dealing father after their mother died giving birth to the twins Kelly and Keira. The sisters are head strong, smart, beautiful and extremely close. Life as they know it changes dramatically when Kylee finds herself unintentionally falling for Killz the Savage from New Orleans. When the Royals meet the Ricci's, it is one hell of a ride! Infidelity, shoot outs, robberies and betrayal at an all-time high. Through it all, will love prevail? Or will the dangerous lives of the Royals fill the sisters hearts with regret? Find out what happens when the Royals give their hearts to New Orleans Savages in between the pages of this captivating read.